Merch by Amazon
Merch by Amazon’s New Exciting Opportunity
Amazon is always changing and growing and one of their newest services is Merch by Amazon. It is a self service program where you design T-shirts and then Amazon produces them, sells and ships them to their customers. This can be an amazing new opportunity for you to grow your business whether it is an online business of yours or you help offline clients. See their quick video intro here.
Why was it created?
The program, started about a month ago, was originally geared towards app and game developers. Amazon owns Twitch, a live streaming video platform, that primarily focuses on video gaming. Merch by Amazon has become another way for game developers to monetize their efforts by creating T-shirts of their characters or favorite slogans for raving fans. My son is creating game apps and that is why this caught my attention. Read on to see how this can help you even if you don’t develop games or apps.
Who can use the service?
The good news is anyone can use the service and design T-shirts that can sell with Amazon doing most of the work. You just need an Amazon buyers account to get started. Currently there are no minimums on how many you have to sell. It is free to set up an account and get started at once. For every shirt that sells you receive a royalty that depends on the pricing you set and how many actually sell. Amazon also charges fees and you cannot sell a shirt at a loss. The sweet spot seems to be around $12.99 to $25. You can even sell a shirt for $9.99 and still make a small profit.
If you have ever tried to sell T-shirts as another stream of income you know how expensive it is to stock different sizes and colors and second guess what you think will sell. You won’t have any of these issues with Merch by Amazon. All you do is upload your design and let Amazon take over from there. There are other similar print on demand services like Cafe Press and Teespring and it is my guess Amazon will successfully grab a huge piece of this market. Some of these platforms require a minimum of sales before they will print the shirts. With Amazon’s service you don’t have this issue.
If you are graphically challenged like I am you can start with simple designs, outsource the work on a source like Fiverr or partner with someone who has design skills.
One of the things I love about this service is it is a quick way to add a passive income stream to your bottom line or sell your services of setting up accounts for local businesses or non profits looking for a way to raise funds.
I will be researching and diving into this new service even more in the next few weeks and will keep you posted on my results. My head is already spinning with ideas!
Have you tried out this new service yet? Do you see the potential of it in your business? Let me know below what you think.