If you are weighing up a print on demand business, the first question is usually what it will cost to get going.
The short answer is that the outlay is small compared with almost any other way of selling physical products. There is no stock to buy, no storage to arrange and no risk of being left with unsold goods, because nothing is printed until a customer places an order. What remains is a selling platform, a domain if you want your own store, and ideally one product sample.
This guide sets out what starting a print on demand business really costs in Ireland, the UK and Europe, which expenses you can leave out altogether, and a sensible order to work through the setup.
How print on demand works
With print on demand, nothing is produced until a customer has placed an order.
- You upload a design
- A customer buys the product from your shop
- The order is passed to your fulfilment partner
- The item is printed and posted directly to your customer
You never hold stock, and you only incur the fulfilment cost once a customer order has come in. This is what removes the upfront investment from the model. If a design turns out not to sell, there is nothing sitting in a cupboard and nothing to write off.
The investment that remains is mainly your time and attention, which makes print on demand a realistic option to begin alongside a job.
What it actually costs to start
A clear budget makes the first months far easier to plan.
Costs you are likely to face
- Selling platform. Etsy charges a small per-listing fee plus a commission on each sale. Shopify charges a monthly subscription, usually with a low-cost trial period at the start. Etsy is the cheaper way in; Shopify offers more control as you grow.
- Domain name. Only needed if you run your own store, and typically the cost of a couple of coffees per year.
- A product sample. Optional at the outset, though there is a strong case for ordering one, covered further down.
Costs you can avoid
- Inventory. None is required at any point.
- Design software. Free tools are more than capable. Canva’s free tier, GIMP, Photopea and Inkscape all produce print-ready files.
- Setup fees, onboarding fees and minimum order quantities. These are worth questioning wherever you find them.
- Paid advertising. Valuable once you know what sells, but not necessary for your first orders.
All platforms publish current fees on their own sites, and they change periodically, so it is worth checking those directly when you build your budget. As a general picture, an Etsy shop can be live for a relatively small initial outlay, while a Shopify store costs a trial plan plus a domain.
Do you need to pay a monthly POD subscription?
No, though a number of providers offer one. Whether it is worth paying comes down to where you are in the business.
A subscription usually buys lower base prices per item. That can work well once you are shipping consistent volume, because the per-unit saving outweighs the monthly fee. Earlier on, the math is less comfortable:
- You pay it in month one, while your listings are still going live
- You pay it again in month two, while you are still testing which designs land
- You pay it again in month three, whether you have made one sale or forty
Rather than guessing, it is worth calculating the point at which a subscription pays for itself. Divide the monthly fee by the saving per item, and you have the number of orders you need each month simply to break even. If that figure sits well above what you are currently shipping, the subscription is costing you money.
Until you are reliably above that threshold, a pay-per-order model tends to suit better:
- Costs rise and fall in step with your sales
- A quiet month or a break carries no penalty
- There is no pressure to publish designs quickly in order to justify a fee
Tundra Print operates on a pay-per-order basis, so there is no monthly cost to cover while you are finding your feet.
A practical order to work through
1. Choose a specific niche
A shop aimed at a clearly defined group tends to find customers more easily than a general one. “Funny t-shirts” sits in a very crowded market, whereas “gifts for sea swimmers” reaches people who are actively looking for exactly that.
The niches that work usually share three qualities:
- A group of people who already think of themselves as that group
- Language, references or imagery that means something specific to them
- Enough familiarity on your part to get the details right
You do not need a deep personal passion for the subject, though you do need to know it well enough to avoid the small inaccuracies that stand out to people inside it.
2. Decide where to sell
- Etsy - an established audience, low entry cost, considerable competition, and limited ownership of the customer relationship
- eBay - large Ireland/UK audience, simple listing costs, good for practical and gift-led products, though buyers are less design-led than on Etsy
- Amazon Handmade - Amazon's reach and delivery expectations, an application process to join, higher commission, so it needs margin to work
- Shopify - full control of your store and your data, a monthly cost, and responsibility for bringing your own traffic
Beginning on Etsy and adding a Shopify store later is a sound approach if you would rather keep early costs to a minimum.
3. Create your designs
Three approaches work well without a design budget:
- Typography: Carefully set text on a well-chosen product performs strongly. Free fonts with commercial licences are widely available, though it is worth checking the licence terms each time.
- Simple graphic work: Vector shapes and a limited colour palette reproduce cleanly in print and look considered.
- Your own photography or illustration: If you can draw or take good photographs, this is the hardest thing for anyone else to copy.
One point to be firm on: use only artwork you own or are licensed to use. Brand logos, cartoon characters, song lyrics and club crests all carry a real risk of takedown notices and account suspension, which is a difficult position to recover from.
4. Choose your fulfilment partner
This choice shapes your margins, your delivery times and the number of customer queries you deal with. It is worth comparing providers on:
- Base product cost, as your entire pricing structure rests on it
- Shipping cost and delivery times to the market where most of your customers are
- Where items are printed, which has more effect in Ireland and across Europe than many sellers expect
- Whether a subscription or minimum order applies
- What happens if an item arrives damaged, including who covers a reprint
-
Product range, so you can expand later without moving everything to a new provider
5. Set your prices before you launch
Underpricing is easy to do, and it usually only becomes apparent once the fees are deducted and the margin turns out to be a euro or two.
Build the price up in this order:
- Base product cost
- Plus shipping
- Plus platform fees and commission
- Plus payment processing
- Plus your margin
Then compare the result with what similar products sell for. If your figure sits well above the market, the base cost is usually the place to look first.
Tundra’s product and shipping costs are set out on the pricing page, which is a useful reference to have open while you put your first pricing sheet together.
6. Order a sample
If there is one place worth spending a small amount before you have revenue, this is it.
- You see the print quality and colour reproduction for yourself
- You can confirm the garment or paper stock matches how you describe it
- You gain product photography that goes beyond a mockup template
- You experience the delivery timeline your customers will experience
The cost of a single sample compares very favourably with the cost of resolving a run of disappointed reviews.
We offer a free sample of any product to all customers who get in touch. Visit the Contact Page to get in touch!
7. Launch with a focused range
A small, coherent set of listings in one niche generally performs better than a scattered one. Descriptions are easier to write well, photography is more consistent, and you can see clearly which products are gaining traction.
Why print location matters in Ireland, the UK and Europe
Since the UK’s departure from the EU, where an item is printed has a direct effect on your customers’ experience - and this applies particularly to sellers based in Ireland, whose buyers are often split across the EU and the UK.
- Customs and import charges. A parcel crossing a customs border may arrive with an unexpected charge, and customers tend to associate that with your shop rather than the courier.
- Delivery times. Cross-border shipping adds days and introduces uncertainty into your stated timescales.
- Returns. These become slower and more expensive once an item has crossed a border.
Where most of your buyers are in Ireland, the UK or the EU, working with a partner that prints and ships within the region removes much of this friction. Tundra Print ships free to over 40 countries, with Irish, UK and European customers as the primary focus.
Common early mistakes
- Leaving shipping out of the price. The most frequent cause of margins disappearing at checkout.
- Publishing a large number of designs at once. It becomes difficult to tell which choices are working.
- Skipping the sample. Selling a product you have not seen carries avoidable risk.
- Using artwork you do not have rights to. The consequences arrive quickly and are hard to undo.
- Signing up to a subscription before the volume justifies it. Run the break-even calculation first.
- Comparing providers on base price alone. A lower unit cost with slow international shipping can cost more in refunds than it saves.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to start a print on demand business?
Far less than most physical product businesses, because there is no stock to buy. The realistic starting costs are platform fees, a domain if you want your own store, and a sample.
Can you start with no money at all?
Very nearly. Design tools are free and no inventory is required, so the main outlay is platform fees and, ideally, one sample.
Is a subscription required to use a print on demand service?
No. Some providers charge one, and others do not. Tundra Print has no monthly fee - you pay per order.
Is it more expensive to run a print on demand business from Ireland?
Not inherently. The costs that matter are where your products are printed and shipped from, since cross-border parcels can attract customs charges and slower delivery. Working with a partner printing within Ireland and Europe avoids most of that.
Do you need to register a business?
This depends on where you live, and there are usually thresholds at which registration and tax reporting begin. Generally speaking, it is not necessary to register a business when you're just starting out. It is worth checking the guidance for your country - Revenue in Ireland or HMRC in the UK - or speaking to an accountant.
How long does the first sale usually take?
Anywhere from a few days to a few months. Your niche and the quality of your listings tend to matter more than the products themselves.
Getting started this week
- Choose one specific niche
- Create three to six designs
- Check base costs and shipping on the pricing page
- Order a sample
- Publish your listings
- Adjust based on what sells
The main barrier to starting a print on demand business is rarely money. It is choosing something specific enough to stand out and giving it long enough to learn what your customers respond to.
If you are ready to work out your margins, the pricing page is the place to begin - with no monthly fee to factor in, the figures are straightforward to model.