After a week's vacation
In the previous blog I started a list of Printing on Demand websites. These platforms allow your customers to place orders, forward them to their manufacturer(s) after payment and have the product shipped directly to your customer. My list of Printing on Demand platforms was not finished yet, so this week the other well-known providers. There are a number of striking differences:
- With some you have to build a website yourself for customer contact; other platforms offer a gallery that sells your works for you.
- The big ones have production facilities all over the world, keeping shipping costs low worldwide; not all of them also have production locations in the Netherlands.
- Many platforms not only print posters and canvas, but also print (or even print) clothing, cups, office supplies, bed and bath items, and much more.
- With some platforms you pay a monthly fee to use their services, with others a percentage of the profit.
- Many platforms require Paypal, but sometimes a regular bank account is enough, or they offer Apple Pay.
Worldwide
The interest in Print on Demand is worldwide, which means that there are also many reviews to be found. Based on that, here's a list of providers I want to research (in no particular order):
- RedBubble
- Zazzle
- Fine Art America
- Printful
- Printify
- Sellfy
- CafePress
- Society 6
- Gelato
- Spreadshirt
- (Tee)Spring
- AI art shop
In the table below you will find what the different platforms say about themselves on their own website. For comparison I also added Werk aan de Muur / Art Heroes.
| Platform | Need your own website | Present in NL | Production locations | Type of products | Subscription fee or margin | Payment system |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RedBubble | no | yes | Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, United States of America | Wall art, apparel, bed-and-bath, accessories | margin 18% - 43% | Paypal (in Europe outside UK) |
| Zazzle | no | probably | unclear | idem | free | Paypal and creditcards |
| Fine Art America | no | yes | United States, Canada, England, Scotland, Netherlands, Australia | idem | standard: free premium: €30 / year | Paypal |
| Printful | yes | no | US, Canada, Brasil, UK, Spain, Latvia, Japan, Australia | idem | free | ? |
| Printify | yes | yes | Australia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Latvia, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, United Kingdom, United States | idem | standard: gratis, premium: $29 / year | credit card, Printify balance |
| Sellfy | no | ? | US, Canada, UK, Europa (onduidelijk waar) | idem + ebooks, videos, audio & music | Starter $19 / month | Paypal (incl. iDeal) and creditcards, Apple Pay, Google pay. |
| CafePress | no | no | Australia, Canada, UK | Wall art, apparel, bed-and-bath, accessories | free | credit cards, PayPal, and CafeCash |
| Society 6 | no | no | US | idem, but less outside US | your margin 10% | Paypal |
| Gelato | yes | yes | Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UAE, United Kingdom, Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico, USA | Wall art, apparel, bed-and-bath, accessories | free | Credit card, Wallets, PayPal, Apple Pay, Payoneer |
| Spreadshirt / Spreadshop | no | yes? | probably: Austria, Switserland, UK, Ireland, France, Belgium, Nederlands, Luxemburg, Spain, Italy, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Noorway, Finland, Canada, Australia | (company)apparel, towels, accessories | free | PayPal, credit card, iDeal |
| (Tee)Spring | no | yes? | probably: US, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden | Posters, apparel, accessories | free | PayPal, credit card |
| AI art shop | no | no | US, UK | Wall art, apparel, phone-cases | 25% margin | PayPal |
| Werk aan de Muur / Art Heroes | no | yes | probably: Nederland, Duitsland, Frankrijk (send to: Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Norway, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switserland) | Wall art | 3% margin | iDEAL, Klarna, bank transfer, Creditcard, PayPal and Apple Pay. |
The small print
At the American print-on-demand websites (which sell a lot of different stuff), depending on the production location, not everything is sold in Europe, so for example clothing, but no gadgets. Or it will be sold to you, but with much higher shipping costs and longer delivery times.
The platforms where you can buy many different things often offer fewer choices in types of wall art than Werk aan de Muur; for example on canvas and poster, but not on acrylic, metal and other materials.
At Fine Arts America and AI Art Shop they offer you the option to generate designs with AI!
On every platform you are one of the many artists who want to sell their wares and the chance that people spontaneously find you is small. Outside of these platforms, you will therefore also have to advertise yourself.
Sell more
I have already found an online gallery for sale in the Netherlands: Werk aan de Muur. That organization is making great strides with advertising on TV and is expanding to neighboring countries under the name Art Heroes, so that an ever-larger audience can see - and buy - the works. Here too you are one of the many artists who offers works. Which sales channels would be an addition to this?
When it comes to global distribution, Gelato has the largest distribution channel, followed by Printify, RedBubble, and Spreadshop. Of these four, RedBubble and Spreadshop do not require you to create your own sales website.
When it comes to having as many different products as possible printed with your design, you can contact almost all of these platforms. To make a good choice, you have to ask yourself which products best suit your design style or your brand. If you prefer company clothing, or clothing with a continuous print, the choice quickly limits. Maybe you only want to work with sustainable manufacturers?
Being free of charge or not is in many cases an apparent difference. The platforms ensure one way or another that they also make a profit themselves. If they ask for a share of the margin, it mainly means that they make extra profit if you do too.
At AI Art Shop they make it their 'unique selling point' to only sell all works once (or to 1 person); after that, the product will be removed from the gallery and you will be deemed to remove it from sale on other platforms as well.
With the American platforms you will have to pay extra attention to new regulations regarding AI-generated art.
Conclusion
I'm giving myself a little more time to decide if I'm going to open a global sales channel. The possibilities are endless, the efforts can be limited to uploading my digital work (which I also do at Werk aan de Muur / Art Heroes) and opening a PayPal account. When I am ready, you will see it on this website under Art.
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