Are you hoping to start your own apparel, accessory, or home goods store?
Do you already have a clothing business, but find yourself overwhelmed with the significant amount of time and money it costs to hand-make your apparel, individually packaged, and then ship to your customer?
If either of these scenarios sounds like you, have you heard of dropshipping, and more specifically, about Printful?
Dropshipping gives people and businesses the option to start a business without having to spend a lot of money upfront.
It is a retail fulfillment method where you don’t keep any products on hand. Instead, when someone wants to buy something you are selling, you purchase the product from a third party who ships it directly to your customer. Dropshipping means the merchant doesn’t even handle their product.
Printful is one of the top print on demand dropshipping services on the internet and is easily the first choice for many entrepreneurs and small businesses.
Explore: Does Wix Integrate With Dropshipping Companies Like Printful
Here is what we will cover in this post:
- What Printful is and How It Works.
- Who Printful is Beneficial For.
- The Features of Printful; and,
- Printful Pricing
- Printful Ratings, etc.
Printful helps you design and sell products online with ease. Try it today!
What Is Printful And How Does It Work?
Printful is one of the most popular dropship service providers for people who want to sell accessories, homeware, and apparel.
They print on hats, t-shirts, mugs, tote bags, posters, phone cases, throw pillows, and so much more.
Some of the main reasons entrepreneurs seek out Printful is because:
- Starting a shop is easier because you don’t have to keep supplies or tools on hand.
- Startup costs are lower because you don’t have to purchase tools or inventory to get started.
- Turnaround times are good because Printful mails orders out around three days after they get an order.
- There are no minimum purchase requirements. If you want to order one item, that’s just fine. If you need to put in a big order, that’s alright too.
- There are no monthly fees.
- If any item is lost or damaged between Printful and your customer, Printful will re-ship for free.
- For people who have a brand logo, Printful has personalized branding options that will allow you to create custom packing slips or logo stickers to add on packages.
- It really is no muss no fuss. You provide the order and payment to Printful, and then they supply the product, print the design, package and fulfill your request, and then ship directly to your customers.
For more details about the Printful Print Order Lifecycle, click here.
Related: How To Sell Custom Printed Products With Printful
Printful offers a service that makes it simple for people to start a business. They provide the supplies, tools, and resources, and that allows you to keep your focus on designing, without having to worry about the mundane part of your business.
If you have an eCommerce website, Printful offers a simple integration of the dropshipping process, no matter which platform you sell on.
They are an ethical company and provide full transparency about product and shipping prices, so you know how much it is going to cost you before setting your price.
Printful even covers the marketing by providing photography, design, and branding services to ensure your product looks great for your customers.
Also Read: Printful vs Print Aura
Who Should Use Printful?
Printful has easily become a service that many people can benefit from; however, they are best for entrepreneurs and small businesses who run an eCommerce apparel, accessory, or home goods store.
An entrepreneur who wants to focus on other aspects of their business would benefit from the ease of using Printful to sell dropshipped products that are high quality.
Printful works best for any product-based business that wants to give up the hassle of owning and maintaining inventory, and the time commitment involved in hand making products.
Since starting in 2013, Printful has only continued to grow and they are regularly adding new products and services for their users.
Because they are so easy to work with, they continue to grow. Sellers are impressed with their transparency and efficiency.
Shop customers are impressed with the shipping times and ease of use on the merchant website. Both merchants and customers are happy about the high quality of Printful’s products.
Even if you don’t have any business experience, Printful’s services are easy to understand and use, and they have plenty of resources to help along the way.
With no minimum order requirements and no monthly fees, entrepreneurs who are just getting started can find success with the low-risk capabilities of Printful.
Here is a look at the many features of Printful.
Explore: Printful vs Printify
Printful Services And Features
One of the biggest assets of Printful is that they offer so many more features and services than any other dropship company.
People who use Printful find value in the support that goes beyond standard services. Here is a look at what they offer.
Printful’s products are all based on the ability to have designs or words printed on them. Most of their products are apparel, accessories, or homeware items. Here’s what they currently offer printing on:
- Shirts: t-shirts, tank tops, sweaters, and other tops, for men, women, and children.
- Wall art: poster, canvas, frames, and photo prints.
- Hats: any embroidered hat from beanies to baseball caps.
- Mugs of several different sizes and varieties.
- Totes and bags of various sizes.
- Leggings.
- Decorative pillows.
- Phone cases for iPhone and Samsung phones.
- Dresses and skirts; and,
- Towels
Printful helps you design and sell products online with ease. Try it today!
Printful does a great job of listening to their customers and adding new products regularly. Here are some extra resources to help you.
- Printful’s Custom Product page gives you product and pricing information.
- Their Upcoming Product page keeps you informed about what products they are currently working on, testing, and getting ready to offer.
- If you want to sell a product you don’t see on their website, you can visit their Feature Requests page to let them know.
Discover: Oberlo vs Printful
Printful Several Different Printing Options
Printful has several different printing techniques available, but thankfully, you don’t have to worry about what mode will be best.
They have their printing methods down to a science, and they print all products with the best printing method for that product. Their printing process is another way they make it easy sellers.
You don’t have to spend any time trying to research the pros and cons of printing methods; they already have it figured out.
Here are their different printing methods:
- The most common printing method Printful uses is called Direct-to-Garment, or DTG, printing. It is the most cost-effective way to print, especially for people who are ordering single items. DTG allows Printful to print individual pieces and to not require minimum orders.
- All-Over Sublimation Printing is a method that works best for full color and full-coverage printing. To do this, your design is printed onto high-release paper and then transferred onto the designated material using pressure and heat.
- In some cases, when there is a large order, Printful does screen printing.
- Embroidery is used on beanies and ball caps and some of their custom printed items as well.
Also Read: TeeSpring vs Printful
Does Printful Dropship?
As discussed above, Printful is a dropshipping service, which is an asset to many entrepreneurs and small businesses.
You never have to keep products on hand, buy or replace tools, or spend time on executing your designs.
Instead, you can create an online eCommerce shop and integrate Printful into your store.
They cover all of the printing, packaging, shipping, and fulfillment requirements for your product, which can significantly reduce your stress and time burdens.
For people who don’t have a large budget, dropshipping is a highly successful business model, with low risk.
Printful frees a large portion of your time up so you can focus on other aspects of your business like designing, customer service, marketing, and building your brand.
You pay for Printful’s services which covers the warehousing, shipping, and fulfillment costs. There are no monthly fees, but ultimately you will make less money using Printful than you would if you handmade each item.
That is the nature of the dropshipping beast, you pay Printful and therefore lose some of your margins.
However, Printful’s honest pricing allows you to adjust your margins to make sure you are making a profit from your business.
Worth Reading: Gooten vs Printful
Branding Services To Help Your Business
Printful is well-known in the dropshipping world because of their great products and superb customer service, pricing, and easy to navigate website.
However, they also stand out among their competitors because they offer branding and design services.
One of the risks entrepreneurs and businesses experience is that many dropshipping services compromise their branding.
When you design your own items and ship them yourself, you can add personal touches like branded receipts, packaging inserts, or even branded packaging paper. People who use a dropship service often lose those branding opportunities.
Printful helps you design and sell products online with ease. Try it today!
Printful recognizes the importance of branding and offers services that help your business connect with your customers. Here are the branding options they currently offer:
- Branding stickers: upload your business logo, and they will stick it on the outside of your packages and packing slips, for free.
- Inside shirt labels: for their shirts that have a tear-away label, they will remove the manufacturing label and add your brand logo instead.
- Outside shirt labels: if the shirt doesn’t have a tear-away label, Printful will add your logo on the outside of the shirt, allowing other people to see your brand.
- Return Address Labels: While the return address on the order will be Printful’s address so they can fix any issues, the name and logo can be your brand.
- Pack-Ins: if you want to personalize your order, even more, Printful will add your personal label, business card, or flyer, or sticker into each of your orders. While this service does cost, for many people it is a great branding technique, worth the costs.
Brand consistency is important and Printful aims to help you keep your branding consistent even while using their services.
Also Read: Zazzle vs Printful
Printful Integrations With Shopify, Woocommerce, Etsy, Amazon & Most Ecommerce Platforms
Printful makes it easy for entrepreneurs and businesses by easily integrating with most eCommerce platforms.
Integrating Printful reduces even more time and stress by making it, so you don’t have to manually handle every order and then submit them to Printful yourself.
Instead, when you integrate Printful with your eCommerce site when your customers order, it will automatically send to Printful.
Here are all of the sites Printful currently integrates with:
- Shopify
- Bigcommerce
- WooCommerce
- Amazon
- Etsy
- Big Cartel
- Storenvy
- Gumroad
- Ecwid
- Weebly
- Nuvemshop/Tiendanube
- Wix
- Magento
- Squarespace
- Webflow
- Ecwid
- eBay
- PrestaShop
- Square
- BASE
- Shift4Shop
- Launch Cart
Printful also works with Shipstation, a third-party app that allows them to connect to platforms they otherwise aren’t able to connect to. Shipstation helps Printful correlate with Yahoo, Walmart, and several others.
If you don’t use those eCommerce sites, Printful allows you to use their API and to have your developers connect it to whichever system you have.
Alternatively, printful facilitates social commerce like other print on demand sites like Teespring. With Printful, you can sell custom printed products on social media platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and Spotify.
Explore: Teelaunch vs Printful
Printful Pricing
Printful had a couple of pricing plans earlier but very recently, they made the service free for all, that too with additional features.
So Printful is free. You only need to pay for the products, and shipping.
Check out the pricing page for the latest on product and shipping costs.
Interesting Comparison: CustomCat vs Printful
Printful helps you design and sell products online with ease. Try it today!
Printful Ratings
Ease Of Use
Printful is an easy to use print on demand service. You can create and sell custom products using their online product designer, and they will take care of the printing, shipping, and fulfillment for you.
Not to mention, they have both helpful resources and video tutorials to get you started.
So, for ease of use, I give it a 5 over 5 rating.
Product Quality
Printful has high quality custom printed products. You can trust in the quality of their products, as they use only the best materials and techniques to produce them.
According to Printful reviews on Trustpilot, a lot of users attest to its high quality prints.
So, I give Printful a 5 over 5 rating for product quality.
Pricing
You can get started with Printful for free, and there are no monthly fees. You only pay the base price for the products you order, and there are no minimum order requirements.
Nevertheless, you can determine your profit margins, irrespective of the base costs.
So, for pricing, I give Printful a 4 over 5 rating.
Customer Service
Printful has good customer service. They are quick to respond to inquiries and concerns. Their support team is friendly and helpful.
Overall, Printful provides good customer service.
For customer service, I give Printful a 5 over 5 rating.
Printful Review: Frequently Asked Questions
Is Printful Free?
Printful is a free online printing service that offers on-demand printing, fulfillment, and eCommerce solutions.
There are no set-up fees or monthly costs, and you only pay for the products you order.
Printful has no minimum order requirements and offers a wide range of products including t-shirts, posters, phone cases, and more.
Is Printful Legit?
Yes, Printful is a legit company that provides on-demand printing and eCommerce fulfillment services. They have been in business since 2013 and are headquartered in Los Angeles, CA. They offer a wide range of products including t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, phone cases, and more.
Over the years, Printful has fulfilled over 47 million orders. Also, they are highly rated across review platforms.
Is Printful Profitable?
Yes, it is profitable to sell custom products through Printful.
The company has a wide range of products that you can sell, and the prices are very reasonable. The quality of their products is also very good, so you can be sure that your customers will be happy with their purchase.
They allow users to make money by printing products only when they are ordered, which eliminates the need for costly inventory.
Printful helps you design and sell products online with ease. Try it today!
Final Thoughts
Printful is a dropshipping service that has gone above and beyond in helping eCommerce businesses reduce the stress and hassle of handling all aspects of their business.
Instead, Printful can integrate with your eCommerce business and handle all of the branding, printing, shipping, returns, and fulfillment aspects of your business. That gives you the time to manage the designing, marketing, and growing your business.
Setting up a dropship account and integrating it with an eCommerce store can be accomplished in a matter of minutes. The ease of use is one of their best features.
Ultimately, if you are looking to launch your brand and don’t have a lot of money for startup costs, Printful is a great option.
Their website is user-friendly, they have addressed and accommodated most of the nuances involved in using a third party for your printing needs, and their customer service is known for being great.
Printful makes it easy for you to create a shop and start selling your brand within 24 hours. As far as dropshipping services go, Printful is definitely one of the best.