This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more information.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for more information.
Everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon and sell t-shirts online because it can be super profitable with very little work.
In 2018 I made over $11,400 just from selling my T-shirt designs on Merch by Amazon and almost $12K with additional sales on Etsy.
But there are plenty of downsides too. And what worked for most of us when we were getting started in 2016 & 2017 will not work today. The trend has caught on and the market way over-saturated.
2020, in general, was not a great year to start a T-shirt side hustle. Print-on-demand services stopped allowing new designs or stopped printing altogether.
But these services are beginning to allow people to sell t-shirts online again so this seems like a good time to talk about the good and the bad when it comes to starting a t-shirt side business.
My (Abridged) Story
If you haven’t followed my 2018 Side Hustle Reports, here’s the rundown of my experience with shirts.
I heard about Merch by Amazon in February of 2017 on The Side Hustle Show podcast. The person Nick was interviewing made it sound so easy: type up some words, upload the file to Merch, and watch the dollars roll in.
So I applied and got accepted in May. I uploaded 10 designs (the max you can start with) and waited for the sales to come.
They didn’t… for a while.
I “tiered up” to 25 shirts around July then 100 in September, and 500 by October. In October I did a few Halloween shirts that made me A LOT of money (and would eventually be my downfall, stay tuned.)
All in all in 2017 for 8 months of work I made over $5,000. Not bad.
In 2018 I opened my Etsy store and put some of my best designs over there. The sales paled in comparison to Merch so I went back to the drawing board and hired a designer that summer to make new designs for Merch.
They were decent designs, better than some of my best sellers, and NONE of them sold. Summer is slower in general but I was shocked that not a single shirt sold.
But my old shirts kept selling fine.
And then in September, my Halloween shirts started selling again and I was reported (most likely by a competitor) for copyright infringement. The takedown led to the termination of my Merch account.
In retrospect, I was playing too close to the edge of intellectual property. I didn’t think it was right but other sellers were getting away with it so I tried it. And when my competitors had a shred of something they could report me for, they took advantage of it.
While this was all going down my story was featured in Time Magazine. Someone at Amazon apparently read the article because my account was restored the next day.
But none of my shirts were. Still, to this day after emails have fallen on deaf ears, my Merch account sits there alive but mostly dead.
Can You Still Profit From T-Shirts in 2021?
For me selling T-shirts wasn’t my passion, it was a side hustle to get out of debt. I’m debt-free now so I don’t sell t-shirts online anymore.
But people still ask me about it so I’m sharing what I know to be true of starting your own T-shirt business.
Because the real question isn’t how I made money on shirts, it’s can you make money selling shirts now? Short answer: yes.
Selling shirts is not hard and while everyone and their grandma is doing it now, not everyone is doing it right. If you take the extra time to do the small things, you can get started and profit from T-shirts in 2021.
But first, if you need money quickly, selling T-shirts is not the magic bullet you’re looking for. It takes time to build a profitable passive business.
For quick money, I recommend starting with these 10 Easy Side Businesses I know are profitable in 2021.
Now, let’s understand some basic terminology:
- POD– Short for Print on Demand. This is the technology that allows you to sell t-shirts online without keeping inventory.
- Merch– Short for Merch by Amazon. Amazon started its own POD arm in October 2015 and did what no other POD did or does: took care of fulfillment and customer service. Merch is a completely hands-off approach making it very popular.
- Etsy– Another popular marketplace sellers go to diversify revenue. It’s just a platform, you take care of customer service and finding a POD service making it a little more work but they don’t take nearly as much cut as Amazon.
- Printful– a POD service that integrates with Etsy (and Amazon). Printful takes care of printing and shipping automatically and is pretty hands-off. They charge you for every shirt and you’ll need to wait for payment from your platform, in my case Etsy, to be reimbursed. UK and European readers can compare it to Printsome.
How to Get Started With Selling T-Shirt Designs in 2021
These are the steps I would follow if I were starting over.
1. Apply for Merch by Amazon
It’s extremely hard to get a Merch account right now. Merch even discontinued its program due to the increase in orders across Amazon during the COVID-19 outbreak.
But I still recommend you get on that first. The things that qualify you are uncertain, as you will see is everything regarding Amazon, which leaves us to just guessing at what they want.
The rule of thumb is that you already have a “business” you’re more likely to get approved.
So apply like you’re already ready to go.
2. Set up a Printful Account & an Etsy Store
Who knows how long it’ll take you to get approved for Merch. It took 3 months for me and I applied in early 2017. I twiddled my thumbs while I waited but I wouldn’t do that now.
I’d jump into Etsy full force.
When setting up a store on Etsy, leave no blank unfilled. Etsy gives search preference to the stores and products with the most information so set yourself up right by giving them everything they want.
Then set up your Printful account and integrate it with your Etsy store, this is super easy and can be done very quickly.
3. Research What People Are Looking For
Now, we think about designs.
This is the most time-consuming step in the process but completely worth taking the time. And luckily, it hasn’t changed much since I started and it’s super easy.
The first rule is that you’ll want to do all your research in an incognito window so your personal searches don’t affect your research.
Head over to Etsy or Amazon and click the search bar. Right off the bat, Etsy will tell you what’s trending. Today it’s “safari baby shower,” “bridesmaid tote bag,” and “baptism decorations.”
So if you want, your first shirt design could be a safari-themed shirt for a new grandma. Yeah, people will buy that.
If you don’t like any of those ideas then start typing. The search bar will try to autocomplete what you’re typing with the most popular search.
When I type “A,” “Aquarius” is the first result. It’s January so that makes sense. I’ll click it to see what context they’re using it and a lot of the top results are shirts.
Don’t assume what you’re thinking is what the majority is thinking when they search these terms. Always look at the top results to see what the context of the search is. This will also give you ideas for future shirts.
If January’s astrological sign is trending now you could easily get a leg up on the other months by making those signs into shirts now.
I’ll skip over the top results, which are always ads, and look at the top organic (non-ad) results.
I’ll look for how many shirts (I like that there are some but it’s not 100% shirts), how good they are (there are some good ones but I feel I could do better and be different than most), and how many they’re selling.
It’s easier to see what’s selling on Amazon than on Etsy. Etsy I rely on reviews. Amazon uses a Best Seller Ranking (BSR), the lower the number the more it’s selling.
I got this tip from Neil at Merch Informer, look for BSR’s between 100K and 300K. That means the shirt is selling but you won’t be competing with sellers and shirts out of your league.
You’ll want to monitor the shirt for a week to make sure it stays below 300K to ensure the ranking isn’t a fluke.
4. Design Your Shirt
Once you have a few ideas it’s time to start designing. Many people hire this our but when you’re starting, you don’t have to.
Simple, symmetrical designs with great fonts sell best and they are conveniently the easiest to do.
Many people use Adobe Illustrator or Merch Informer’s Merch Designer feature. I used Canva. Canva worked great for me since I was familiar with it and had no clue about any other software.
I had to get Canva for Work so I could download my graphics with transparent backgrounds but you can also use remove.bg to remove backgrounds.
Whatever software you choose, you need to be able to make 300 dpi .png files with dimensions of 4500 x 5400 px (or use a free resizer like I did, another downside to Canva.)
Amazon’s uploader is within Merch. To sell on Etsy you’ll upload your design on Printful and then upload the product listing to Etsy.
For the design, people love a good font. That’s more important than what the shirt actually says.
You’ll need to use fonts approved for commercial use which you can buy or find free on various websites.
Keep your designs simple, clean, and symmetrical.
Websites to Hire Designers:
These websites connect freelance graphic designers to people. It’s like a classified job search.
You just type whatever you’re looking for “t-shirt designer” into the search box and you will see several qualified candidates.
They will have ratings, prices, reviews, etc. about the designers. You will want to make sure to use a qualified experienced individual.
You need to make sure you feel comfortable with the person and they know what you’re looking for.
5. Fill Out Your Listing
This is the most important part of this entire process. You can have a great design with awesome selling potential but without a keyword-rich, optimized listing, no one will see it.
You can find keywords relating to your shirt the same way you found the shirt idea, back to the search bar. Also, include synonyms of the words.
Don’t skimp on the description. Use the full character limit in both Amazon and Etsy. The title is most important than the description. All the other parts should be filled but aren’t as important to optimize.
Merch Informer is a good premium software to help you on Amazon and eRank is what I use for Etsy.
Once your listing is optimized there’s nothing left to it but to do it!
Publish that baby and play the hardest game, the waiting game, while you wait for someone to buy your shirt.
Success Tips for Selling T-Shirts Online:
If you really want to amp up your t-shirt side hustle, use some (or all) of these tips to help you become a success!
Try & Try Again
Keep trying. If your designs aren’t selling, don’t be afraid to go back to the drawing board and create new designs. You have to keep trying until you find what people want.
Get plenty of reviews
You can get closer to the top of search results by paying for ads or getting reviews. Getting reviews is a great free way to get your products seen at the top of the search results.
Offer additional products
As you become successful with the t-shirts, you can add other print on demand items to your shop too.
You can add coffee mugs, wine tumblers, and hats just to name a few.
Get on social media
If you really want to take your business to the next level, you can start social media accounts for your business. You can do Instagram, Facebook, TickTock, and Pinterest. You can get more eyes on your designs.
Send your designs to influencers
You can send a complimentary t-shirt to a YouTube or Instagram influencer to get them to mention you on their social channel. You might also have to pay them a sponsored fee too in addition to the complimentary t-shirt.
Don’t give up
Just keep going.
Don’t give up.
Like me, you might have to make some designs before they finally take off and start selling. Just keep going back to the drawing board and designing.
Be original
If you see a popular search result (like the safari from earlier), look at what they have available in that search result for a t-shirt. Make something better that stands out more than the top search results.
Use your description box to your advantage
Describe your item in full detail. Tell the customer the type of fabric the t-shirt is. Have a size chart available for them to look at when browsing.
Really describe everything you think they would want to know when shopping for a t-shirt online.
This is a very brief overview of how to sell t-shirts online and by no means comprehensive.
This is a quick way to get started designing and selling your t-shirt designs online.
If t-shirts aren’t your jam, you can research other print-on-demand items and use the same principles here for the other items (like hats, mugs, invitations, etc).
But it’ll get you started and feel free to comment with any questions you have below.
Good luck with your T-shirt business! You’ve got this!!
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Jen Smith
Jen Smith is a personal finance expert, founder of Modern Frugality and co-host of the Frugal Friends Podcast. Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Lifehacker, Money Magazine, U.S. News and World Report, Business Insider, and more. She’s passionate about helping people gain control of their spending.
