Once you’ve set up your first Shopify store, here are some key things to keep in mind as you move forward in your print-on-demand journey.
You don’t need technical skills to set up your store
If you want to focus on selling and getting your brand out there without the technical aspect of setting up a personal storefront, Shopify is the way to go. Go to themes.shopify.com to view their extensive catalog of premade themes, including a selection of highly customizable free themes.
There are costs associated with selling on Shopify, but they are low
Shopify offers a 3-day free trial, after which you’ll need to select from a range of monthly subscription plans priced between USD 39 and USD 399 per month (save 25% with the annual plan).
For beginners, the basic plan provides sufficient features to set up your storefront. Additionally, regardless of your choice, you’ll only pay USD 1 per month for the first 3 months.
You can purchase a domain to promote your brand
By default, your store can be found at mystore.myshopify.com, where “mystore” will be replaced by your store’s name. For a more professional look, you can purchase a primary domain, since this is how customers will find your store.
You can look up your domain name choice and find purchase options here, or alternatively by using a service like GoDaddy.
You can adjust your order import settings
By default, your Shopify orders are automatically imported into Printful Enterprise. After that, these orders will go to production according to your selected order approval settings in Printful Enterprise.
If you prefer to send your orders to production right after they’re paid for, bypassing your Printful Enterprise settings, you have two options:
- Click “Request fulfillment” in Shopify to send the Printful Enterprise order to production immediately.
- In Shopify, go to “Settings” → “General” → “Order Processing” and choose “Automatically fulfill the order’s line items”. Then your Printful Enterprise orders will go straight to production.
Avoid requesting fulfillment on Shopify—orders are imported to Printful Enterprise automatically
When you connect your Shopify store to Printful Enterprise, any orders received in your Shopify store containing Printful Enterprise products will be automatically imported to Printful Enterprise for fulfillment based on your chosen order approval settings.
It is unnecessary to press the “Request fulfillment” button. In fact, doing so will immediately send your imported Printful Enterprise order to production. We recommend avoiding this button and instead adjusting your order approval settings to fit your needs.
Avoid using Shopify’s exchange functionality for Printful Enterprise orders
When operating a standalone store such as Shopify, you control your store’s return policy. If you plan to offer exchanges, remember that products cannot be returned to Printful Enterprise. Instead, you could resell the items or use them for giveaways. Note that using Shopify’s exchange functionality does not create a new order on Printful Enterprise; as a result, your customer will not receive a replacement product.
To handle an exchange, you have two options:
- Same product cost: If the replacement product costs the same as the original, create a manual order for the customer directly in Printful Enterprise.
- Different product cost: If the replacement product costs more or less than the original, refund the customer in Shopify and ask them to place a new order for the desired product.