This is an in-depth review of Printful – a print on demand drop shipping company.
In this review, I’ll talk about:
- What Printful is
- Printful pros and cons
- Key features
- Printful alternatives
- Who Printful is best for
Let’s get started.
The verdict: Is Printful worth it?
Yes. If you’re looking for a reliable print on demand company with high-quality products and easy integration with e-commerce platforms, Printful can definitely work for you. Printful is a particularly good choice for beginners because the product quality is outstanding and you don’t have to worry about dealing with quality issues.
Click here to try Printful free
Printful overview
Printful is the biggest print on demand drop shipping company established in 2013 that helps you sell custom merch (shirts, hoodies, mugs, etc.) in your own online store.
Printful stands out with consistent print quality, a variety of branding options (labels, custom packing slips, pack-in business cards) and fast fulfilment (2-3 business days in my experience).
However, Printful is not for everyone. Printful product costs are considerably higher than its main competitor Printify’s. If you are looking for a POD company with the lowest product costs, you’ll have to take a look at other services.
This Printful review evaluates all the things you should consider before deciding that Printful is really for you. Those are: ease of use, pricing, product variety, integrations, production, shipping, support, payments, alternatives.
If you’re in a rush, below you’ll find a quick summary of the main features of Printful. Read on to discover a more detailed evaluation of Printful’s performance. Starting with the questions – what is Printful and how does it work, exactly?
| Pros | 👍 Free to use, no monthly fees 👍 Consistent print quality and vivid colours 👍 Lots of branding options 👍 Fast fulfilment 👍 Works with 20+ ecommerce platforms 👍 Excellent customer service and active Facebook community |
| Cons | 👎 Expensive 👎 Less products than Printify |
| Fulfillment time | 2-5 business days |
| Fulfillment locations | US, UK, Canada, Brazil, Europe, Japan Australia |
| Products | 300+ |
| Branding options | Neck labels, custom packing slips, branded pack-ins, custom packaging |
| Integrations | Shopify, WooCommerce, Wix, Squarespace, Ecwid, BigCommerce, PrestaShop, Weebly, Bigcartel, Magento, Gumroad, Shipstation, 3dcart, Launchcart, Etsy, Amazon, eBay, Wish, Storenvy, Bonanza |
Who Should Use Printful? And Who Should Avoid It?
Here are some types of people who may benefit from using Printful:
- Beginner entrepreneurs: Printful is a great option for entrepreneurs who want to start an online store but don’t want to deal with the hassle of managing inventory, printing, and shipping.
- Small businesses: Small businesses that are looking to expand their product offerings without investing a lot of money upfront can benefit from using Printful. This is especially true for businesses that don’t have the resources to store and manage inventory.
- Designers: Printful is a good choice for designers who want to create their own custom products and sell them online without having to handle the printing and shipping themselves.
- Influencers: Influencers who have a following on social media can use Printful to create their own branded merchandise to sell to their fans.
Here are some types of people who may want to avoid using Printful:
- People who want to make a lot of money quickly: Printful’s pricing is way higher than other print-on-demand services, which can make it difficult to make a lot of money quickly.
- People with well-established apparel businesses: Printful is expensive. If you’re selling a lot of products already and want to switch to the POD business model, you can definitely find cheaper options, for example, Printify (read Printify review).
Printful pricing
Quick Answer: You can get started with Printful for free. When it comes to product prices, Printful is more expensive than competitors.
Printful is completely free to use, there are no hidden fees or monthly charges.
Compared to competitors, Printful products are more expensive. Printful offers high quality prints with especially vivid and saturated colours, but the price of goods is among the highest on the market.
While the cost of the product may be slightly higher than some competitors, the quality of the products, the range of customization options, and the speed and reliability of the fulfillment process make Printful a popular choice among online retailers.
Printful offers a transparent pricing system, with no hidden fees or minimum order requirements. The cost of the product is clearly displayed on the website and includes the base price, printing costs, and profit margin. The profit margin is set by the customer and is added to the base price to determine the final retail price. Printful also offers bulk discounts on some products, which can help reduce the overall cost of the order.
To understand how expensive exactly Printful is, let’s put Printful and Printify’s pricing of some popular items side by side.
| Product | Printful Price | Printify Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unisex Staple T-Shirt | Bella + Canvas 3001 | $14.25 | from $9.38 |
| Unisex Heavy Blend Hoodie | Gildan 18500 | $23.75 | from $20.15 |
| White Glossy Mug | $7.75 | from $5.00 |
Printful products
Quick Answer: Printful offers over 300 products. You can definitely find some great products there, but its competitors Printify and Gooten have more unique items in their catalogs.
Printful’s product choice is substantial, currently over 300 products. It is also pretty basic, compared to Printify’s and Gooten’s catalogs.
Don’t get me wrong, Printful offers all the bestselling products, like tees, hoodies, mugs, etc. Usually this is enough for beginners who want to only design on the most popular products.
However, if you are looking for eye-catching items, like hooded blankets, car seat covers, can holders, pet beds, etc., Printful is not the place to find them.
Why?
Printful prints goods at its own production facilities and holds its own stock of blank products.
Printify and Gooten collaborate with dozens of printing companies around the globe that have their own blank product inventories. They can add new products whenever they start working with a new printing company. This means that their catalogs are more flexible and can grow considerably faster than Printful’s.
Printful fulfillment methods
Printful offers DTG printing, Embroidery, Sublimation printing, and DTF printing methods to print designs on their products.
In terms of printing methods, Printful’s competitors generally offer similar options. Where Printful stands out is Direct-to-Film (DTF) printing. It’s a newer printing method that involves printing designs onto a special type of film and then transferring the design onto the garment using heat and pressure.
Branding options
I love how customisable Printful’s products are. If you are willing to pay extra, Printful can print inner and outer labels on your garments, embroider your logo, print logo on the sleeves.
It’s a great way to create a strong, memorable brand and raise brand awareness.
Here’s a list of all Printful branding options:
- Inside labels on most apparel products ($2.49 per label)
- Outside labels on tees, hoodies, sweatshirts ($2.49 per label)
- Short sleeve prints on T-shirts ($2.49 per sleeve)
- Long sleeve prints on sweatshirts, hoodies, jackets ($5.95 per sleeve)
Samples
Quick Answer: You can get a limited amount of Printful samples a month with 20% off.
Print quality depends not only on the printing equipment that your print on demand company uses. It is also affected by the quality of the design file you upload and the material of the product you print on.
Many print on demand beginners tend to overlook the fact that mockup files provided by Printful are computer-generated and cannot depict the printing outcome with 100% accuracy.
This is why you should always order samples.
Samples help you understand the print quality, make improvements to the design file, see the fit. If you have samples, you are competent about your products and are able to answer customers’ questions.
Printful lets you order samples with a 20% discount.
There’s a limit to sample orders, though. When you’ve just registered, you can make one sample order per month with a maximum of 2 items. As you grow your business, you get 2 or 3 sample orders per month.
Printful production and shipping
Printful prints goods at its own facilities in the US, Canada, Mexico and Latvia, Spain, as well as Japan and Australia, where Printful has partner facilities. Production normally takes 2-5 days.
Average shipping time is 4 business days, but it depends on your customer’s location. You can check Printful shipping times and rates before ordering.
Compared to competitors, domestic US shipping with Printful seems slightly cheaper than with Printify, but it really depends on the type of product you are selling.
Custom packaging
You can add your logo and a custom message to the packing slip for free.
This helps your customers recognise your brand and adds a personal touch to the unboxing experience. Adding a custom message also works great if you want to promote a sale or mention a new product.
You can also get orders packed in custom mailers, add business cards, stickers or flyers to the order for an extra fee, plus storage costs.
Printful Review: Support, Policies & Community
Printful offers a comprehensive help center, including a knowledge base and support team that is available 24/7 to help customers with any issues they may encounter.
Printful has an active community, including a blog, social media presence, and a Facebook group where customers can connect with each other, ask questions, and share tips and advice on running a successful print-on-demand business.
Overall, Printful has a strong reputation for their customer support, policies, and community, making them a popular choice among eCommerce businesses looking for high-quality print-on-demand services.
Returns & Exchanges
Since Printful produces items on demand, it doesn’t accept returns or exchanges if your customer has ordered a wrong product, size, color, or simply doesn’t like the product.
Returns are only accepted in case of misprinted, damaged or defective item. This is an industry standard, which you’ll also find in Printify’s and Gooten’s policies.
Printful Content Policy
Printful states that all content is subject to review, and Printful reserves the right to remove it at any time and for any reason. Printful evaluates each case individually.
You cannot print content that infringes on the intellectual property of others. It is also forbidden to print content that promotes illegal activity or expresses hatred towards any person or group.
Here’s more info about acceptable content for printing.
Printful Payments
Printful offers several billing options to make it easy for customers to pay for their orders. Here are some of the billing options available:
- Credit card: Customers can securely store their credit card information on their Printful account and use it to pay for their orders. Printful accepts all major credit cards, including Visa, MasterCard, and American Express.
- PayPal: Customers can link their PayPal account to their Printful account and use it to pay for their orders.
- Klarna: Printful also offers Klarna as a payment option, which allows customers to pay for their orders in installments over time.
Printful Alternatives
There are several Printful alternatives available in the print-on-demand market, each with their own unique features and pricing. Here are some of the best Printful alternatives:
- Printify: Printify is a network of POD providers that offers a huge selection of customizable products, including apparel, phone cases, and home decor. They also offer more competitive pricing than Printful, fast shipping options, and integrations with popular eCommerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce.
- Gooten: Gooten is another network of print on demand suppliers. They also offer a user-friendly interface, competitive pricing, and global shipping options.
- Teelaunch: Teelaunch is a print-on-demand platform that specializes in custom printing for apparel, accessories, and home decor. Teelaunch’s suppliers are mostly US-based.
Read also: Printful vs. Printify: Verdict After $55000 in POD Sales
Printful FAQs
Does Printful make good products?
Yes, Printful is known for producing high-quality products. They use top-quality materials and printing techniques to ensure that their products are durable, comfortable, and look great.
Is Printful quality better than Printify?
Printful quality tends to be better because, unlike Printify, Printful has its own production facilities with rigorous quality check processes. Printify is a network of different facilities around the globe. Although Printify’s quality standards are high, they can’t always guarantee consistency of quality.
Does Printful have monthly fees?
No, Printful doesn’t charge monthly fees.
What is cheaper than Printful?
Printify, Gooten, Gelato, Printed Mint, Teelaunch are all print on demand companies that are generally cheaper than Printful.
Is Printful worth it for artists?
Yes, Printful is a great option for artists who want to sell their designs on a variety of products without having to manage their own inventory or shipping.
Do you need money to sell on Printful?
When you create a product on Printful, they provide a base cost that includes the cost of the blank product, printing or embroidery, and any other customization options you have selected. You can then set your own retail price above the base cost, which allows you to make a profit on each sale.
It’s important to keep in mind that you will need to cover the cost of any marketing or advertising you do to promote your products, as well as any fees associated with the eCommerce platform you choose to sell on.
Conclusion
Overall, Printful’s combination of quality, speed, and affordability, as well as its user-friendly platform and integrations, make it a popular choice among eCommerce businesses looking for print-on-demand services.