November 13, 2022 6 min read

Print-on-demand has become a familiar concept to those working in the cross-border e-commerce industry in recent years. This is regarded as a playground where sellers compete in terms of creativity, perseverance, and persistence. Despite being used for many years, the term POD, or Print On Demand, is still unfamiliar. So, what is Print On Demand, and how does one go about starting a Print On Demand business? Let's find out in the article below!


What is Print On Demand? What is POD?

What is Print On Demand

Print on Demand is classified as a subset of Dropshipping. This is an e-commerce model in which sellers can print their designs on products such as mugs, t-shirts, hats, shoes, phone cases, etc., and sell them on platforms such as Amazon, eBay, Etsy, or their website.

Sellers who sell Print On Demand use the Fulfillment service, also known as order fulfillment, to process orders for customers!

The main advantage of Print On Demand is that sellers do not have to spend as much money on maintenance as they would in a traditional store. When customers place an order, the production and printing of products will begin.

Sellers do not need to store, or manage products as well as hire additional personnel to carry out sales, or order processing, …

>>> Read more: Amazon Guide -The cost of selling on Amazon for new sellers


How does Print On Demand work

How does Print On Demand work

Since it does not require large capital, anyone can make POD designs and sell them on e-commerce platforms! Below is the general operating procedure of the Print On Demand selling model.

Step 1: Choose, design a product and post it on an online platform or website

Step 2: Customers order products on the Platform or website

Step 3: Fulfillment unit receives orders, produces, packs, and ships goods to customers

Step 4: Seller receives profit (is the difference after deducting the shipping price and base cost of the fulfillment unit)

Print On Demand sales steps for beginners

If you are preparing to sell Print On Demand but still don't know where to start, quickly explore the steps to set up a store and sell POD right here!

Print On Demand sales steps for beginners

Preparing to sell Print On Demand

Step 1: Select an e-commerce platform or online Marketplace.

 Currently, POD sellers mainly sell at major e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, eBay, and Etsy,... You can consult and choose to sell at these e-commerce platforms!

Step 2: Choose an international payment gateway

With domestic business, you won't need to worry about payment gateways. However, with businesses on cross-border e-commerce platforms, payment gateways play an important role in cash flow management.

In addition to bank cards that can make international payments like Visa, and Mastercard, sellers should use gateways like PayPal, Payoneer, or PingPong, .. to support their POD sales.

Step 3: Select a Fulfillment service provider.

This will be the unit that prints, produces, and packs the products that you sell on the platforms. You can refer to the order fulfillment service of Printway, Printify or Printful, etc. Fulfillment units are being loved and appreciated by sellers today.

Start selling with Print On Demand

After completing the above steps, you have prepared all the conditions to be ready to sell Print On Demand. Now is the time for you to research and create to bring your unique designs to customers!

Step 1: Research customers and find suitable niches

print on demand niche

A niche is a very small branch of a large market. A group of audiences defines a niche with similar needs, interests, and characteristics that set it apart from the general market.


Developing a product niche helps sellers improve their competitive advantage over competitors thanks to the quality of their products as well as their unique and creative designs and capture the psychology of their target customers.

You can search niche markets by:

  • Sketch out customer portraits (who are they, where are they, what are their preferences, habits, ..?)
  • Using search and analysis tools such as Google Trend, Google Keyword Planner, or Google Search,...
  • Find niches on e-commerce platforms

Example of a niche in POD: Family niche, including the niche of parents and children, children and grandchildren with grandparents, and siblings in the family,...


Step 2: Select and design POD products

Print On Demand sales steps for beginners

Choosing the right product will be an important stage for you to develop your store later. Some products that sellers can choose to sell POD are:

  • Apparel: products associated with POD since the early days with familiar items such as T-shirts, hoodies, and Hawaiian T-shirts,...
  • Home Decor: a popular and loved category on e-commerce platforms with canvas, poster, wound wooden signs, and cut metal Signs,...
  • Garments like Quilts, Blankets, Beddings,...
  • Drinkware like mugs, tumblers,...
  • In addition to the products mentioned above, sellers can completely choose more products suitable for each sale season and customer's tastes from year to year.

>>> See more potential POD productshere


Step 3: Upload products to your Online store

After you have selected and designed the product, you upload the product to a storefront like Etsy, eBay, Woocommerce, Shopify, or Amazon, .. to sell.

For sellers using Fulfillment Platforms like Printway, sellers can log in to the app at:https://pro.printway.io/auth/signin  to select products, create orders and connect the app to the Ecommerce Platform for when customers purchase, the order will be automatically pushed to the app for processing!

To increase the competitiveness of products, sellers can run ads directly on the storefront or run ads on social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, .. or Google to attract more customers and increase billions. product purchase rate.

>>> Read more:Shopify SEO - Everything you should know about

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Print On Demand sales?

Any form of business has its pluses and minuses, here are some advantages and disadvantages of Print On Demand sales.

What are the advantages of POD design?

  • Don't need too much capital to start a POD business
  • No need to worry about storage, packaging, shipping, and order processing
  • Easily experiment with different designs without affecting capital or cash flow
  • Can sell a variety of products
  • Focus more on promotion because there are no worries about storage, shipping,...

What are the disadvantages of POD sales?

  • It is difficult to control goods' quality because all activities occur online. Sellers usually only evaluate products through the images provided by the Fulfillment unit or through customer reviews after purchase.
  • The profit from selling POD is not too high, partly because the number of sellers is increasing, partly because the seller only receives the difference compared to the base cost price of the product, so the profit is little.
  • Requires excellent perseverance and persistence because POD sales is not an easy path
  • Long production time. Unlike selling ready-made products, POD requires long printing and shipping time. Sometimes the seller will have to wait patiently for the goods to be shipped from the manufacturer to the customer. The shipping depends on the fulfilled unit, which also easily causes the seller to have a refund situation due to the late shipping time.

Some suggestions for optimizing revenue for your POD store

To increase sales for your Print On Demand store, in addition to choosing a reputable fulfillment unit, you also need a clever marketing strategy. Here are some tips to help sellers maximize sales for their POD stores.

Optimizing product/website listings with SEO

Optimizing product/website listings with SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) has been and is the most powerful tool for your brand and products to appear right in front of customers. SEO is search engine optimization by researching keywords that customers are interested in, putting them in quality articles that visitors can read as soon as they type them in the toolbar.

With POD products, in addition to performing SEO on the website through product introduction blogs, sellers can optimize on e-commerce platforms. The optimization process will include some work such as optimizing titles, descriptions, and product images, ...

Order samples from Fulfillment units

To ensure the quality of the products sold to their stores, sellers can order samples to check the quality, design, and prints before officially selling on the platforms.

Receiving samples also helps sellers adjust the elements of the product, choose the right colors for printing, and take eye-catching photos to attract customers' attention.

Find unique sales niches

When selling on e-commerce platforms, you are entering a race with millions of sellers around the world. Customers not only have one but many options for the same product.

T-shirts of the same style, with quotes, will not create competition because the ideas and designs are repeated. Your trading will rely more on luck. Take the initiative to find niches and new designs to make customers more interested in your products.

Print-on-demand has been and is a form of making money online that brings a lot of money to online businesses. To develop your Print on demand career you can start by following the steps suggested by Printway above.


Don't forget to join Print On Demand sharing forums to learn and hone the necessary skills. Hopefully, through this article, you have understood what Print On Demand is. Specific sales steps with Print On Demand. Fulfill now with Printway to get a good start on your way to conquering POD! Good luck!

Hạnh Hoàng
Hạnh Hoàng


Leave a comment