Print-on-Demand Sellers Frustrated with Services
Print-on-demand sellers are expressing significant dissatisfaction with various platforms and services, citing issues ranging from high costs and questionable business practices to unreliable fulfillment and complex workflows. The general sentiment is one of exploitation and a desire for better alternatives.
SOURCES (60)
“Looking for a European based POD art printer for paper /canvas prints.. Not one of the big boys with unrealstic prices but an independent smaller set up. Thnaks submitted by /u/colibri1508 [link] [comments]”
“I have looked at every single POD fulfillment partner for months & had settled on Printful + Printify, but after hearing about the declining customer service & inconsistent quality, and comparing the product prices and catalogs, I eventually settled on Ninja POD. They have an app that integrate with Shopify and some people had said that they now deliver through Amazon, so faster shipping times overall. The biggest selling point for me, though is their product catalog. I really like the f”
“When I started learning about print on demand, most conversations focused on product cost, shipping and advertising. But the expenses that seem to hurt sellers most are often less obvious: reprints, damaged products, returns, colour differences, late dispatches and replacement shipping. For those actively selling, which unexpected cost has affected your profit the most? And what did you change once you noticed it?. Would love to hear some honest experiences, not just success stories. submi”
“So far I prefer CustomCat, but their platform is making me nuts. Was not impressed with Printful’s T. I’m still learning and need to get more samples. Hoping for any and all leads for best quality. Thank you! submitted by /u/EZ-doesIt111 [link] [comments]”
“Had a look at printkk. They seem to offer quite an impressive product lineup at competitive prices, plus good shipping rates. Has anyone here used them for print on demand e-commerce shop order fulfilment? If so, what’s your experience with them? What’s their product quality? How are they with delivery time? How’s their customer service? What do you don’t like about them? Thanks heaps in advance for sharing your experiences! submitted by /u/sadeqhussain [link] [comments]”
“Hey all! I'm considering offering physical prints of my art in addition to digital download versions in hopes of some better profit margins. Anyone have experience with this switch? Ideally I'd offer both still. If you use a POD supplier to print your art, which do you recommend for best quality? Thank you! submitted by /u/Aggressive_Owl91 [link] [comments]”
“I have noticed that most people choose a print-on-demand supplier based on price and product range, but the real problems often appear only after orders start coming in. For those who have switched suppliers, what finally made you leave? Was it inconsistent print quality, slow dispatch, poor packaging, limited products, expensive shipping or difficulty getting support when something went wrong? Also, what did your new supplier do better?. I would be interested to hear genuine experiences, especi”
“What does everybody use to resize their Merch images and keep the PNG file size under the upload limit? I kept running into the same problem: the pixel dimensions were correct, but the file was still too large. I ended up building a free browser tool to combine resizing and compression: https://podimgtools.com/ To be upfront, this is my site. It fits artwork onto a 4500 × 5400 canvas without stretching it and automatically compresses the PNG under 25 MB. No account needed. One caveat: automatic”
“The more I learn about print on demand, the more I realise that finding a decent supplier is probably one of the hardest parts. Low prices look good at first, but they don’t mean much if the print quality changes between orders, parcels keep getting delayed, or support goes quiet when there’s a problem. On the other hand, some reliable suppliers charge so much that there’s barely any profit left. For those who’ve been doing this for a while, what matters most when choosing a supplier: quality, s”
“I ordered 350 4x6 prints, intended for seven 50-page albums. Despite making sure that not only were the photos uploaded in order but also given numbered filenames to ensure the order was preserved, the final products were just tossed into the order box willy-nilly with no regard for the order of the print job. I now get to spend the next few hours going through 350 prints, (re)sorting them into seven different piles and then (re)ordering them into their intended orders. To Printique's credit”
“Hello there, Are you guys also having issues with the Ai generated packaging/labels or Listing images designs? submitted by /u/Muh_Nabeel [link] [comments]”
“I work in printing, and a surprising number of production issues come from files that look completely finished on screen. A few things I’d check before placing an order: Whether the colors are set up for print rather than screens Whether the artwork has enough resolution at the final size Whether designs that reach the edge include extra image area for trimming Whether fonts are outlined or properly packaged Whether important text and logos have enough space from the cut line None of these are e”
“Hi everyone! I’m new to POD and looking for the best supplier for selling posters with and without frames . My main priorities are: Good print & paper quality Good-quality frames, ideally with 3–4 color options A wide range of sizes, from small to very large Multiple fulfillment locations (US, EU, AU) to reduce shipping costs and delivery times internationally Ideally, the ability to offer framed/unframed options as variants in the same product listing A good interface and customer support w”
“I used to think that once a provider delivered a few good orders, the difficult part was over. But POD quality seems to change over time: prints slowly become inconsistent, placement starts drifting, dispatch takes longer, or support becomes less helpful. It’s rarely one huge disaster. More often, it’s several smaller problems that gradually make you lose confidence. Do you place occasional test orders to monitor your provider, or only investigate when customers complain? And do you keep a backu”
“Most of the ones I’ve tried either don’t allow real branding options. And the ones that do, make it super limited. Like wdym no custom labels, no logo on packaging… etc? I’m trying to find ones that let you add your own branding without a huge hassle or any crazy minimums. What POD sites out there are solid for this? Any recs from people who’ve actually used them for branded products would be fantastic. submitted by /u/psyduckkkkkkkkkkkkk [link] [comments]”
“If you are new here, you are probably confused about which print-on-demand company to choose, but some tips may help you. If you want to do only apparel at the beginning, try Printful; they are the biggest in this field. But if you can pay a bit more and care more about quality, check Tapstich. If you only want to do wall art, then you will see options such as Gelato, Prodigi, Gooten, and Printseekers. So, in this, you need to understand which products you want to sell and whether you're fin”
“I'm sorta snobby and turned off when I see a brand that only does print on demand. I've gotten into silk screening and have so many Ideas for printing, but I live in Japan and want to sell internationally because many of my designs would do better overseas. Shipping is crazy expensive, and I worry that will turn off potential customers. Was I thinking of Mixing POD and self Silk screening and letting customers choose different price points? Is this whacky? Do you let your customers know”
“Hi, i am creator and I want to start a print on demand business in Dubai. I am a newbie in the business but have decent experience creating merchandise. I want to start a POD and creative products business here but not sure if the market exists. Any thoughts, experience anything really will be super helpful. Thanks in advance!! submitted by /u/Dazzling-Sector-2295 [link] [comments]”
“Looking for a reliable online printer that’s reasonably priced. submitted by /u/SympathyDazzling6718 [link] [comments]”
“Getting the first few orders is exciting, but growth can expose problems with print quality, stock availability, shipping, customer support and profit margins. For experienced POD sellers, which part of scaling caused the most difficulty, and what would you do differently if you started again? submitted by /u/Pixogate99 [link] [comments]”
“Anyone know of any POD that prints jumbo front, L and R sleeves and inner label with DTG? Ive checked lots of POD and most places wont do all those together. Im trying to stay away from Printful and Printify and the other big POD companies. My local shops does, but not inner label. If yall know of any, lead me the way. submitted by /u/dopama797 [link] [comments]”
“Well we sell wholesale. But my pet peeve is when people order printing, have us prepare the art and proofs and then just disappear. We currenyly have 5 outstanding orders in house like this now. Abandoned. Ghosted.”
“I need to be a bit more specific with my question than the subreddit search function allows for. I’m looking for the fastest printing service possible, with A3 being the minimum size I need. It’s really important that the posters can be printed extremely quickly. What makes searching through previous recommendations on this subreddit difficult is that I also need them to be delivered to Switzerland very quickly. As fast as possible. The audience is people demonstrating/protesting who do not want”
“I just finished making my first photography book and I'm currently looking for a high quality printing company that can easily distribute copies to customers and book stores. Any recommendations? Thanks! submitted by /u/NumerousArtichoke294 [link] [comments]”
“I've done both and they solve different problems. Classic dropshipping gave me wider product choice but zero control over quality and shipping times, and the returns ate me alive. Print on demand gave me better control and original products people couldn't buy elsewhere, which is what let me actually build a brand. I run a tech accessory POD store now, cases and AirPods cases mostly, on Podbase because they make the products in house so quality is consistent and they ship fast. Lower vol”
“I’m curious if anyone here is actively using Printonic for POD and what your experience has been, particularly when something actually goes wrong with an order. I recently tested them and I’m currently getting the runaround over a quality issue on my first order. Yesterday morning, August 28, a support agent from Printonic said that the problem was from their end: Great. Machines have calibration issues. I completely understand. I replied back asking if I could get a reprint and whether there wa”
“Advice re Posters for Customers to Color in. What paper to you have Printify use? Uncoated? Basically a huge 24x36 poster that will get shipped to them and they color it in with like gel pens or colored pencils? I'm guessing the uncoated paper. But I am a newbie to printify. Please advice from people who have already or are familiar with doing this. Thanks for all help. submitted by /u/Klutzy_Topic744 [link] [comments]”
“Most people pick a print-on-demand supplier based entirely on two things: the mockups look clean and the base price is low. The real headaches always come down to the boring backend details. For example, how does their system handle high-resolution files? A lot of mass-market providers heavily compress your uploaded artwork behind the scenes to save server space, which ruins fine lines or gradients on the physical product. Another massive bottleneck is regional sizing. Before migrating an entire”
“Hi everyone! I’m looking to get started with print-on-demand and would really appreciate some advice from people who have been doing this for a while. I already have an account with TeePublic , and I’m also trying to open a Redbubble account. However, no matter what I try, Redbubble doesn’t seem to accept/verify my PayPal account, so I haven’t been able to get it working. For those of you with more experience in POD: What platforms would you recommend for someone just starting out? Are there any”
“For people who have actually tried print-on-demand: What's one thing you wish somebody had told you before you started? Could be anything, designs, pricing, advertising, choosing products, customer service, returns, fulfillment, whatever. I'm particularly interested in lessons that aren't obvious from all the "start a POD business in 7 days" videos online 😂 I'll go first: having a design people like isn't necessarily the same as having a design people will actually”
“I am curious to hear from artists who have turned their artwork into T-shirts, posters, mugs, or other print-on-demand products. Has POD been a good way to earn from your art, or do you find that the production costs and profit margins make it difficult? I’d also love to know how you decide which pieces to sell and which products work best for your style. If you were starting again today, what would you do differently? I’m genuinely interested in hearing both the good and the frustrating parts o”
“I’ve been doing business with Printful since 2023 and generally had a good experience up until the last 6 months. Order after order, delays and lost packages because of the use of DHL, Amazon, and OnTrac. Compounded with the increased fulfillment time and quality issues, I can no longer accept this risk. We are pausing business entirely for the time being and looking for new POD providers until we can setup in-house printing. Looking into: NeatoPOD Tapstitch Gelato Any thoughts? submitted”
“A lot of people start print-on-demand because it looks simple from the outside, but once you get serious, the real problems seem to show up fast: product quality, supplier reliability, shipping, pricing, ad costs, weak margins, returns, customer support, and constantly switching between different tools. For those who have managed to grow past $100k in sales , what were the biggest problems you had to solve first? And for people still trying to get there, what do you think is holding you back the”
Hi, I'm a relatively new artist and am even newer to the sub, If this has already been answered, I'm really sorryyyyy I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good print…
“Hey everyone, We are building an personalized photobook brand for the US market. We originally relied on network aggregators like Gelato, but we’re shifting away. The lack of strict control over peak-season fulfillment times (specifically around Christmas) created major operational headaches, and standard marketplace PODs don't support true customized packaging, just minimal inserts/logo stickers, which doesn't match our brand positioning. We are looking for a reliable US-based print-on-”
“the flat walls could crease the print. that's the reason. your analogy makes zero sense. this is a piece of paper rolled up. naturally round would cause less dents.”
“you could ruin the print in the triangle. worth it to spend the extra few bucks, especially if it is an expensive piece. in my world people make sure it is sent in a tube with acid free tissue paper before they make the purchase. if it was in a triangle they literally wouldn't buy it.”
“you could ruin the print in the triangle. worth it to spend the extra few bucks, especially if it is an expensive piece. in my world people make sure it is sent in a tube with acid free tissue paper before they make the purchase. if it was in a triangle they literally wouldn't buy it. good luck!”
“You should be ready for your package to get rammed by upto 70ish kg (150lbs) from heights of like 6-8ft. They get tossed, rolled, kicked, thrown ect. If they end up on a conveyer, its even worse. If you dont feel comfortable tossing your package out of a moving vehicle at speed, its not packed well enough.”
“you want the rounds tubes. this is the standard. I know a lot of people who sell high end prints. if already framed most good UPS senders will box it up for you in store.”
“I sell posters that are 40in wide at the widest. I'm getting a lot of complaints recently that the packages are getting damaged and then I need to send them another poster. I first put the poster in a cardboard tube with the white plastic caps, then i put it into a cardboard box because UPS mandates I put everything into a box. I think it gets damaged because they stack heavy packages on the middle of the box, or throw heavier packages on it, and it gets squished in the middle, and then it b”
“I used Printbest for yard signs for years, but in February their shipping went up from $9 per item to $23 per item. There's just no margin for profit anymore-- it costs $30 for me , between the item and the shipping, and no customer is paying $50 for a plastic yard sign. Anyone have an alternative company they can point me to? US based would be best-- the majority of that new shipping cost is tariffs on account of Printbest being located in Canada. submitted by /u/JayPea1984 [lin”
“Having a limited budget but looking to order fine art prints for around 50-100 photographs of mine for delivery in Europe - any recommendations ? submitted by /u/CableStunning2884 [link] [comments]”
“I’m working with a small team building something in the print-on-demand space, and we’re at the point where feedback from actual sellers would be way more useful than more internal opinions. We’re looking for a few people who already sell POD products and would be willing to spend maybe 15–20 minutes trying the platform. I’m mainly interested in things like: what feels confusing or slow what you’d expect to see but can’t find whether the product/design workflow actually makes sense whether the m”
“I want to print public domain paintings on poster paper and frame it. Is shutterfly good for this in terms of cost and quality? submitted by /u/GHOST64__ [link] [comments]”
“Hello, I tried to post this on Ask UK but the bot deleted my post... I have a couple of T-shirts I want to print with some artwork - only single pieces (a lot of companies only do bulk orders). DTF/DTG I've looked at online sites (zazzle etc) but a lot of them don't use the entire back of the T-Shirt (only about 50-60% of the area) and I would like my artwork to span a little more of the area. Don't mind spending a bit of bob as well for some unique T-shirts and understand that singl”
“Lost a few days to this before I figured it out, so sharing in case it saves someone else the redo cycles. If your artwork looks fine in Canva/Photoshop but your POD supplier keeps flagging it as low-quality at upload, it's almost always a resolution problem, not a design problem. A couple of things that actually moved the needle for me: Design big from the start. Don't build your artwork small and scale it up later ... start with a large canvas and big source files. Scaling a small grap”
“Just wondering how do people deal with it? Because I see a lot of prints selling in popular European sizes, ISO sizes, and North American sizes but here is what is happening: https://preview.redd.it/69btucaj2thh1.png?width=1502&format=png&auto=webp&s=c27cbf49bccc42e02296ab8a3d402dfd9105406a Green is a 4:5 ratio art that I have done, the red is a 24x36 size, so right away there are empty spaces. My solution I guess is to use some sort of AI service to fill the rest of the space? But t”
“Hey all! I'm planning to sell general stationery (sticky note pads and small note pads), switching from worksheets, and I'm on the hunt for a reliable printer or print-on-demand service that won't eat my margins. Would love recommendations on: Print shops or print-on-demand companies you've had good experiences with Turnaround time and minimum order quantities Anything to avoid — bad quality, slow shipping, hidden fees, etc. Trying to find something that's affordable at lower”
“Honest question from someone who got radicalized enough by this to start a factory. I've been around print since the first DTG rigs get Frankensteined out of desktop Epsons, watched sublimation become the "want bright colors? suffer polyester" compromise. Then on a trip I ended up at a factory in Italy that prints for Dolce & Gabbana and Burberry, and saw digital reactive printing - the same classic tech the whole cotton industry has always used for dyeing fabric, now running o”
“I'm just about to start my business in Europe, using Stanley Stella and AS Colour blanks. Recently I'm having really bad experience with Printful regarding the print quality, I receive crooked and off-centered prints. Do you know any smaller POD company who actually cares about quality and prints on Stanley Stella and AS colour products? Thanks. submitted by /u/gyarmoo [link] [comments]”
I've been having a bit of a frustrating experience with Printful. I ordered some embroidered hat samples, and the digitizations didn't translate like I was hoping. They weren't terribly complex graphics, so…
“[Canva] ★★ 2/5 (v4.219.0) — I ordered a poster. Last time I got prints I did them through the local Staples and it was not good quality, so this time I ordered directly from Canva, hoping it would be better. It still was not the professional level they advertise. The biggest issue is the poster got damaged in transit. They offered a reprint, which I accepted. But the reprint got damaged worse than the first one. Obviously their packaging cannot hold up to the US mail system. When trying to talk”
“Hi guys, Have been using The Print Bar but there is NO QC. I've ordered 10 samples and they have all arrived with cracked ink, or logos with lines through the ink..I'm so disappointed. There's also zero customer service.. emails are ignored. They were so good a year ago! If you've worked with someone great, please let me know. Really trying to get ready to transition into my side hustle for a bit as I have a redundancy coming up and the job market is not good! Thanks! submi”
“Hello everyone, i've been into the print on demand industry for months but i still cant find a good print on demander which is not limited like printful,gelato or printify with the small-limited customizzable part of the t shirt. ive been using Yoycol now but i still havent ordered a sample and by reading your feedbacks im thinling about switching. Thanks. submitted by /u/Conscious-Roll-8137 [link] [comments]”
“I’ve been researching different POD platforms and came across Zazzle. One thing that really stood out to me was how professionally some products are presented, the lifestyle images, close-up details, different product views, and overall branding feel. https://preview.redd.it/5wt6n6ixz0gh1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=3061455bc9cb15d4d61570f6b4454550cb89825e https://preview.redd.it/3hejy5ixz0gh1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=107f3c2188fc14e6b576efe4bdc6f25”
“I’ve been reading through discussions here, and it seems that most POD problems only become obvious once order volume starts growing. Production delays, inconsistent print quality, poor support, stock changes and orders getting stuck during peak seasons appear to cause far more damage than a lack of new features. For sellers who have been doing this for a while: What is the biggest problem affecting your business today? What becomes difficult when your order volume increases? What information or”