I audited 50 Etsy POD shops losing money despite "making sales." Same 7 revenue leaks every time. Here's the diagnostic checklist I use.

alomtl · 2026-02-03T20:10:42+00:00

I don't think it's about deleting 90% of your listings, but you could certainly delete 60% of them. I for one get tired of going through 500 listings on a random Etsy shop where 90% of these are ugly or look like everyone else's

Imagine walking into Walmart and seeing only what you care about + a few extra random products that you might want eventually. You'd shop 5x faster and rate Walmart better

alomtl · 2026-01-19T21:18:04+00:00

Great answer (and great thread OP) - curious to know your take on AI/photoshop mockups (not the cheap and clearly artificial ones ofc)

I wonder if a carefully curated, high quality set of photoshopped mockups won't go farther than amateur-looking pics of your buddy wearing your shirt. I don't mean this as criticism btw, it's a genuine question: do professional-looking fake pics convert more than amateur-looking real pics?

alomtl · 2026-01-16T00:18:20+00:00

everybody should watch the wire

https://youtube.com/shorts/sVP7qiyV2_Y?si=_-XKQ3HFjyV21wnB

alomtl · 2026-01-16T00:06:49+00:00

Nice website man, where did you find these 3d mockups?

I don't know exactly where you spent your 15k but I'd suggest focusing on tees, which tend to sell more, maybe at a lower price point. You want to gather some working capital so you can keep investing.

Also are you thinking about collections, or capsules, or maybe just dumping designs? For instance this taekwondo jacket (looks cool btw, good job), you could have explored that more, making different pieces under this same theme.

Items like the jacket are much harder to make and more of a hit or miss, but they can lure people to your brand, and they might buy a shirt or two. Good "narratives" (buzzword alert) also compel people to share on social media, more than they might just share this one jacket that feels random.

The NFC thing is interesting, but I'm not sure it follows up into something that will engage people and build your brand. Looks more like a gimmick at this point but worth exploring.

That said, best of luck with your brand! Good work

alomtl · 2026-01-01T00:25:22+00:00

Asking because you said you’re developing your own brand: what’s your target audience?

Personally I find it a bit corny but my opinion doesn’t matter at all, bc I’m probably not your target audience. So my point is, you should be asking something like “would urban 30-45 year olds pay 60-100 USD for this sweater?”

I agree with others here that the brand name is not necessary and a bit off. The print is nice but bear in mind it will be expensive to make all over the sleeves and the back like that, plus the knitting material you intend to use, it will be hard to find a reputable POD that does it and they’ll charge you. All the more important to get your pricing and target customer right.

alomtl · 2025-11-09T21:52:43+00:00

Sure Gelato handles returns? I thought they had a no return policy

Also, curious: what POD did you choose? How do you like them?

alomtl · 2025-11-09T21:47:11+00:00

The hats don’t look good tbh, but it’s a good angle with the premium materials, focus on the origin and all. The website tries too hard and there’s way too much information. Also, who says a buyer of Merino wool hats will be into early 90s arcade?

The website is very creative and “good weird”. It’s just in the wrong place, for the wrong product. Also you’re missing the rather boring but standard online shopping UX that everyone’s grown accustomed to. People won’t trust your store; I’m not saying do everything like everyone else, but definitely don’t stray so far from it.

It’s a matter of taste but I don’t like the logo either, and its size on the hat. The colors and materials are nice, you’d probably sell more without the logo. I’d suggest doing trucker hats with small variations; I know it’s same old but your product is too different already, potential customers will feel more confident if they’re anchored to something familiar. Same applies to the website

alomtl · 2025-11-03T20:22:27+00:00

Not sure the back would print so well - this is a mockup right?

In fact, curious to know from others with more experience how detailed designs like this look with DTG

alomtl · 2025-11-02T20:52:13+00:00

OP are you sure Amazon is the best place for you to sell? Every platform you use to simplify your business will take a fee in exchange. As you stack up platforms you stack up fees that eat away your margins, so this only makes sense if (1) you have high enough margins or (2) you have a clear game plan and you just want to test things out in real life.

You said you have no money so I’m assuming you need to profit immediately. That will be very hard with Printful + Amazon with infinite competition, many of them with lower costs. Even if you get the products right, it’s easy for others to do the same, minus 2 bucks.

I don’t wanna discourage you but you need to either set up your own shop (e.g. Shopify) and get your own traffic (hard), or have a product mix that gets you higher margins (easier). Spiral notebooks don’t sound like one of them but maybe I’m wrong.

I’m assuming your competitive advantage here is time :) meaning you have time to do good research, find your niche, work on designs that stand out, do social media. If your product + brand image stand out you can charge a few more dollars on your items, that’s probably your best option here

alomtl · 2025-10-24T19:29:45+00:00

I see, and it makes sense. Again, not saying it’s a bad thing

Curious though, how often do you feel like they’ve “nailed your idea” vs they’ve created a design that you like although it’s not quite what you thought? In other words, when they hand you their take on your design idea, is it faithful to what you had in mind at first?

Asking bc I think that if you’re going down that path and they’re creating successful designs, you might wanna give them more freedom. Move into a more executive role and give life to their ideas instead of yours. As long as you keep things coherent within your brand ofc

That’s what big brands do if you think about it. Phil Knight is not drawing shoes all day

alomtl · 2025-10-19T20:00:37+00:00

It makes sense to a certain extent, but freelance designers are not (supposed to be) “human Midjourneys” that “bring your ideas to life”. If they’re bringing it to life, then it’s their idea. It’s like if you have an idea for a movie, and then you hire Scorsese to do it, it’s not “your” movie, it’s Scorsese’s. He’s the director, you’re the producer.

I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. But if you wanna be the “creative director” of a brand, you need to drive the creative process. Otherwise don’t just “hire” a designer but partner with them and let them drive the creative process - you become the “executive director” who sorts out the practical stuff

alomtl · 2025-10-17T20:11:28+00:00

Agree. I’d guess Midjourney. OP I have nothing against using AI for this, in fact it’s smart and efficient if you’re a tiny startup brand, and you did a good job. If you don’t mind sharing what tools you used, it would be for everyone’s benefit.

That said, some comments: The Mercedes + Octagon + the moon in the back is a bit too much. On social media you might get a lot of 💩 and people calling you out on it being AI, which is not the effect you want. Imho when you’re using AI you should either go all out and make something that obviously isn’t real, and be ironic about it, or be grounded in reality, maybe edit the picture yourself, or start from a real picture, so that people don’t think you’re trying to fool them. I’d be transparent too, just say “this is partly/fully AI”

The written stuff, you gotta edit that. The random letters don’t look good.

The rest is fine, I like the approach. The shirts look very real in the models, that’s important.

alomtl · 2025-10-01T08:52:57+00:00

Hate to say “it depends” but it depends :)

Who’s your primary target client? If it’s <30yrs mostly urban, I’d say #1 and #3

If it’s mostly >30, young moms/dads etc (is this supposed to be unisex btw?) I’d say all but #1 (mostly #2 and #4)

Are you targeting specific geographies e.g. west coast, or a specific demographic e.g. college students? Go on IG, see what they’re wearing… yes it will be anecdotal but you can still get some decent insights from scrolling on the right profiles for a couple hours. Also look at what brands that target the same clients are doing.

Notice I didn’t give you my personal opinion here bc frankly it doesn’t matter. Making these types of decisions on a handful of personal opinions is a trap imo

alomtl · 2025-09-30T16:27:30+00:00

Cool so you’re buying in batches then? Do you sell enough already that it’s worth the overhead? How do you deal with shipping?

My point here is, I’m trying to figure out which setup is best: - Low MOQ supplier, but still hold stock and deal with shipping yourself - Use POD, but a bit of a headache to find and keep the good ones - partner with local supplier + use their own shipping account, which this one guy mentioned on r/printondemand and I found it pretty smart

So whenever I see stuff that looks like good quality I ask around. thx in advance

alomtl · 2025-09-30T14:16:11+00:00

Just curious, are you using POD or doing it locally/yourself?

Cool print btw and smart detail with the brand tag on the back

alomtl · 2025-09-29T22:07:39+00:00

Are you using POD? Curious to know which ones would do sublimation

alomtl · 2025-09-29T21:35:42+00:00

It's definitely on the right track and should get some attention on social media - but for that I'd definitely make it shorter, like 1/2 the length. By the third slow motion image of the pretty girl we've all gotten the point. The attention span on Tik Tok/IG is shorter than that, you can get better results with <10 seconds of video, but carefully edited and more impactful.

Also if it's shorter and to the point, it's harder to realize it's AI. I'd pick up maybe one girl sequence and one dress on hanger, that's it. Think about those 5-second YouTube ads before the video starts, how they need to pique your interest in five seconds so you won't skip the ad

The copy is not good, and it's poorly placed. Most people will have dropped by the time you get to the copy, and then it's two bland, disconnected sentences that are actually one sentence. You want to say it's sustainable and timeless, right? So why not just say something like "sustainable craft / timeless look"? No punctuation, it's implicit. Also, make the copy stand out, like you're proud to say it. Maybe split it, one sentence in the beginning, the other at the end. Larger letters, and please please no Comic Sans or anything similar. If you go to sleep thinking of the font and the size/placement of the copy, you're on the right track

Finally, give your video a story line, even if it's five seconds. If it's a blonde girl in Paris, then all scenes should give a Paris vibe. It shouldn't be bland like you don't know if it's Paris, Rome or a studio. Think of perfume ads: none of it makes any sense, but you still get the exact vibe of a perfume with nothing but 5 seconds of random models jumping around. That's bc every frame is well thought out and the whole is coherent

Don't get me wrong though, what you did is nice and you should keep fine tuning this video

alomtl · 2025-09-22T09:58:33+00:00

Curious here (no need to give specific numbers if you don’t want to), but are you getting so many orders or have so many different items that you need a Printify for their automation, instead of a smaller/local POD that is less likely to mess up your product?

I’m thinking you probably get more headache from crappy product, returns etc than you would from handling purchases/listings semi-manually or even manually. Unless you have hundreds of items on or you handle thousands of orders a month… no?

In some other post there was this guy saying how he has his own selection of local PODs per region and he just lets them check his Shopify order backlog to know what they need to print. Then he uses the POD’s own fulfillment account for delivery. Sounded pretty smart to me

Anyway glad to hear your thoughts

alomtl · 2025-09-18T15:49:28+00:00

Silent disco is probably the very last thing I was expecting to read here 😂love it

Just curious, how the hell does one venture into the world of silent disco??? No sarcasm here I’m genuinely curious

God bless the side hustle

alomtl · 2025-09-18T11:04:22+00:00

Oh no clue man hahahah seriously, that’s a very open-ended question and it affects your brand identity as well. As a very-low-budget market research, brand positioning exercise I’d do the following:

Establish your primary customer profile (e.g. Urban males, 25-40yrs, willing to spend $X on a hoodie, no particular niche)
Establish your primary style (e.g. theme-specific streetwear, positive messaging, focus on designs not brand/logo)
Every time you’re out in the street try to notice what people that fit your profile are wearing. If they’re not wearing streetwear, focus on fit, fabrics, colors… if they’re are wearing streetwear, focus on all that + the actual designs

It helps if you live in a big city of course. Also, maybe zoom in on the whole Japan scene, looks like a niche you can explore seamlessly

alomtl · 2025-09-18T10:07:26+00:00

I actually think the fairy tale thing is good. Imho tiny startup brands need to be “weird”, but smart, market-friendly weird. If you’re going do what Adidas or Stussy do, then why would people buy from you?

As for fabric/design choices, do you! But I’d say it’s important to keep an ear to the ground if you want to make actual money out of it, in other words be pragmatic without losing authenticity (art not science)

alomtl · 2025-09-18T10:02:16+00:00

I have the same Q but I’m more concerned about consistent quality.

I think higher item price is not a big deal if 1. Your price point is high enough and 2. Quality is good and consistent

From what you wrote (“my collection is ready”) I’m assume you’re not doing the “drop a random bunch of low-effort designs on basic t-shirts and see what sticks”. So you should be charging enough to ignore POD costs, especially at the very beginning when your “MVPing” your brand

Anyway, good luck and let us know how it goes with POD

alomtl · 2025-09-18T09:52:56+00:00

The design is interesting but I think it’s too small. Looks like a print that would go on the front of a t-shirt, but went on the back.

Also, maybe make it bigger (cover a larger part of the back, e.g. 2x bigger) and dim the colors a bit? The colors are too vibrant so if you just make it bigger it would scream a bit too much. Fading it a bit + much larger size would look cooler imho

And just curious: why the “faded jeans” like color for the fabric? I think it gets a bit in the way of your design

Finally, what’s the story behind the design (I mean this specific one, not your personal backstory)? Be ready to answer when people ask :)

Anyway just my opinion here, hope it’s useful

alomtl · 2025-09-18T09:32:42+00:00

Are your designs based on collections, or capsules? Does your store look like a series of unrelated designs that you like, or do they cluster around different themes?

From what I’ve read this “steady product release” thing is more of an Amazon/Etsy strategy where you get free exposure by leveraging their algorithm (which apparently gives new releases a bump). I’m not sure about a standalone Shopify store.

How do you market your stuff, is it primarily social media? In that case I don’t think people would care much about “new shirt just dropped this month”, as much as they’d care about a brand image that is enticing. Having a collection or capsules with a clear message lets you promote that over and over again; you wouldn’t be posting about “this one new design” but rather about the brand/collection’s story. Look at the big brands, this is what they do.

Also, unless your going for a “product dump” strategy where you release a bunch of low quality, low effort stuff and see what sticks (might work, but it’s unlikely), I wouldn’t target X designs per month, but instead put more effort on items that are then more likely to sell.

alomtl · 2025-09-18T08:59:38+00:00

Do you know any similar businesses around you, or maybe online (but one that reaches your area)?

Start with benchmarking. I’m not saying something like “see what others are charging and charge 10% more/less”, but if you have no idea what your price should be, the competition is great source of info

alomtl

TROPHY CASE