Lets dive in and review Teespring, covering the features and benefits for selling custom merch. When starting eCommerce, it can be tough for beginners and can result in total failure. Many like to play it safe and work with partner companies, such as Teespring, to earn money effortlessly. If your curious about Teespring’s process, below is an in-depth review to answer all your burning questions.
What is Teespring?
Teespring is an on-demand online retailer that sells customized products. Founded by Walker Williams and Evan Stites-Clayton in 2011, they are a competitive e-commerce provider. Located in Providence, Rhode Island, Teespring’s clean record allows both customers and sellers to be at ease.
Teespring’s goal is to sell custom apparel easier—for both consumers and investors. With zero-risks and no upfront investment fees; it is one of the best platforms for beginning entrepreneurs.
How does Teespring work?
So, how exactly does Teespring work?
In the straightforward process, users design their own products to sell onto Teespring’s website. In this business model, you upload your designs and select which stock product you’d like it on. The popular products are their high-quality t-shirts, home-goods, phone cases, and stationery.
Users create custom apparel using the Teespring Launcher, in which you can select the colour, design, and product to sell. No orders are manufactured or shipped until the sale is made. (This allows both Teespring and the user to have zero upfront costs.)
Teespring handles:
- Production
- Distribution shipping
- Customer service
- Website hosting
- Marketing
The unique business model benefits both the company and the seller.
Figure 1: http://community.teespring.com/training-center/how-does-teespring-work/
Now, people can earn a fair percentage of profits without down payments! As Teespring is entirely free to use, with made-to-order products, there are no strings attached. The company only makes money when you make money.
Each product has a sale price (what customers pay) and a base cost (what the product actually costs.)
So if you sold a t-shirt listed at $24 and the base cost at $10, you’d earn $14. Quite impressive for an online selling service!
Many wonder what Teespring takes from your total earnings, but all fees are included in the base cost. They calculate their earnings onto the base cost—so no percentage is taken!
Unlike other services, the sale price is up to you. This means you can decide how much you’d like to make per sale. Though, as with all business models, the lower the cost the better chances it’ll sell.
What Is a Teespring Store?
Now that you know about Teespring’s flexible process, let’s dive right into what a store is.
On Teespring, each seller has an online store through its platform.
These stores, otherwise called “Teespring Storefronts,” show off your merchandise just like website would. These stores can help you to gain more sales and allow your products to be branded. (This is great, as no money needs to go into marketing/branding.)
Storefronts are fully customizable and can be edited to fit your preferences. Using the features on your account, you can adjust your logo, banner, product listings, and store title.
Additionally, you can have product categories and themed listings. (For example, during the holidays, you could have a ‘Merry Christmas’ collection to feature holiday-themed products.) The usage of categorized collections allows potential buyers access to your listings.
Overall, Teespring storefronts allow you to set up an eCommerce site without any hosting fees.
Teespring Review: Features for Sellers
Unlike other on-demand partnership programs, Teespring offers extra benefits that other companies don’t have. Teespring takes care of product sourcing, inventory storage, product mock-ups, listing creation, order fulfilment, delivery, and customer services. Surprising that one company can assist in all these areas—just goes to show the power of the internet.
Comparable to regular online stores, Teespring hosts your products with the intention to sell. They provide you with a multitude of selling tools such as Teespring promo codes, buyer messaging, and listings through Amazon and eBay.
Embedded into your Teespring account, you’ll find email marketing tools and social media promos. Lastly, their analytic features are top-notch for examining marketing trends.
Furthermore, order fulfilment is as top-notch as it comes. Customers claim their customer support team is one of the best available. The assistance isn’t only great for buyers, but for sellers experiencing troubleshooting. When compared to other online retailers, Teespring ranks one of the highest in buyer satisfaction—this positive feedback, therefore, is directed toward your brand. Additionally, they have an excellent global fulfilment plan; they ship to 180 countries, allowing you to make more sales. Both customers and sellers receive the full benefits of this company!
The customization of your products, storefront, and brand are accessed with just a touch of a button. With over 50+ products, there’s no need to look elsewhere for stock. As their slogan is “Sell anything,” you can best bet any product you’ve had in mind will be available on their site.
Teespring Create: Design Launcher
The first step is to design your product. The free selection of online tools allows you to create your design on their website, or you can upload your own designs. Choose the product you’d like your design onto and there you go! It’s that easy.
Teespring recommends using high-quality PNG files when uploading onto the launcher. Remember to use transparent backgrounds (you can through GIMP, Photoshop, etc.) Note that the launcher doesn’t accept EPS files, and the size limit is 50 MB. For those who aren’t familiar with photo editing software, Teespring offers a selection of online design tools (like Placeit) if you need help creating designs.
By using Teespring, you can add additional designs during the launch. Simply hit “Add More Products” when listing creations, to add a design to each product type. For those with an already active listing, you can run “Add to existing listing” to do the same function.
You cannot add different designs for the same product type (such as two unisex t-shirts with separate designs.) Instead, you can add different models for different product types (such as one ladies' t-shirt and a unisex t-shirt with separate designs.)
This is a bummer, compared to other services, in which you are allowed multiple designs for the same product.
Now, to edit your product listing, you will need to access it from your account. To fully optimize your listing title and description, you will need to create eye-catching titles. A good rule of thumb is to utilize keywords and to integrate your merch onto other sites (such as a YouTube channel). Be sure to use creative adjectives and product descriptions to boost sales.
Teespring Campaigns
Remember how I said Teespring offers the most competitive selling platform? This is because of Teespring’s Boosted Network.
What exact does Boosted Network offer?
For one, this invaluable resource allows Teespring sellers multi-platform features, accessible through one central account. End-to-end integration makes lists fully optimized, with order fulfillment and customer service.
At zero cost with no listing fees, there are no limits to the number of product listings. Your brand is under a protection program, meaning you'll have protection against hijackers and copyright.
The trusted ratings Teespring has will push listings to the top of search results without the use of SEO. Teespring is on Amazon, eBay, and Wish; they also are listed as a “top-rated seller.” The impression potential buyers have toward a trustworthy company promotes products without having to build a brand from scratch.
What Products Can You Sell on Teespring?
Teespring has a wide assortment of different products. Ranging from t-shirts, tank tops, sweatshirts, hoodies, leggings, socks, bags, mugs, phone cases, stickers, and home décor. Quite a mouthful!
Integrate Teespring with YouTube
If you have a YouTube channel, you're just in luck! Teespring offers official YouTube integration. What does this mean for users? You can easily have your merchandise appear beneath your YouTube videos. This is an excellent model, as you receive advertising right where your audience will be looking!
The merch shelf leads to an increase in purchases and revenue from merch sales. The feature is only visible to users located in “France, Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Canada, Australia, India, Brazil, Mexico, and the United States.”
Below is what a YouTube merch shelf will look like.
Figure 2 https://community.teespring.com/answers/youtube-integration-faqs/
Each shelf will display a maximum of 12 products of your choice. Merchandise will be ordered based on sales, with the most popular designs being showcased first. (Teespring will prioritize items launched most recently if published within 10 days.)
On a final note, you can arrange the products displayed using the organization tool in the monetization section of YouTube Studio Beta. This includes choosing which merch goes under specific videos.
The overall benefits of YouTube integration are sales-boosting and impressive! Using free features can easily promote your brand image and instantly earn revenue.
Integrate Teespring with Twitch
Along with YouTube, Twitch has a similar partnership with Teespring.
Twitch users can now sell while they stream, using the integrated checkout. There are live alerts and exclusive sub-only merch as well.
When you install this extension onto your channel, you’ll be selling in no time. It’s free to set up, and to sell, all you need to do is create your product listings. Teespring also offers a free monetization service, the easiest and most effective way to gain sales.
While you stream, you'll get animated in-stream alerts whenever someone makes a sale. This allows you to engage with your buyers, promoting the one-on-one sales pitch further. Fans love to see the reaction of their favourite icons; this applies to when they donate money or buy merch. Seeing the live response will only make others want to do the same!
The integrated checkout allows users watching your stream live to easily purchase products. With the extension, the audience can browse and shop without leaving Twitch. Subscriber-only merch is another unique feature—you can encourage loyal fans to subscribe to access exclusive merch.
When compared to other services, Teespring is by far the best for those with an internet audience.
Alternatives to Teespring
There are millions of alternatives to Teespring, and as with all on-demand programs, it depends on your business goals.
Some of our favourite alternative sites are Zazzle, Printful, and Redbubble.
Zazzle is another online retailer that allows you to upload your images to create products. With your merchandise listings, you can set up a free shop to showcase them. With custom edits, no order minimum, and an incredible order fulfilment policy—Zazzle is perfect for those looking to begin an eCommerce store.
If you are not an online influencer, but rather one wanting to begin your own store, we recommend Zazzle over Teespring.
Printful, on the other hand, is unique for its on-demand custom prints and drop shipping service. With eCommerce integration and no start-up cost, it is one of the easiest order fulfillers on the market. With a selection of plug-in-play integrations, it’s simple for one to create a zero-risk online apparel store. All orders through Printful are processed on-demand, so there are no fees until you receive an order.
The system offers an excellent online store platform and is great for those wanting to start their original brand name.
Redbubble is perfect for artists, rather than influencers or those wanting to start a brand. The free marketplace is full of online collaboration and allows you to sell designs onto high-quality products. They handle everything—printing, shipping, and customer service.
If you are an indie artist looking to earn money from your designs, we highly recommend Redbubble to host your products.
Teespring Frequently Asked Questions FAQS
There used to be a Teespring app extension for Shopify, but Teespring cut ties with Shopify. Unfortunately, you cannot connect the two services together.
You can request a pay-out at any time through the “Pay-out” section on your account. Typically, pay-out requests are processed within 1-7 days. Sellers can request pay-outs within 24-48 hours after an order is dispatched. Also, pending pay-outs under $100 can be required every 3 days.
You can receive your earnings using Payoneer or PayPal.
Teespring’s headquarters is located in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A.
Teespring generally ships within the United States, but shipping locations depend on the product sold. For example, orders fulfilled in the US will offer various brands with a U.S. shipping location (such as Hanes, Gildan, and American Apparel.)
It depends on the product sold. The base price of the product is was Teespring will take. They calculate the costs and their earnings into the base price for convenience.
Customers claim the t-shirts are made of high-quality material that lasts. Most issues with printing come from a design issue caused by the seller. This can be prevented by double-checking your design files and using a PNG format.
Yes, you can sell Teespring shirts on Amazon using their integrated selling options.
Teespring boosted network is a free product integration service that allows your sales to be boosted. For more details on the features offered using TBN, read the article above.
TeeSpring Review: Summary
With more than 5 million sellers and over 35 million orders shipped—there is no need to worry about popularity. With Teespring’s well-known name, we especially recommend it for brand products. Additionally, if you are looking to create merchandise for your website, blog, or YouTube channel, the services offered are perfect.