To be honest, I learned from both videos-yours and Greg's. Greg's video is very beginner-friendly. When you're just starting and have no money, his video gives you a kick start because you can begin without spending anything. If I had to spend money on something I didn't understand, I wouldn't have started. I'm grateful Greg's video helped me begin this career, and your video added more to my knowledge. Thank you.
I'm currently about 7/8 months into POD and followed Greg in my early days. It was he who got me into POD. It definitely hasn't been a "build it and they will come" business and I totally agree that it is hard work pulling all the strands together, but I'm sticking in there and looking at different ways to better it.
Are you actually making any money though? I'm thinking about trying this... Any comments or helpful suggestions you'd like to give at this point in time pleasssse
Don't believe everything Greg tells you, I have been on print on demand for years myself, and I can tell you, Greg loves to hype people, but I don't even think he has a single store. he just talk about things that people likes to hear, you need to learn from the real POD Elite creators. or learn this by yourself, as each platforms has it's own learning curve.
Thank you for making this. I had just watched a different video of Greg's, and something about it wasn't sitting right with me. You nailed it - the bias is super clear when you point it out. I felt like he was leaving out crucial information, and I appreciate you naming some of those details he left out. To me, it seems like his perspective is very slanted to someone who is willing to chase trends, which is useless if you are a content creator looking to find the best pathway for getting merch for your community.
I do believe a few years back I followed exactly his video about getting accepted on Amazon two or three different times and never got accepted so yes I agree it is extremely hard. Can't imagine it being any easier now
I don't see the problem. Every business person knows that the more work you put into something the greater the reward and vice versa. Greg points that out and he tells you that this video is for those who are not building an empire. Your chances of getting into Amazon merch are next to zero if you haven't started somewhere and built something of value. Amazon isn't doing anything because they are nice guys. You best bring traffic to them or forget it. I am more inclined to start at the bottom and work up. BTW, all these POD platforms can suspend you at a moment's notice. Why bust his chops? Your title "Exposing" sounds nefarious like he's doing something underhanded and evil. That's not nice. Also, why are you discouraging interest in POD - trying to eliminate potential competition I would think or else you enjoy being negative. Enough of that in the world as far as I am concerned.
I got accepted into Amazon Merch and spent two entire years in the 25 tier. I sold a few hundred shirts during that time but it was so frustrating being stuck at 25 and having no idea how to get out. By the time they finally upgraded me to tier 100, I'd moved on to Etsy/POD and had way more success on that platform. I may revisit amazon merch, but the tier system turned me off of it (along with my designs being stolen, and unable to get the copies taken down, even with proof of copyright/Library of Congress certificate).
I have always known that I need to pull my information from multiple sources. I minimally use 3 or more sources. I never rely on one. Yet I have always been one who believes you can learn something from everyone. I watch all of you guys and take away bits and pieces that serve my purposes. I don't think about the numbers of profit because results for you are going to be the same for me. So I just concentrate on learning the different methods and finding what works for me. I appreciate all the support I get from you guys.
I find it annoying how hard people push Shopify. The idea that I can somehow 'sell my business one day' as if that's something anyone actually does means nothing when it requires me to spend $40 today, and then play the social media lottery game (that if I could play I'd already be a success outside of POD) and pay even more for ads on top of that. I've been in the self-made business a long, long time. Shopify has every warning bell of 'I will waste money, go into the red, and barely scrape a few dollars out of it'. Those shops that you dismiss as 'tiny profits' at least don't cost you anything. That $1.25 I might make is from an overhead cost of nothing. I don't have to make back enough to pay for my shop and ads, I just make the money. And I'd much rather do some keyword research and make a Halloween shirt than try to master social media. For some of us, $40 is an insane price, especially monthly. I can see the argument for scaling up to Shopify at some point once your other businesses are already doing well, but starting with it? No thanks. I can barely afford Etsy.
This is 100% my struggle and truth also. I also struggle with website building no matter how user friendly it is. I've only ever been able to make sales of any sort on Etsy. All my items I make, currently, are made by hand as I'm a crocheter first. I'm trying to branch out into POD to bring in some 'passive' money, because for me, it's is a lot more passive as I can design and upload and not spend money on the item an not have to store the finished item for how long it takes to sale. I have so much inventory that it's overwhelming and disheartening. And w/ such few sales that I manage, esp 2024 where my views have been cut in half just though changes to algorithm and economy, that it's just about impossible.
In addition, there's also a whole lot more involved with regard to taxes when you open your own shop. Because then you have to pay to get set up so that you can pay in your sales taxes to Uncle Sam (at least in the U.S.). That is why I prefer the commission-based models. Then I just pay my regular income taxes on whatever I make. Anything beyond this gets complicated...been there, done that when I had an LLC.
Hey Shimmy, I also watched this video and I must admit that Greg actually introduced me to Amazon Merch for the first time. Prior to that, I had no idea about it. It was also enlightening to learn about the payment aspect. Greg tends to share information based on his perspective, offering insights on passive, active approaches, and more. I believe it's important to form our own opinions and experiment with things ourselves. While gathering insights from videos and experts is beneficial, they are not absolute truths, merely opinions. I appreciate your analysis on how others present their ideas. Thank you for your valuable content.
Thanks for this video. I actually watched this video by Greg earlier today and yes it made my head get a little bit bigger than it should at this stage in my POD journey. Laying the foundations by creating great designs for now, while carefully evaluating realistic ways to make future sales. Patience, persistence, realistic expectations.
Greg was actually the person who introduced me to print on demand s number of years ago and i learned s lot from him. I'd love to see him on your show.
Shimmy, you are far too kind. Greg is not an actual seller, I know because I have been doing POD since 2015 and do it full-time. I watched him early on and he seemed at first like he would be a helpful person to follow. Since I was actually doing the work and selling, I started to find his information to be so off, that he couldn't possibly be getting his hands dirty doing the actual work. At this point in his video career, he probably has a staff. One of the things that I like about RUclips is you can often have interaction with creators, he doesn't want to be exposed, so he would be risking a lot by being a guest. Thank you for emphasizing that POD is not passive, I hate when RUclipsrs lead with that because I work my tail off. And because it is my own business, I probably put at least 60 plus hours in a week.
POD can be absolutely passive if you use sites like Redbubble that do both the fulfillment and selling for you. Not sure how much income sellers are really generating on those sites nowadays though. I make very few sales on Redbubble, am not on Amazon Merch or Society 6 (two more passive options), and make almost all of my sales the hard way through Etsy and multiple POD manufacturers.
I love your passion for equality, openness and accuracy in information. He does make it sound way better than it is, and the "non-passive" way, he makes it sound like it's not worth doing. I love that you pointed out that there are benefits and drawbacks for both "ways", for all ways actually.
Shimmy, one important thing I would like to see here is some detailed info on how to properly build and grow a shopify store. I'm saying this because what usually makes people HESITANT about the Shopify route is the fear of LOSING MONEY before making any profit. And by this I don't mean the Shopify monthly fee, I'm more about the money that would go in different tools that every BIG PLAYER uses and also the Ads-Campaigns (which if not performed right, will make you lose money very fast). I joined your group last week and I definitely think you're probably the right person to learn the active POD option from 🤝
Thankyou! I hate the way they exaggerate profit, whether thats by 1. Highlighting extreme examples of success. 2. Flat out plain exaggeration 3. In ignorance, but well intended - because he is already probably long accepted to Amazon, he doesnt realise how hard it is to be accepted etc 4. Flat out lying to promote your channel Right, its like this. STOP PROMOTING A HALF TRUTH. DONT MAKE A VIDEO INSTEAD. Theres a word for that, its called a SalesPerson... In a cost of living crisis, particularly its not ok to do this to new sellers. The info left out can make or break a person. That person does not want to lose their house or their lunch. Thankyou Shimmy. I am very selective now about which channels I watch. I appreciate your intelligence and ability to reflect, as well as your courage.
@@shimmymorris1 You use to do the same thing! "Theres a word for that, its called a SalesPerson".i use to follow you until i started to see a pattern of you telling people "This is the best POD ever!" then you would do another POD company. and so on and so on. I even sent a comment asking you do that? and you never respond. You have you own "sales wordng" to get people to watch you videos. now maybe you're going to start making people "question" those who are extreme wealthy from what they have been doing for years. and one of those things i'm starting to see if the pattern of youtubers saying something negative about those people who are already pretty much famous with followers. all you guys are "sales people".
Nice breakdown. A couple of questions. 1. What do you do with the designs on your store that don't do well? Upload to a different store? 2. What are your thoughts on Merch on Demand vs. Seller Central?
I've applied to and been rejected by Amazon Merch 14 times, and will continue to try, but you're right. He should be explaining the pros AND cons. Thanks Shimmy for your honest videos.
one time my then GF sold a fabric with a "native American" sports logo and etsy sent her a "pop email" that stated some absurd reason, but when she looked at the pop email again to screenshot/share, it disappeared. They make sure there is no evidence
Etsy is horrible! Their bot system is so overly aggressive it gets triggered by any little thing. Example: I created a t-shirt design with the word CUBA in it, boom! My design was taken down. I appealed as to why and after a week a real person explained that Cuba is a country which the US has an embargo with and they wanted to make sure I was not operating my business from Cuba. Can you believe this sh*t? After originally giving them my SS number, address, access to my bank account in order to open my Etsy store. Don't they already know I'm in the USA? But that's Etsy for you.
Glad to hear from a reliable source from Ryan. It's great to see you are in agreement with us. Greg not only rambles on for ad revenue and views, he also deletes and ghosts comments from anyone who disagrees with him. Anytime I leave a comment on his channel, I'm shadow banned and ghosted. Only I can see the comments when I'm logged in.
I'm a bit surprised to see Greg on here, he's been around for a while and I've enjoyed some of his videos in the past although I don't think I've used his methods. However, I really hope you continue with these review videos and being blunt about what doesn't work!! I am tired of gurus glossing over important things. I recently lost money buying a course from someone promoting Amazon Review (no social media needed, you don't have to be an influencer etc) yet after I paid and joined within a couple of videos the process shows you need to apply to Amazons influencer program which they DO WANT TO SEE Your FOLLOWERS!! That is misleading from what she was promoting. I wouldn't have bought her course if I had known that. Ofcourse I was denied by amazon ... multiple times. There really needs to be transparency, sick of people lying to sell courses. 😩
Was this Nancy Badillo's course? I have been emailed repeatedly about this, but already knew you needed SM followers so Knew her claims were misleading.
Me too!! Was it Nancy Badillo? I was so pissed after I bought the course to see I needed a following to be approved for the amazon review after she claims it wasnt needed 😡 I even emailed her first to ensure I didn't need a social media following and she told me no!
@@Katanna123 Never heard of Nancy. It was a woman named Carissa . Even besides the blatant exaggeration in her ads, there is nothing in her course that isn’t free on RUclips. She is horrible and after I emailed her she only replied once and refused to refund. Avoid!!!
@@BonMooney Never heard of Nancy. It was a woman named Carissa . Even besides the blatant exaggeration in her ads, there is nothing in her course that isn’t free on RUclips. She is horrible and after I emailed her she only replied once and refused to refund. Avoid!!!
Hey Shimmy, love how raw and honest you are with this video. I started out watching Greg Gottfried's videos on KDP. I believe you are one of the first RUclipsrs to critique other CC strategies in POD. Definitely entertaining, and hopefully informative, too. It is just hard to know what is fact and fiction with all the hustle 'schemes', as they all have some amount of credibility to them. I guess you just gotta find what strategy works best for you. I'm excited to see your webinar today!
Bottom line for me is who handles overhead and returns. If it's me, I'm out. I just don't have time, nor desire to handle returns. I work 13 hours a day 6 days a week and Sundays are family time. I need a site where I can upload my designs and forget about it.
I've always found Greg to be honest and helpful and I agree with most. Some of his videos are outdated and he says that and updates. He admits it can be saturated and how to try to work with that. We all have to be smart about who we follow, what works for them might not work for us. A lot of worked in the past won't work today.
One thing that I would point out is Amazon probably gives vendors much more traffic. In most business models like that (for example, Costco) the very high volume comes at a cost of lower markup or profit for the participating vendors. Vendors who sell to Costco work on very low profit margins, and Costco as well works on a high volume, low markup model. Just something I did not hear mentioned.
As someone who entered POD a couple years ago as a side hustle (and still trying to make it work) thanks for this video. I would add one big con to "passive" pod is almost zero customer interaction. There is no feedback to tweak designs. I subscribe to you and Greg and a few other youtubers and appreciate the hard work and dedication you all put into it. Cheers.
I’ve followed Greg for years and he always produces no- nonsense, no waffle, to the point videos which I like. Slick editing too. It seems to me there are a lot of new people from far-off lands getting on the POD and KDP bandwagon and imo Greg may now be targeting those people. I don’t know. I just know he was super helpful in the earlier days and the best POD RUclipsr there was.
@@shimmymorris1 He also promotes merch by amazon and everyone has their preferences and I think he is still really good.I like his approach as I do others.
Thank you Shimmy for reviewing Greg's video. I was one of the persons that have requested that you check out Greg's videos. I started out listening to Greg during Covid. He is a great teacher. However, his information is saturated with a flood of inaccuracies. I don't understand why Greg continues to spread this misinformation virus. Have you checked out his full tutorial? Don't expect him to contact you. By the way, he introduce me to a tool called merch informer. Do you use it, or recommend it?
Greg's video could have been so much better with just a couple of tweaks. First, I'd have chosen 'managed POD' rather than 'passive' because the latter gives the impression that you have to do nothing. Second, from the point of view of a strategy, he could have been more careful to say that he is focused on why BEGINNERS might benefit from taking the managed route. Had he taken this approach, he could have explained why managed marketplaces can be useful for allowing a beginner to focus on learning the early basic essentials like how to design well, how to do product research, how to find out what sells. Without having to worry about all the additional stuff you have to do on your own website (building and maintaining it, customer service, payments, sales tax, marketing - all of which require a lot of learning and take a lot of time). He could have said, however, that beginners should aim to graduate to unmanaged POD eventually, for all the reasons you give about the downsides of marketplaces, and because the unmanaged version is a truly independent business that you manage yourself and which has real asset value.
Oooo managed pod is a good term. But beginner or not, I don't think anyone should sell on Redbubble or Teepublic. Why is a beginners time less valuable than anyone elses. Why should a beginner only be able to make $1-$3 per sale.
@@shimmymorris1 agreed, I guess I was thinking about Etsy - did he say why he didn't sell on there? I might go and watch his video in full and see if he explains.
Why he doesn’t use printful printify or etsy is mentioned but it’s a separate video. Basically the idea is little to no investment and design volume multiplied by many sites that drive traffic and do all the back end work like returns and customer service. Basically come up with 200+ designs and once that work is done post all the same designs to 4 or 5 algorithm driven sites that do all the back end for you. Hence the “passive” wording and in his Udemy corses this is clearly explained however not in the RUclips’s.
Thanks for your help. I stopped watching all videos making money online. I prefer selling my expertise in one field. Most of the people on RUclips are liars. These type of channels should be banned. I say terminated. if I were a developer at RUclips I will close all of the channels of the big liars.
You couldn't be further from the truth. It's sickening RUclips thrives on clickbait type of channels especially in the POD and affiliate marketing world. 99% of them should be forever banned from giving anybody false hope and lies.
He is completely right!!! I don't know what kind of interest you have with Etsy to say otherwise but I understand that there is some. Maybe some affiliate program? or anything similar. Since Etsy changed the way it works, it's a real mess. Between its fees, laws, and the money you now have to pay out of your pocket to pay for your orders, IT'S ABSOLUTELY NOT WORTH IT. And yes, it is absolutely an active POD, because a lot of follow-up and customer service work is done, dear.
I have followed you both. And can definitely tell you that both of you are right at your own place. Greg is pushing passive earning with least amount of monetary investment and less stress as side income along with your main job. Where as you push for full fledged business. As per greg, he never exaggerated income and always tell people few designs won't work in this model. Specific good designs for non designers, in specific low competition niche, 1000s of design may end up with $1000 every month on an avarage. Wich is not bad as side income.
I think Greg ‘s ammo has always been that he doesnt want to do customer service as that makes it more passive (besides the teaffic generation thing) . That is why he doesnt do etsy.
I followed gregs advice and started my pod business on teepublic and now i am having second thoughts about it. I am thinking of closing the business and moving to another platform. Thanks for doing this video.
Thank you for the vid shimmy,hey I have a question to ask..on Shopify actual cost video you mentioned that when you make a engagement ad campaign...I'm a bit uncertain on something I recently got the amount needed/minimum ($500) My question is what does good engagement on a Facebook engagement ad look like(in terms on likes or however it works And if possible can you please make a video specifically about Facebook ads like if you are working with $500 what are realistic profits and loss that can be made
I have a friend who makes £1 in profit from her items. Between Etsy, her own website and other platforms, she gets over 50 thousand sales PER MONTH which means she's making over 50K PER MONTH (she's a multi millionaire and only been in business for 6 years) so turning our noses up at opportunities with low profits is unwise IMO. At the end of the day, nobody will have a successful business unless they're putting in the hard work so I agree that the term "passive income" is misinformation but I also think its poor guidance to not take low profits seriously.
I've been following Greg for a couple of years -- even waiting patiently for his return when he was away. He seems to be pretty genuine but since his return, there does seem to be more biases in the info he presents. I believe the key to following anyone on YT is being able to decide what you choose to accept and what may have some bias.
I like to learn and I listen to various. I look for what I think will help me. But I don't like the way you are using to express your points of view. You look very young and I hope you mature and learn too. My grandmother used to say that the tonge is a dangerous weapon. It is not necessary to expose another person, to make what we want to teach stand out. Jesus said, do not look at the straw in your neighbor's eye before removing the beam in your own. You are an intelligent person with many talents, focus on that. Teaching has to be a passion. I wish you the best.
Amaz Merch on Demand is not what it used to be, they don't tier you up to the next level even if you've filled your design products. My tier 500 from 2 years ago is still restricted to 500, the only way to upload more designs is to remove some of the old ones???? Also, when you purchase a Tier10K, you might have it for a short time uploading your designs furiously, then all of a sudden you find Amaz has "capped" you at 1,000 and won't let you upload the entire 10,000, very frustrating!
I dont mind the video. My kids and I are going to start "passively" this summer and progress to your reccomendations in the "active" category. Its a learning curve for us. Any designs we make can transfer.
Nice... but It won't be passive for your children... They will need to put a ton of effort into it. And if they go in to Redbubble or Teepublic it would be a shame as I don't think their effort would pay off
He didn't say active was bad. The point was to teach passive. It's a good place to start. Especially if you want to get in with amazon. Its good to show you have some experience in the space. Maybe you want to build out a store when you know more about the business.
Excellent and fair critique. Well done, and you earned another subscriber. I've enjoyed a lot of Greg's content, however I've left a comment on a few of his videos pointing out that it's not at all as easy as he makes it out to be regarding being accepted by Amazon Merch. He surely knows this, and it baffles me why he doesn't just say it.
Okay, 5 months old now. Not sure if you’ll respond or perhaps someone else. The thing I like about Amazon is they handle everything including shipping. The 2.66 profit isn’t great. What I’m running into is trying to keep prices down on my site but also having to absorb the crazy Prinify shipping. 3 items (personal purchase for testing) and the shipping was actually more than the 3 items. Slippers were over $16 for shipping. I’m looking at removing some things now because shipping is so much. Love some thoughts on this. Thank you.
Thank you for your insight. You gave me a something to think about. Who would suggest on who has the best tutorial on this? Or, if anyone here knows of someone who has a tutorial on how to start one and have used it. Thank you once again for this video.
my most recent one was "you primary picture has a collage" which is ABSURD because the first page alone has seller listings whose lead image is a COLLAGE! Ebay doesn't harass sellers on their images.
Thank you! I don't view Active/Passive as different amounts of work. Both require a lot of work. I view them as "need money do it"/ "don't need money to do it." lol. So, I haven't made it up to the reimbursement with profits level yet bc I gotta buy food for the kids.
Shimmy, you're not being honest here. Greg does reply to messages......(with a canned message.)The same, sort of "canned" or "robotic" vibe his videos have. I personally don't think he even sells on print on demand sites (perhaps in the past). I've called him out on being irresponsible on one of his videos...titled something like "Easier Way to start print on demand", which includes amazon merch on demand. That is ABSOLUTELY not easy an easier platform for POD, as you pointed out. I've been trying for 5 years with no luck and I have a KDP account on amazon that I have sold successfully for the last 5 years. I think it's apparent Greg is working hard to produce the types of videos that will make him money and absolutely no interest in giving completely honest and helpful information. Thank you Shimmy (and Juna too) for having a personality. That's really what brings people coming back to watch, imho ( maybe, even more than the actual content). I feel like we could find out that Greg is completely AI generated. I'm absolutely not hating on him either but I do think he's irresponsible at times and that's a big no for me. I would say, I wish him all the best, but I think he's doing just fine.
I don't even get those canned reply messages... I get nothing. Hopefully he'll come on the channel at some point and we can go over why he loves Redbubble so much.
I've been doing POD since 2015, Greg does not do POD. I watched him early on and found that his information was so off, he could not possibly be a seller. POD is not passive, I do it full time, but I work it as well, it is a constant search and implementation process of new ideas. Greg feels comfortable in front of a camera and he does enough research to have an idea of what needs to be done, I believe he watches a lot of other RUclipsrs to formulate his video scripts. RUclips is profitable if you get the views, I see him in my sidebar often and his thumbnails and clickbait titles are good. He makes his living off of RUclips.
I've watched his videos, he's an old timer who got in to those marketplaces early on, and is a member of the higher level tiers, what he fails to mention though about the current day situation, is that most newbies will be relegated to the bottom level tiers and will barely stand a chance of being noticed or displayed, much less make any sales, and evidently things have changed drastically due to the mass flood of new pod designers and sellers in the last few years, so it's not as easy as he makes it all out be for new hopefuls
I think I recognize his voice from a voice-only YT channel I watch, unrelated to POD. Can't quite recall which one. It will come back to me. I'm just bringing it up because the eternal question about easy money videos is always why they are making marketing videos if they are sitting around their mansions with money on tap.
I was watching his channel just yesterday, I didn't realized he missed so many crucial information until you showed it here. I am glad I came across your channel so soon, thank you for giving me correct information. I am seriously looking into POD, and I am trying to make sure I am getting the right information.
I looked at a lot of Greg’s videos and I was going to use his process because as a newbie, it seemed like sound advice. Now I need to rethink my strategy. Thanks for this.
I'm new to POD and I'm open to hearing what the gurus have to say. I take their advice with a grain of salt, do my research, and make the choices that are best for me. I plan to hire a designer to create most of my tees. I use designers for my KDP book covers and I've been happy with the results. I'm planning to give Etsy a try and possibly Amazon Merch.
The criticism comes from the viewpoint of a devotee of Shopify who looks with disdain at those who don't want to own a full fledged business and just wants a sideline they can use for supplemental income.
Not at all… I’m on Amazon and Etsy too. I started on Teespring. I’ve done Redbubble… I’ve now moved on to Shopify as I’ve realised I want to turn this into a business I can sell. But I’ve had over 10 years of experience selling POD No disdain at all.
I agree 100%!!!! There is nothing easy about GOOD design and business, however, usually, the more that you put into it, the more you get out of it...if you're hitting the key notes.
0:00 🎬 Reacting to Greg Gottfried's print-on-demand strategy, which was highly requested by viewers. 0:04 📝 Greg is a long-time print-on-demand seller and RUclipsr with significant industry experience. 0:30 🎥 Reviewing Greg's video titled "Why I Don't Use Printful, Printify, or Etsy for Print on Demand." 1:12 🛒 Greg mentions Etsy’s popularity due to its profit margins, product quality, and large visitor base. 1:28 📈 Greg has been a print-on-demand seller for 10 years, avoiding Printful, Printify, and Etsy. 1:56 🔧 Print-on-demand fulfillment services are crucial; most tutorials suggest using Printful or Printify. 2:34 📊 Greg explains the difference between active and passive print-on-demand business models. 2:58 💡 The concept of active vs. passive print-on-demand is interesting but debatable. 3:15 🚀 Active print-on-demand involves creating a website, bringing traffic, and handling customer service. 4:02 🛠 Passive print-on-demand involves uploading designs to marketplaces that handle traffic and service. 4:25 🤔 Active vs. passive: Greg presents cons of active and pros of passive, but not a balanced view. 5:00 ⚖ Important to consider both pros and cons of each method when choosing a strategy. 5:40 💰 Active print-on-demand offers higher profit margins and business control. 6:23 📉 Passive print-on-demand, despite being easier, has lower profit margins and higher risk of account suspension. 7:02 🌐 Greg recommends passive print-on-demand platforms and offers a tutorial link. 7:31 🛒 Amazon is highlighted as a major print-on-demand platform with billions of visitors. 8:07 ⚠ Entry to Amazon Merch on Demand is challenging and acceptance is not guaranteed. 9:00 🛒 Example Amazon Merch on Demand listings show profit margins, though actual profits may vary. 10:03 💵 Claims $5 profit per sale on Amazon Merch on Demand; real profit is closer to $2.66. 10:36 🧮 Misleading profit estimates may impact seller expectations and strategy decisions. 11:26 📊 Amazon’s vast audience can drive significant traffic and sales if accepted into the program. 13:46 🚪 Greg doesn’t mention the difficulty of being accepted into Amazon Merch on Demand. 14:29 🔄 Transition to discussing other passive print-on-demand platforms, like Redbubble. 14:40 😐 Redbubble recommendation questioned due to generally low profit potential. 16:10 👕 Redbubble only sells print-on-demand items, not the full range of Amazon products. 16:25 🛒 Redbubble handles printing, shipping, and customer service, with profit split for creators. 16:49 🚫 Important issues with Redbubble: tiers, suspensions, low profit margins, and quality concerns. 17:06 💸 A $25 sale on Redbubble can net creators as low as $2.17. 17:45 🤔 Concerns about low profit margins on Tu (acquired by Redbubble), with some items earning creators just $1. 18:30 📊 Redbubble attracts more traffic than Tu, but both are print-on-demand specific. 19:17 💰 Using Printify or Printful requires a Shopify store, which costs at least $39/month after the first month. 20:25 📈 Owning a Shopify store isn't inherently negative; it offers control over your business. 21:00 🎨 Creating designs and managing ads can help secure consistent sales on Shopify, even if not entirely passive. 22:22 🛠 Setting up a store on Shopify involves work, but the potential rewards are higher compared to passive print-on-demand platforms. 23:59 🖥 Greg's tutorial on creating designs on Tu is easy, but the key issue is the low profit margin. 24:32 🚀 Passive print-on-demand isn't truly passive; it requires significant effort in design and marketing. 25:31 🎥 Desire for collaboration: Inviting Greg to discuss his print-on-demand strategies and experiences.
Imo there are massive benefits to having full creative control & less restrictions but i can definitely understand the attraction of not having to desl with customer service. It is deceptive imo to portray things the way he does & it makes me suspicious about any benefit he may get from essentially promoting certain sites.
Hi Shimmy, I have watched Greg for a while and I think the biggest point that he did not hammer home in his video is how he uses economies of scale by listing his designs on multiple market places. What’s your thoughts on placing your designs on Shopify, Merch, Redbubble and Etsy all at the same time. He basically recommends this in his other videos (Merch, Redbubble and TPublic). I know the listing process may be a ton of work but you can train a VA to get it done. In your experience, is the more fishing lines in the water theory worth the hassle given that you already have the design hours as a sunk costs?
Shimmy, Thank you for your video. I think your point that there is no passive PODis valid. What Greg didn't make clear in this video is the suggestion he made in another video that to be accepted into AMAZON March you need to show experience in selling POD products. Also he seems to be appealing to those who use a platform like Canva or Creative Fabrica to choose and quickly list designs, which in the case of a subscription with CF you're licensed to sell any design. Some with or without modification if I recall correctly.
Thank you for this video. As someone who is exploring my options right now. It gave me a lot to think about. I'm gonna watch some more of your videos. I've watch some of Greg's videos. For me to say what is good and what is bad i don't know. There is so many opinions and voices coming at starters it's been hard picking a clear path forward.
@@shimmymorris1I agree there a lot. I like both Chris Heckman and Philip Ander. I've been slowly working through Cris's 21 hrs course. I'm gonna start adding your channel through my rotation as well
The problem with 95% of all RUclipsrs is that they want to sell something, or that you join a course or something. It will make everyone see pro and cons in everything and ofcourse more pro in what the RUclipsr prefer themselves. . When You have serious intention to start print on demand or any other online business, or business at all you need to do Your own research. You are right! But Greg inform the way he see it and I can see pro and cons in both way. Your way are better if You can put more time into it and want to earn more money. Greg for those who have little time and want more passive income. If you make your own commercial on Facebook you can also get banned. It is the same for me who will start to produce my own product. Is Amazon FBA or do all ad myself? I have find out that do my own ad, but let 3pl do all logistic will be best. I look forward to next video from you :)
@@dagadler3863 thanks. Ye I hear what you’re saying but unfortunately there’s no passive route with this business. That’s just misleading information… so however, good it might sound, it’s a pipe dream.
Gregs approach is mainly for beginners,dont slam the man for helping, any person with brains will eventually at a later stage figure out the (active side) as far as owning ur brand is concerned...btw he responds and as far as getting ppl banned,Etsy does it that too...and u WILL get banned for using other sellers designs. the profit margins are ofcoz low but he never hides it, good designs that sells WILL make u money even on those margins.
I’m not slamming him. His approach isn’t for beginners. And if it was he shouldn’t be claiming you can make large amounts of money because you simply can’t on Redbubble or teepublic. It’s also good he responds to you. I’ve only seen comments be deleted and anyone who asks anything technical gets ignored. It’s also far from passive. Adding thousands of designs on Redbubble or teepublic isn’t a passive income… And I’m sorry but a good design that sells is still only making you $2 per sale. You’d need to sell an insane amount to make it worthwhile. We’d have to see 100+ a month just to cover our wifi and electricity.., people don’t think like this. But it’s important and I mentioned it as I don’t like seeing people waste their time or misled
I’m trying to start my POD business and had recently seen Greg’s video. Is it true that sellers have to front the money for shipping and production? Or are there print providers that deduct the cost from the sale? The former can get quite expensive, especially since new sellers can’t cash out funds every day when starting on certain platforms and not everyone has the funds to cover these expenses for a week.
When you say front the money, we're not talking ordering stock from China and waiting a month for it to arrive, then 3 weeks to sell, to eventually get your money back. When you get a sale on let's say shopify, if they pay with paypal, it's instant, if it's through shopify payments its after a day or so. When the order comes through you pay for the item. So you're laying out $14ish for item and shipping for less than 48 hours. I don't really see why this is a big deal. You've got the sale, the money is there, it's just not in your bank for a day or 2
"Are there print providers that deduct the cost from the sale?" This is how Redbubble, Zazzle, Amazon Merch, and Teepublic operate. However, if you're wanting to quit your 9-5. These platforms will not be your solutions. As much as it sucks to hear this, the best POD providers charge for Shipping and Production. They also offer more variety when it comes to products you can sell. If you don't have capital to pay for orders up front and want to sell on a platform like Etsy. You're sort of out of luck. Because Etsy puts a hold on funds for new sellers to assess whether or not they're legitimate or scammers. So you'll need a minimum of 3 months operating capital if you're not wanting to get stuck selling on the above mentioned platforms.
@@nikos-giorgosfrom what I’ve seen you don’t have to upfront, so if you had 100 orders but not the cash to cover it the orders would still go through it would just mean they would be delayed until the payment from the customers cleared, so extended shipping time. I could be wrong though.
It's obvious to me that Greg is getting paid by Redbubble to promote it and T-Public. I do appreciate you for being nice about Greg. So, I'll say it for you, Greg was out right lying, period! Promo video. Keep up the good work, Shimmy. 😉
@shimmymorris1 I think he did Amazon first knowing newbies wouldn't be able to get in, so naturally, that would push them to Redbubble's platforms. Sneaky, Greg's not stupid. Unfortunately, many people don't have good discernment.
I knew to all of this, so I don’t know any of the influencers. But in listening to this it almost seems like Greg’s appealing more to people that need to make a little bit of money with very little effort that made me struggling in life and it’s too overwhelming for them to do the level of control needed over your business that you do. I would be more wanting to do your style, but I can see how Greg’s might be, an easier entry point for people who are completely overwhelmed and are trying to do something
I've had responses with Greg several times. It was about the bugs in the Amazon merch on demand setup. But I doubt he would contact you about this... you are definitely bashing...
Curious, i was thinking of starting a POD shop on etsy. - I wonder, is it possible to share your own store on etsy without getting banned so you can grow beyond the platform? I ideally want to pick all my best selling products and put them on my own website. - when you're making a store, should you be making multiple with different niches or is it better to create 1 varied shop? - also is it better i target the US over the UK? I'm from the UK but the US is a much bigger market
I’d love to start using shopify, but my main concern is freight. I am situated in Denmark and I have absolutelt NO clue on how to implement/use freight carriers and whatnot. :/
For a single design that can continue bringing income for a long time, the rates are not so bad considering how much goes into actually making the merch, listing and handling customer service and possible returns. I am speaking of amazon merch, not sure of the other platforms. I currently do my own embroidery and printing but it's so much work without having a loyal customer base. I have to set prices low and still offer free shipping to compete with the bigger platforms.
Greg said in another video that if you are rejected when you are applying to be accepted to Amazon Merch on demand is just to try again with a different e-mail, is this true?
3:26 what he says is not correct. That you have to pay in advance for an order. That doesn't make any sense, especially if it's on your own website. You receive payment for the order and then you pay the POD company to fulfill the order.
WRONG! This is why you need to have a credit card which you'll be charged FIRST, then after the sale is processed, that's when you receive the funds in your account.
To be honest, I learned from both videos-yours and Greg's. Greg's video is very beginner-friendly. When you're just starting and have no money, his video gives you a kick start because you can begin without spending anything. If I had to spend money on something I didn't understand, I wouldn't have started. I'm grateful Greg's video helped me begin this career, and your video added more to my knowledge. Thank you.
you're welcome! glad you liked both
I'm currently about 7/8 months into POD and followed Greg in my early days. It was he who got me into POD.
It definitely hasn't been a "build it and they will come" business and I totally agree that it is hard work pulling all the strands together, but I'm sticking in there and looking at different ways to better it.
Are you actually making any money though? I'm thinking about trying this... Any comments or helpful suggestions you'd like to give at this point in time pleasssse
Don't believe everything Greg tells you, I have been on print on demand for years myself, and I can tell you, Greg loves to hype people, but I don't even think he has a single store. he just talk about things that people likes to hear, you need to learn from the real POD Elite creators. or learn this by yourself, as each platforms has it's own learning curve.
They never do@@jujumama
Thank you for making this. I had just watched a different video of Greg's, and something about it wasn't sitting right with me. You nailed it - the bias is super clear when you point it out. I felt like he was leaving out crucial information, and I appreciate you naming some of those details he left out.
To me, it seems like his perspective is very slanted to someone who is willing to chase trends, which is useless if you are a content creator looking to find the best pathway for getting merch for your community.
I do believe a few years back I followed exactly his video about getting accepted on Amazon two or three different times and never got accepted so yes I agree it is extremely hard. Can't imagine it being any easier now
it's completely luck!
I don't see the problem. Every business person knows that the more work you put into something the greater the reward and vice versa. Greg points that out and he tells you that this video is for those who are not building an empire. Your chances of getting into Amazon merch are next to zero if you haven't started somewhere and built something of value. Amazon isn't doing anything because they are nice guys. You best bring traffic to them or forget it. I am more inclined to start at the bottom and work up. BTW, all these POD platforms can suspend you at a moment's notice. Why bust his chops? Your title "Exposing" sounds nefarious like he's doing something underhanded and evil. That's not nice. Also, why are you discouraging interest in POD - trying to eliminate potential competition I would think or else you enjoy being negative. Enough of that in the world as far as I am concerned.
I got accepted into Amazon Merch and spent two entire years in the 25 tier. I sold a few hundred shirts during that time but it was so frustrating being stuck at 25 and having no idea how to get out. By the time they finally upgraded me to tier 100, I'd moved on to Etsy/POD and had way more success on that platform. I may revisit amazon merch, but the tier system turned me off of it (along with my designs being stolen, and unable to get the copies taken down, even with proof of copyright/Library of Congress certificate).
amazon merch is overrated, a lot of people actually failed on selling anything on that platform.
They really are overrated. I have an account 5 years now. Still active but I took off all my designs cause the tier is nonsense.
I've watched Greg and learned a ton. i've asked questions and nearly every time he responded. You can pick fruit from more than one tree.
everytime ive asked a question Greg respinded too
I have always known that I need to pull my information from multiple sources. I minimally use 3 or more sources. I never rely on one. Yet I have always been one who believes you can learn something from everyone. I watch all of you guys and take away bits and pieces that serve my purposes. I don't think about the numbers of profit because results for you are going to be the same for me. So I just concentrate on learning the different methods and finding what works for me. I appreciate all the support I get from you guys.
This is how I operate as well!
nice outlook!
@ghost "...because results for you are going to be the same for me." You replicated his results?
$2.66 vs $5 is almost half. It can be the difference between making a LOT of money and going out of business quickly.
Yup!!! 100%
Yeah... but I don't want to be Customer Support 🤣🤣
I find it annoying how hard people push Shopify. The idea that I can somehow 'sell my business one day' as if that's something anyone actually does means nothing when it requires me to spend $40 today, and then play the social media lottery game (that if I could play I'd already be a success outside of POD) and pay even more for ads on top of that. I've been in the self-made business a long, long time. Shopify has every warning bell of 'I will waste money, go into the red, and barely scrape a few dollars out of it'. Those shops that you dismiss as 'tiny profits' at least don't cost you anything. That $1.25 I might make is from an overhead cost of nothing. I don't have to make back enough to pay for my shop and ads, I just make the money. And I'd much rather do some keyword research and make a Halloween shirt than try to master social media. For some of us, $40 is an insane price, especially monthly. I can see the argument for scaling up to Shopify at some point once your other businesses are already doing well, but starting with it? No thanks. I can barely afford Etsy.
Thank you this comment meant alot
This is 100% my struggle and truth also. I also struggle with website building no matter how user friendly it is. I've only ever been able to make sales of any sort on Etsy. All my items I make, currently, are made by hand as I'm a crocheter first. I'm trying to branch out into POD to bring in some 'passive' money, because for me, it's is a lot more passive as I can design and upload and not spend money on the item an not have to store the finished item for how long it takes to sale. I have so much inventory that it's overwhelming and disheartening. And w/ such few sales that I manage, esp 2024 where my views have been cut in half just though changes to algorithm and economy, that it's just about impossible.
In addition, there's also a whole lot more involved with regard to taxes when you open your own shop. Because then you have to pay to get set up so that you can pay in your sales taxes to Uncle Sam (at least in the U.S.). That is why I prefer the commission-based models. Then I just pay my regular income taxes on whatever I make. Anything beyond this gets complicated...been there, done that when I had an LLC.
Hey Shimmy, I also watched this video and I must admit that Greg actually introduced me to Amazon Merch for the first time. Prior to that, I had no idea about it. It was also enlightening to learn about the payment aspect. Greg tends to share information based on his perspective, offering insights on passive, active approaches, and more. I believe it's important to form our own opinions and experiment with things ourselves. While gathering insights from videos and experts is beneficial, they are not absolute truths, merely opinions. I appreciate your analysis on how others present their ideas. Thank you for your valuable content.
Thanks for this video. I actually watched this video by Greg earlier today and yes it made my head get a little bit bigger than it should at this stage in my POD journey. Laying the foundations by creating great designs for now, while carefully evaluating realistic ways to make future sales. Patience, persistence, realistic expectations.
Greg was actually the person who introduced me to print on demand s number of years ago and i learned s lot from him. I'd love to see him on your show.
me too!
Shimmy, you are far too kind. Greg is not an actual seller, I know because I have been doing POD since 2015 and do it full-time. I watched him early on and he seemed at first like he would be a helpful person to follow. Since I was actually doing the work and selling, I started to find his information to be so off, that he couldn't possibly be getting his hands dirty doing the actual work. At this point in his video career, he probably has a staff. One of the things that I like about RUclips is you can often have interaction with creators, he doesn't want to be exposed, so he would be risking a lot by being a guest. Thank you for emphasizing that POD is not passive, I hate when RUclipsrs lead with that because I work my tail off. And because it is my own business, I probably put at least 60 plus hours in a week.
POD can be absolutely passive if you use sites like Redbubble that do both the fulfillment and selling for you. Not sure how much income sellers are really generating on those sites nowadays though. I make very few sales on Redbubble, am not on Amazon Merch or Society 6 (two more passive options), and make almost all of my sales the hard way through Etsy and multiple POD manufacturers.
If you don't know this as an actual demonstrable FACT then you shouldn't be accusing someone of being a fraud.
@@flickwtchr There maybe are enough demostrable FACTS?, maybe then is you and your capacity to see it or not...
I love your passion for equality, openness and accuracy in information. He does make it sound way better than it is, and the "non-passive" way, he makes it sound like it's not worth doing. I love that you pointed out that there are benefits and drawbacks for both "ways", for all ways actually.
Shimmy, one important thing I would like to see here is some detailed info on how to properly build and grow a shopify store. I'm saying this because what usually makes people HESITANT about the Shopify route is the fear of LOSING MONEY before making any profit. And by this I don't mean the Shopify monthly fee, I'm more about the money that would go in different tools that every BIG PLAYER uses and also the Ads-Campaigns (which if not performed right, will make you lose money very fast).
I joined your group last week and I definitely think you're probably the right person to learn the active POD option from 🤝
Thankyou! I hate the way they exaggerate profit, whether thats by 1. Highlighting extreme examples of success.
2. Flat out plain exaggeration
3. In ignorance, but well intended - because he is already probably long accepted to Amazon, he doesnt realise how hard it is to be accepted etc
4. Flat out lying to promote your channel
Right, its like this.
STOP PROMOTING A HALF TRUTH. DONT MAKE A VIDEO INSTEAD.
Theres a word for that, its called a SalesPerson...
In a cost of living crisis, particularly its not ok to do this to new sellers. The info left out can make or break a person. That person does not want to lose their house or their lunch.
Thankyou Shimmy.
I am very selective now about which channels I watch.
I appreciate your intelligence and ability to reflect, as well as your courage.
thank you! appreciate that
@@shimmymorris1 You use to do the same thing! "Theres a word for that, its called a SalesPerson".i use to follow you until i started to see a pattern of you telling people "This is the best POD ever!" then you would do another POD company. and so on and so on. I even sent a comment asking you do that? and you never respond. You have you own "sales wordng" to get people to watch you videos. now maybe you're going to start making people "question" those who are extreme wealthy from what they have been doing for years. and one of those things i'm starting to see if the pattern of youtubers saying something negative about those people who are already pretty much famous with followers. all you guys are "sales people".
Nice breakdown. A couple of questions.
1. What do you do with the designs on your store that don't do well? Upload to a different store?
2. What are your thoughts on Merch on Demand vs. Seller Central?
I've applied to and been rejected by Amazon Merch 14 times, and will continue to try, but you're right. He should be explaining the pros AND cons. Thanks Shimmy for your honest videos.
you're welcome! sorry to hear you're struggling to get accepted
The risks about being "suspended", isn't ETSY famous for suspend you at any time? 🤔
Yes, that’s what happened to me with no explanation
Agree!!
one time my then GF sold a fabric with a "native American" sports logo and etsy sent her a "pop email" that stated some absurd reason, but when she looked at the pop email again to screenshot/share, it disappeared. They make sure there is no evidence
@@luigivincenz3843what’s a pop email?
Etsy is horrible! Their bot system is so overly aggressive it gets triggered by any little thing. Example: I created a t-shirt design with the word CUBA in it, boom! My design was taken down. I appealed as to why and after a week a real person explained that Cuba is a country which the US has an embargo with and they wanted to make sure I was not operating my business from Cuba. Can you believe this sh*t? After originally giving them my SS number, address, access to my bank account in order to open my Etsy store. Don't they already know I'm in the USA? But that's Etsy for you.
I've been wanting to make this video for years, thanks for making it Shimmy 👍
Same!! Looking forward to yours ☺️
Glad to hear from a reliable source from Ryan. It's great to see you are in agreement with us. Greg not only rambles on for ad revenue and views, he also deletes and ghosts comments from anyone who disagrees with him. Anytime I leave a comment on his channel, I'm shadow banned and ghosted. Only I can see the comments when I'm logged in.
@@patjohnson8450didn't know they could do that😮
I'm a bit surprised to see Greg on here, he's been around for a while and I've enjoyed some of his videos in the past although I don't think I've used his methods. However, I really hope you continue with these review videos and being blunt about what doesn't work!! I am tired of gurus glossing over important things. I recently lost money buying a course from someone promoting Amazon Review (no social media needed, you don't have to be an influencer etc) yet after I paid and joined within a couple of videos the process shows you need to apply to Amazons influencer program which they DO WANT TO SEE Your FOLLOWERS!! That is misleading from what she was promoting. I wouldn't have bought her course if I had known that. Ofcourse I was denied by amazon ... multiple times. There really needs to be transparency, sick of people lying to sell courses. 😩
gosh that's no good! I hope you can get a refund!! Gregs a great guy, and this video wasn't at all bashing him. Just the strategy of using Redbubble
Was this Nancy Badillo's course? I have been emailed repeatedly about this, but already knew you needed SM followers so Knew her claims were misleading.
Me too!! Was it Nancy Badillo? I was so pissed after I bought the course to see I needed a following to be approved for the amazon review after she claims it wasnt needed 😡
I even emailed her first to ensure I didn't need a social media following and she told me no!
@@Katanna123 Never heard of Nancy. It was a woman named Carissa . Even besides the blatant exaggeration in her ads, there is nothing in her course that isn’t free on RUclips. She is horrible and after I emailed her she only replied once and refused to refund. Avoid!!!
@@BonMooney Never heard of Nancy. It was a woman named Carissa . Even besides the blatant exaggeration in her ads, there is nothing in her course that isn’t free on RUclips. She is horrible and after I emailed her she only replied once and refused to refund. Avoid!!!
Hey Shimmy, love how raw and honest you are with this video. I started out watching Greg Gottfried's videos on KDP. I believe you are one of the first RUclipsrs to critique other CC strategies in POD. Definitely entertaining, and hopefully informative, too. It is just hard to know what is fact and fiction with all the hustle 'schemes', as they all have some amount of credibility to them. I guess you just gotta find what strategy works best for you. I'm excited to see your webinar today!
Please recommend which platform to use then? Appreciate ur work..
Tank you Shimmy for being one of the only no BS entrepreneurs out there
appreciate it!
what does BS mean?
@@i.Motivibullshit
Bottom line for me is who handles overhead and returns. If it's me, I'm out. I just don't have time, nor desire to handle returns. I work 13 hours a day 6 days a week and Sundays are family time. I need a site where I can upload my designs and forget about it.
I've always found Greg to be honest and helpful and I agree with most. Some of his videos are outdated and he says that and updates. He admits it can be saturated and how to try to work with that. We all have to be smart about who we follow, what works for them might not work for us. A lot of worked in the past won't work today.
“Hard work” took him 35 seconds. That’s 800 designs in 8 hours. 2$ is plenty of profit.
so grateful I got suggested this video after watching Greg's. I was swaging away from Printify. Which I was convinced before :)
One thing that I would point out is Amazon probably gives vendors much more traffic. In most business models like that (for example, Costco) the very high volume comes at a cost of lower markup or profit for the participating vendors. Vendors who sell to Costco work on very low profit margins, and Costco as well works on a high volume, low markup model. Just something I did not hear mentioned.
As someone who entered POD a couple years ago as a side hustle (and still trying to make it work) thanks for this video. I would add one big con to "passive" pod is almost zero customer interaction. There is no feedback to tweak designs. I subscribe to you and Greg and a few other youtubers and appreciate the hard work and dedication you all put into it. Cheers.
Greg is a wolf in sheep's clothing - period!
I’ve followed Greg for years and he always produces no- nonsense, no waffle, to the point videos which I like. Slick editing too. It seems to me there are a lot of new people from far-off lands getting on the POD and KDP bandwagon and imo Greg may now be targeting those people. I don’t know. I just know he was super helpful in the earlier days and the best POD RUclipsr there was.
he really was very good, but all he does now is promote redbubble and teepublic. I don't understand why
As a new seller, Im so glad I didnt listen to Greg's half truth information.
It is so important to get accurate info.
@@shimmymorris1 He also promotes merch by amazon and everyone has their preferences and I think he is still really good.I like his approach as I do others.
I’m glad I found you so I could evaluate what direction I want to take with my business
I see the main difference between passive and active is you don't need customer service with the passive websites
Thank you Shimmy for reviewing Greg's video. I was one of the persons that have requested that you check out Greg's videos. I started out listening to Greg during Covid. He is a great teacher. However, his information is saturated with a flood of inaccuracies. I don't understand why Greg continues to spread this misinformation virus. Have you checked out his full tutorial? Don't expect him to contact you.
By the way, he introduce me to a tool called merch informer. Do you use it, or recommend it?
Isn't that tool mainly for amazon sellers?
I don't recommend it anymore. It's extremely outdated now and very clunky to use
@@MaryHardymsmary_h I believe that's Jungle Scout for Amazon
@@shimmymorris1I believe most of the RUclipsrs are giving false information all for just clicks and views.
@@shimmymorris1 sorry the question, can you suggest an alternative please ? i am really new into PoD and this research is very confusing for me .....
Greg's videos are the best !!!
Greg's video could have been so much better with just a couple of tweaks. First, I'd have chosen 'managed POD' rather than 'passive' because the latter gives the impression that you have to do nothing. Second, from the point of view of a strategy, he could have been more careful to say that he is focused on why BEGINNERS might benefit from taking the managed route. Had he taken this approach, he could have explained why managed marketplaces can be useful for allowing a beginner to focus on learning the early basic essentials like how to design well, how to do product research, how to find out what sells. Without having to worry about all the additional stuff you have to do on your own website (building and maintaining it, customer service, payments, sales tax, marketing - all of which require a lot of learning and take a lot of time). He could have said, however, that beginners should aim to graduate to unmanaged POD eventually, for all the reasons you give about the downsides of marketplaces, and because the unmanaged version is a truly independent business that you manage yourself and which has real asset value.
Oooo managed pod is a good term. But beginner or not, I don't think anyone should sell on Redbubble or Teepublic. Why is a beginners time less valuable than anyone elses. Why should a beginner only be able to make $1-$3 per sale.
@@shimmymorris1 agreed, I guess I was thinking about Etsy - did he say why he didn't sell on there? I might go and watch his video in full and see if he explains.
@@SpeedbirdHeavy there's no mention of etsy
@shimmymorris1 interesting since he said he was going to explain why he doesn't use Printful, Printify or Etsy 🤔
Why he doesn’t use printful printify or etsy is mentioned but it’s a separate video. Basically the idea is little to no investment and design volume multiplied by many sites that drive traffic and do all the back end work like returns and customer service. Basically come up with 200+ designs and once that work is done post all the same designs to 4 or 5 algorithm driven sites that do all the back end for you. Hence the “passive” wording and in his Udemy corses this is clearly explained however not in the RUclips’s.
Thanks for your help. I stopped watching all videos making money online. I prefer selling my expertise in one field. Most of the people on RUclips are liars. These type of channels should be banned. I say terminated. if I were a developer at RUclips I will close all of the channels of the big liars.
You couldn't be further from the truth. It's sickening RUclips thrives on clickbait type of channels especially in the POD and affiliate marketing world. 99% of them should be forever banned from giving anybody false hope and lies.
@@patjohnson8450 true
He is completely right!!! I don't know what kind of interest you have with Etsy to say otherwise but I understand that there is some. Maybe some affiliate program? or anything similar.
Since Etsy changed the way it works, it's a real mess. Between its fees, laws, and the money you now have to pay out of your pocket to pay for your orders, IT'S ABSOLUTELY NOT WORTH IT. And yes, it is absolutely an active POD, because a lot of follow-up and customer service work is done, dear.
I have followed you both. And can definitely tell you that both of you are right at your own place. Greg is pushing passive earning with least amount of monetary investment and less stress as side income along with your main job. Where as you push for full fledged business. As per greg, he never exaggerated income and always tell people few designs won't work in this model. Specific good designs for non designers, in specific low competition niche, 1000s of design may end up with $1000 every month on an avarage. Wich is not bad as side income.
they dont mention this part...thank you very much
I think Greg ‘s ammo has always been that he doesnt want to do customer service as that makes it more passive (besides the teaffic generation thing) . That is why he doesnt do etsy.
hmmm
I followed gregs advice and started my pod business on teepublic and now i am having second thoughts about it. I am thinking of closing the business and moving to another platform. Thanks for doing this video.
Would be helpful if you shared your reasons.
Thank you for the vid shimmy,hey I have a question to ask..on Shopify actual cost video you mentioned that when you make a engagement ad campaign...I'm a bit uncertain on something I recently got the amount needed/minimum ($500)
My question is what does good engagement on a Facebook engagement ad look like(in terms on likes or however it works
And if possible can you please make a video specifically about Facebook ads like if you are working with $500 what are realistic profits and loss that can be made
I have a friend who makes £1 in profit from her items. Between Etsy, her own website and other platforms, she gets over 50 thousand sales PER MONTH which means she's making over 50K PER MONTH (she's a multi millionaire and only been in business for 6 years) so turning our noses up at opportunities with low profits is unwise IMO. At the end of the day, nobody will have a successful business unless they're putting in the hard work so I agree that the term "passive income" is misinformation but I also think its poor guidance to not take low profits seriously.
thank you
I've been following Greg for a couple of years -- even waiting patiently for his return when he was away. He seems to be pretty genuine but since his return, there does seem to be more biases in the info he presents. I believe the key to following anyone on YT is being able to decide what you choose to accept and what may have some bias.
I like to learn and I listen to various. I look for what I think will help me. But I don't like the way you are using to express your points of view. You look very young and I hope you mature and learn too. My grandmother used to say that the tonge is a dangerous weapon. It is not necessary to expose another person, to make what we want to teach stand out. Jesus said, do not look at the straw in your neighbor's eye before removing the beam in your own. You are an intelligent person with many talents, focus on that. Teaching has to be a passion. I wish you the best.
Amaz Merch on Demand is not what it used to be, they don't tier you up to the next level even if you've filled your design products. My tier 500 from 2 years ago is still restricted to 500, the only way to upload more designs is to remove some of the old ones???? Also, when you purchase a Tier10K, you might have it for a short time uploading your designs furiously, then all of a sudden you find Amaz has "capped" you at 1,000 and won't let you upload the entire 10,000, very frustrating!
I dont mind the video. My kids and I are going to start "passively" this summer and progress to your reccomendations in the "active" category. Its a learning curve for us. Any designs we make can transfer.
Nice... but It won't be passive for your children... They will need to put a ton of effort into it. And if they go in to Redbubble or Teepublic it would be a shame as I don't think their effort would pay off
How's it going?
He didn't say active was bad. The point was to teach passive. It's a good place to start. Especially if you want to get in with amazon. Its good to show you have some experience in the space. Maybe you want to build out a store when you know more about the business.
Thank you for this because i was all in and saved his video and was following step by step but now I will take my designs elsewhere
Thank you so much for explaining this so well. There are so many POD videos and it is hard to know if this would be a Good business to get into.
I think it's great depending on what route you go down
Excellent and fair critique. Well done, and you earned another subscriber. I've enjoyed a lot of Greg's content, however I've left a comment on a few of his videos pointing out that it's not at all as easy as he makes it out to be regarding being accepted by Amazon Merch. He surely knows this, and it baffles me why he doesn't just say it.
Okay, 5 months old now. Not sure if you’ll respond or perhaps someone else. The thing I like about Amazon is they handle everything including shipping. The 2.66 profit isn’t great. What I’m running into is trying to keep prices down on my site but also having to absorb the crazy Prinify shipping. 3 items (personal purchase for testing) and the shipping was actually more than the 3 items. Slippers were over $16 for shipping.
I’m looking at removing some things now because shipping is so much.
Love some thoughts on this. Thank you.
Thank you for your insight. You gave me a something to think about. Who would suggest on who has the best tutorial on this? Or, if anyone here knows of someone who has a tutorial on how to start one and have used it.
Thank you once again for this video.
You can get banned & suspended at any time on ETSY too!!! It happens to people all the time! 🙄
my most recent one was "you primary picture has a collage" which is ABSURD because the first page alone has seller listings whose lead image is a COLLAGE! Ebay doesn't harass sellers on their images.
Thank you! I don't view Active/Passive as different amounts of work. Both require a lot of work. I view them as "need money do it"/ "don't need money to do it." lol. So, I haven't made it up to the reimbursement with profits level yet bc I gotta buy food for the kids.
That's an interesting way of looking at it lol
Thank you for exposing the inaccuracies of this video. I watched it and was skeptical and now I know why
What is ur opinion of the Zazzle platform?
Avoid it. It's the same as Redbubble and Teepublic. Over priced, Low profit margins, and No way to actually build a brand.
U just saved me allot of time 😂😂thank you so much watched he's video 7 hours ago and was contemplating going to these sites❤❤
Shimmy, you're not being honest here. Greg does reply to messages......(with a canned message.)The same, sort of "canned" or "robotic" vibe his videos have. I personally don't think he even sells on print on demand sites (perhaps in the past). I've called him out on being irresponsible on one of his videos...titled something like "Easier Way to start print on demand", which includes amazon merch on demand. That is ABSOLUTELY not easy an easier platform for POD, as you pointed out. I've been trying for 5 years with no luck and I have a KDP account on amazon that I have sold successfully for the last 5 years. I think it's apparent Greg is working hard to produce the types of videos that will make him money and absolutely no interest in giving completely honest and helpful information. Thank you Shimmy (and Juna too) for having a personality. That's really what brings people coming back to watch, imho ( maybe, even more than the actual content). I feel like we could find out that Greg is completely AI generated. I'm absolutely not hating on him either but I do think he's irresponsible at times and that's a big no for me. I would say, I wish him all the best, but I think he's doing just fine.
BAM! This person gets it!
I don't even get those canned reply messages... I get nothing. Hopefully he'll come on the channel at some point and we can go over why he loves Redbubble so much.
He replies to people that massage his ego Greg that is 😂
I've been doing POD since 2015, Greg does not do POD. I watched him early on and found that his information was so off, he could not possibly be a seller. POD is not passive, I do it full time, but I work it as well, it is a constant search and implementation process of new ideas. Greg feels comfortable in front of a camera and he does enough research to have an idea of what needs to be done, I believe he watches a lot of other RUclipsrs to formulate his video scripts. RUclips is profitable if you get the views, I see him in my sidebar often and his thumbnails and clickbait titles are good. He makes his living off of RUclips.
I've watched his videos, he's an old timer who got in to those marketplaces early on, and is a member of the higher level tiers, what he fails to mention though about the current day situation, is that most newbies will be relegated to the bottom level tiers and will barely stand a chance of being noticed or displayed, much less make any sales, and evidently things have changed drastically due to the mass flood of new pod designers and sellers in the last few years, so it's not as easy as he makes it all out be for new hopefuls
And these platforms have changed so much now as well
I think I recognize his voice from a voice-only YT channel I watch, unrelated to POD. Can't quite recall which one. It will come back to me. I'm just bringing it up because the eternal question about easy money videos is always why they are making marketing videos if they are sitting around their mansions with money on tap.
Great advice as a Brit... you are re analysing all the proactive and cons... all we want to know how much profit ... 📈 well ✔️ done
Glad you enjoyed it
Hi Shimmy, can you do a video about Wholesale Ted (Sarah Crisp)? And what do you think about Ebay for print on demand?
I was watching his channel just yesterday, I didn't realized he missed so many crucial information until
you showed it here. I am glad I came across your channel so soon, thank you for giving me correct
information. I am seriously looking into POD, and I am trying to make sure I am getting the right information.
I looked at a lot of Greg’s videos and I was going to use his process because as a newbie, it seemed like sound advice. Now I need to rethink my strategy.
Thanks for this.
it depends what you want really...
I'm new to POD and I'm open to hearing what the gurus have to say. I take their advice with a grain of salt, do my research, and make the choices that are best for me. I plan to hire a designer to create most of my tees. I use designers for my KDP book covers and I've been happy with the results. I'm planning to give Etsy a try and possibly Amazon Merch.
good luck!
The criticism comes from the viewpoint of a devotee of Shopify who looks with disdain at those who don't want to own a full fledged business and just wants a sideline they can use for supplemental income.
Not at all… I’m on Amazon and Etsy too. I started on Teespring. I’ve done Redbubble… I’ve now moved on to Shopify as I’ve realised I want to turn this into a business I can sell. But I’ve had over 10 years of experience selling POD No disdain at all.
thank you
I agree 100%!!!! There is nothing easy about GOOD design and business, however, usually, the more that you put into it, the more you get out of it...if you're hitting the key notes.
which is why the "active" POD as he calls it is so much more worthwhile
0:00 🎬 Reacting to Greg Gottfried's print-on-demand strategy, which was highly requested by viewers.
0:04 📝 Greg is a long-time print-on-demand seller and RUclipsr with significant industry experience.
0:30 🎥 Reviewing Greg's video titled "Why I Don't Use Printful, Printify, or Etsy for Print on Demand."
1:12 🛒 Greg mentions Etsy’s popularity due to its profit margins, product quality, and large visitor base.
1:28 📈 Greg has been a print-on-demand seller for 10 years, avoiding Printful, Printify, and Etsy.
1:56 🔧 Print-on-demand fulfillment services are crucial; most tutorials suggest using Printful or Printify.
2:34 📊 Greg explains the difference between active and passive print-on-demand business models.
2:58 💡 The concept of active vs. passive print-on-demand is interesting but debatable.
3:15 🚀 Active print-on-demand involves creating a website, bringing traffic, and handling customer service.
4:02 🛠 Passive print-on-demand involves uploading designs to marketplaces that handle traffic and service.
4:25 🤔 Active vs. passive: Greg presents cons of active and pros of passive, but not a balanced view.
5:00 ⚖ Important to consider both pros and cons of each method when choosing a strategy.
5:40 💰 Active print-on-demand offers higher profit margins and business control.
6:23 📉 Passive print-on-demand, despite being easier, has lower profit margins and higher risk of account suspension.
7:02 🌐 Greg recommends passive print-on-demand platforms and offers a tutorial link.
7:31 🛒 Amazon is highlighted as a major print-on-demand platform with billions of visitors.
8:07 ⚠ Entry to Amazon Merch on Demand is challenging and acceptance is not guaranteed.
9:00 🛒 Example Amazon Merch on Demand listings show profit margins, though actual profits may vary.
10:03 💵 Claims $5 profit per sale on Amazon Merch on Demand; real profit is closer to $2.66.
10:36 🧮 Misleading profit estimates may impact seller expectations and strategy decisions.
11:26 📊 Amazon’s vast audience can drive significant traffic and sales if accepted into the program.
13:46 🚪 Greg doesn’t mention the difficulty of being accepted into Amazon Merch on Demand.
14:29 🔄 Transition to discussing other passive print-on-demand platforms, like Redbubble.
14:40 😐 Redbubble recommendation questioned due to generally low profit potential.
16:10 👕 Redbubble only sells print-on-demand items, not the full range of Amazon products.
16:25 🛒 Redbubble handles printing, shipping, and customer service, with profit split for creators.
16:49 🚫 Important issues with Redbubble: tiers, suspensions, low profit margins, and quality concerns.
17:06 💸 A $25 sale on Redbubble can net creators as low as $2.17.
17:45 🤔 Concerns about low profit margins on Tu (acquired by Redbubble), with some items earning creators just $1.
18:30 📊 Redbubble attracts more traffic than Tu, but both are print-on-demand specific.
19:17 💰 Using Printify or Printful requires a Shopify store, which costs at least $39/month after the first month.
20:25 📈 Owning a Shopify store isn't inherently negative; it offers control over your business.
21:00 🎨 Creating designs and managing ads can help secure consistent sales on Shopify, even if not entirely passive.
22:22 🛠 Setting up a store on Shopify involves work, but the potential rewards are higher compared to passive print-on-demand platforms.
23:59 🖥 Greg's tutorial on creating designs on Tu is easy, but the key issue is the low profit margin.
24:32 🚀 Passive print-on-demand isn't truly passive; it requires significant effort in design and marketing.
25:31 🎥 Desire for collaboration: Inviting Greg to discuss his print-on-demand strategies and experiences.
Imo there are massive benefits to having full creative control & less restrictions but i can definitely understand the attraction of not having to desl with customer service.
It is deceptive imo to portray things the way he does & it makes me suspicious about any benefit he may get from essentially promoting certain sites.
Hi Shimmy, I have watched Greg for a while and I think the biggest point that he did not hammer home in his video is how he uses economies of scale by listing his designs on multiple market places. What’s your thoughts on placing your designs on Shopify, Merch, Redbubble and Etsy all at the same time. He basically recommends this in his other videos (Merch, Redbubble and TPublic). I know the listing process may be a ton of work but you can train a VA to get it done. In your experience, is the more fishing lines in the water theory worth the hassle given that you already have the design hours as a sunk costs?
With the "active" POD model, after you pay for your t-shirt blank, Shopify costs, and other fees, how much NET profit do you make?
Shimmy,
Thank you for your video.
I think your point that there is no passive PODis valid. What Greg didn't make clear in this video is the suggestion he made in another video that to be accepted into AMAZON March you need to show experience in selling POD products.
Also he seems to be appealing to those who use a platform like Canva or Creative Fabrica to choose and quickly list designs, which in the case of a subscription with CF you're licensed to sell any design. Some with or without modification if I recall correctly.
I'm willing to bet he makes a good profit off of the affiliate traffic from his videos.
Thank you for this video. As someone who is exploring my options right now. It gave me a lot to think about. I'm gonna watch some more of your videos. I've watch some of Greg's videos. For me to say what is good and what is bad i don't know. There is so many opinions and voices coming at starters it's been hard picking a clear path forward.
Just pick Shimmy.
there's a lot of good youtubers. philip anders, chris heckman, etc
@@shimmymorris1I agree there a lot. I like both Chris Heckman and Philip Ander. I've been slowly working through Cris's 21 hrs course. I'm gonna start adding your channel through my rotation as well
I got accepted to Amazon merch on demand, but my biggest dislike is the tier system and limit on uploads
nice one!! ye it's annoying, but limits people mass uploading
I've already noticed Greg's lacks of transparency, but fortunately we have youtubers that like to tell the truth 😅
Thanks for the other side/pros & cons……
I’m just watching all the videos and researching what it’s gonna take to do something like this…..
The good thing of Greg he explained step by step how to start design and register and you fil it up in POD Website. so he give you an idea
Behind every guru there are sponsors
Thanks for all your great info ... Can you tell me how you get people to get to your shopify store?
The problem with 95% of all RUclipsrs is that they want to sell something, or that you join a course or something. It will make everyone see pro and cons in everything and ofcourse more pro in what the RUclipsr prefer themselves. . When You have serious intention to start print on demand or any other online business, or business at all you need to do Your own research. You are right! But Greg inform the way he see it and I can see pro and cons in both way. Your way are better if You can put more time into it and want to earn more money. Greg for those who have little time and want more passive income. If you make your own commercial on Facebook you can also get banned. It is the same for me who will start to produce my own product. Is Amazon FBA or do all ad myself? I have find out that do my own ad, but let 3pl do all logistic will be best. I look forward to next video from you :)
@@dagadler3863 thanks. Ye I hear what you’re saying but unfortunately there’s no passive route with this business. That’s just misleading information… so however, good it might sound, it’s a pipe dream.
Hey! I emailed you about coming onto my podcast! I love what you're doing.
Thanks for this content. It helps to weed through a lot of the hype connected to POD.
What site did you use to find out the estimated royalty of a shirt?🙏
I followed his direction on getting in with Amazon and it work great....
@@Paulspicks-555 nice! What else did you do besides applying?
Gregs approach is mainly for beginners,dont slam the man for helping, any person with brains will eventually at a later stage figure out the (active side) as far as owning ur brand is concerned...btw he responds and as far as getting ppl banned,Etsy does it that too...and u WILL get banned for using other sellers designs. the profit margins are ofcoz low but he never hides it, good designs that sells WILL make u money even on those margins.
I’m not slamming him. His approach isn’t for beginners. And if it was he shouldn’t be claiming you can make large amounts of money because you simply can’t on Redbubble or teepublic.
It’s also good he responds to you. I’ve only seen comments be deleted and anyone who asks anything technical gets ignored.
It’s also far from passive. Adding thousands of designs on Redbubble or teepublic isn’t a passive income…
And I’m sorry but a good design that sells is still only making you $2 per sale. You’d need to sell an insane amount to make it worthwhile.
We’d have to see 100+ a month just to cover our wifi and electricity.., people don’t think like this. But it’s important and I mentioned it as I don’t like seeing people waste their time or misled
@@shimmymorris1 ok, i appreciate the dif angles but plz dont get persuaded by ppl
I’m trying to start my POD business and had recently seen Greg’s video. Is it true that sellers have to front the money for shipping and production? Or are there print providers that deduct the cost from the sale? The former can get quite expensive, especially since new sellers can’t cash out funds every day when starting on certain platforms and not everyone has the funds to cover these expenses for a week.
When you say front the money, we're not talking ordering stock from China and waiting a month for it to arrive, then 3 weeks to sell, to eventually get your money back.
When you get a sale on let's say shopify, if they pay with paypal, it's instant, if it's through shopify payments its after a day or so. When the order comes through you pay for the item. So you're laying out $14ish for item and shipping for less than 48 hours. I don't really see why this is a big deal.
You've got the sale, the money is there, it's just not in your bank for a day or 2
"Are there print providers that deduct the cost from the sale?" This is how Redbubble, Zazzle, Amazon Merch, and Teepublic operate. However, if you're wanting to quit your 9-5. These platforms will not be your solutions. As much as it sucks to hear this, the best POD providers charge for Shipping and Production. They also offer more variety when it comes to products you can sell. If you don't have capital to pay for orders up front and want to sell on a platform like Etsy. You're sort of out of luck. Because Etsy puts a hold on funds for new sellers to assess whether or not they're legitimate or scammers. So you'll need a minimum of 3 months operating capital if you're not wanting to get stuck selling on the above mentioned platforms.
@@shimmymorris1
Yes but let's say you got 10-20 orders to pay up front, that would be a problem wouldn't it, for someone just starting.
@@nikos-giorgosfrom what I’ve seen you don’t have to upfront, so if you had 100 orders but not the cash to cover it the orders would still go through it would just mean they would be delayed until the payment from the customers cleared, so extended shipping time. I could be wrong though.
It's obvious to me that Greg is getting paid by Redbubble to promote it and T-Public. I do appreciate you for being nice about Greg. So, I'll say it for you, Greg was out right lying, period! Promo video. Keep up the good work, Shimmy. 😉
I wish we knew for certain because that would explain a lot
@shimmymorris1 I think he did Amazon first knowing newbies wouldn't be able to get in, so naturally, that would push them to Redbubble's platforms. Sneaky, Greg's not stupid. Unfortunately, many people don't have good discernment.
I knew to all of this, so I don’t know any of the influencers. But in listening to this it almost seems like Greg’s appealing more to people that need to make a little bit of money with very little effort that made me struggling in life and it’s too overwhelming for them to do the level of control needed over your business that you do. I would be more wanting to do your style, but I can see how Greg’s might be, an easier entry point for people who are completely overwhelmed and are trying to do something
Thank You Shimmy, awesome Job. At first, I thought Greg was a great mentor, but I quickly found he is only in for the RUclips money. Bad, very Bad
I've had responses with Greg several times. It was about the bugs in the Amazon merch on demand setup.
But I doubt he would contact you about this... you are definitely bashing...
Curious, i was thinking of starting a POD shop on etsy.
- I wonder, is it possible to share your own store on etsy without getting banned so you can grow beyond the platform?
I ideally want to pick all my best selling products and put them on my own website.
- when you're making a store, should you be making multiple with different niches or is it better to create 1 varied shop?
- also is it better i target the US over the UK? I'm from the UK but the US is a much bigger market
I suggest targeting the US with one store and one niche. If you're happy to build your own store then I recommend that over Etsy
I’d love to start using shopify, but my main concern is freight. I am situated in Denmark and I have absolutelt NO clue on how to implement/use freight carriers and whatnot. :/
Etsy suspends more accounts than all the others except for maybe Amazon.
I buy things on Amazon all the time but have never looked at their T-shirts.
same
For a single design that can continue bringing income for a long time, the rates are not so bad considering how much goes into actually making the merch, listing and handling customer service and possible returns. I am speaking of amazon merch, not sure of the other platforms. I currently do my own embroidery and printing but it's so much work without having a loyal customer base. I have to set prices low and still offer free shipping to compete with the bigger platforms.
Greg said in another video that if you are rejected when you are applying to be accepted to Amazon Merch on demand is just to try again with a different e-mail, is this true?
Do you have a link to your designs?
3:26 what he says is not correct. That you have to pay in advance for an order. That doesn't make any sense, especially if it's on your own website. You receive payment for the order and then you pay the POD company to fulfill the order.
WRONG! This is why you need to have a credit card which you'll be charged FIRST, then after the sale is processed, that's when you receive the funds in your account.
@@tribzman3977 For printful I don't need a credit card.