1. The True Cost of Selling Printify on Etsy
Many beginner print-on-demand sellers only subtract the shirt cost from their retail price and wonder why their bank payout is smaller than expected. Every POD sale incurs five separate cost components:
- Printify Base Production Cost: The blank garment + DTG/sublimation print cost.
- Printify Shipping Fee: What the print provider charges to deliver to the buyer.
- Etsy Listing Fee: $0.20 USD per renewal or sale.
- Etsy Transaction Fee: 6.5% of the total amount charged (including customer shipping).
- Etsy Payment Processing: 3% + $0.25 USD (standard US rate).
2. Free vs. Printify Premium: When Is It Worth It?
Printify offers a Printify Premium subscription for $29.00 / month, which provides up to 20% discount on all base production costs.
On a standard Bella+Canvas 3001 T-Shirt, Premium saves approximately $2.20 per shirt.
Break-Even Math:
$29.00 / $2.20 savings = 13.2 shirts per month. If your Etsy shop sells more than 14 items per month, Printify Premium pays for itself and directly increases your net take-home margin!
3. Recommended Pricing Rules for Etsy POD
- Never price below 25% net profit margin: Account for occasional customer returns, size exchanges, or offsite ad attribution deductions.
- Free Shipping vs. Calculated Shipping: Offering "Free Shipping" on Etsy boosts search ranking, but remember to bake the $4.75 - $8.99 Printify shipping directly into your retail price.