# Online printer or fulfillment service?



## danhersh77 (Sep 16, 2008)

Hey guys,

I hope someone can be of help to me. I'm starting an e-commerce merchandise site and I have a site being designed with Google checkout and all the shopping cart jazz associated therein. 

My problem is this: I haven't yet found a tee-shirt printer online that seems to be the one for me (either too expensive or not professional enough) and I wonder what route I should be taking. Should I look to a fulfillment website to print/deliver my shirts (the fact that some shirts might be quite complicated and not as simple as text/1 color on white shirt) or should I go to a local printer? Or is there an excellent online printer I haven't seen yet? Can a fulfillment site work hand in hand if I have my own e-commerce site being built? 

I have read the posts that discuss the merits of fulfillment vs. doing it yourself and I fully understand the time is money sentiment. Simply put, if I find a reliable option, I am not opposed to paying money for quality. 

The forums on this site have been of great help to me in getting started and I appreciate your time and help in advance!

Best,
Dan


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> Or is there an excellent online printer I haven't seen yet?


Hard to say since you haven't told us which one's you've seen and disliked so far 

If you can do that and define by "quite complicated" (that could mean a whole host of things...an example might help), we can probably give you better answers


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## danhersh77 (Sep 16, 2008)

Yeah I'd say that's a fair assessment of a substantially vague post! 

As far as printers go, the main two I spoke with both CustomInk and Buxton Brown and neither have been prompt in getting back to me, leading me to become turned off quite a bit. 

With respect to the "complicated" designs, I'm refering to a couple of things.
1) Some of shirts will need all-over or wrap-around printing done
2) A couple of our initial designs have a shirt color that is mostly black, but fade towards Navy in one section and have subtle background text that isn't designed to jump off the shirt. I know that is vague, but I can't really reveal what the shirt is specifically if that's OK. 

I checked out some of the links you (Rodney) provided for the all-over printing companies and some of them looked promising. I plan to follow up on those in the next day or so.

I'm new to the business and obviously I have to decide for myself if the cost of fulfillment (time vs. money) is worth it for the company. 

Regardless, I still would like to know if it is possible to have an e-commerce site and do fulfillment thru an outside company. I'm not 100% sure how that works.

Thanks again!
Dan


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> With respect to the "complicated" designs, I'm refering to a couple of things.
> 1) Some of shirts will need all-over or wrap-around printing done
> 2) A couple of our initial designs have a shirt color that is mostly black, but fade towards Navy in one section and have subtle background text that isn't designed to jump off the shirt. I know that is vague, but I can't really reveal what the shirt is specifically if that's OK.


#1 is possible, but only with a handful of printers (like the ones posted in that thread). So going to a local printer probably won't work there. And you might have slow responses to emails with those guys too since all over/wrap around/oversized printing is in high demand at the moment.

#2 may not even be possible unless you are running 1000's of t-shirts and have them custom made from scratch (the garments) 



> Regardless, I still would like to know if it is possible to have an e-commerce site and do fulfillment thru an outside company. I'm not 100% sure how that works.


Yes, it is possible.

You would setup your own ecommerce site. Add all your products, setup your shopping cart, get your own merchant account to process payments.

Then, you can either:

1) Order t-shirts from a screen printer custom printed with your design and have them shipped to you. When you get orders online, you pull the t-shirt of the shelf and ship it

OR

2) Order t-shirts from a screen printer that does fulfillment. They print the t-shirts and warehouse them in their shop/warehouse. When you get an order from your online store, you notify them somehow (usually via email) and they pull the t-shirt from their shelves and ship it directly to the customer.

OR

3) Find a person with a Direct to Garment (DTG) printer that has a totally different printing process than screen printing (no extensive "setup" required). You get an order through your online store and you notify the DTG printer that you have an order. They pull a BLANK t-shirt from their shelf and pull your design file and print that ONE t-shirt for the customer, bag it up and ship it directly to the customer.

With screen printers, you pay in advance for the printed t-shirts. You will probably be getting a lower price for the printed t-shirts because you're buying in bulk (usually 25+ pieces PER DESIGN is required 50+ recommended for even better pricing). Screen printers can give better discounts on larger orders because their setup/printing/operating costs are mostly on the initial setup of the order. So as they run more t-shirts of the same design, their costs are spread out and they can extend discounts for larger orders. Downside is that you are risking getting t-shirts printed up that may or may not sell.

With DTG printers you don't have to pay in advance for having the t-shirts pre printed since they are printed one at a time as they are needed (printing "on demand). You will probably pay more for the one t-shirt printed on demand shipped to your customer because it's basically printing "retail" (one at a time) and the costs involved with DTG printing are sort of fixed. It basically costs them the same to print 1 t-shirt as it does to print 25 t-shirts (ink costs). Benefit is you don't have to risk printing up designs that may not sell.

Quality wise, screen printing is still the standard for retail t-shirts. Meaning that most high end brands you see are screen printed in some fashion. Most t-shirts you see in retail stores (Pac Sun, Macys, etc) are screen printed. DTG can also have good quality printing. DTG done right can look pretty amazing. DTG or screen printing done badly can both leave much to be desired.

Hope this helps


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## danhersh77 (Sep 16, 2008)

Rodney,

Thanks a TON! That was incredibly helpful and clears up a lot for me...

The only question I have left (and I think you answered it in your response) is whether the quality of DTG is noticeably different than screen printing (when both are done correctly). If so, would it be enough to warrant one over the other on quality alone?

From your response, I gather that the issue is less quality than pricing and paying for inventory you might not end up selling. Clearly this is an issue as well, but I have no problem paying for quality if DTG was a superior instrument.

Thanks again for your help! GREATLY appreciated.

Dan


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> The only question I have left (and I think you answered it in your response) is whether the quality of DTG is noticeably different than screen printing (when both are done correctly). If so, would it be enough to warrant one over the other on quality alone?


The look of each is a bit "different", but the quality is there for both.

You will also get people who only prefer screen printing and people who only prefer DTG.

My suggestion would be to get one of your designs printed by someone with a DTG (or one of the services like cafepress/zazzle/printfection) and see how you like the quality. 

Some love it, some don't. All things being equal (the best printing on both) many times it just boils down to personal preference.

I don't like to say one is "best", because what's best for me, might not be best for you, or best for the next person reading this thread.


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## AtlGal (Dec 5, 2008)

Rodney said:


> 3) Find a person with a Direct to Garment (DTG) printer that has a totally different printing process than screen printing (no extensive "setup" required). You get an order through your online store and you notify the DTG printer that you have an order. They pull a BLANK t-shirt from their shelf and pull your design file and print that ONE t-shirt for the customer, bag it up and ship it directly to the customer.


Hello I'm new to the forum (and the t-shirt business)!

I am also developing my own e-commerce site, and would like to keep the customers on my site throughout the shopping process. I am interested in the option #3 Rodney mentioned above Where is a good place to find companies who offer this type of service? 

Thanks!


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> I am interested in the option #3 Rodney mentioned above Where is a good place to find companies who offer this type of service?


You can try posting here in our Referrals area: http://www.t-shirtforums.com/referrals-recommendations/

You can also just read the posts in the Referrals section to see what printers have already been recommended.


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