Print on demand means a supplier prints each item after a shopper orders it, so you hold no stock. To start a print on demand business on Shopify, pick a niche, add a print-on-demand app such as Printful, Printify or Gelato, put your designs on its products, order samples, then price each item to cover printing, shipping and ads.
Your first 40 designs are live on tees, hoodies and mugs. Visits come in from your ads, and nobody buys. Then the first order lands, and the $20 tee leaves you less than $5. How much you keep is mostly decided before you upload a design.
What is print on demand?
Print on demand is selling custom products that a supplier prints and ships only after a shopper pays. The shopper orders on your store. Your print-on-demand app sends the order to its printer, which makes, packs and ships the item. You pay the supplier for that one item and its shipping, then keep the difference.
Shopify itself doesn't print anything. Its print-on-demand page points you to apps instead. Shopify's own guide names two trade-offs: lower margins, because there is no bulk price, and little control over how orders are made and sent. Private label flips both: a bulk price and your own spec, paid for up front. Our list of ecommerce business ideas puts print on demand beside nine others, by what each needs before the first sale.
How do you pick a niche and products?
Pick one group of shoppers you can name, then the one or two products they already buy. "Funny shirts" is not a niche. "Night-shift nurses" or "trail runners in Colorado" is, because you know where they gather and what joke lands with them.
Start narrow on products and wide on designs. A tee and a mug in 20 designs tell you more than 20 product types with one design each. When one design sells, put it on a hoodie or a tote next.
How much do you make on one print-on-demand sale?
About $5 on a $20 tee, once shipping, card fees and $6 of ads come out. That is less than Shopify's print-on-demand calculator shows: its default tee costs $8 to make and sells for $20, $12 profit a sale, and a note under it says the figures exclude shipping fees, taxes and other costs.
Put those costs back, and the same tee looks like this:
| One $20 tee | Calculator | The real sale |
|---|---|---|
| Price, plus $4.95 shipping the shopper pays | $20.00 | $24.95 |
| Printing | -$8.00 | -$8.00 |
| Shipping you pay the printer | $0 | -$4.95 |
| Card fee on Shopify Basic, 2.9% + 30¢ | $0 | -$1.02 |
| Ads, say $6 a sale | $0 | -$6.00 |
| You keep | $12.00 | $4.98 |
The $4.95 is Printful's US flat rate for one tee, before the 40 cents it adds to US orders until January 17, 2027. The $4.98 is 20% of what the shopper paid, inside the 15% to 25% that Shopify's guide gives as the average t-shirt company's margin. Raise the price to $28 and the same sale keeps $12.74. Offer free shipping at $20 and the sale keeps 17 cents.
In the Price section of the product page, click Cost per item and type the printing price. Shopify shows Profit and Margin beside it. Leave shipping out of that cost, as Shopify's Help Center says. The difference between markup and margin matters here: $12 on an $8 tee is a 150% markup and a 60% margin.
Checked November 9, 2026, in the Shopify admin.
Which print-on-demand app should you connect to Shopify?
Pick the app by the job your store needs done. All three below are free to install, charge for each item only when it sells, and offer a paid plan with up to 33% off products, as their listings say.
| App | Rating, Nov 9, 2026 | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Printful | 4.8 (4,018) | Printing in its own facilities, with branded packing slips, pack-ins and packaging |
| Printify | 4.7 (4,362) | A wide catalog, with a choice of print provider for each product |
| Gelato | 4.8 (1,049) | Printing close to the shopper, through more than 140 hubs in 32 countries |
Each one also connects to Etsy and Amazon, so the same products can sell there too. For Printful and Printify side by side on one tee, see Printful vs Printify.
Can you sell any design on print on demand?
No. You need to own the design or hold a license to sell it on products. Shopify can remove a listing that infringes someone's rights, its Help Center says. Printful's intellectual property policy says you alone are responsible for what you upload, tells you not to upload anything you are unsure of, and says Printful can refuse to print a design.
A team logo, a cartoon character, a brand name or a song lyric needs its owner's permission. Before you print a phrase, search it in the USPTO's trademark search. Artwork you buy needs a license that covers products for sale, not just personal use.
Why order samples before you sell?
A sample shows you the print, the color and the fit before a shopper does. A size chart doesn't tell you how a shirt hangs. On Printful's free plan, your one sample order a month, of up to three items, costs 20% less.
Photograph the sample too. Use the app's mockups for every color, and add one real photo of the product worn or used. Product photography at home covers the setup.
How long does print on demand shipping take?
Plan on about one to two weeks in the US: a few days to print, then the carrier. Printful's shipping page puts production at 2 to 5 business days, and its rate tool shows 3 to 6 more for a shirt to the United States. Printify's Help Center says most orders leave within 2 to 7 business days of the order. Put that delivery time on your product pages and in your shipping policy.
Watch the checkout too. Printful adds its own shipping profile to your store, its Help Center says, and Shopify adds up the rates from each profile in a cart. A shopper buying a printed tee and an item you ship yourself can pay shipping twice. How Shopify shipping rates work shows how the two add up.
How do you get your first print-on-demand sales?
Show the designs to the group you picked before you pay for ads. Post the mockups where those shoppers already gather, and note which design people save, share or ask about. Put your ad money behind that one. If visits come and nobody adds to cart, check the price, the photos and the shipping cost before you add more designs.
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Is print on demand profitable?
It can be, on thin margins. Shopify's guide puts the average t-shirt company's profit margin at 15% to 25%. Printing is paid per item with no bulk price, so ads and shipping decide most of it. Price each product for what it costs you after both, not after printing alone.
How much does it cost to start a print on demand business?
Shopify's guide says a few hundred dollars. Shopify starts with 3 days free, then $1 a month for 3 months, then Basic at $39 a month. Printful, Printify and Gelato are free to install and charge only when an item sells. Samples and design software are the rest.
Does Shopify do print on demand?
Not by itself. Shopify doesn't print or ship products. You add a print-on-demand app from the Shopify App Store, such as Printful, Printify or Gelato, and it prints and ships each order once a shopper pays. Shopify's own print-on-demand page names those three.
Do you need an LLC for print on demand?
Not to start, Shopify's guide says. It adds that an LLC can protect your personal assets as you grow, for example in a copyright dispute. Rules on business registration and sales tax differ by state and country, so check yours before your first sale.
What are the best print on demand sites?
It depends on the job. Printful prints in its own facilities and offers branded packing. Printify lets you pick from many print providers per product. Gelato prints close to the shopper through hubs in 32 countries. All three connect to Shopify, and also to Etsy and Amazon.
Your designs are live. Which collection gets visits and no carts?
Sledge doesn't print, ship or sync anything with your print-on-demand app. Try it free for 14 days, and its Signals tab shows "Collection viewed, not bought" when a collection gets 200 or more visits in a week and an add-to-cart rate under a fifth of your store's average. Growth Intelligence turns on when you pick a paid plan, and it totals what its suggested fixes could add in one dollar figure, labeled Est. potential.
