There are countless opportunities to sell custom products online. Whether it’s a funny t-shirt, a magazine, or a phone case sporting your original artwork, the demand can be consistently high for anything remotely original. You can have a third party apply your own original designs to a wide range of products, but it will mean holding a lot of inventory and you might get stuck with items that don’t sell.
Print-on-demand products are exactly what the name implies. The beauty of POD is many suppliers offer to ‘drop ship’ your customized products direct to the buyer on behalf of your brand. Sell within Canada or in other countries with equal ease. You don’t have to invest in inventory or deal with shipping headaches. Without inventory, you can easily start a POD business from home.
Most POD drop shippers integrate easily with multiple ecommerce platforms. You can sell direct from your online store, on social media, or through online marketplaces like Amazon.ca.
If nothing else, POD is a safer way to test the market for customized products. Once you know which products are selling, you can choose to bring it in-house if you want to, or continue using drop ship fulfillment indefinitely.
Drop Shipped Product Fulfillment
When a customer orders your product, you pay the supplier the discounted price to ship it directly to the customer. There should be no indication that the product came from another company, and many offer branding options to further create the illusion that the product came from your business.
Customer Price – (Wholesale Cost + Expenses) = Your Profit
Drop shipping has become increasingly popular and it’s much more reliable than it used to be. Due diligence is still required and I recommend at least a few test orders before you settle on a supplier.
For more information about drop shipping products online, check out Wholesale Drop Shipping for Canadian Online Sellers.
Print-on-Demand (POD) Drop Shippers for Canadian Merchants
Before selecting a POD drop shipper, think about:
- How easy it is to design and order products
- The cost and speed of shipping
- Quality of the merchandise
- Variety
- Price
- Reliability
- Customer support
Naturally, you won’t receive the same wholesale price as someone who is buying by the thousands. Consequently, you have to be hyper-aware of everything that will eat into your profit margin and keep a close eye on your numbers.
POD suppliers in other countries will often work with Canadians, but you have to keep an eye on the total cost with currency exchange and shipping. Some of them have fulfillment centres in Canada to make shipping faster, less expensive and more reliable. Or you may opt to sell in the country of the supplier and skip expensive Canadian shipping altogether.
1. Sellfy POD – Creators have a wonderful selection of merchandise categories to choose from, including clothing, hats, bags, home décor, phone cases and eco-friendly products. Sellfy POD boasts a simple store setup, design tools and built-in marketing functionality that will have you making tons of sales in no time! Drop ship products to customers in Canada or anywhere in the world through their fulfillment partners. Canadian orders can be shipped through a POD warehouse and fulfillment partner in Toronto, Ontario.
2. Printful – Order custom design products to drop ship or sell direct online under your own brand. Customize over 250 products, including T-shirts and other clothing, décor, pet products, posters, phone cases and more. One of the most complete services available, with branding options like tear-away tags, stickers and inserts. They recently opened a distribution hub in Ontario! Canada is their second-largest market after the US. Sell from your website, including all major ecommerce platforms.
3. Tee Hatch – Print-on-demand t-shirts in Vancouver, BC. Drop shipping across Canada. They can be integrated with most e-commerce platforms.
4. Art of Where – Offers on-demand printing of your artwork on their products. Drop ships from Montreal, Quebec or New York. Add products automatically to Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce and BigCommerce.
5. Ottawa Custom Clothing – Drop shipping options are available for their custom-print t-shirts.
6. Print Geek – Produces and fulfills orders for customized apparel, stickers, posters and mugs. They drop ship from Toronto and can work with most websites.
7. Printify – A different fulfillment process sets Printify apart from the rest. You can order from over 90 POD suppliers in Canada, China or the US, depending on where your customer is. The finished product is then shipped directly to your customer as usual, with your custom branding. Choose from over 250 different items, including T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, bags, décor, stickers, and more. Connect to Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, eBay, Prestashop, Wix and Etsy or order manually.
8. Duplium prints and ships your original artwork on t-shirts, hoodies, drinkware, tote bags, wall art and more out of Vaughan, Ontario. They’re also a Canadian supplier available through Printify.
You’ll also find numerous apps on Shopify Canada that make it easy to sell print-on-demand products in your online store, or other drop-shipped products if you want to expand.
Are you going to start a print-on-demand online business in Canada? Please ask any questions you may have in the comments below, or discuss this and other online business topics in the Online Business Canada Facebook group!
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T print Canada closed over a year ago…
I’ve been trying to find a drop shipping supplier in Canada that has inspirational wall art for my shopify store. I have tried all of the above suggestions with no luck. They are so popular there has to be someone supplying Canada. Any other suggestions?
POD is more for those who want to use their original art to create products. This post includes wholesale dropshipping suppliers that you can check out. Supplier legwork can be challenging in Canada.
This is all so much information overload trying to figure out where to start. But what about copyrighting your artwork before you put it anywhere on the Internet? Looking for info for artists and how to do all this and protect yourself against theft.
I’m looking for a POD to print om photos on canvas in Canada and it’s been hard to find. Do you have any suggestions?
Try Pictorem from Montreal. They ship everywhere for free.
Where can I find a pod for laser engraving in Canada?
Thx for the easy to read/understand article. I’m working on Social media & YouTube content for Mental/Emotional Health support & advocacy and realize that Merch would be great to help spread to word, but have no idea where to start due to the fact I’m in Canada, but “audience” is worldwide. Anyone have any experience to share?-I’m open to advice!
Using Printful is a dream!!! Some others…dunno…..
I don’t see “government support” listed on your top criteria of choosing a POD supplier. About a year ago I gave up on one of the suppliers on your list because it was far too unreliable regarding tax collection and remittance. I hope things have improved. If you’ve written about tax obligations regarding drop shipping within Canada for Canadian sellers, please put a link in!
Taxes are best left to your accountant. There are too many variables and perpetual changes to cover it here, and tax advice should never come from the internet.
This idea came to me once the pandemic started. I am Canadian, do I need to contact US suppliers to sell in the US?
It’s usually the best idea to ship from the same country as the customer, but it isn’t absolutely necessary if the Canadian supplier is willing to ship internationally.
I would like to include licensed graphics and such in my designs (example NASA or Guns n roses)
Is there a repository or company that intermediates these kinds of situations?
Hey, not sure if you’re going to come back to read the reply, but some companies do offer authorized fan art (specifically, TeePublic and Redbubble – although neither of these are Canadian, and may not have partnered with specifially NASA or GnR). HTH.
I have so many ideas going through my head right now! I didn’t even know this was even a thing. I always thought you had to order inventory or get the equipment to make them yourself.
Hey! How did you find so many in Canada? I’ve been searching for months and only found a couple! I wish they had more variety other than tees but it’s a start! Thanks!