Print-on-demand platforms offer customized products with beautiful artistic designs. More so, they provide opportunities for artists and designers to earn revenue.
These POD platforms allow merchants to sell custom products, including apparel, mugs, phone and laptop cases, etc.
Whether you are a new or growing print-on-demand merchant, choosing the best POD platform is critical to your success. You need to look out for a platform that offers
- Wide variety of products and designs
- Excellent product and print quality
- Order processing and fulfillment
- Excellent profit margins for artists and retailers
In this article, we will compare TeePublic and Redbubble to determine which tool offers the best product and print quality.
Related: Best Print On Demand Sites
Overview
TeePublic
TeePublic is an online marketplace for creating and selling products with custom designs. The platform has fantastic designs from a global community of creatives and design professionals. Customers can purchase high-quality merchandise as the software has more than 100 different products including
- Tees
- Hoodies
- Stickers
- Mugs
- Laptop
- Phone cases
TeePublic was founded in 2013 by Josh Abrahamson and Adam Schwartz. However, Redbubble acquired the company in 2018.
Redbubble
Redbubble is a print-on-demand and eCommerce platform for merchants, retailers, and dropshippers. The platform has a rich catalog of print-on-demand products such as
- Men’s and Women’s T-shirts
- Home and living items (Duvet covers, floor pillows, mugs, etc.)
- Accessories
- Gift items
- Phone Cases
- Stickers and more
With a rich product catalog and beautiful designs, shoppers are spoilt for choice. They can order products with great designs and have them delivered to their doorsteps.
Unlike other print on demand sites, Redbubble has been around since 2006 and has its headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. The company helps sellers take care of the hard work. They handle warehousing, order processing and fulfillment, shipping, returns, exchange, refunds, and customer service.
Furthermore, Redbubble offers value to creatives, designers, and artists. They can design beautiful art and earn money when their designs are used on products. With the Redbubble partner program, creatives can create licensed fan art from popular brands.
Explore: Redbubble Review
Partners Program
TeePublic
This platform lets independent artists and designers create beautiful arts and sell them on products. Merchants can create storefronts, upload designs on a variety of products, and publish them on the store.
TeePublic has more than 1.2 million designs. Also, independent artists on the TeePublic platform have earned more than $7 million from artwork sales.
Redbubble
Redbubble allows artists and designers to enjoy earnings by selling their artwork on the global marketplace. Also, they can create fan artist designs for reputable brands.
Online Marketplace
Redbubble lets independent creatives sell their artwork on their online marketplace. Selling on the platform is free.
Artists can create an account and upload your beautiful designs on multiple products. Redbubble allows designers to control the design placement, design elements, color, and more.
After uploading your designs, you can fill in crucial account details, and specify your price markup. Also, you can share your designs on other platforms via a URL.
Redbubble allows merchants to maintain complete control and ownership of their arts and profit margins. When shoppers buy products with your designs, you keep your profit while Redbubble uses the rest to fulfill orders.
Also Read: Society6 vs Redbubble
Fan Artist Design for Brands
Artists and designers can make money from designing fan arts for reputable brands. Redbubble has a partner program that connects talented creatives to these brands. Some of the brands that support this program include
- Steven Universe
- Star Trek
- Zorro
- Subway Surfers
- Adventure time
- UFO
- Rick and Morty
- Samurai Jack
- The Venture Bros
- Steven Universe
- Johnny Bravo
- Dexter’s Laboratory
- Jurassic World, etc.
The Redbubble platform has the requirements for each brand. Artists must create their arts in adherence to specified guidelines.
After creating your designs according to their guidelines, you can tag and upload it to Redbubble. The brands will review and license your designs, and then Redbubble will send you an approval email.
Whether you’re selling on the marketplace or creating a fan art design, your artist margin will not be affected. You will still maintain full ownership and receive payment for your designs.
Verdict
Redbubble is the winner. Beyond the global marketplace, artists and designers can earn royalties by creating and selling fan art designs.
Product Catalog
TeePublic
TeePublic has over 100 products in its catalog. Some of the product categories include
- T-shirts
- Tank Tops
- Hoodies
- Wall Arts and Stickers
- Tapestries
- Phone and laptop cases
- Mugs
- Pillows
- Notebooks, etc.
Also, the platform has over 1.2 million designs from independent artists and designers.
Also Read: Redbubble vs TeeSpring
Redbubble
Redbubble has a rich catalog of more than 60 products. Some of the product categories you include:
- Dresses, leggings, and sweatshirts
- T-shirts
- Hoodies and socks
- Phone Cases
- Stickers
- Wall Art
- Accessories
- Home and living items
- Stationery
- Gift items
Also, you will find multiple designs from brands, partners, artists, and designers.
Verdict
TeePublic and Redbubble have a comprehensive catalog of products and designs. Therefore, both of them are winners.
Product Quality
TeePublic
TeePublic commits to deliver great products, designs, and print quality. Their production team sets high-quality standards for partners and third-party service providers. Furthermore, TeePublic has a Trustpilot rating of 4.3 stars out of five.
Redbubble
Redbubble offers products with excellent and quality prints. Their third-party print providers use digital printing and other modern printing techniques to print designs on products.
Verdict
TeePublic and Redbubble use the same printing technique. However, based on customer reviews, TeePublic has better print and product quality than Redbubble. So TeePublic is the winner.
Check Out: Redbubble vs Threadless
Order Processing & Fulfilment
TeePublic
TeePublic offers order processing and fulfillment services to merchants. Also, they help merchants handle product returns, exchanges, and refunds.
Shoppers can track their order status or change order by inputting their order number, email address, and shipping postal code. TeePublic relies on a complex network of third-party fulfillment centers to manage, process, and fulfill orders.
Redbubble
Merchants do not have to face the hassles of order fulfillment processing. Redbubble helps merchants process, and fulfill orders on their behalf. Also, they print and ship orders to customer locations. Beyond fulfillment, Redbubble provides after-sales services like
- Quality assurance
- Order returns, product exchanges, and shipping
- Payments
- Customer service
If you are a buyer, you can seamlessly track your purchase by sending a tracking request.
Verdict
TeePublic and Redbubble are winners. They offer order processing and fulfillment services for merchants. Also, shoppers can easily track orders status and get product exchanges or refunds.
Printing
TeePublic
TeePublic delivers high-quality prints on clothing and other products. They partner with third-party printing and fulfillment providers to provide custom prints on garments, mugs, laptop cases, and more.
The third-party print providers use a digital printing technique (Direct-to Garment printing). Also, they use the Kornit DTG printers to ensure the output delivers the highest quality. The Direct-to-Garment printing method uses an inkjet printer to inject the ink onto the textile directly.
Then the ink soaks into fibers of the textile to ensure the print design is durable. The fulfillment providers perform quality control before shipping the product to the customers.
Explore: Design By Humans vs Redbubble
Redbubble
Redbubble relies on an extensive network of third-party print providers. The print providers use Direct-to-Garment (DTG) or digital printing technology to print designs on products.
With this printing method, the user applies a pretreatment on the apparel before loading it onto the printer. The printer sprays ink on the garment using inkjet and allows the prints to permeate into the textile fibers. These printing methods produce high-quality prints and ensure they are long-lasting.
So when a shopper buys a product, Redbubble forwards the customer’s order details to their print partners for fulfillment.
Verdict
TeePublic and Redbubble use Direct-to-Garment printing techniques. Also, both companies rely on third-party providers for printing and order fulfillment. They are both winners.
Shipping & Shipping Costs
TeePublic
TeePublic has multiple shipping options. Shipping costs depend on the
- Number of products orders
- Product weight
- Shipping location
- Chosen shipping method
Standard shipping within the US starts at $6.99. For international orders, shipping costs start at $7.99 and may increase when more items are added to the order.
If you want to get your shipping cost, add items to your cart, and proceed to checkout. When you select the shipping destination, the software will automatically display shipping costs.
Shipping timelines for orders within the US include:
- UPS Air – delivery is within 10 to 17 business days
- UPS Ground – delivery is between 10 to 18 business days
- Standard – shipping is between 10 to 20 business days
Shipping timelines for international shipping from the US
- International – delivery is between 15 to 25 business days
- International Plus – delivery is between 15 to 25 business days
Shipping options from European fulfillment centers to European delivery locations include:
- Local Postal Service – no tracking service
- DPD Courier Express – full tracking service
Kindly note that the exact shipping method and duration differ from country to country. And all shipping estimates include printing and processing time.
Fulfillment centers will transfer your orders to your local postal service, and orders will be delivered to your doorstep by the postal service. At the time of purchasing items, customs and duty fees are not calculated.
Also Read: Printify vs Redbubble
Redbubble
Redbubble’s shipping costs are based on several factors such as
- Chosen shipping option at the time of purchase (Standard or Express method)
- Delivery and shipment location
- The type of packaging
- Number of items
Shipping options for local and international orders include
- Standard
- Express
More so, Redbubble ships orders through a network of shipping providers including
- USPS
- FedEx
- UPS
- DHL
Verdict
TeePublic scores a slight win over Redbubble because they provide more shipping options.
Customer Service and Support
TeePublic
TeePublic has extensive customer service and support options. They offer email support, FAQs, blog articles, and design guides.
Redbubble
Redbubble has a community of creatives on Instagram and Facebook. Designers, merchants, artists can get support from fellow professionals.
Redbubble offers multiple support options including email, Twitter, and live chat support. Also, Redbubble has a rich resource base including FAQs and blog articles.
Verdict
Redbubble is the winner. With Redbubble, customers have access to multiple support options. They have an organized design community of Facebook and Instagram. Also, they offer email, live chat, and Twitter support.
Interesting Comparison: Zazzle vs Redbubble
Pricing
TeePublic
TeePublic’s pricing model is straightforward. They have a fixed, regular, and sale price as well as a fixed earning for artists and designers.
When an artist uploads a new design, TeePublic features the design at a sale price for 72 hours. After 72 hours, the product stays on the platform at the regular price.
Artists and designers on TeePublic offer low product prices but still enjoy higher earnings.
For example, a female T-shirt (V-Neck) has a regular price of $5 and a sale price of $3. Also, a classic hoodie has a regular price of $8 and a sale price of $4.
Redbubble
The beautiful thing about Redbubble is that the artist is in total control of his revenue. Merchants can increase and reduce their markups at any time. Also, product pricing is based on two critical factors including
- Product’s base price – the product’s base includes the manufacturing costs and the service charge
- Artists margin – the artist margin is percentage markup on the product’s base price
For instance, if the base price for a black tank top shipped to Atlanta is $400. The artist margin at 20 percent markup will amount to $80.
The retail price for the black hoodie will be the artist margin plus base price. So, the retail price for the black hoodie will be $400 plus $80 = $480.
Verdict
TeePublic and Rebubble run different pricing and earning models for artists and designers.
With the fixed earning model, artists may earn less for each product or design. But it creates more value in the long term as shoppers can access products at affordable rates, and artists can sell more.
Redbubble lets artists modify their markup and control their earnings. So, designers will most likely increase their profit, thereby causing an increase in retail prices.
Due to the increase, shoppers may buy limited products, and artists may sell limited designs. Both TeePublic and Redbubble are winners because both pricing models offer value.
Similarities
TeePublic and Redbubble share features in common. Some of them include:
- TeePublic and Rebubble have a global marketplace for print-on-demand products and merchandise
- Both platforms allow merchants to create and sell custom designs on multiple products
- TeePublic and Rebubble have a comprehensive product and design catalog
- Both tools enable artists, designers, and content creators to develop designs and earn money when their designs are sold on products
- Both platforms offer multiple payment options, including credit card, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Amazon Pay
- TeePublic and Redbubble provide order processing and fulfillment services for merchants. Also, they help handle product printing and shipping to shoppers all over the world.
- TeePublic and Redbubble support bulk orders, handle product returns, and exchanges and issue refunds.
Check Out: Redbubble vs Spreadshirt
Differences
Here are some of the features that set both tools apart.
| Features | Redbubble | TeePublic |
| Student Discounts | Redbubble offers a 15 percent student discount | TeePublic does not offer student discounts |
| Pricing and artist earnings | Artists can control their earnings by increasing or reducing their artist’s margins | TeePublic has a fixed earning model for artists. So artists cannot control their profit margins. |
| Fan Art Designs | Redbubble lets artists create licensed fan designs from reputable brands and companies such as
|
Artists cannot create fan art designs on TeePublic. |
| Hiring an Artist | Redbubble doesn’t have this feature. | TeePublic makes it easy for you to contact designers directly. You can contact them on TeePublic’s database or the artist’s storefront. |
| Customer service and support | They offer email and live chat support. | TeePublic offers only email support. No live chat support. |
Advantages
TeePublic
- TeePublic has a simple and user-friendly interface
- You can contact the artist directly to hire them
- Artists, designers, and merchants can create customized storefronts to sell their designs
- Product quality is excellent
- Customer service responds on time and helps to resolve issues
Redbubble
- The platform is easy to use
- Redbubble offers live chat and Twitter support
- Customer service is responsive
- Redbubble has a large community of creatives on Instagram and Facebook
- Artists can increase and decrease design prices and margins
- Redbubble has an extensive knowledge base and guides for artists, merchants, and shoppers
Disadvantages
TeePublic
- No live chat support
- Artists cannot control their earnings. Earnings are fixed based on the product type.
- Shoppers may experience shipping delays
Redbubble
Some of the issues you may experience with this tool include:
- No custom store
- You may experience shipping delays or missing products
- Bulk orders may contain defective products
Is TeePublic Better Than Redbubble?
Can we infer from this Redbubble vs TeePublic comparison that TeePublic is better than Redbubble? Well, we cannot categorically state that. The reasons for these are not far-fetched.
- Both Teepublic and Redbubble allow designers to sell print on demand products.
- Though they operate within the same industry, their operational model and offerings are quite unique.
- Looking at their customized products, they both offer similar options to users. As a customer, you can decide to purchase apparel, phone cases, canvas prints, hoodies, or even stickers. The luxury to choose from is there.
- They are both big names in their own right and they thrive on the creativity of artists to make unique designs.
- These POD sites are ideal for making quality prints within a very short timeframe. Likewise, their order fulfillment process is reliable.
- They both have strong and organized ways of resolving customers’ issues, although Redbubble seems to have more support options than TeePublic.
Although we cannot clearly state that one is better than the other; however, if we are to compare their product quality, we can explicitly say that TeePublic is better than Redbubble.
Are TeePublic And Redbubble The Same?
No, both TeePublic and Redbubble are not the same. The reason for this question is because TeePublic was acquired by Redbubble in 2018. Hence, Redbubble now owns TeePublic.
However, both POD online marketplaces still operate separately. TeePublic artists still get to keep and maintain their storefront on the platform despite the acquisition. The intention is to keep both brands running independently into the future.
Both POD sites still run their separate models, printing, shipping and delivery, and customer support. You never can tell what will happen in the future, but for now, they are not the same.
Who Are The Best TeePublic Competitors?
TeePublic might have been acquired by Redbubble, still, it has a lot of competitors within the industry. From POD brands that offer similar products and operate similar models, to POD sites with completely different business models.
So, here are some of the biggest TeePublic competitors within the print on demand industry:
- Printful
- Teespring
- Fine Art America
- Zazzle
- CafePress
- Spreadshirt
Who Are The Best Redbubble Competitors?
Redbubble does not have it all up on its sleeve after acquiring TeePublic. Despite this acquisition, Redbubble still operates in a market where the competition is stiff.
Not to mention, the difference between a large monthly organic traffic and a reduced one can be their product prices.
Additionally, all Redbubble competitors offer different forms of attraction that entice both artists and consumers alike.
Some offer a wider range of integrations to third-party eCommerce platforms e.g. Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, etc.
Likewise, other Redbubble competitors offer reduced base cost, free ads credits, flexible customization of artist shops, and the opportunity to hold the top spot in their marketplace.
So, here are some of the biggest Redbubble competitors in the print on demand industry;
- Printify
- Society6
- Art of Where
- Threadless
- Teefury
Final Verdict: TeePublic vs Redbubble
There you have it. We have compared some of the notable features of TeePublic and Redbubble.
Both print-on-demand platforms have extensive design and product catalog including
- Clothing
- Wall arts
- Home and living items
- Accessories and more
Merchants can upload beautiful designs on custom products and earn royalties. More so, TeePublic and Redbubble help merchants fulfill, process, and ship orders globally.
While both platforms rely on third-party print providers, TeePublic offers better quality prints. Their production team sets high-quality standards to ensure that your artwork and product is perfect.
Whether you are starting or growing your POD business, TeePublic has an extensive resource base and email support to help you get started.
