Beginner's Guide on Selling Print on Demand Clothing on eBay

eBay isn’t just a platform in the Internet space, but a whole country without borders and language barriers, uniting millions of sellers and buyers from all over the world. It may not be as popular or easy to manage as Amazon or Etsy, but there is a ton of traffic to make decent sales. 

Shopify store owners often face long wait times to access platform account limits, UI difficulties, or strict product listing guidelines. Despite this, the white label clothes innovativeness, delivery, and gross merchandise volume differentiate eBay from its competitors. Take the last aspect: in Q1 2021, GMV was $27.5 B, and $3.0 B revenue. Based on this, it turns out that selling print on demand with eBay provides enough resources to ensure stable conversion rates and customer loyalty.

The ability to reach a global audience of over 100 million active users gives entrepreneurs a chance to get noticed. Read in this beginner’s guide how to find out where to start and how to do it. 

Table of contents 

Reasons why you should start working with eBay

How to start selling printed products on eBay?

What else do you need to know?

Conclusion

Reasons why you should start working with eBay

You get access to global sales

How to sell on eBay? Choose the correct and strategic management of the leading business asset, namely the store on Shopify. It provides access to powerful integration of your print on demand on eBay, a part of the main cash flow. According to the analysis of Digital Commerce 360, in 2021, among the world platforms, eBay took second place after Amazon, among the leaders ranked by a total gross merchandise value of $100.

As stated earlier, eBay has an active user base equal to half of the US population. This incredible level of exposure to your brand means your sales potential will be limitless. 

If you profess omnichannel marketing, you cannot do without the help of frameworks that perform many operational processes. One of the best print on demand services that automate goods, purchases, mailing, delivery, and many other items management is Podza. Interestingly, the framework provides for the creation of individual functionality that meets the needs of entrepreneurs. It’ll become easier for you to achieve goals if you simplify your fate in topical affairs and focus on more important ones. 

No matter your sales experience: anyone can sell on eBay

Adding eBay as another sales channel allows you to be bumped into one of the leading search engines in the world. From newbies or amateur resellers to PowerSellers - several types of sellers can sell here. And if the first one sells goods at fixed prices, the last one manages the auctions, spends time creating designer packaging, and controls shipping. E.g., you can build a prospering business by reselling exclusives and hard-to-find products. Make market research focusing on a niche, trends, and current popularity that will help measure consumer demand and determine the best time to place your print on demand on eBay. 

Low fees are the key to more profit

Selling on the platform also features accessible listing - here, you need to create a list of products and show it to potential buyers. So in most categories, you’ll pay a 14.3% commission on the final purchase price and $0.3 per order when the item is sold. At the same time, Amazon referral fees are much higher. A lower percentage means you’ll make more money from selling print on demand on eBay. 

The main advantage of the platform is the savings on delivery, sometimes reaching 52%. The global shipping program allows you to deliver goods anywhere in the world without worrying about the customs process or arrival time. By the way, there is no fee for participation in the program - only commissions for transactions or international payments can be applied.

Excellent SEO

The key to the successful promotion of a t-shirt brand lies in SEO implementation. The mechanics of search by crawlers and users directly depend on error correction, user interface convenience, performance, and many other components. And although eBay isn’t relatively equal to Amazon - it has excellent optimization. The search for any item in Google can lead a user to the platform. 

How to start selling printed products on eBay?

To make a lot of money with print on demand and eBay, beginners need to spend a few hours learning the platform's processes. You can be pretty confused with a complex user interface, but overall you’ll be happy with the results when selling your first few designer t-shirts. To get started, follow the next few steps. 

1. Create an account and link it to PayPal. It's pretty simple, and you can figure it out.
2. Utilize the eBay Seller Hub with a more straightforward user interface than the Seller Dashboard on the leading eBay site. Here you can control the current processes taking place in the store: a list of products, reviews, orders, etc. The Podza framework can simplify the work on the platform as you don’t have to control transferring the POD order to the supplier, printing, and sending it to the client.
3. Subscribe to the eBay Store to get cheap ad placement fees. Here, you’ll get 200 extra listings every month for free. After product placement and first sales, track demand and increase your account limit as needed. Set the quantity of all items to 1 unit so that you can list more products.
4. Submit some documents to increase the listing limit. Your account will be verified, and after 2-3 business days, you’ll receive confirmation of your actions.
5. Add the best print on demand items to your eBay store. There is an intelligent placement strategy for eBay print on demand products: you need to do it slowly while posting first the ones that are more likely to be sold faster.

You can sell print on demand on eBay quite quickly if you apply a product placement strategy on a platform. We’ll talk about it further.  

How to Start a Print-on-Demand Business

What else do you need to know?

Compared to Amazon and Etsy, the competition on eBay is very low. That’s why it’s essential to understand what products your target audience prefers on this site. In the search box, enter a query and see the offer of goods. 

Next, build a list of products, like t-shirts, that are sold primarily on Amazon or other platforms - attract buyers to your brand to sell print on demand on eBay. E.g., you can offer a shorter delivery time or lower the price. That will increase your listing limits and start the new account process. 

Remember to add keywords to the title and description of each product. You can find them using Google Trends or on your competitors’ pages.  

In the POD business, an important place is occupied by cooperation with other executing companies. In 2019, there were changes to eBay's policy, including the role of the dropshipping suppliers: eBay allowed print on demand wholesale suppliers. Well-known retailers like Amazon or Walmart will become rule-breakers on the platform, and continuing to do business with them carries the risk of getting restrictions on your store. Therefore, when wondering which print on demand supplier to use for eBay, it’s crucial to spend some time looking for them. Reputable, certified distributors are responsible for many functions (guaranteeing the quality of the clothes, delivery time, safety of goods, etc.).

Conclusion

To sell print on demand on eBay may seem like a daunting task at first, but given several platform features, an entrepreneur will be able to get decent feedback. The eBay advantage is invaluable: it gives you access to buyers from all over the world. The site is perfectly optimized, which allows you to search for goods for every taste quickly. Of course, there are some difficulties: a beginner will have to spend some time studying eBay and consider the stringent rules for its use. But the sales result will exceed all your expectations if you constructively address the issue.