From Zero to a Hundred Thousand Dollars: The Challenges of Starting a Print on Demand Shop
Starting a print on demand shop can be a daunting task, especially if you're aiming to make a hundred thousand dollars within a year. In this article, we'll take a look at the challenges that come with starting a print on demand shop and how to overcome them. From lost orders to copycats, we'll cover it all. So, let's dive in and see what it takes to go from zero to a hundred thousand dollars.
📝 Table of Contents
- Introduction
- The Early Days: A False Sense of Security
- The First Set of Challenges: Lost Orders and Plummeting Ratings
- The Copycats: A Major Setback
- Starting Over: A Brand New Shop
- The Challenges of a New Shop: High Risk and Taxpayer ID Issues
- The Future of the Challenge: Switching to Shopify?
- Join the Community: The Discord Server
- Conclusion
- Resources
The Early Days: A False Sense of Security
When the author of this article started their print on demand shop, they had a false sense of security. Within a week of opening the shop, they got their first sale, which led them to believe that the entire challenge would be easy. After just the first month in business, they were able to do over five thousand three hundred dollars in sales. However, they soon realized that things were not going to be as easy as they thought.
The First Set of Challenges: Lost Orders and Plummeting Ratings
Around Christmas time, the author's shop had a bunch of express orders get lost in the mail because the print provider who was handling those orders was shipping them out with a really weird t-force tracking. As a result, they lost all of the orders they were handling, and the author had to refund all of the orders they had to refund. This led to their ratings with Etsy plummeting, and on top of that, it was the end of the holiday season. Despite all of this, the author stuck to the plan and kept posting new products every single day, and it was paying off. They had a pretty successful January, which is typically the slowest month of the year, doing about seventeen hundred dollars.
The Copycats: A Major Setback
However, the author made their biggest mistake in January when they accidentally leaked the shop name for a couple of seconds in one of the videos they put out at the beginning of the year. A few hundred people who saw that video went to the shop on Etsy and decided it was a good idea to copy the listings and post them for sale in their own shops. This smothered all of the listings that the author was successfully selling, essentially killing the shop. The author felt down about it for about a month and then went back to posting with the genius idea of adding a watermark to all of the listings that they were posting. Their thought was that this would make it harder for people to copy and steal the listings directly. This has seemed to be working as they've started to see some progress over the past couple of weeks.
Starting Over: A Brand New Shop
Despite the progress, the author decided to start a brand new shop. They spent about a weekend uploading as many products as they could, again starting over completely from scratch. They posted a few hundred products for sale, and they are using automation scripts to create new mock-ups, new products, new info charts, descriptions, and everything. They are trying to make it as hard as possible for people to copy or find the shop.
The Challenges of a New Shop: High Risk and Taxpayer ID Issues
Starting a new shop comes with its own set of challenges. The author received an email from Etsy saying that the funds were going to be withheld because it was a new high-risk shop. They also received a weirder email from Etsy saying that since they had made over 250 dollars in total, including tax and shipping and everything, they needed to update their taxpayer information. However, when they tried to update their information, they found that they couldn't fix their name or their number. They emailed the Etsy support team, but they couldn't fix the issue. At the moment, if they keep growing and using this shop and they reach over the 500 limit, Etsy will suspend the account.
The Future of the Challenge: Switching to Shopify?
The author is now faced with a decision. They have to decide if they want to invest more time into this second shop that could potentially get shut down or if they need to look at their other options. The last chance they have of saving this challenge is either by getting the account set up properly so that they can use it or switching the entire challenge over to Shopify. Moving the challenge to Shopify would mean that more people from around the world would be able to jump in and try it out since Etsy isn't available in every country. But at the same time, it's a more expensive and harder game to play. They would be reinvesting a lot of the profit from the challenge that they already have into the store to run ads and drive traffic to it.
Join the Community: The Discord Server
If you're starting out your business, the author has started a Discord server where you can come and ask your questions to get help if you're stuck on something. It's still a work in progress, but they're trying to make it better and easier to use, and it's free.
Conclusion
Starting a print on demand shop is not easy, and the author of this article has faced many challenges along the way. From lost orders to copycats to high-risk shops and taxpayer ID issues, they have had to overcome many obstacles. However, they are still moving forward and trying to complete the challenge. If you're starting out your business, remember that it's not going to be easy, but with perseverance and hard work, you can achieve your goals.
Resources
- [Etsy](https://www.etsy.com/)
- [Shopify](https://www.shopify.com/)
- [Discord](https://discord.com/)
FAQ
Q: What is a print on demand shop?
A: A print on demand shop is a type of online store where products are only printed and shipped when an order is placed.
Q: What is Etsy?
A: Etsy is an online marketplace where people can buy and sell handmade, vintage, and unique goods.
Q: What is Shopify?
A: Shopify is an e-commerce platform that allows businesses to create online stores and sell products.
Q: What is a Discord server?
A: A Discord server is a chatroom-like platform where people can communicate with each other through text, voice, and video.
