10 KiB
S03|L10 - how to create a printify account
Notes
- Prinitify is one of the top POD services
-
you can use it to create a lot of stuff
- cups
- tshirts
- pillows
- etc
fantastic for beginners
- free to use
- simple and easy
-
they have lots of products
- beyond usual mugs and tshirts
- competitively priced
signing up
- artist or designer doesn't matter
- create a store name
Description
intro
Printify is one the top print on demand services that you can use to create on demand custom merchandise.
You can create your own custom tshirt, mugs or pillow cases or your own custom pet bed.
You can do all of that and more with Printify.
If you plan on doing another type of sourcing method such as Aliexpress drop shipping then you can skip this step.
Printify is a platform to start with as a beginner because of 3 simple reasons:
- It’s really simple and beginner friendly to use
- It’s free to use, keeping start up cost low
- They have LOTS and LOTS of different products
- Their products are competitively priced
So let’s get started in creating a Printify account.
- Go to the Printify homepage and click Sign Up.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_03/lesson_04/Printify-Homepage.png
- Next type in your email address and password then click I’m not a robot. Follow instructions in the pop up and click verify. Then click Sign Up.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_03/lesson_04/Email-add.png
- Next, select what describes you best from the drop down list. Also, select the answer to “Are you already selling?” from the drop down list. Then, click next.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_03/lesson_04/What-describes-you.png
- Click Create a store name. Then type in your store name. Click Save.
file:../../_share/media/img/step_03/lesson_04/Create-a-store-name.png
- It’s super simple to sign up. But to complete the sign up process you have to verify your email. You need to go to the Inbox of the email that you’ve used to sign up with. Open the inbox of the email you’ve used when you signed up with Printify. Open the email from Printify with the subject “Please verify your email”. Next, click confirm your email. You’ll be redirected to the Printify homepage and be on the look out for the email confirmed message and that’s it! You’ve created your Printify account successfully!
file:../../_share/media/img/step_03/lesson_04/Inbox.png
Review
Summary
This lesson explains how Printify works, how to set up an account, and how the payment flow operates between Shopify, Printify, and the customer.
Core Idea
Print-on-demand works by selling first and paying later:
- Customer pays you (via Shopify)
- You pay Printify (production + shipping)
- Printify fulfills the order automatically
Practical Value
- Create Printify account
- Understand product sourcing (e.g. $8–$11 t-shirts)
- Set retail price in Shopify
- Add payment method to Printify
- Configure basic account settings
- Understand fulfillment flow (automated printing + shipping)
Payment Flow (Important)
- Customer pays Shopify
- Shopify sends money to your bank (delay: ~2–3 days)
- Printify charges your card immediately
- Product is produced and shipped
You must cover upfront cost temporarily.
Required Inputs
- Email / account creation
- Store name (optional but recommended early)
- Payment method (credit or debit card)
- Basic survey answers (required)
Warnings
- Printify does NOT take money directly from customer payments
- You must have funds available (card or balance)
- Misunderstanding this flow can cause failed orders
- EU legal disclaimer may be required depending on market
- Do not ignore payment setup — orders will fail without it
Key Insight
Print-on-demand is low risk, but not “zero cash flow.”
You still need: → short-term liquidity to fulfill orders
However: → you are not holding inventory → you are not paying before a sale
My Recommendation
Use a credit card if possible:
- smoother cash flow
- builds buffer between payment in/out
- potential rewards
If using debit:
- ensure sufficient balance at all times
Set this up correctly once, then ignore it — fulfillment becomes automatic.
Additional Insight
This model is powerful because:
- no inventory risk
- no shipping handling
- minimal daily operations
Most of your effort should go toward:
- product quality
- listings
- marketing
NOT logistics.
Transcript
00:00 Now we're gonna get a free Printify account for your
00:02 store. Printify is 1 of the biggest and most popular
00:05 print on demand platforms and apps. Inside of their catalog,
00:08 you'll find hundreds of different blank products that you can
00:11 customize and sell.
00:13 For example, 1 of the products we'll be adding in
00:15 later is a t shirt. Right now, you can buy
00:17 a t shirt from Printify for around 8 dollars to
00:20 11 dollars per shirt and customizing it is simple. You
00:24 simply upload the artwork that you want printed onto it.
00:27 Then in your Shopify store, you set your own selling
00:30 price.
00:30 For instance, you might sell it for 19.95
00:33 dollars with shipping set to 5 dollars Then whenever a
00:37 customer buys that t shirt from you, Shopify collects the
00:39 payment from them. So in this example, Shopify would collect
00:42 25 dollars They process the payment and then deposit it
00:46 into your bank account and at the same time, Printify
00:49 is doing its thing in autopilot.
00:51 So when the order comes in, Printify picks it up
00:54 and essentially says, Cool. Let's produce and ship this shirt.
00:57 They charge the payment method you added to your Printify
01:00 account for the wholesale printing and shipping costs. They then
01:03 send the order to 1 of the print shops in
01:06 their network. That print shop prints your design onto the
01:09 shirt, packages it up, and ships it out to the
01:12 customer.
01:13 You don't have to physically do any of it. So
01:16 yes, that is how it works, and I personally love
01:19 print on demand for 2 reasons.
01:21 Firstly, as you can clearly see, compared to other forms
01:24 of ecommerce,
01:25 print on demand has very little risk. And Printify only
01:29 charges you to print and ship the product
01:31 after a customer has already paid you and paid your
01:35 market price. Once my stores are up and running, apart
01:38 from having to respond to any customer emails, there isn't
01:41 really a lot I have to do daily. That's a
01:44 big part of why I'm able to travel so much.
01:47 So, yes. I'll put my Printify affiliate link in the
01:50 description.
01:51 Just click it and then click the sign up button.
01:53 You can create an account using your email or sign
01:56 up with Google or an Apple account. After that, you'll
01:59 be taken to a quick survey.
02:00 Unlike Shopify's,
02:02 this 1 can't be skipped, so just answer the questions
02:05 as best as you can. Once you're finished, you'll land
02:07 on your Printify dashboard. And you're almost done. Now you
02:10 can go in and you can tweak any settings that
02:12 you like. A lot of these settings are optional, but
02:15 there are a few setting tweaks that I recommend.
02:19 So first up, install settings. Add in your store name.
02:22 If you already know what you want to call it,
02:24 That helps with branding. You can always come back and
02:27 change this later. Secondly, you'll see an option to add
02:30 a legal disclaimer if you plan to ship to EU
02:32 countries. If you're planning to sell in the European Union,
02:35 you can tick this. If not, you can leave it
02:38 off. Either way, click save.
02:41 Next, click on wallet and under payments, add your payment
02:44 method. This can be either a credit or debit card
02:47 and by the way, this is the part that confuses
02:49 a lot of people since, well, a lot of people
02:52 think that the way that Printify works is that they
02:54 will automatically
02:55 deduct the cost of the production and shipping for the
02:58 item from the money that the customer has paid you.
03:02 But that's not how it works because Printify is not
03:05 the 1 collecting the customer's payment.
03:07 Shopify is. Legally, Shopify owes you the money because it's
03:11 your store, not Printify's.
03:13 So here's how it actually plays out. When you make
03:15 a sale, Shopify pays you daily and transfers that money
03:19 to your bank account. The bank transfer usually takes 2
03:22 to 3 business days to clear. But, ideally, you want
03:25 Printify to start production right away, so your customer gets
03:29 their order as soon as possible. Right? That's why we
03:31 add a credit or debit card to Printify. This lets
03:34 you pay for the wholesale and shipping costs upfront.
03:37 Now, personally, I actually like paying this cost upfront because
03:40 I use a credit card for rewards like my Amex
03:43 Platinum. Every time I use it to pay for orders,
03:45 I earn reward points I can convert into airline miles,
03:48 which I then use for discounted or free flights and
03:51 upgrades.
03:52 Those miles are how I've managed to fly myself and
03:54 my family business class around the world at no extra
03:57 cost. So for me, paying upfront with my card is
04:00 a benefit, not a downside.
04:01 Then once the money from Shopify hits my bank account
04:04 a couple of days later, I pay off the card
04:07 before any interest is charged. So you could do the
04:10 same thing with a rewards credit card if you have
04:12 1 or you can just use a debit card with
04:14 enough balance to cover the upfront costs. It's totally up
04:18 to you.