Looking for a way to make some extra money from home? Or do you have a popular Instagram page or Youtube channel and would like to start selling customized t-shirts and other merchandise with your logos and slogans to your fans?
There is no better way to do this than by using print on demand, one of the most profitable eCommerce models.
Today, we will be looking at two popular print on demand platforms: Spreadshirt and Teespring.
Both POD platforms let you make money by uploading designs and having them printed on t-shirts, caps, mugs, and other merchandise. However, you won’t have to deal with any of the printing, handling, or shipping yourself – all that will be done for you automatically by the platform.
Let’s have a look at how Spreadshirt and Teespring compare in key areas and features.
Ease Of Signup
How easy is it to sign up on either Spreadshirt or Teespring platform? Is there a learning curve, and does it take a long time?
Spreadshirt
Signing up to Spreadshirt is pretty easy. You will just need an email address and password to register; then, you will be able to set up your store.
However, there are two ways to sign up on Spreadshirt – selling on the marketplace and selling on your own store. We will talk about these two later in more detail.
Also Read: Redbubble vs Spreadshirt
Teespring
Teespring’s signup process is just as easy as Spreadshirt and fairly similar. However, they also allow you to sign up quicker by creating an account with Facebook or Google.
Verdict
Teespring slightly edges out Spreadshirt here. You can quickly set up your Teespring account by using either your Google or Facebook access.
Product Selection And Catalog
Let’s have a look at the products offered in each POD marketplace. Which one offers a bigger selection of products to sell?
Spreadshirt
Spreadshirt has a massive catalog of over 200 different products and items. Let’s have a look at some different categories available to sell.
- Gift – Including Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, wedding, birthday, baby shower, and more gifts
- Men’s clothing – T-shirts, bandanas, tank tops, polo shirts, etc.
- Women’s clothing – Leggings, t-shirts, long sleeve shirts, etc.
- Kids clothing – Baby bibs, hoodies, sweatshirts, t-shirts, etc.
- Accessories – Caps, duffel bags, tote bags, iPhone cases, buttons, etc.
- Home and living – Mugs, pillowcases, aprons, mousepads, water bottles, etc.
- Groups and teams – Family reunions, graduations, etc.
All in all, regardless of what kind of designs you like to create or what kind of YouTube channel you are running, you will be able to find cool products that work for you and get your audience excited.
Explore: Redbubble vs Teespring
Teespring
Teespring started out with just a few items, such as t-shirts and hoodies. However, they have now expanded their catalog.
They still only have around 60 different products, which is a lot less than Spreadshirt. However, their catalog is large enough that you will likely find most products you will want to sell.
Let’s take a look at the products available on Teespring:
- Unisex tees
- Women’s tees
- Hoodies
- Sweatshirts
- Tank tops
- Kids and babies
- Long-sleeve tees
- Other customized apparel – Socks, leggings, etc.
- Accessories – Tote bags, phone cases, mugs, etc.
- Home Decor – Pillows, posters, canvas prints, etc.
Verdict
As you can see, although Teespring does place a large focus on clothing than other items, there is still a decent selection. Lets call a spade a spade. Spreadshirt wins in this Teespring vs Spreadshirt category. Moreover, it offers more product varieties than Teespring. Hence, Spreadshirt wins.
Creating And Designing Products
How easy is it to upload designs and create your own product? Do they both feature a mockup generator for customizing products? Let’s have a look at the process on both platforms.
Spreadshirt
To create a product on Spreadshirt, select a product you want to sell and you will be taken to the designer tool.
The designer tool is pretty easy to use. You can upload designs from your computer or add text straight to the product you are designing.
You can change the colors, customize the text you add, and create different designs and slogans for the different sides of the product (such as the front and back of a t-shirt).
I found the designer tool very easy to use. Just as its name implies, Spreadshirt is a POD platform more geared towards creating custom t shirt designs.
Teespring
Teespring’s designer tool is not that difficult to use either, but I liked Spreadshirt’s designer tool better.
You can add an image or write a text to place on the product; you can customize the text’s fonts as you like.
You can choose different colors, and you also have the option of choosing the price straight from the design tool.
It is possible to switch between different sides of the product; however, Spreadshirt offered more customization options in this regard than Teespring.
The good part about Teespring is that you are given the option of previewing how your product will look. While this will certainly not give you a full picture of how it will look in real life, it will help give you an idea; Spreadshirt did not seem to have this option.
Verdict
Both Spreadshirt and Teespring are on par based on the ease of use during product design. Nevertheless, Spreadshirt wins in my humble opinion – the interface is more user-friendly and has more white space.
Check Out: CustomCat vs Teespring
Where To Sell Your Products
So, now that you have created your customized product, where will you be selling it? Spreadshirt and Teespring are a bit different in this regard.
Spreadshirt
Spreadshirt gives you two options – you can sell your product on the Spreadshirt marketplace or on your own online store.
What’s the difference?
When you sell on the Spreadshirt marketplace, you won’t have to worry about building a website, creating an eCommerce store, running ads to get people to visit your website, or building a blog to attract organic traffic. Instead, your products will be featured on the Spreadshirt marketplace, which already has up to 100,000 daily visitors.
The Spreadshirt marketplace is a bit like Amazon or eBay, only for embroidered and custom merch. People go on the marketplace to search for cool shirts, mugs, hats, baby clothing, gifts, and more.
Not only that, but you can get additional exposure through Spreadshirt’s T-Shirt of the Week and Designer of the Month campaigns – if you get chosen.
Of course, you can definitely run your own organic and paid marketing campaigns to drive traffic to your product listings. However, you will already have built-in exposure.
If you are a newbie, this might be a better option for you – instead of having to figure out how to build an eCommerce store from scratch and test out advertising campaigns until you find a successful one, you can skip much of that and go straight to selling.
Spreadshirt also gives you the option of selling on your own store. This does require more effort and a bit more expertise – or at least the willingness to go through a learning curve.
However, it gives you more control over the look of your site. You will have more authority with your own branded website and blog.
If you are more experienced and feel like you could go it alone, this might be a better option.
Selling on the Spreadshirt marketplace has another benefit – besides being displayed on the Spreadshirt marketplace, your products will be shown on external marketplaces, such as Amazon and eBay. This depends on your country.
Teespring
Teespring only gives you one option – selling on the Teespring marketplace. This gives you exposure to Teespring’s existing customer base.
Unlike other print on demand platforms, Teespring does not seem to offer a Shopify integration. However, they do allow you to create your own storefront.
In a way, this allows you to create a customized branded store, with your own logo, without the hassles of setting up your own, brand-new website.
In fact, Teespring allows you to create multiple storefronts. This is especially useful if you have different YouTube channels, different designs and brands, etc.
At the same time, Teespring offers something else that can get you even more exposure: Their boosted network.
Once you have sold at least one item and have become a verified seller, you can be eligible for the boosted network. The boosted network includes eBay, Amazon, Walmart, Etsy, Wish, JD, and Rakuten.
Not every product will appear on all seven platforms – Teespring will decide where each product should appear. This is not something you have control of – though you can opt-out of the boosted network if you do not want your custom merch to appear on eBay or other marketplaces.
Verdict
While you don’t have to worry about running Facebook ads or other paid ads, both platforms offer a dependable marketplace to sell your personalized products. Yet, It is unclear whether Teespring’s boosted network is larger than Spreadshirt’s, or whether your products have a greater chance of appearing on external marketplaces with Teespring. Nevertheless, it is a draw for this round.
Explore: Printful vs Teespring
Integrations
Even though Teespring doesn’t offer a Shopify integration, they do allow you to show your products on other platforms. Let’s take a look at the integrations offered by each print on demand service.
Spreadshirt
Spreadshirt’s Shopify integration allows you to sell products on your own Shopify store. Just download the Spreadshirt app in the Shopify app store to connect your Spreadshirt account to your Shopify store.
Not only that, but there is another cool feature – you can integrate Spreadshirt’s designer tool on your own website. This means that you can allow your customers to use the designer tool on your site to customize the t-shirts that you are selling them!
For example, they will be able to add extra text, change colors, and more.
There is also a Facebook integration that allows you to create a free Facebook app for your Spreadshirt products. If you run a popular Facebook page, you can have your products appear right on Facebook so that your fans won’t have to leave the social media network to shop for your merch.
Teespring
Although Teespring doesn’t have a Shopify integration, they do have some really cool integrations that will be useful for celebrities, influencers, and content creators.
If you are a YouTube video creator, you will be pleased to learn that you can feature your merch directly under your videos on a “shelf.”
You won’t have to link to your store anymore in the video description. Instead, your viewers will be able to see pictures of your merch, as well as prices, and click on the product they want to buy.
Whether you have a YouTube channel or not, if you are an online influencer, you likely have an Instagram channel. Here is where Teespring gives you another advantage.
Teespring lets you sell your merch on shoppable Instagram posts. This feature lets your customers and fans make purchases straight from Instagram, without having to head over to your website.
This is a new feature that Instagram has been testing, and it was only made available to a few brands. Teespring is one of them, and they are the only print-on-demand website that was included.
However, the sad part is that this feature was tested out as a new beta feature. As of now, the program is closed and no new Teespring sellers are allowed in.
Hopefully, it will open up again and other Teespring sellers will soon be able to make use of Instagram shoppable posts.
Teespring has some other integrations influencers will find useful. If you stream live on Twitch, you will be able to have your merch displayed on Twitch, alongside your streams.
If you use Streamlabs, you will be able to benefit from its integration with Teespring as well.
Verdict
All in all, when it comes to third-party integrations (not including Shopify), Teespring wins. It gives you the ability to sell to your fans on YouTube, Instagram, and Twitch, and its boosted network means that your products can be displayed on seven other marketplaces as well, including Amazon and eBay.
Interesting Post: Best Print On Demand Sites Like Printful
How You Make Money
How do you earn money on either Spreadshirt or Teespring platform? Are there any fees to know about?
Spreadshirt
We mentioned earlier that Spreadshirt gives you two options – selling on the marketplace and selling on your own Shopify store. How you make money will depend on where you are selling.
If you choose the marketplace channel, you will earn a fixed commission on every sale. This is not something you can control or change.
For example, you will earn $3 on a standard men’s t-shirt and $5.50 on a Unisex Tri-Blend T-Shirt.
Sales on external marketplaces, such as eBay, have their own commission rates – for example, $2.55 on a standard men’s t-shirt.
The full list of the commissions can be found here.
Finally, if your products are sold via the customize tool, you will receive a flat commission of $3 for any product.
The customize tool is a tool that consumers on Spreadshirt can use to customize your products as they wish. It’s kind of similar to what you do when designing your own products – it just gives customers the ability to customize them further, such as by adding additional text, uploading an extra image, or changing the color.
Your commissions will be paid to you once a month. You must have reached the minimum, which depends on your currency (10 USD and EUR, for example).
Now, if you are selling on your own Shopify site, things are a bit different. You will be able to set your own price and add any margin that you want.
For example, if the product costs $10, you can charge $15 + shipping for a $5 profit. Or you can offer free shipping and charge $18 for the product.
If you have your own store, you will first charge customers the resale rate – $15, for example. Then, when you fulfill the order, Spreadshirt will charge you $10 (or whatever the base price is) + shipping.
It’s worth mentioning that Spreadshirt operates a separate POD marketplace called SpreadShop. There, you can sell your products and set your own margins.
Teespring
Teespring lets you set your own prices. When they appear on the Teespring marketplace, they will appear with the price you set.
This lets you control your earnings. For example, if a t-shirt costs $10, you can charge $15 or $20 to earn a profit of $5 or $10.
Verdict
Teespring wins in this category. You get to decide your profit margins rather than getting limited by the Spreadshirt’s commission system. If you want to get the extra exposure that comes with selling on the Spreadshirt marketplace, you will have to give up control of the pricing; with Teespring, you can still determine your own earnings. The workaround with Spreadshirt is to open an account with SpreadShop as well.
How Are Products Printed?
Let’s take a look at the printing methods used by both platforms to see if your customers will be sent high-quality items.
Spreadshirt
Spreadshirt uses digital direct printing for most products.
Digital direct printing involves a computer-based process where colors are sprayed and printed onto the fabric. The computer controls the process to ensure it comes out correctly.
For some products, such as iPhone cases and mugs, thermal sublimation is used, where designs are first put on a transfer foil and then transferred to the product.
Teespring
Teespring uses both direct digital printing and screen printing.
Screen printing is what is usually used for higher-quantity orders. The design gets its own printing screen, which is then pressed onto the fabric to create the final end product.
Verdict
There is no clear winner here. It is a tie. Both Teespring and Spreadshirt platforms uses high quality printing methods.
Also Read: Teespring vs Printify
Product Pricing
How much are the base prices for products on each site? Let’s compare three items to get an idea. We will be comparing Spreadshirt’s prices for when you are selling on your own store to Teespring’s prices for selling on the marketplace, as they have a similar earning model.
- Unisex Classic T-Shirt:
- Spreadshirt: $6.39
- Teespring: $10.57
- Tote Bag
- Spreadshirt: $6.15
- Teespring: $12.25
- Coffee/Tea Mug
- Spreadshirt: $5.21
- Teespring: $8
As you can clearly see, Teespring’s product prices are higher than Spreadshirt.
What does this mean for you? That on Spreadshirt, it will be easier to earn a profit.
You can compete with your competitors’ prices by lowering your own and still earning a decent profit margin; with Teespring, your product’s final cost will be a lot higher if you want to earn the same margin.
At the same time, your immediate competition on Teespring will be other sellers on the marketplace who are bound to the same base prices as you, so it is not that bad.
Verdict
We give the win up to Spreadshirt here. As mentioned earlier, Teespring product prices are relatively higher than Spreadshirt’s.
Shipping And Delivery
Both platforms take care of shipping for you. You want to keep your customers satisfied, so it’s important to have a look at the shipping rates and delivery times.
Overall, it seems that Teespring usually has lower shipping rates, both to the UK and to the US.
Of course, shipping rates and times will depend on the country you are shipping to.
Find out where most of your fans are located (using YouTube analytics, for example), and then compare the shipping rates and times for both countries.
Spreadshirt’s shipping rates and times can be found here.
Teespring’s shipping rates are here and shipping times are here.
Verdict
Both platforms offer express shipping at a higher cost. There is no clear winner in this category. It is a tie. Most times, shipping prices are determined by shipping companies, and this is beyond the sphere of operation for both Teespring and Spreadshirt.
Affiliate Network
Interestingly, some Teespring and Spreadshirt competitors like Printful, CafePress, Threadless, etc. offer affiliate programs.
You may ask – does Teespring have an affiliate network? The answer is no, Teespring does not have an affiliate network.
However, Spreadshirt has an affiliate network through Viglink, where you can earn up to 25 percent commissions on sales.
Spreadshop has an affiliate network through ShareASale, where you can earn $3 for every new seller who sets up an account.
Verdict
Once again, Spreadshirt wins over Teespring in this category for the simple reason that Teespring does not have an affiliate network.
Customer Support
If you need help getting started or are facing a specific issue, how can you reach out?
Spreadshirt
Spreadshirt has a FAQ section for sellers. If you need help with a specific problem, you can reach out via email or phone.
Teespring
Teespring also has a training center for sellers. If you need help with a specific question, you can get in touch with a rep via live chat (during business hours) or email them (all emails are replied to within 24 hours).
Verdict
Regarding customer support, Teespring comes out on top in this category. As a reliable print on demand marketplace, Teespring offers its users more contact channels for getting support whenever they need one.
Explore: Printful vs Print Aura
Spreadshirt vs Teespring: Similarities And Differences
Now, let’s take a quick look at the main similarities and differences between Spreadshirt and Teespring:
Similarities
- Both Teespring and Spreadshirt offer an easy sign up process. In fact, you can quickly start your print on demand business within a couple of minutes on both platforms.
- They both have high quality products.
- With either Spreadshirt or Teespring, you are provided with a boosted network which provides you with the option of selling on other online marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, etc.
- They both have reliable customer support service.
Differences
- While Spreadshirt supposts Direct-to-Garment and foil printing, Teespring supports only Direct-to-Garment and screen printing.
- Unlike Teespring, Spreadshirt does not allow you to set your profit margins.
- With Teespring, you can sell your custom printed products via YouTube and Instagram, unlike Spreadshirt.
- Unfortunately, Teespring does not have an affiliate network, unlike Spreadshirt that offers affiliate programs on Viglink and ShareASale.
Wrapping It Up – Which One Is A Better Choice?
Overall, I think Spreadshirt is a better choice. They have a larger selection of products, give you more options in terms of where you can sell, and have much lower prices.
Although Teespring has more third party integrations, their Instagram integration isn’t even currently open for new sellers.
The only problem with Spreadshirt is that they don’t let you choose your own margins if you are selling on the Spreadshirt marketplace. The solution to this is to open up a SpreadShop store, which can be done from your Spreadshirt account dashboard – this also gives you yet another channel to sell on.
