Print on demand sites make it simpler for anyone looking to start their own online business, build a powerful brand, and create a passive income.
Not only can you manufacture and ship items with your custom branding and designs, but it also eliminates the hassle of maintaining inventory, bulk ordering, printing, shipping, and fulfilment.
In order to get started as a print on demand merchant, you need the best print on demand site that will ensure the success of your online business.
In this series of posts, we are focusing on Teespring. During the last few weeks, we compared it with some popular names like Printful, Printify, Spreadshirt, and Redbubble.
We also saw how Teespring fared against the likes of Customcat, Sunfrog, and Teepublic. So taking the series ahead, we have picked Bonfire today.
Bonfire is another similar platform in print on demand space. This review compares Bonfire vs Teespring to help you know more about the two before making a choice.
Bonfire vs Teespring – What Are They?
Bonfire
Bonfire is a free online platform founded in 2012 for anyone wishing to design, sell, or buy custom products. The platform began as an easy online t-shirt fundraising solution for communities and since then, thousands of people, groups, and nonprofits use it to raise funds for their causes.
Over time, Bonfire has expanded its services to anyone seeking to print or sell products such as hats, apparel, totes, mugs, tank tops, and more. Plus, it handles order fulfilment, payment processing, and customer service so that sellers can focus on connecting with their audiences.
Teespring
Teespring is a top, end-to-end, social commerce platform that allows people to create and sell custom products online. The platform makes all products on demand thereby eliminating any upfront costs or risks.
As a seller, you can turn your ideas instantly into a wide range of more than 50 products and receive custom fulfilment and sourcing services. Plus, there’s a host of selling tools integrated into your account.
Teespring handles production, order fulfilment, and shipping after which you receive your profit. The company also handles returns, refunds, and customer support so you can have time to do more of what you love.
Teespring vs Bonfire – How Do They Work?
Bonfire
What I like about Bonfire is the ease of creating t-shirt designs using the design tool and then selling them online. I’m able to upload my own designs into Bonfire and easily create items for sale.
To get started, I set up a fundraising campaign so as to create and customize my fund page. Once I hit the minimum required quantity of t-shirts for printing (5 orders), Bonfire takes the order, prints, ships them to your customers, and then sends the profits to my organization.
Bonfire also lets me set my own t-shirt pricing, but cuts a $10 fee per shirt for printing and shipping. The proceeds are sent back to me (the campaign host), and I ensure that the funds reach the relevant causes.
Each campaign has a set time limit from 7-21 days, after which printing begins. While this is a bit limiting for the fundraiser, it’s still better than services like Kickstarter, which place an expiring countdown if you fall short of your goal.
Teespring
Teespring on the other hand helps you run your eCommerce business by offering a turn-key solution. I find that I don’t have to struggle with marketing or customer service because Teespring handles all that, plus production and fulfilment, which makes eCommerce easier for me.
Setting up Teespring was pretty easy. All I did was create a product using the Teespring Launcher, hit the Start Designing option, and then decide on the profit I want to make per sale. From there on, Teespring takes over and all I do is collect my profits, which are reflected on the payout section of my Teespring account.
Teespring only makes money when I get sales, which is included in the base cost of the products at the time of creating the products.
Plus, Teespring helps me sell my products through its Boosted Network, but it’s not the only tool I rely on solely to drive sales for my business.
Bonfire vs Teespring – Features
Bonfire
Products
Bonfire uses products that I can be proud to sell, which is why its catalog of apparel brands and styles is tested for durability, fit, feel, sizing, and carefully curated for my needs.
The products are also sourced from Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP) group of vendors who are certified and 100 percent sweat-free.
This gives me the assurance that I’m not only promoting good products for my customers, but they’re also good for the world.
T-shirt design templates
Bonfire also offers a collection of free templates and design ideas for my custom t-shirts. The custom designs can also be done by their in-house graphic design experts in decorated apparel.
When I’m not feeling creative enough, I know I can count on the graphic design team. All I do is share a brief with my vision, describe my design to them, and then collaborate with their team to get initial concepts and give my feedback before receiving my designs.
With the designs ready, my part is simply to launch the campaign or start a supply order.
Pricing Calculator
There’s nothing better than knowing the estimated cost of products before I start selling, which is why I like Bonfire’s t-shirt pricing calculator. I can see how much I would possibly earn by selling on the platform, based on the cost of manufacturing and printing the t-shirt.
Once I order more shirts, the price decreases as it’s cheaper to manufacture, but there are other costs that impact manufacturing including the products I choose to order, number of ink colors I use in my designs, and whether I’m printing on one or both sides of the product.
Account Dashboard
Bonfire allows me to manage my campaigns, stores, account details and orders easily from one place. The account dashboard is easy to navigate between different views such as:
- Overview: Shows multiple widgets including campaigns, sales and payouts, progress of campaign and supply orders, and more.
- Campaigns and payouts: Shows everything I need to know about campaign statuses and how to receive my profits through the payouts view.
- Store: This helps me set up, customize, and manage my store.
- Invites: This allows me to leverage Bonfire’s invite a friend program.
- My Orders: Shows me updated information on the status of my campaign and supply orders. Plus, I can start a new supply order from here.
- Account and Help: This section allows me to update my profile, password, and email settings, plus access the help center to contact the customer support team.
Campaigns
Bonfire allows me to launch campaigns and sell products at a profit. The steps I take include designing the product, launching the campaign, and then promoting or selling to the community so they can see my product and buy it.
Once the sales are in, the products are shipped to my customers when each batch ends after the 2-21 days, and then I receive fast payouts after each batch. The more I sell, the higher my profit margins will be.
Political Campaigns
Bonfire offers exclusive features for political campaign fundraisers. This feature suite includes supporter information, US-only support (political campaigns can’t be supported outside the US), and the contribution limits of up to $100 per checkout and $2800 per distinct political campaign seller.
Product Groups
With the Bonfire Product Groups, I get to collect products based on dedicated print processes. The campaigns and supply orders have products from a single group, but I can always start a new design to sell products from multiple groups.
Design Tool
The design tool is a nifty feature that helps me customize products when designing on Bonfire. Some of the tabs include Pick Products, which allows a maximum of nine products I can add to the campaign, Add Text, Add Graphics, and Upload art. The last three allow me to customize my products before launching my campaign.
Store
In the Bonfire Store, I can add, edit, and remove campaigns. It’s a custom page where I can display multiple campaigns without changing their basic functionality provided they’re not in drafts.
Smart Launch
This feature allows me to sell continuously and maximize campaign profits by capturing each sale. Once the current batch of my campaign ends, another batch is opened so I never have to miss out on any sale. Smart Launch ensures my campaigns are ready for new orders without any hassles on my end.
Supply Order
With the Supply Order, I can buy products in bulk without having to worry about campaign parameters. All I do is design my product, hit the Buy Now option, select sizes and quantities, and then place my order. From then on, I simply wait to receive my order after which I can promote, sell or distribute to my customers. I have full control over my inventory.
Invite a Friend
This is Bonfire’s program that helps me invite new friends, family and third-party organizations to join Bonfire. Through this, I can earn up to $100 for every new account and for every shirt I get $1.
Teespring
Product Launcher
This tool helps me pick the items I want to sell. I can use it to create custom designs and apply the designs to the products or upload my own designs.
Products
Teespring also offers products, which go through quality assurance checks so that I and my customers get to enjoy the best experience. Suppliers follow a strict ethical code of conduct including offering eco-friendly products.
Not only that, but Teespring now allows selling of digital products including photo filters, premium content, ebooks, ezines and other items I can sell to my fans directly, not just physical merchandise.
Boosted Network
Teespring’s Boosted Network helps me get my products in front of millions of shoppers around the globe. This boosts my sales offering my brand an invaluable advantage with multi-platform features in one central account. The features include end-to-end integration, zero-risk, zero-cost, and zero limits to the products I can list or sell, plus protected status from hijackers and copycats.
I also get trusted ratings that will help push my listings to the top of search results. This way, I get more impressions and ultimately more sales for my listings.
Teespring Go
With this Teespring feature, I can unlock limited product opportunities, and not have to hassle over customer service or order delivery. This allows me to focus on selling, while Teespring handles fulfilment and everything else.
Seller Dashboard
Like Bonfire, Teespring offers a dashboard with helpful insights on sales trends so I can manage and monitor my online business.
The dashboard shows me an overview of my account at a glance, my product listings, storefronts, valuable insights and sales analytics, personal orders, social media marketing and tracking pixels, integrations, messages, promotions, payouts, and pricing discounts.
I can also update my profile information in the settings dashboard such as my phone number, display name, contact email, or login information.
Super Rush Shipping
This initiative helps me make more sales as it’s an extension of my online selling window. Teespring’s state of the art facility is able to offer faster delivery timelines and put my products into my buyers’ hands in 2-3 days of ordering.
Facebook Cart Abandonment
Teespring’s partnership with Facebook gives me the opportunity to add the Cart Abandonment app. When a shopper visits my campaign page as they’re logged in, they can use the Buy Now button to buy directly from my page. If the buyer adds a product to their cart, and doesn’t check out, I can send a reminder message to them to complete their purchase.
Livestreaming
This feature allows me to increase viewer engagement and merch sales on YouTube. This ensures people are able to purchase digital products during livestreams.
Live Merch Alerts
YouTube has also recently added this exclusively available feature for Teespring users to increase channel monetization. To use it, I set up the TeespringxYouTube merch shelf integration so I can display and sell merch below my videos and leverage features like merch end cards, channel stores, and more.
Once activated, anytime a buyer sees one of my products in a livestream, I get a real-time alert in the chat, which verifies that they’ve bought the merch. This also helps me generate social proof.
Conscious Collection
With this feature, I can create and sell eco-conscious merch that I can be proud of selling to my buyers or fans including organic tote bags, long sleeve tees, eco unisex tees, and eco unisex hoodies. The products are integrated fully in the Teespring Launcher so I can design and launch instantly.
Product Price Editor
Teespring also lets me edit my product prices instantly along with customization capabilities for all my product listings.
Listing Visibility Controls
These controls give me more control over the visibility of my products and listings. I can make my products visible to everyone and select whether to make them public, unlisted, or private.
Teespring vs Bonfire – Integrations
Bonfire
Currently, Bonfire doesn’t integrate with Shopify, Magento or WooCommerce among other eCommerce platforms. Instead, it offers a free, independent, storefront functionality that makes it easy for me to sell t-shirts on the platform by sharing my campaign or store URL on social media platforms.
Teespring
Teespring has a large list of exclusive integrations including its Boosted Network, YouTube merch shelf, Twitch merch store, Streamlabs, Discord, Instagram Checkout, Google Shopping, and Google Analytics.
Bonfire vs Teespring – Pricing
Bonfire Pricing
Bonfire has a base cost, donation fees, and shipping information. The base cost comprises manufacturing, sourcing, and printing expenses, but I get to decide how to price my products.
Shipping fees also vary with domestic and international shipments for campaign orders, which ranges from $3.99 to $9.99. For larger orders of four or more products from the same campaign, with costs of between $11.49 – $21.99.
Teespring Pricing
Teespring is completely free to use, and I get to select the selling price and profits for all my products. When the products sell, I keep the profits.
Once orders are processed, the profit reflects in the payouts for withdrawal. Holiday shipping costs are subject to change though, so that all the orders are delivered in good time.
Teespring vs Bonfire – Similarities & Differences
| Bonfire | Teespring | |
| Platform | Online print on demand | Online print on demand |
| Unique features | Smart Launch T-shirt design templates Invite a Friend program Political Campaigns tool | Product Launcher Boosted Network Super Rush shipping Teespring Go Facebook Cart Abandonment Livestreaming Live Merch alerts Conscious Collection Listing Visibility controls |
| Affiliate program | ✔️ Invite a Friend program | ❌ |
| Integrations | ❌ | Boosted Network YouTube merch shelf Twitch merch store Streamlabs Discord Instagram Checkout Google Shopping Google Analytics |
| Support | Help center, Blog, social media | Training Center, Buyer guides, social media, online ticket |
| Shipping | Standard and Group shipping | Standard, Rush, and Holiday Shipping |
| Pricing | Base cost, donation fees, and shipping (domestic and international rates vary) | Free Products have a base price |
Bonfire vs Teespring – Pros and Cons
Bonfire
Pros
- Free to register
- No upfront payment
- Easy to use interface
- Supports charity course and fundraising campaigns
- Designers can set profit margin and markup
- Quality production material guaranteed
- A graphics design team that supports your creative innovations
Cons
- Not suitable for emergency production and delivery
- Does not support eCommerce platform integration
Teespring
Pros
- Easy access to marketing
- Excellent customer support
- Easy to set up
- Quality production materials
- Sale is not restricted to arts and designs alone
- More product visibility through its boosted network
- Super fast delivery service
Cons
- Limited integration capacity
Is Teespring Legit?
Teespring is a highly reliable and legitimate business. It has its headquarters in San Francisco, California, USA.
Over the years, it has built a reputation for quality and durable products. In recent years, it has been promoting eco-friendly products.
If you are an online store owner, or just a lover of quality tee-shirts, or hoodies, be rest assured that you cannot get scammed on the Teespring online marketplace.
Its expanded set of collection, prompt delivery, and high customer satisfaction rate continue to prove that Teespring is a legitimate business in the POD service industry.
Hence, Teespring is 100 percent legitimate.
Is Bonfire Legit?
Yes, Bonfire has built itself up as a brand that customers can trust. It has been able to gain customers’ confidence because it carefully sources its production materials from reputable brands and manufacturers.
Not to mention, it is a very useful POD tool for NGOs to source charity funds.
So far in its nine years of existence, there has never been any significant issue that affects its reputation. You can be well assured that your order on the platform will be delivered and there is no form of scam whatsoever.
What Are The Best Teespring Alternatives?
Although Teespring is notable, it still has a lot of competitors within the print on demand industry. Some of these Teespring competitors are bigger and well established than Teespring itself, while others are still aspiring to catch up.
In terms of offerings, some of Teespring competitors provide mouth-watering offers like ads credit from Google, third-party platform integrations, diversified customer support system, and community support.
So, here are some of Teespring’s alternatives:
- Printful
- Teelaunch
- Spreadshirt
- Zazzle
- CafePress
- Society6
What Are The Best Bonfire Alternatives?
Unlike other print platforms, Bonfire stands out as an excellent POD service for fundraising campaigns, which makes it ideal for nonprofits.
Still, it is in the POD industry where there are several competitors that offer similar services. Interestingly, some of Bonfire’s competitors support third-party integrations with eCommerce platforms like the Shopify app, WooCommerce, Etsy, OpenCart, etc.
Other POD companies facilitate white label printing, ads support, marketing support, customer retargeting, and prompt delivery service to have an upper hand over Bonfire.
Here are some of the best Bonfire alternatives and competitors:
- Printify
- Fine Art America
- Threadless
- Redbubble
- Teepublic
- CustomCat
Bonfire vs Teespring – Which One Is Better?
For this Bonfire vs Teespring review, Teespring takes the crown.
Not only is it free to use, but it offers a wide range of features, integrations with ecommerce-friendly apps, various shipping options, and better product pricing options.
