Build your Sellfy merch store in under 10 minutes (4 easy steps)
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Looking for a way to create and sell custom merch for free from your own storefront? Then you’ve just hit the jackpot! With Sellfy’s print on demand (POD), you can do just that and more in under 10 minutes.
Plus, you can fill your store with up to 10 products (or more if you upgrade) without keeping inventory or worrying about unsold leftovers. What’s more, we’ll handle the shipping, order fulfillment, taxes, etc., at no cost to you. This is truly a low-risk way to get started selling merch, which is why so many creators have chosen our platform over other alternatives.
To show you how easy it really is, we’ve put together this simple four-step guide for you. So, let’s get right into it!
1. Sign up for Sellfy & connect payment methods
Sellfy offers a 14-day free trial to give you a chance to try out all of the features without committing to one of the subscription plans, which we’ll cover in more detail later.
To start a trial, you’ll enter your first name, a valid email address, and create a password. Once you’ve opened your trial, it’s important to first verify your email address so that you can upgrade to a plan at any time, and receive Sellfy updates, account information, sales notifications, and more.
If for some reason you have not received a verification email, you can click the Resend email button from the dashboard menu, or locate ACCOUNT > Account settings and click the Resend verification button next to the email entry field.
Next, you can go ahead and connect payment methods. Sellfy currently offers integrations with two major payment processors to collect payments:
- Stripe—allows customers to pay with any major credit card, Apple Pay, or Google pay.
- PayPal—allows customers to pay with a PayPal account, major credit card, or local European payment options.
To add payment methods to your Sellfy store, navigate to STORE SETTINGS > Payment settings. From there you’ll be able to connect your PayPal or Stripe account.
The best part? You won’t have to wait for payouts—your earnings will be immediately transferred to your Stripe or PayPal account after the purchase is made! You will also have access to the invoice in your Sellfy account.
2. Customize your merch store
Unless you’re planning to sell from an existing website with Sellfy’s Embed options, there are two ways to customize your store. You can either use a premade Sellfy store theme and then customize it, or create a design from scratch with the Customizer tool.
Out of these two, the Sellfy store theme is by far the easiest and quickest way to get a beautiful design with minimal effort. Then, you can fill out the theme with the Customizer tool and change colors, buttons, text, font, images, etc.
When you start a Sellfy store, the default theme (Lumière) is automatically applied. But, you can easily browse other themes like Mode (specifically designed for merch) under the General settings of the Store Customizer. To apply the Mode theme, click Apply and Publish, and your merch theme will be live!
Or, if you have a little more time on your hands and would rather start off with a blank canvas, then you can start with the Customizer tool. However, we recommend that you add products first so that you can see what your store design looks like with your merch.
Follow this link to learn more.
3. Add your print-on-demand (POD) products
Now that you’ve set up your Sellfy store, you can start adding products! Locate the option to add print-on-demand merch under your dashboard’s PRODUCTS section. Then, click Add new product and you’ll see our POD categories.
What print-on-demand products can you sell?
You can choose from a rich selection of the following categories:
- Men’s, women’s, and kids’ clothing (jackets, t-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies, tank tops, long-sleeve tees, bodysuits, etc.)
- Hats (custom print and embroidery on caps and beanies)
- Bags (backpack, laptop sleeve, fanny pack, and tote bags)
- Home & living (embroidered apron, water bottle, spiral notebook, canvas, posters, mugs, and stickers)
- Phone cases (for iPhone and Samsung)
As you can see, we offer a wide range of customizable products. For a detailed overview of each product, please visit this link. We also provide information about sizing and customization options here.
If you’d like to know what clothing brands we carry, here’s a complete list:
- Champion
- Next Level
- Stanley/Stella
- Cotton Heritage
- Royal Apparel
- Bella + Canvas
- Babybugz
- Gildan
- SOL’S
- B&C
Design your merch with the product Editor
Have you decided on the print-on-demand product(s) you want to sell? Then it’s time for the fun part—design! Sellfy’s POD has an easy-to-use Editor tool that’ll help you design your merch without any hassle.
All you have to do is:
- Choose from up to 45 colors (depending on the product)
- Add text or upload your own custom graphics
- Edit and position your graphics on the product
- Preview your products on high-quality images
Remember that you can always click Product info and Product guidelines for more design tips and help in the Editor.
You’ll also see that some products (t-shirts, sweatshirts, and bags) have two different print techniques: printing (DTG) and embroidery. The difference between the two is that DTG is a printing method that sprays ink directly onto the product whereas embroidery is a stitched design.
If you decide to use embroidery, then it’s good to keep in mind that each new design has an additional fee of $6.50 or more (depending on your location) to cover the manual work of creating a stitched pattern. The fee is also subject to VAT, and will only get collected after you’ve had your first sale.
If you’re using trademarked designs with your merch products, you’ll need to obtain a licensing agreement from the copyright owner and submit it to [email protected]. You can send it in the form of a PDF with electronic signatures and include the following details in the email:
- The title of the POD product that uses the design
- The link to the product page
Alternatively, you can also create and download a t-shirt design for free in Canva.
Generate mockups and order samples
Once you’ve created your custom merch with Sellfy, you can go ahead and generate mockups or order samples for marketing purposes. Creating mockups with Sellfy is as easy as ever—we provide product and model images that you can preview and download on the Edit product page. These mockups show what your designs will look like in real life.
But, if you don’t want to use Sellfy’s existing product photos, there are other options like Placeit, which has thousands of free mockups. In addition to their mockups, you can also create and purchase t-shirt designs for just $2.95. Another great option is Clint English, a Sellfy store that sells awesome merch mockups and high-quality graphic design resources.
To add your own mockup images on the Edit product page, all you have to do is click Add image. You can add as many as 50 previews per product (as long as they don’t exceed 12 MB).
Mockups aside, if you’re a creator who prefers staging a real-life photoshoot to promote your merch, then you can also order some samples. To receive a sample, we recommend purchasing your products through your Sellfy store or website. That way, you get to experience the checkout process from a customer’s perspective as well as test the product quality.
What about product quality and profit?
Selling merch with Sellfy’s POD costs next to nothing:
- The production cost is already included in the final price of the product.
- Order fulfillment, printing, and worldwide shipping are handled by our POD partner and paid for by the customer.
- You don’t have to hold or manage a physical inventory (we’ll supply all the products).
In other words, you can make and sell print-on-demand merch with no upfront costs! You’ll only be charged for the product and fulfillment after your customer orders something from your store. Plus, you can set your own retail prices as high or as low as you want. Whatever is left over after Sellfy charges you is your profit!
For instance, if you want to sell t-shirts, then you can view and change the default t-shirt price settings under VARIANTS > COST on the Edit product page. Note that the production cost will vary depending on the production facility location.
Whatever merch you plan to offer, you can use this simple formula to calculate a final product price that covers all expenses: production cost + profit margin (e.g. 20%) + expenses = retail price.
And, finally, when it comes to product quality, we can assure you that you’re in good hands with Sellfy! The inks used in the printing are water-based and CPSIA compliant, which means they’re safe to print on youth and children’s clothing and reduce environmental waste.
We also offer plenty of sustainable and eco-friendly merch products. And, if any product arrives damaged or has a serious quality issue, we will be happy to issue a refund or replace the product for free. For the best high-quality merch results, we urge you to follow Sellfy’s print-on-demand tips and best practices.
4. You’re almost there—pick a Sellfy plan!
Are you ready to get serious with your merch business? Sellfy has three different subscription plans, each with a slightly different set of features:
- Starter plan (starting from $22/mo)—for creators who want to sell an unlimited number of products (digital, physical, subscription, and print on demand), have access to 2000 email credits, and use a custom domain.
- Business plan (starting from $59/mo)—suitable for anyone who’s expecting bigger sales volumes and wants a white-label store without transaction fees. This plan includes all of the features from the Free and Starter plans as well as store design migration, cart abandonment, product upselling, and 10,000 email credits.
- Premium plan (starting from $119/mo)—for creators who want everything in the Business plan, plus product migration, priority support, and 50,000 email credits. This plan is suitable for sellers who have higher sales volumes and need more tools to promote their business.
Whichever plan you decide to pick, you’ll always get:
- Unlimited bandwidth and file storage
- Multiple payment options
- Free SSL certificate
- Mobile-first design
- Advanced VAT & tax settings
- Third-party app integrations
- Pay-what-you-want product pricing
- Sales analytics dashboard
- 24/7 customer support
Optional: connect your domain or embed
If you already have an existing website, you can connect your domain or use one of our Embed options to integrate the Sellfy checkout, specific products, or the whole store into your existing website:
- Buy now button—allows you to add a call-to-action button that can be paired with your own site design, product images, and description.
- Single product—allows you to feature a single product along with the description, Buy now button, and uploaded images. You can customize it on Sellfy and embed the code on your site.
- All products—allows you to add the whole Sellfy storefront with all of your merch products to your site.
Time to start selling merch!
See how easy that was? Now you know exactly how to launch your own merch business! To learn more about selling products with Sellfy, make sure to check out our blog for some useful tips and tricks. Do you have more questions? Sellfy Help Center has answers to the most frequently asked questions, and you’re always welcome to reach out to our support team at [email protected] any time.
