{"id":6235,"date":"2018-04-26T15:38:12","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T15:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vexels.com\/blog\/?p=6235"},"modified":"2025-10-14T12:16:49","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T10:16:49","slug":"the-way-to-scale-on-merch-by-amazon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/blog\/the-way-to-scale-on-merch-by-amazon\/","title":{"rendered":"The Way to Scale on Merch by Amazon"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you made it this far you\u2019re probably related to the Merch business in some form, and if you\u2019re lucky enough you already got accepted at Merch by Amazon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Congratulations, <\/span>you haven\u2019t even started<\/b> yet!<\/span><\/p>\n

Way to go champ<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Now you have 10 slots available and 2 daily uploads. Future never looked so bright. Yet since you can\u2019t drive traffic directly to your listing because you depend on Amazon\u2019s traffic, your t-shirts\u2019\u2014and sales\u2019\u2014performance depend <\/span>on their own<\/b>. <\/span><\/p>\n

You would think the obvious way to sell your t-shirt is if it had a great design, and to do that you need a great designer; that\u2019s just <\/span>not quite the case<\/b>. When starting up your tee empire you can take care of basic designs on your own, firing up that Photoshop and writing a couple of funny phrases. <\/span><\/p>\n

As you start selling more t-shirts, your tier levels start growing, and so does your available slots. So by the time you have hundreds of slots free and idle you won\u2019t be able to keep up designing hundreds of tees. Can you see yourself <\/span>wasting time<\/b> just exporting designs hundreds of times? <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Neither do we.<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n

Now it\u2019s time to <\/span>scale and outsource<\/b> your Design. <\/span><\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s on MBA, SunFrog, RedBubble, Etsy, Zazzle, Spreadshirt, Teespring, Caf<\/a>ePress<\/a>, or all of them, scaling is a major and unavoidable fork in the road of any successful independent Merch.<\/span><\/p>\n

What this means is that you must now find a way of getting more designs, and not just in quantity, but in quality as well, which is another big component we\u2019ll talk about later.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[Read our Ultimate Guide to Selling T-shirts Online Here<\/a><\/span>]<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Going over the first options, it\u2019s really a no-brainer to consider hiring a freelance designer on platforms like Upwork, Freelancer, 99designs or even Fiverr. Some people even outsource design to Asian countries and pay $2 per design, but you\u2019re obviously getting a <\/span>sub-par product<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Really, is it?<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The thing with this option is that the designer you\u2019re getting is probably not a \u201cMerch designer\u201d, or a designer who <\/span>specializes on merch<\/b> design, is up to the <\/span>latests trends<\/b> and thinks with a <\/span>Merch mentality<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The design process is a hassle<\/b>. You have to make a request\u2014and remember to be very specific about it, then wait for the design to come your way, and sometimes it\u2019s not even what you were thinking about. You then have to pay for it, and you\u2019re probably getting designers working for no less than <\/span>$30<\/b> per hour<\/b>, which sometimes escalates much more. And you have to repeat this every time you need new designs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re happy doing this, let me ask you: are you <\/span>nuts?!?!<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Free or Paid Design?<\/b><\/h3>\n

Some sites suggest you should look for free images. This is <\/span>wrong<\/b>. Would you drive a car you didn\u2019t purchase without risking going to jail? Probably not. Same happens with designs; hell, that\u2019s the reason why you would buy a design from a designer at Upwork! Because you <\/span>pay for the right to commercialize the design<\/b> rather than the ownership of the design itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

So how much should you pay for t-shirt design?<\/b><\/h3>\n

To answer that question, it\u2019s necessary to first let this concept sink in:<\/span><\/p>\n

Good Design allows you to compete.<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amazon Merch is the Wild West for people who want to sell t-shirts online. It\u2019s hard to stand out among the hundreds of other sellers out there, with thousands of designs each.<\/span><\/p>\n

The smartest way to stay ahead of your competition and be competitive yourself is by siding with a Design partner which creates Good Quality design for you automatically.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why NOT hire a Designer<\/b><\/p>\n

If it isn\u2019t clear by now, here\u2019s a round up of the reasons why you <\/span>shouldn\u2019t<\/span> hire a freelance designer to design your tees: <\/span><\/p>\n