Printful currently integrates with many of the most popular eCommerce websites & CMS websites for launching your own online store.
As of writing this article, they currently integrate with:
- Shopify
- Etsy
- WooCommerce
- Squarespace
- Storenvy
- BigCommerce
- Gumroad
- Big Cartel
- Ecwid
- Amazon
- Weebly
- eBay
- PrestaShop
They're constantly expanding their integrations (shout out to the Printful web developers!) and you can check out the official list of supported integrations here.
If you're completely new to the scene, Printful owns warehouses around the globe where they keep products stocked that you can have your own custom designs printed on following a sale.
We call this "print on demand" because you create product listings for sale on the web of products that don't exist yet (until after they're purchased) & you don't have to hold inventory - it's a win/win!
If you successfully integrate your website or eCommerce store with Printful, it will automatically download the sale, produce the purchased product, ship it to your customer & upload tracking information.
You can piggy back off of some very well engineered automation at literally NO COST because joining Printful is 100% FREE!
One of their most popular eCommerce integrations is with Etsy.com, a growing e-commerce website that opened their doors to print on demand sellers not too long ago.
Etsy is a great opportunity to expand your catalog of POD products by reaching a new audience. Keep in mind that even though Amazon is currently the largest eCommerce platform, many shoppers have their own personal preference of where to shop, and it might not be Amazon.
It's also worth pointing out that most internet shopping trips start on Google.com & you can't gaurantee that Google will send search traffic to Amazon over, say eBay, Etsy, or Redbubble.
Thus, it's smart to occupy as much internet real estate as possible. Upload your designs to as many products & marketplaces as possible to make the most money!
Back to the point of this article - here's the walkthrough of how to integrate Printful with your Etsy shop.
Connecting Printful to Etsy
Connecting your Printful & Etsy accounts allows you to push new products to Etsy & also allows Printful to download, fulfill, & mark your orders as complete.
I've used the integration to fulfill almost 2,000 orders as of writing this article (1,954 to be exact), and I've maintained a perfect 5-star feedback rating - a testament to how pleased my customers have been with Printful's products.
Follow these steps to ensure you setup your accounts correctly.
- Open your free Printful account
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- Open your free Etsy account
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- Now, before connecting the two, you need to open your Etsy shop. Check out my post walking you through opening a well optimized Etsy shop
- You also need to create your first product listing on Etsy before we move on to the integration, which will cost $0.20.
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- Make sure you have Printful added as a production partner on your Etsy shop
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- Now we can connect them! Go to Printful's connect to Etsy page (or click Stores > Connect > Etsy) & then click the "Connect to Etsy" button
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- On Etsy, click the "Allow Access" button, & the sync will begin
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- After a few minutes Printful should detect your Etsy product listings. You can leave products you DON'T want Printful to fulfill as "not synced" by clicking the "Ignore" button
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- From here, you can add products to your Etsy store by clicking the "add product" button & following Printful's product creation wizard
Check out my blog post on How to upload Printful products for an in-depth walkthrough of how to use it
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It doesn't have to be a real product, it can be a "dummy" product. You'll need to provide a photo, title, about, category, manual renewal, description, price, & shipping option.
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And just like that, you're done!
New Sale Notifications
Following a sale, you'll receive an email from Etsy notifying you that someone made a purchase.
Within ~45 minutes (typically) Printful will detect the order and email you a "We got it!" notification, alerting you that they will produce & fulfill the order, & the product + shipping costs will be deducted from your Printful wallet.
If you don't have one setup, you'll need to add a charge method before they work on your order.
Within a few days Printful will send you another email that they've fulfilled the order & shipped it to your customer.
It will mark the order as Complete in Etsy & update the it with the tracking information.
Congrats on making it this far, now get to designing, uploading, & selling!
