The beautiful “cash cow” that is selling on Amazon’s Merch.

In 2015, Amazon rolled out their competitive t-shirt design and retail service called “Merch”.

And I jumped on the opportunity to sign up because it was by invite only. Surprisingly I was accepted pretty quickly and then suddenly my inspiration to create shirts fell through. Several months later though when I came up for air from the pressures of mothering and trying to work from home, I decided to really dive into Merch by Amazon and capitalize on all its glory.

Why sell on Merch by Amazon?

So you’re probably also asking “What’s the benefit of selling on Merch by Amazon since it’s just t-shirts and if I already have a distributor like Zazzle?”

Great question, friend, really great question.

First and foremost is that you can get your t-shirt design online in under 6 hours on the world’s largest online retailer.

That’s POW-ER-FUL.

So even if you’re working with another outlet like Zazzle, it’s worth adding Merch to your arsenal of great product marketing tools.

What you need to know about designing t-shirts to sell on Amazon

• It can take a few weeks to be invited to the platform, so go request access to Merch by Amazon now.
• Create all your designs on a 4500 x 5400 pixel canvas.

Setting your price and what your options are when selling shirts on Merch by Amazon

Ok so first, you can sell Anvil or American Apparel shirts. Anvil is cheaper and earns you more commission, but if you’re wanting a softer or more form-fitting shirt, American Apparel is the way to go.

You may choose up to five colors for your shirt to be produced in, but can stick with just one or anything in between. It is more expensive to print front and back, so keep it in mind if you can consolidate the design to one side, it will earn you more money. 

Once you get past uploading your image and picking colors, who the shirt is for, etc. then you will be promoted to give more information for the sales page.

Each and every shirt (up to 500 for me, tiered for each person) can be a different “Brand Name”. This means you’re not committed to selling under the same name for every shirt you design, publish, and sell.

Then it will take a few hours for the shirts to go live, but they do go live the same day (unless you’re working at night, then it may be the middle of the night or the next morning).

Once live it’s available for purchase and people can buy just one or a ton. Amazon does the rest. And YES it qualifies for Amazon Prime and free shipping!

Quick Tips about selling shirts on Amazon

• You can sell privately through a custom link or list publicly. Your choice. But you can actually do both and have different prices 😉

        

• Sometimes, it will tell you that they’re not accepting new shirt designs. So, you’ll have to wait. In that case just save and wait.
• You need to sell a shirt in the first 90 days for it to stay live on Amazon!
• Being an affiliate means you’re earning an extra percentage on top of your design commission so don’t forget to share via your affiliate link.
• You can add these shirts and affiliate links to your WooCommerce shop. (Find out how to link to outside affiliate here).

More on selling merchandise on your website or blog’s eShop