Print-on-demand basics to get started: A business checklist for every stage

Many first-time sellers think the print-on-demand (POD) basics to get started are as simple as choosing products and uploading designs. In reality, you also need to know your recurring costs and what each sale actually earns you to keep the business afloat.

At Amplified – the biggest event in the print-on-demand industry – six- and seven-figure sellers talked about the unglamorous parts: bank accounts, margins, tax, and the day they quit their jobs.

We’ve gathered their advice here so you can learn what to set up before your first sale, what to track once orders arrive, and what to watch as your online business grows.

Disclaimer

This content is for informational purposes only and doesn’t constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. The content is based on our understanding as of the date of publication. Readers are encouraged to seek advice from qualified professionals. Any actions taken based on this information are at your own risk.

How the print-on-demand business model works

What a merchant does vs what Printful handles

In the print-on-demand business model, the merchant owns the creative, selling, and marketing efforts, while the POD partner handles production, inventory management, quality control, and shipping. Nothing gets made until a customer places an order.

Here’s how the print-on-demand model works:

• Sign up for a print-on-demand partner like Printful for free and pick the POD products you want to sell.

• Create designs for your custom products, then list them on an eCommerce platform like Shopify or WooCommerce, or on a marketplace like Etsy or TikTok Shop.

• Set the retail price and keep the difference between that and what your print-on-demand supplier charges.

• Connect your print-on-demand service to your online store so orders come through automatically.

• Printful prints or embroiders the item once a customer places an order, then triple-checks the product and print quality.

• Delivery goes out from the facility closest to the buyer, with fulfillment taking two to five business days.

• Customer service, marketing, and tax obligations stay with you.
  
  

Why is there no inventory management?

Unlike in traditional retail, you don’t need to buy inventory in advance, and print-on-demand services produce items only as they’re ordered. That means you can launch a POD business with minimal upfront costs and no unsold stock sitting in a spare room.

This fulfillment model also lets you:

• Sell custom products across a wide range – t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, phone cases, wall art – without upfront investment

• Test ideas based on real market research rather than guesswork, and drop any unsold designs without losing money

• Regularly update your store with fresh designs and products in minutes

Dominic from Dogecore, speaking on Amplified’s Printful 101 stream, put it plainly: he and his business partner had no money to buy stock, nowhere to store it, and no idea whether anyone would buy anything. That’s what makes starting a print-on-demand business so appealing.

That said, POD business owners still have to pay for samples, subscriptions, taxes, and marketing materials whether a design sells or not.

Before your first sale

Before you start selling, sort out these print-on-demand basics:

Open a separate bank account

Open a separate account from day one, even if it isn’t registered as a business one yet. Route your PayPal and print-on-demand store payouts into it so personal spending never mixes with what you earn.

Crystal Lee, who runs the faith-based brand Girl Plus God, shared this advice on Amplified’s Printful 101 stream.

“I want you to feel as much like a business owner as possible,” she told the audience. Treating your print-on-demand business like a real company from the start changes how seriously you run it.

The separation also pays off at tax time. When one account handles only business activity, working out what you earned, what you spent, and what you owe takes minutes rather than an evening spent untangling receipts.

Work out your profit margin on every product

Your profit margin is the retail price minus production and shipping costs, platform fees, subscriptions, and print-on-demand marketing expenses to attract customers.

Here’s an example using the Bella + Canvas 3001, one of the most popular print-on-demand products in Printful’s Catalog:

That $11.92 is what’s left before any ad spend and income tax. Run the same sum on every print-on-demand product you list.

A mug and an embroidered hoodie have different base prices and delivery rates, so a percentage that works for one item can disappear on the other. Many print-on-demand sellers aim for profit margins of 20%-50%.

Amplified guest Levi Younger warned POD sellers not to spend more on ads than the estimated profit. Otherwise, you’re losing money on every order.

Quick tip: Selling on Etsy? The Printful Etsy calculator works out listing and transaction fees for you, so you can see the real margin before listing your custom products.

Budget for sample orders

Ordering samples lets you see the print and product quality that potential customers will receive. Wash the item a few times to see how the graphic elements hold up, and shoot high-quality product photos for your marketing materials.

On the Amplified Discussion Panel, guest Michael Essek kept the test simple. Order a few designs on a few different blanks, hold them, and ask yourself: “Would I be happy wearing that t-shirt?”

Printful merchants with a connected store can order samples at a 20% discount, starting with one order per month and up to three items. That allowance grows with your sales, up to a maximum of five sample orders per month.

Understand tax on your fulfillment orders

POD business owners need to deal with two types of taxes:

• Tax on what you buy. Every time a customer places an order, you’re buying that item from Printful. Printful charges tax on that purchase, based on where the item is being delivered.

• Tax on what you sell. This is the tax that may be due on the sale your online store made. It’s yours to handle, not Printful’s.

You can stop paying the first type of tax once you’re registered for sales tax or VAT. Sellers in the US can submit a resale certificate, and those in the EU and UK can submit a VAT ID. Both go in the Billing section of your Printful Dashboard.

Submit yours early. An exemption only applies to orders placed after your documents are approved, so anything you sell while you wait is still taxed. Learn more in our Printful taxes guide.

After your first sales

Once you start selling, you have real numbers and feedback to work with instead of estimates. Follow these print-on-demand tips to keep the business running:

Track every recurring cost

Write down everything that bills you monthly. For many new sellers, that includes an eCommerce platform subscription, marketplace fees, design software, samples, and paid ads.

Crystal Lee’s suggestion on the Amplified Printful 101 stream makes a good first target: Aim to generate enough revenue to cover your subscriptions before you worry about anything else. “When it’s $39 a month, challenge yourself. How do I make $40 minimum per month?”

Some costs are also charged per order rather than monthly, so factor them in whenever they apply to a print-on-demand product you sell. A few Printful examples:

• Printed inside labels cost $0.99 each, outside labels $2.49

• Embroidery digitization is a one-time $6.50 fee per design

• Sizes 2XL and up carry a markup
  
  

Collect sales tax from customers

Check how your sales channel handles sales tax, as the answer varies by platform.

On your own online store, the platform usually gives you the tools and leaves the settings to you. For example, Shopify can calculate and collect tax once you’ve set up your tax regions.

Meanwhile, marketplaces like Etsy often collect and remit sales tax automatically in many regions. Either way, registering and filing stays your responsibility as the seller. This is separate from the tax Printful charges on your fulfillment orders.

Printful’s taxes guide links to tax setup instructions for every integration it supports.

Keep records and set money aside for income tax

Record every sale and cost as it happens, and move a share of each month’s profit into a holding account for income tax. Doing it monthly turns a frightening annual bill into a boring transfer.

Many successful POD businesses treat that first tax bill as a milestone rather than a punishment. Crystal Lee offered a helpful perspective that makes this easier to stomach: “If I’m paying taxes, that means I’m making money.”

Refine your pricing strategy

Now you can reprice your print-on-demand products against evidence instead of guesses. You know your real production costs, your fees, and which items people actually buy.

Work through it in this order:

• Start with the custom products where real margins came in below your plan. Amplified guest Sarah Capps shared this advice for Etsy sellers: “Don’t worry about pricing strategies. Price for profit.”

• Research competitors’ pricing in your niche, and click through to the listings before you compare. A cheap headline price in a competitive market is often a cheaper variation hidden inside the listing, not the item in the photo.

• Decide whether offering free shipping fits your numbers. Rolling delivery into the price can boost conversion – 40% of shoppers abandon carts due to extra costs like shipping and tax.

• Change one variable at a time – the price itself, the shipping setup, or the product you print on – then let sales and customer feedback tell you whether it worked.

If you can’t compete on price, Dogecore’s Dominic recommends competing on reputation, trust, and the rapport that turns buyers into repeat customers.

As your print-on-demand business grows

Growth brings obligations that didn’t exist when you were selling a few items a week. This is the stage where professional help starts paying for itself.

Plan for selling across borders

Printful’s global network of fulfillment centers handles logistics, with print-on-demand products made as close to the target market as possible.

However, selling to customers in other countries adds rules you didn’t have before. VAT applies in the EU and UK, registration thresholds differ from market to market, and customs charges can land on your buyer when an order ships from a different region than the delivery address.

Your shipping math changes, too. Delivery costs to the US, Europe, and Australia vary for the same t-shirt, so check the margin by region before you start selling abroad. Learn more about Printful’s shipping speeds and pricing.

Know when to hire an accountant

Talk to an accountant when any of these apply to your print-on-demand business:

• You sell custom products across borders or into more than one tax jurisdiction

• Your sales are near or past a threshold that requires tax registration

• You’re registering a company or changing its structure

• You’ve stopped recording sales and costs, so you can’t work out what you’ll owe at the end of the year

• You’re unsure which taxes apply to you, how often to file, or which costs you can deduct

Hire one sooner rather than later. Tax you haven’t paid doesn’t disappear, and the longer you leave it, the bigger the bill when you finally sort it out.

Dogecore’s story shows what waiting costs. Dominic and his business partner ignored taxes for their first year, and clearing the backlog later meant six months without a paycheck.

Several firms turned Dogecore away before Dominic found one in Manchester that understood eCommerce. Look for someone who works with online sellers rather than the nearest general practice.

When to go full-time with your print-on-demand business

One of the most common print-on-demand mistakes is quitting your job too early. Many sellers at Amplified waited until the business out-earned their salary before handing in their notice:

• Dominic ran Dogecore alongside a day job and quit once his print-on-demand income passed his salary.

• Bryson Oppman of Got Funny got there within months of one design taking off: “I was seeing more money from my side hustle than I was seeing from my actual job in like the span of a month.”

• Others took about three years to go full-time.

Before quitting, make sure your income holds up during the slow months and that you have enough saved to cover your tax bill and a quiet season.

Dominic made another excellent point. Running Dogecore has taught him real skills in business, design, and writing, and skills like these stay with you, whatever happens to your own brand. Even sellers whose first print-on-demand store doesn’t last come out of it knowing how to build a successful business.

Your print-on-demand basics checklist

Let’s recap the print-on-demand basics to get started:

• Before your first sale: Open a separate bank account, calculate your profit margin for each product, budget for samples, and understand how taxes apply to your fulfillment orders.

• After your first sales: Track every recurring cost, set up tax collection in your store, keep records, reserve money for income tax, and reprice using real data.

• As your business grows: Plan for cross-border sales and bring in an accountant who knows eCommerce.

• Going full-time: Wait until the income holds up across slow months before quitting your day job.

Printful gives you free design tools, 603 high-quality products, and a global network of fulfillment centers to sell custom merchandise with minimal upfront investment. Sign up for free today and start your own online business in just a few clicks.