Years ago I excitedly loaded many designs to Society 6. Their products were good quality and I have a few. In 5 years made two sales and a total of £1:30. Society 6 gave their sellers around 10% commission. However what I did not realise is that they rarely sold anything at full price because they were always having promotions for between 20 and 60% off. Traditional POD is not for me because I don’t have a sizeable audience and I find social media an unrewarding grind.
Hey WiniFreda! That’s some great reflection on POD! Thanks for sharing your experience! Yes it’s not for everyone but if someone decided to go that route and commit to it, I can see it being good residual income, providing they know how to create the stuff that gets searched and put in good SEO to get found! I’m currently not invested in it but do get sales here and there from Spoonflower still that I do appreciate! I mean it’s like pocket money that gives a similar feeling to finding $5 in your couch! Except this one is $5 profit 😆
thanks for this. As I ponder income streams for my post ‘day job’ world and the opportunity that may exist to turn my side hustle into a viable business one thing that does occur is POD. I’m not sure about fabric or things like Spoonflower but I really appreciate your honesty here. It all helps build a picture. And I think for me it does make it clear that POD is basically just about not holding and investing in stock, but you still have to do the selling.
Thank you for being candid and straightforward about the POD world. I’ve been strongly considering including this as one other source of sharing my art and possibly creating another income. I appreciate it when people are transparent in telling about their experience using these platforms.
Hey Tameeka you're welcome! POD can definitely be one of your income sources. Make sure you choose one that aligns with your style of art. My designs did better on RedBubble than Society6 when I used to upload often, for example. Take note that payouts and rules vary between shops so find the best one for you!
Fab post! I’ve had my Spoonflower shop since 2020, but didn’t do much with it properly until last year. Until then I was having about one sale every two months if I was lucky (I think 2021 was only 3 sales in total!!!). I made an effort to upload more regularly, and also increased listings through adding different scales, and working on my SEO, and by December I had as many sales in a month as I’d had in the whole of 2022... still not huge, but I can see momentum building. I’ve been experimenting with Pinterest, and this year my focus is on fabric for quilting & crafting, to see if having a niche and building something around that outside of Spoonflower helps build my income. It’s really interesting reading about your experiences and I look forward to hearing more about how it goes for you in 2024!
Yes the SEO and consistency does make a difference! Spoonflower prices have increased since this post I believe and I am finding that each yard of fabric sold is giving out smaller payout than before. Please let me know how your experimentation with Pinterest goes and if you see any direct benefits to your Spoonflower shop!
Years ago I excitedly loaded many designs to Society 6. Their products were good quality and I have a few. In 5 years made two sales and a total of £1:30. Society 6 gave their sellers around 10% commission. However what I did not realise is that they rarely sold anything at full price because they were always having promotions for between 20 and 60% off. Traditional POD is not for me because I don’t have a sizeable audience and I find social media an unrewarding grind.
Thanks for giving your opinion!
Hey WiniFreda! That’s some great reflection on POD! Thanks for sharing your experience! Yes it’s not for everyone but if someone decided to go that route and commit to it, I can see it being good residual income, providing they know how to create the stuff that gets searched and put in good SEO to get found! I’m currently not invested in it but do get sales here and there from Spoonflower still that I do appreciate! I mean it’s like pocket money that gives a similar feeling to finding $5 in your couch! Except this one is $5 profit 😆
thanks for this. As I ponder income streams for my post ‘day job’ world and the opportunity that may exist to turn my side hustle into a viable business one thing that does occur is POD. I’m not sure about fabric or things like Spoonflower but I really appreciate your honesty here. It all helps build a picture. And I think for me it does make it clear that POD is basically just about not holding and investing in stock, but you still have to do the selling.
You are best to do some selling as I know when I don’t I get sales way less frequently, but test and see what you find out! :) Thanks for reading!
Thank you for being candid and straightforward about the POD world. I’ve been strongly considering including this as one other source of sharing my art and possibly creating another income. I appreciate it when people are transparent in telling about their experience using these platforms.
Hey Tameeka you're welcome! POD can definitely be one of your income sources. Make sure you choose one that aligns with your style of art. My designs did better on RedBubble than Society6 when I used to upload often, for example. Take note that payouts and rules vary between shops so find the best one for you!
Fab post! I’ve had my Spoonflower shop since 2020, but didn’t do much with it properly until last year. Until then I was having about one sale every two months if I was lucky (I think 2021 was only 3 sales in total!!!). I made an effort to upload more regularly, and also increased listings through adding different scales, and working on my SEO, and by December I had as many sales in a month as I’d had in the whole of 2022... still not huge, but I can see momentum building. I’ve been experimenting with Pinterest, and this year my focus is on fabric for quilting & crafting, to see if having a niche and building something around that outside of Spoonflower helps build my income. It’s really interesting reading about your experiences and I look forward to hearing more about how it goes for you in 2024!
Yes the SEO and consistency does make a difference! Spoonflower prices have increased since this post I believe and I am finding that each yard of fabric sold is giving out smaller payout than before. Please let me know how your experimentation with Pinterest goes and if you see any direct benefits to your Spoonflower shop!