7.8 KiB
S03|L13 - how to create mugs with printify
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Notes
Description
Review
Summary
This lesson shows how to add a second product (mugs) in Printify, compare suppliers, properly position designs on mugs, and publish the product to Shopify.
Core Idea
Mugs are a strong secondary product, but require:
- supplier comparison
- correct design placement (not centered like t-shirts)
Practical Value
- Navigate to mugs in Printify catalog
- Compare similar products from different suppliers
-
Evaluate:
- price
- shipping cost
- supplier rating
- Select best value supplier
- Upload design and adjust placement
- Duplicate design for both sides of mug
- Publish product to Shopify
Supplier Selection Insight
Even identical-looking products:
- come from different suppliers
- have different costs and shipping
Small differences compound over time. Always compare:
- base cost
- shipping cost
- rating
Design Placement Insight
Mugs ≠ t-shirts. Correct approach:
- Do NOT center design
- Place near handle (left side)
- Duplicate to right side for symmetry
Goal: → visible when holding the mug
Warnings
- Centered designs on mugs look unprofessional
- Some products have no Printify Choice option
- Not all suppliers offer express shipping
- Slight price differences can reduce margins
- Poor placement reduces perceived quality
Key Insight
Product formatting is product-specific. What works for:
- t-shirts → centered
Does NOT work for:
- mugs → side placement
Each product type has its own “expected layout.”
My Recommendation
For mugs:
- Use one supplier consistently at first
- Compare at least 2–3 providers before choosing
- Place design on both sides near handle
- Keep design readable at smaller sizes
Treat mugs as: → an upsell / expansion product, not primary
Additional Insight
Mugs are ideal for:
- testing design portability
- increasing average order value
- simple product expansion
If a design works on shirts, it often works on mugs with minimal effort.
Transcript
00:00 Okay. Let's go ahead and add in another product, mugs.
00:03 Yes, T shirts are definitely the most popular print on
00:06 demand product overall, but mugs are also still a great
00:09 seller. And adding a mug is simple. Come to the
00:11 catalog section in Printify
00:13 and then come under home and living and select mugs
00:16 and you will see a huge variety of mugs to
00:18 choose from. You'll also notice that a lot of these
00:21 mugs look almost identical
00:23 but they still have separate product listings. So for example,
00:26 you can see here that this is a listing for
00:28 a basic white mug that costs 5 dollars and 56
00:31 cents or 4 dollars and 15 cents with Printify Premium.
00:35 And then right next to it, there's another plain white
00:38 mug that costs 5 dollars and 72 cents or 4
00:41 dollars and 27 cents with Printify Premium. Now, technically, they're
00:45 both just white mugs. So what's the difference? Well, in
00:49 reality, they're actually made by different manufacturers and brands, and
00:52 different print providers are using technically different white mugs. Although
00:57 in reality,
00:58 the differences are tiny and most customers would probably not
01:02 notice. But since they are technically different products from different
01:05 suppliers,
01:06 they will get their own separate listings. So when you
01:08 see a lot of similar products like this, it's often
01:11 a good idea to open them up and compare the
01:13 supplier reviews, the product cost, and the shipping. So for
01:16 example, this white mug made by Spoke Custom Products currently
01:20 has a 9.4 supplier rating and a price of 5
01:23 dollars and 56 cents or 4 dollars and 15 cents
01:27 premium with shipping costing 6 dollars and 39 cents. Well,
01:30 let's now compare that to another white mug which happens
01:33 to be coming from a provider called Taylor. They also
01:36 have a pretty solid rating. It is 9.2
01:38 but the mug itself is 5 dollars and 72 cents
01:41 or 4 dollars and 27 cents with Printify Premium
01:44 and shipping is 6 dollars and 99 cents. So per
01:48 mug, Taylor actually ends up costing more money than Spoke
01:52 Custom Products, about a dollar more. So in this situation,
01:56 if I wanted to sell a plain white mug, I
01:58 would personally go with Spoke custom products. You might also
02:02 notice that for some products like these mugs, there is
02:05 no Printify choice option available,
02:07 unlike when we added in the t shirt, and that
02:10 is because for this specific mug that is being offered
02:13 here, there is only 1 provider
02:16 that is selling it. So this supplier is your only
02:19 choice. Either way, once you pick the mug you want
02:21 to sell, you can then come and edit it in
02:23 the product editor and upload the design that you want
02:26 to use and you will quickly notice something important and
02:29 that is that designs usually should not be placed in
02:32 the center
02:33 like you do with a t shirt because if you
02:35 place your design in the middle of the mug and
02:37 then preview it, you will see that it prints in
02:40 the center of it, which is usually not what people
02:43 want. Most customers expect that their mug designs will be
02:47 printed on both sides near the handle so that when
02:50 they're holding the mug, the design faces them or it
02:53 faces outwards. So instead of leaving the design in the
02:56 middle, move it over to the left side of the
02:58 mug. You can use the alignment guides, which are the
03:00 little lines and points in the editor, to position it
03:03 correctly.
03:04 Then you can click preview to see how it looks.
03:06 Now you can see the design is printing on 1
03:09 side near the handle, which is much better. But for
03:12 mugs, it is often ideal to have the design on
03:14 both sides. So to print the design twice, click on
03:17 it and use the duplicate button. Now you'll have a
03:19 second copy of your design that you can move over
03:22 to the right side of the mug. And as you
03:25 drag it, Printify's snapping guides will help you mirror the
03:28 placement so both sides match. And now if we preview
03:31 it again, you'll see that the design is on both
03:34 the left and the right side of the handle.
03:37 Perfect. And here's something that's important to know. You can
03:40 put multiple images or copies of your design into the
03:43 same print area and not pay anything extra. So you
03:47 can combine multiple elements within a single print zone without
03:51 having to pay more. But yes, once you're happy with
03:53 how it looks, click save. And on the confirmation page,
03:57 click publish. And just like when I uploaded the t
04:00 shirt in the previous video, I usually leave most of
04:02 the listing details alone here and make my detailed edits
04:06 later inside of Shopify
04:08 where I have more control. And if you check the
04:10 shipping section for this mug here, you will notice that
04:13 unlike when I filmed the t shirt video,
04:16 this mug provider, Spoke Custom Products, does not offer express
04:19 shipping. So not every supplier within Printify
04:23 offers expedited options.
04:25 So it's worth noticing that as you add in products.
04:28 So when you're ready, click publish to send the mug
04:30 to your Shopify store and again, Printify will just need
04:34 a few minutes to upload all of the images and
04:37 data.
04:38 And with that, we can move on to the next
04:40 video.