Printful

Printful prints and ships when an order comes in, so nothing sits in your hallway. Quality is dependable and the catalogue is wide. Margins are thin unless you price above what feels comfortable.

There are no upfront costs and no percentage of sales. You pay a per-item cost covering the blank, one print placement and fulfilment, with extra placements, labels and digitisation charged on top, and shipping and tax calculated separately. Your profit is whatever you set the retail price above that. There is also a Growth membership at $24.99 a month for up to a third off product costs, which the page says becomes free once you pass $12,000 a year in sales.

Creators testing whether an audience will buy merch at all, and anyone who does not want boxes of unsold shirts. Somebody already selling in volume will make more per unit ordering a print run and shipping it themselves, which is the trade print on demand asks you to accept.