How Has My Redbubble — Print On Demand Business Been?

It’s an experience

1 year ago I started using Redbubble the print-on-demand platform to find out if I could monetise money off it. I watched many videos and read about the print-on-demand space; some are getting decent traction. They of course had been constantly uploading 50–100 designs daily.

Here is what my platform looked like:

I went for the artistic vibe:

• Nature and sceneries from my time in Iceland
• Simplistic architecture
• I also did a few cool punk art for St Patrick's Day etc

The platform is relatively easy:

• It's easy to sign up and open an account.
• You did need to scale the sizing of the image since the resolution could vary.

Below is the image of the Skogafos waterfall that I took

• You can see how it can be printed on demand on various items. Eg shirts, bags, phone covers, hoodies, caps, poster art, blankets etc.

You would need to manually adjust the image if “it runs” (goes off scale) before you publish it.

It was repetitive but relatively simple to do. A little time-consuming but has the potential to get your art out to the public in the printed on various items so I gave it a short. It is pretty cool having your art printed on a shirt or a phone cover.

My results

In my case, I could not get traction to generate sales. It was really unfortunate.

It was truly crushing for me. It's pretty hard to get traction especially if you're a newbie starting on Redbubble.

In my opinion, print-on-demand is a challenging business model to break into if you're planning to use it as a full-time income side hustle.

Here is why:

• The market is pretty saturated with design and merchandise.
• The sizing of items (shirts, shoes etc) sometimes goes off hence consumers would rather go to Amazon to just buy the item they need.
• How many of us would go to Redbubble just to buy a T-shirt or a cap? It's easier to just go to Amazon while you're scrolling items, and recommended products come in.
• The algorithm for Redbubble isn’t scaled as an online store would and it isn’t as popular as an existing store or brand.
• The quality of the item is questionable since you are buying the item for its art. Consumers may also want to take into account the item for its quality which is not something a print-on-demand product might heavily prioritise as opposed to a regular store.

Print on demand could work to an extent if:

• You are already an influencer and you are promoting your design to your audience.
• The online shopping space isn’t so convenient and easily accessible. However, we all know this isn’t the case. Big brand stores have cookies to tailor our shopping experiences and Amazon seems more accessible to shop online with same-day or next-day shipping compared to print-on-demand which may take weeks to ship out.

I did get several “likes” so that made me happy my art was appreciated.

Takeaway

I feel fortunate to be able to find out for myself whether print-on-demand was lucrative as a side hustle for me or not. In my opinion, it could have been more lucrative but was too time-consuming for me personally. For some, it could be lucrative but I think it's important to consider whether the business model could work for you or not.

I also felt good knowing I have tried it so perhaps now is the time to check out other side hustles that could potentially pay off.

Let me know if you’ve tried print on demand as a side hustle and how was your results.

Here is the Redbubble “link” if you want to check out my Redbubble account.

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