# Is POD worth it?



## TShirtMan12 (2 mo ago)

I just took an online course on the t-shirt business (so of course I'm an expert LOL). It looked like something I would like to do to make extra money. Do you think POD is worth doing? Is there still an ability to make money or is the market too saturated? I thought I'd ask the experts.

Thanks!

Jon


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## NoXid (Apr 4, 2011)

Merch by Amazon/AMoD is insanely saturated. They currently reject lots of people who apply, and as far as anyone can tell, it has nothing to do with the person, but seems to be the way they keep growth in balance with their capacity. When you get accepted, you get to list a whole 10 designs--and no more, until your sell 10 items. Then you get bumped _all_ the way up to 25. I'm at Tier 10,000, but actually only have just short of 500 designs up. I started in early 2018, but haven't done much with it since late 2019 when the listing Rejection Bot got ever more hyperactive (and usually wrong) in its actions.

Which is not to say that MBA/POD is not an opportunity. It is.

But what do you have that you can bring to the table? Is there some not-already-exploited hobby/occupation/niche that you have a passion for and a lot of insider knowledge? Tossing up the 10-Billionth dabbing cat design isn't going to get you anywhere. BSR matters. Listings without sales get their random shots at garnering sales, but soon sink to way, way, way, below the threshold for ever being shown in search results--unless they manage to score sales before then. Search for something like "Halloween Shirt" and you'll get 4 or 7 or however many pages Amazon currently sets as the truncation point. But there are a million (or more) Halloween listings if there is one, most of them simply will never be seen again if they don't get those initial sales. You can chase after those initial sales by paying for ads, Jeff does need more money for his rocket 🚀

But perhaps you were thinking of doing like an Etsy shop with Printful or Printify or Custom Cat handling the fulfillment? It costs money to list on Etsy, so best to tightly focus on a niche and really stay on brand. As opposed to the POD marketplaces where listing is free, so one can throw endless "poop" at the wall just to see what sticks and what doesn't.

But to your question. Could someone start now and make money? *Absolutely*. Could someone start in 2018 and give up in frustration? Yes, many did. It is harder now than then, but it has always depended more on the person than the times.

If you have some sort of passion about a niche or art or shirts or whatever, go for it. There is no way to know other than to try. If your only interest is chasing $, you'd probably get more for less investment of time elsewhere.


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## TShirtMan12 (2 mo ago)

NoXid said:


> Merch by Amazon/AMoD is insanely saturated. They currently reject lots of people who apply, and as far as anyone can tell, it has nothing to do with the person, but seems to be the way they keep growth in balance with their capacity. When you get accepted, you get to list a whole 10 designs--and no more, until your sell 10 items. Then you get bumped _all_ the way up to 25. I'm at Tier 10,000, but actually only have just short of 500 designs up. I started in early 2018, but haven't done much with it since late 2019 when the listing Rejection Bot got ever more hyperactive (and usually wrong) in its actions.
> 
> Which is not to say that MBA/POD is not an opportunity. It is.
> 
> ...


Wow! Thanks for all the great advice. I appreciate you being honest with me. I'll keep investigating for a while, before I make the jump. Thanks again!

Jon


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## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

TShirtMan12 said:


> Do you think POD is worth doing?


POD is just a printing service.
If you can use it to produce desirable shirts, then it is definitely worth it.
Talent is required.



TShirtMan12 said:


> Is there still an ability to make money or is the market too saturated?


The restaurant market is saturated as well, but McDonald's is making billions.
Plenty of single store restaurants are very profitable as well.
Again, talent is required.


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## TShirtMan12 (2 mo ago)

TABOB said:


> POD is just a printing service.
> If you can use it to produce desirable shirts, then it is definitely worth it.
> Talent is required.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the reply Bob! I appreciate your input.


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## JohnDeco (Mar 2, 2020)

Choosing the right POD service provider is the key.


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## tstall (Aug 4, 2008)

Your experience may not be like mine, but I had a horrible time getting consistency. 
Many companies print their tees with DTF, but often the operators of the equipment don't know what the heck they are doing.
These companies mainly focus on quantity, not quality! 
I shut down after a couple months and never went back!
Good luck with that!


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## sgsellsit1 (Mar 31, 2021)

The problem these days are turnaround and consistency. With the current employee situations and people too lazy to work or do a good job, companies can not keep up with demand or quality. They are constantly behind. On top of that the employee turn over is extremely high. Companies are virtually pulling people off the street to work. They are given a crash course in printing and set free on jobs. With this climate, companies have reduced customer service and increased no fault and no return policies. I have discontinued POD. The last POD customer I had ordered coffee mugs for wedding party gifts. They arrived the day before the event which was almost a week and a half longer than I was quoted. Half of the mugs had been printed to high and part of the graphic was cut off. The customer cancelled the order even when I told her the situation and I ate $500 worth of cost and lost almost $400 profit. I am still trying to get a credit for the order. I have had people say I need to get a lawyer involved or go to small claims. Why do I want to spend $1000 on a lawyer or take days off of work to go to court and spend $200 to file a claim? If you can't do it on house right now, don't do it.


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## into the T (Aug 22, 2015)

sgsellsit1 said:


> The problem these days are turnaround and consistency. With the current employee situations and people too lazy to work or do a good job, companies can not keep up with demand or quality. They are constantly behind. On top of that the employee turn over is extremely high. Companies are virtually pulling people off the street to work. They are given a crash course in printing and set free on jobs. With this climate, companies have reduced customer service and increased no fault and no return policies.


that's not a bug, that's a feature

welcome to the new age


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