Whether you are a professional or beginner artist, there is no real reason why you should limit yourself to selling your artwork on just one platform. Most printing-on-demand (POD) platforms that exist today are free to join, and even allow you to set up a custom store.
While you can sell pretty much anything online (from your car to music theory lessons), Amazon may not always be the answer. In this article, we will be discussing websites like Amazon where you can print your merchandise for your fans to buy, your team to wear, or just to see someone flaunt them.
What is covered in this article
Let’s get started by understanding everything you need to know about Merch by Amazon. Then we’ll discuss other sites like Amazon Merch where you can find services for print-on-demand, drop-shipping, and bespoke designs.
What is Merch by Amazon?
Merch by Amazon allows you to create and design your branded product, while Amazon takes care of the production and order fulfillment. It is a simple way to get started on selling your branded merchandise, as it doesn’t cost anything to set up. You get paid and earn royalties when someone orders your merchandise.
As a Merch store owner, you can set your own list price to be competitive and profitable. You can also make use of the downloadable product templates from Amazon to see how your artwork or logo would look on them.
12 Amazon Merch alternatives that let you sell customized merchandise
If you are looking to get customized apparel or accessories for your university, sports team, a bachelorette party, or your organization, there are printing companies that can help you design, print, and ship your order without the hassle of storing inventory.
While Merch by Amazon gives you basic t-shirts, hoodies, tote bags, and phone cases, the websites listed below let you print your artwork and logo on many more products.
1. Zazzle
(Image credit: Zazzle)
What They Sell: Apparel | Accessories | Marketing material | Posters | Home decor | Personal care | Office supplies | Event invitations
Ships To: Worldwide
Best Feature: Sellers can customize their royalty amounts.
Has Subscription: No
Zazzle is an amazing site for selling print-on-demand items, as the number of product options that you can find on it is plentiful. With the help of the Live feature, you can instantly connect on video chat with a design expert who can help perfect your design for free.
2. Spreadshirt
(Image credit: Spreadshirt)
What They Sell: Apparel | Accessories | Posters | Drinkware
Ships To: Worldwide
Best Feature: Easy returns within 30 days, no questions asked.
Has Subscription: No
With the options to design your own t-shirt and shop for unique designs made by professional and independent designers, Spreadshirt offers a wide range of products such as t-shirts, mugs, baby clothing, bags, and posters. As a global platform that values freedom of expression, they have sustainability at the heart of their business, and reduce waste and recycle whenever possible.
3. Ramp
(Image credit: Ramp)
What They Sell: T-shirts | Hoodies | Totes
Ships To: Worldwide
Best Feature: Using data and analytics, they suggest the right mix of sizes for your order.
Has Subscription: No
Ramp offers custom printing services that you could use for your company, school, or university, with free shipping anywhere in the UK, US, or EU. All you have to do is choose from their range of apparel and add your logo and design to it.
4. Print Aura
(Image credit: Print Aura)
What They Sell: Apparel | Accessories | Phone cases
Ships To: Worldwide
Best Feature: ‘Purchase Direct’ feature allows customers to buy specialty items, overstocks, and closeouts without prints.
Has Subscription: No
Print Aura offers the option to design for your brand, as well as sell your designs on various merchandise product options that it carries. Customers do not have to place a minimum order, and can easily integrate their e-commerce platform with PrintAura.
5. Printful
(Image credit: Printful)
What They Sell: Apparel | Phone cases | Posters | Canvas prints
Ships To: Worldwide
Best Feature: Use the Mock-up Generator tool to see how your design would look on your merchandise.
Has Subscription: No
Printful is a popular print-on-demand platform that lets you connect your e-commerce store with its platform. When someone shops from your store, the order is automatically imported into Printful’s fulfillment center. From there, they take care of processing and shipping the order to the customer.
6. Printify
(Image credit: Printify)
What They Sell: Apparel | Phone cases | Home furnishings | Stickers
Ships To: Worldwide
Best Feature: Businesses only have to pay for the production.
Has Subscription: Free | $24.99/month (Premium) | Custom pricing (Enterprise)
With a global printing network of over 90 printing facilities in the USA, UK, and China, Printify offers 300+ unique products which include t-shirts, hoodies, accessories, mugs, stickers, and more. Businesses can integrate their online store with Printify which allows customers to purchase their merchandise and let Printify fulfill the order.
7. ooShirts
(Image credit: ooShirts)
What They Sell: Apparel
Ships To: USA
Best Feature: Through their 1 Box 1 Cause program, they donate good-quality t-shirts which may be unfit for their customers to nonprofits that need t-shirt donations.
Has Subscription: No
ooShirts is a custom t-shirt printing company that claims to be the most affordable option for those looking for high-quality and great-looking t-shirts for their brand or team. Using their online design lab you can add fonts, insert clipart, and upload images to design your t-shirt.
8. Printfection
(Image credit: Printfection)
What They Sell: Apparel | Accessories | Office supplies | Consumer electronics
Ships To: Worldwide
Best Feature: Dashboard to track budgets, purchase orders, and spending so you know what is most popular.
Has Subscription: Contact for quote
Printfection is the perfect gift management platform that simplifies the buying, managing, and distribution of branded merchandise. As a business, all you have to do is submit your logo and artwork, and Printfection connects with your store and fulfills the order.
9. Underground Printing
(Image credit: Underground Printing)
What They Sell: Apparel | Masks | Bags | Drinkware
Ships To: USA
Best Feature: The design by brand option allows you to choose from top brands (Nike, Champion, Under Armour, etc.) to put your logo or design on their apparel.
Has Subscription: No
With over 20 locations across the US, Underground Printing is one of the nation’s premier custom apparel providers, with a strong focus on customer service, quality, and convenience. To design your apparel, you can start from scratch by uploading your own design, or work with design templates that they already have pre-loaded.
10. Merch38
(Image credit: Merch38)
What They Sell: Apparel | Accessories
Ships To: Worldwide
Best Feature: If you are in NYC, get same-day printing.
Has Subscription: No
Merch38 is an easy-to-install merch widget for your website that doesn’t require any upfront cost or any technical skills to use. Customers can view your merchandise without leaving your website, and you can reduce your logistics costs and inventory waste as Merch38 fulfills your order.
11. CreateMyTee
(Image credit: CreateMyTee)
What They Sell: Apparel
Ships To: USA
Best Feature: Hire a free CreateMyTee professional artist for your custom design.
Has Subscription: No
CreateMyTee offers designers and printing-on-demand services for your business, team, or event. With every order, a Project Manager is assigned to help you every step of the way to ensure that you are happy with your delivery.
12. Vancord
(Image credit: Vancord)
What They Sell: Apparel | Tote bags
Ships To: USA
Best Feature: They specialize in soft ink printing.
Has Subscription: No
Vancord is a custom apparel printing shop focusing on high-quality printing and customer service, based in New Jersey. Along with printing, they also offer design services, whether you need your design to be built from scratch or just need some tweaks to your existing design.
8 sites like Amazon Merch that offer royalties on products sold
As an artist, getting recognition for your work is equally as important as fair pay for your hard work and creativity. Most design platforms understand the importance of this and honor the artist by paying royalties for every order that is produced and sold.
Check out some of these platforms which offer these perks:
1. Teespring
(Image credit: Teespring)
What They Sell: Apparel | Accessories | Digital products | Phone cases
Ships To: Worldwide
Best Feature: You can create your custom store.
Has Subscription: No
As a designer on Teespring, you can set up your own store and start selling your designs on hoodies, t-shirts, coffee mugs, bags, and other such products. Once your store is set up, you have to link it to your social pages to drive traffic for customers to discover your merchandise.
2. CafePress
(Image credit: CafePress)
What They Sell: Apparel | Accessories | Home decor | Drinkware | Stationery | Stickers | Gifts
Ships To: USA | Canada | Australia | UK | Europe | New Zealand | Japan | Singapore
Best Feature: Designers can earn 5-10% royalty on their designs.
Has Subscription: No
With the purpose of starting a conversation to ignite a movement, CafePress’s range of products supports everyone’s unique identity and passion. Designers can set up their shop on CafePress and control the layout, product selection, pricing, and marketing of their shop.
3. Society6
(Image credit: Society6)
What They Sell: Art prints | Phone cases | Home furnishings | Apparel | Home decor
Ships To: Worldwide
Best Feature: The ‘Shop by Style’ feature allows you to choose between 12 different product types, such as Vintage, Minimalist, Mid-Century Modern, Zodiac, and others.
Has Subscription: No
Society6 is an open, global community of 300,000 independent artists from 160+ countries who can sell their artwork as merchandise. The artists earn 10% on the retail price on all products except for art prints, framed prints, and canvas prints, which can earn the artist more than 10%.
4. DesignByHumans
(Image credit: DesignByHumans)
What They Sell: Apparel | Accessories | Home decor
Ships To: Worldwide
Best Feature: Designers can double their royalties in 90 days.
Has Subscription: No
DesignByHumans is a marketplace for artists, who can sell their artwork to customers across the world. Once an artist is approved on the website, they can set up their online store. There, they can display their designs while DesignByHumans takes care of order fulfillment and shipping.
5. Displate
(Image credit: Displate)
What They Sell: Metal posters
Ships To: Worldwide
Best Feature: With the sale of every poster, they plant one tree in Africa.
Has Subscription: No
Displate sells one-of-a-kind metal posters that can be easily wall-mounted with magnets. They take only 20 seconds to set up without any power tools or damage to your walls. Artists can sell their artwork on the Displate Shop and earn 50% commission by sharing links to their artwork on social media.
6. Redbubble
(Image credit: Redbubble)
What They Sell: Apparel | Accessories | Stickers | Phone cases | Stationery
Ships To: Worldwide
Best Feature: Anti-piracy and watermark feature protects the artist’s designs.
Has Subscription: No
Redbubble is one of the most popular destinations for artists to set up their design shop to display their work. Redbubble takes care of the fulfillment and shipping of the merchandise, and the artists have complete control over what they can earn with flexible pricing.
7. TeePublic
(Image credit: TeePublic)
What They Sell: Apparel | Phone cases | Masks | Home decor
Ships To: Worldwide
Best Feature: They have a strong commitment to the environment, with non-hazardous and toxin-free production standards.
Has Subscription: No
TeePublic is one of the largest marketplaces for independent artists to sell their work on the highest-quality merchandise. All of TeePublic’s apparel products are certified by WRAP, and the inks used are 100% biodegradable, water-based, contain no animal by-products, and are vegan-friendly.
8. Fine Art America
(Image credit: Fine Art America)
What They Sell: Wall art | Home decor | Home furnishings | Apparel | Stationery
Ships To: Worldwide
Best Feature: They offer drop-shipping fulfillment with your e-commerce store.
Has Subscription: No
Fine Art America is the world’s largest art marketplace with a print-on-demand facility, enabling artists to sell their products and set their own prices. Artists on Fine Art America can also take advantage of the sales and marketing tools that the platform offers to help them understand their demand and monitor their growth.
6 Merch by Amazon alternatives for beginners to sell products online
As an artist, driving traffic to see your work could take a bit of work until you’ve made a name for yourself and have created a following. So until then, it is a great idea to find marketplaces where all you have to do is upload your artwork, and then leave the headache of logistics and order fulfillment to the experts.
In the list below, you can find a bunch of marketplaces that can help you get started with a free custom store, design, marketing, and automation tools to bring your designs to life.
1. SunFrog
(Image credit: SunFrog)
What They Sell: T-shirts
Ships To: Worldwide
Best Feature: Anyone can submit their designs.
Has Subscription: No
SunFrog makes it easy for anyone who has an idea for a t-shirt to bring it to life, since all they have to do is go to their website and design it. If you need any help or just someone to look at your designs, SunFrog has experts on board to help you with that.
2. Custom Ink
Image Credit: Custom Ink
What They Sell: Apparel | Bags | Masks
Ships To: USA | Canada
Best Feature: Start a fundraiser by selling custom t-shirts and collecting donations.
Has Subscription: No
Custom Ink is an online platform that helps your t-shirt design come to life. With the help of their Design Lab tool, you get free access to their huge library of fonts and 68,000 pieces of art to help you make a one-of-a-kind design.
3. Bonfire
(Image credit: Bonfire)
What They Sell: Apparel | Mugs | Bags | Masks | Hats
Ships To: Worldwide
Best Feature: Start a t-shirt fundraiser for charity events, or personal or nonprofit causes.
Has Subscription: No
Bonfire is a free online platform allowing anyone to design, sell, and buy custom products, while they handle the logistics and fulfillment of the order. As a creator or someone who wants to set up their merch store, you can use Bonfire’s easy T-shirt pricing calculator to see how much you will make.
4. Threadless
(Image credit: Threadless)
What They Sell: Apparel | Accessories | Art | Home Decor
Ships To: Worldwide
Best Feature: Artists can participate in Design Challenges.
Has Subscription: No
Threadless operates both as an e-commerce store selling quirky apparel, accessories, and art, as well as a platform for artists to set up their shop to create print-on-demand merchandise. With a strong focus on artists and their work, Threadless honors and celebrates their artists by including their name in every product, tweeting their name to the world, and recognizing their work in their annual creative awards.
5. UberPrints
(Image credit: UberPrints)
What They Sell: Apparel | Face masks | Bags
Ships To: USA
Best Feature: Choose from pre-set design templates and just add your text.
Has Subscription: No
With the help of UberPrints’ easy-to-use Design Studio, anyone can create a custom shirt, which is then expertly printed and delivered to your doorstep. UberPrints gives users the option to use screen printing, digital printing, or embroidery for their merchandise.
6. Imprint
(Image credit: Imprint)
What They Sell: Apparel | Accessories | Drinkware | Masks | Promotional merchandise
Ships To: Worldwide
Best Feature: Along with buying merchandise with customizable designs, you can also buy medical-grade masks, sanitizers,face shields, PPE kits, and other protective accessories.
Has Subscription: No
Imprint is one of America’s fastest-growing promotional product manufacturers, using modern printing techniques to be able to reach a global community. Imprint also gives users a template to use as a reference of how your artwork will be placed on the actual product.
11 ways to optimize product pages when selling merchandise
You will want to optimize your product pages to reach the largest audience possible and drive conversions.. Here are a few quick tips that will help you optimize your product pages to sell more merchandise.
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Use relevant keywords to write a great product title.
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In the product description, list at least 4-5 key uses of the product (or why someone would want to buy it).
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Maintain consistent branding.
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Upload clear and high-quality photos of your products.
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Always add more than one photo of your product.
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Show relevant recommendations under your product pages so that you can cross-sell or upsell other products in your merchandise line.
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Incorporate video descriptions in your photo slideshow.
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Share and encourage buyers to review your product.
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The product price should be clearly stated to enable a buyer to purchase your product.
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Identify a competitor of your product to compare features.
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Offer discounts or bundle prices to increase sales.
With this list, we hope you were able to find alternatives to Amazon Merch where you can start selling your merchandise to increase your selling avenues, and thereby see growth in your sales. If you are looking to sell other products, then check out more Amazon-like marketplaces for a wider reach.
