Merch by Amazon: Everything You Need to Know in 2024

Do you dream of selling your designs on t-shirts, hoodies and other products? This is possible with Merch by Amazon! This is an Amazon platform where you can easily sell a variety of items printed with your designs.

Merch by Amazon  is a brilliant way to build an online business. If you want to know how you can make money with Merch by Amazon, then you’ve come to the right place.

What is Merch by Amazon?

Merch by Amazon (MBA) is a print-on-demand service from Amazon that allows designers to print and sell their designs on various products. Amazon handles production, shipping and customer service so designers can focus on creating their designs.

To make money with Merch by Amazon, creators must upload their designs to Amazon and set a price for the products they will be printed on. When a customer purchases a product with a designer’s design, the designer receives a royalty from Amazon.

The Merch by Amazon process is as follows:

1. Designers upload their designs to Amazon.
2. Designers select a product to print their design on.
3. Designers set a price for their product.
4. Once Amazon approves the design, a listing is created for the product.
5. Customers buy products that feature the design.
6. Amazon creates the products and ships them to customers.
7. The designers receive a licensing fee from Amazon.

Creators just upload their designs and Amazon does the rest. One thing to keep in mind: designers have no influence on the quality of the products. They are only responsible for creating the image printed on them and choosing which products it will go on. Here you can see an Amazon employee who is currently printing a t-shirt:

Go to Source

Merch by Amazon is a great way for designers to earn passive income, although you will need to put some effort into promoting the products to be successful.

Here are some tips for promoting Merch by Amazon products:

• Create high-quality designs that are engaging and relevant to your target audience.
• Use the right keywords in product titles and descriptions to make them visible in Amazon search results.
• Promote your products on social media and other platforms.

If you have appealing designs and promote your products correctly, you can build a long-term monthly passive income with Merch by Amazon.

Who Should Use Merch by Amazon?

If you want to make money online and have creative skills, you should definitely consider Merch by Amazon.

However, there is one crucial hurdle: Acceptance into the program requires an application and approval from Amazon. Once successfully accepted, it’s up to you to develop designs that stand out from the crowd and actively market those designs to generate revenue.

Here’s the challenge – Amazon doesn’t take responsibility for promoting your products. That is solely the designer’s responsibility, which is why Merch by Amazon is particularly attractive for influencers, bloggers or established brands. It’s ideal if you already have a large audience as this can lead to quick sales.

However, it is important to emphasize that you can start with Merch by Amazon even without an existing large target group. This just means you have to invest time and effort into building an audience through marketing. We’ll share effective strategies for successfully promoting your designs later in this article.

Merch by Amazon can even be an option for people without design skills if you hire a professional designer. This makes it accessible to a wide range of people, regardless of their existing reach or design knowledge.

How Much Money Can You Make With Merch by Amazon?

Your earnings at Merch by Amazon depend on two crucial factors:

1. The product you sell (e.g. t-shirts, hoodies, and so on).
2. The selling price you set.

Your income comes from a license fee that varies between 12% and 37% depending on the price. Amazon already offers predefined prices for each product that you can choose from. You can find the full list of prices and royalties here .

If you look at the list, you’ll see that you typically make the most money by selling t-shirts and hoodies.

Here’s an overview of how much you can earn monthly based on the number of t-shirts and hoodies sold (numbers may be outdated):

T-shirts:

Hoodies:

How To Sign Up for Merch by Amazon

As already mentioned, Merch by Amazon is an invitation-only platform, but you can apply to request an invitation. You will need an Amazon account, but you can create one during the application process if you don’t have one already.

This is how you do it:

Getting accepted is generally doable, especially if you have impressive design skills and e-commerce experience. Please note, however, that approval may take up to three months due to the high number of applications. If you want to start a merch business, it is recommended to apply for an invitation now.

It is important to note that you must provide your tax identification number when applying. If you have worked in the past, you should have this number handy. To increase your chances of approval, you can mention that you have significant external reach and want to use Merch by Amazon as your main platform to sell your products.

If your request is rejected, don’t despair! You can try again with a different email address. Sometimes multiple attempts are required to be successfully accepted into the program. After a successful application, you can upload designs, promote your t-shirts and analyze your sales figures via the merch dashboard.

In general, the more designs you have, the more chances you have of generating revenue. You will be limited in how many designs you can upload at first, a system that aims to prevent spam operators from flooding the marketplace with their designs. Once you start making sales the sky is the limit!

Research for Merch by Amazon

After successful acceptance into the Merch by Amazon program, thorough market research is essential. The ideal is to focus on designs that are in high demand but aren’t yet widely available from other sellers in the marketplace.

Unfortunately, there are limited tools available to determine demand for merch designs. Many people use Google Trends or Google Keyword Planner to identify trends and develop designs that are likely to sell well. However, these tools are not based on Amazon-specific data, which means you don’t know for sure whether Amazon users are actually interested in these products.

To get accurate information about what users are searching for and actually purchasing on Amazon, it is advisable to use tools based on Amazon’s data. One very proven tool is Helium 10.

This valuable knowledge allows you to optimize your entire marketing strategy, for example by targeting targeted advertising campaigns to relevant keywords. Below you will find the proven research strategy for Merch by Amazon using Helium 10:

Create Designs for Merch by Amazon

If you have design software like Photoshop and are passionate about it, consider creating your own designs.

If this is not the case, you have the option of hiring professional designers to make the design for you, or purchasing existing graphics.

Creating your own designs is the most cost-effective option, however. Let’s take a look at how you can develop high-quality designs below:

Choosing the best design software

The first thing you need to do is decide which design software you want to use.

I recommend Photoshop because it is the most comprehensive and flexible software available.

Alternatively, you can also consider Adobe Illustrator, which is ideal for creating illustrations. If you’re looking for an affordable program, GIMP is a good option.

If you don’t know which software you want to use yet, I recommend reading this article about the best graphic design software.

Choosing the right design

Once you’ve chosen your software, you’ll need to decide what design you want to develop. To get inspired, use Google Trends. Google Trends is extremely helpful in determining what topics are currently trending.

So let’s say you want to create designs for t-shirts. Go to Google Trends and type “t-shirts.”

Next, go to the “Related Searches” box. Here you get hundreds of ideas:

Or:

Google Trends is an extremely valuable tool to find out what designs are currently popular and in demand.

Creating a good design

There are some basic design principles that everyone should know:

Balance

One key design principle is balance. Balance means that all parts of the design fit together harmoniously. You can achieve balance in 3 different ways:

• Symmetry between objects.
• Asymmetry due to contrast of elements. For example, you can balance a large square with a small circle.
• Radial symmetry – For example, you distribute elements around a central point.

Here you can find a good example of the design principle of balance:

Contrast

Contrast can occur not only in colors but also in elements.

The aim is to draw attention to a specific element by setting it against an opposing element.

The following image shows how you can use contrast within a design:

The designer didn’t just contrast the figure with the rest of the image. He also contrasts the floor with the walls and contrasts the individual parts of the vases.

Contrast is a great way to focus the viewer’s attention on a specific point.

Pattern

A pattern is the uniform repetition of any element or combination thereof.

Here’s a great example of a pattern:

Feeling of movement

To create a feeling of movement, you can use:

• Diagonal or curved lines
• Illusion of space
• The edge of the frame

Here’s a great example showing how the illusion of space and curved lines creates a sense of movement:

If you want to improve your design skills, I recommend reading one of these blogs.

Submit the Design to Amazon

Once your design is complete, it’s time to submit it to Amazon, which is usually pretty straightforward. All you need to do is access your Amazon Merch dashboard and select the “Add Products ” button.

You then select the product you want to sell, be it a t-shirt, sweater, tank top, or something else. Choose the product that is currently in the highest demand.

In most cases, a t-shirt is the best option as it is cost-effective for customers. After you’ve made your choice, upload your design, keeping the following two points in mind to avoid potential approval issues.

Compliance with Amazon’s guidelines

If you want to make money with Merch by Amazon, you must follow Amazon’s guidelines.

The most important points here are:

Do not sell products that violate trademark, copyright or international laws (of the country in which you sell your products).

Do not create offensive content related to: pornography, child exploitation, religious hatred, promotion of hatred or intolerance, disasters, violence, Nazism (and similar), and mental health (in the UK).

In addition, there is a special policy for youth sizes: “We will protect our customers from dubious content on products for youth.”

Additionally, your design should not contain any of the following elements:

• Empty images
• Spelling errors or inconsistencies in content
• Inaccurate product metadata
• Requests to submit product reviews
• Lack of design quality
• Contact information
• Political campaign support
• Promoting charities and donations
• Statements about product quality or shipping

I recommend reading all the guidelines before you start creating your design.

Providing a design-ready product

Additionally, it is crucial to ensure that your product is design-ready. Here are some points you should keep in mind:

• Use sRGB colors in your design.
• Use transparent PNG files.
• Output your design at 300 dpi at 100% print size. Using vector files and high-resolution images prevents pixelation.
• Make sure your file is no larger than 25MB.
• Format the design to suit the product. The ideal placement of the image will likely be different for a crewneck garment than a v-neck, for instance.

You should check Amazon’s website to find out how to create your merch design. You will also find a ton of great tips to help you create better designs.

Merch by Amazon Tiers

If you’re just starting out with Merch by Amazon, there are a few caveats to keep in mind. First, there are sales benchmarks you need to achieve to be allowed to add more designs. These restrictions protect Amazon from third-party sellers flooding the marketplace and ensure that only good designs are uploaded.

If you’re just starting out, you’ll start at Tier 10 and can therefore only list up to 10 designs. To reach the next level you need to upload approximately 80% of the allowed number of designs and reach a certain number of sales.

Once you’ve done that, you’ll move on to the next level, where you can list 25 designs, correspondingly called Tier 25. To move from this tier to the next tier, you have to meet the same criteria as moving up from Tier 10 to Tier 25, except you also have to achieve a higher number of sales.

In the third level you can list up to 100 designs. Moving up from there, you have to achieve a higher number of sales again and so on.

Here you can find an overview of all levels of Merch by Amazon:

• Tier 10: 10 designs, 10 sales
• Tier 25: 25 designs, 25 sales
• Tier 100: 100 designs, 100 sales
• Tier 500: 500 designs, 500 sales
• Tier 1000: 1000 designs, 1000 sales
• Tier 2000: 2000 designs, 2000 sales
• Tier 4000: 4000 designs, 4000 sales
• Tier 8000: 8000 designs, 8000 sales

From Tier 100 and up you can also advertise your products on Amazon, which is why you can generate more sales directly from Amazon’s users from this level onwards.

It is important to note that Amazon may change the criteria for moving up between tiers or introduce new tiers at any time. It is advisable to visit the official Merch by Amazon website or relevant forums and communities for up-to-date information.

Steps to publish a Merch by Amazon listing

When you’re working on your design, it will be listed as a “Draft”. This is the status it will have until you submit your design.

Once you submit the listing, it will go through a few diferent statuses before it’s oficially published:

• Under Review: The design is being reviewed by Amazon to ensure it meets their content policy.
• Rejected: The design does not meet Amazon’s content guidelines and will not be published.
• Started Process: This is the status you’ll see right after the design is approved as Amazon adds it to their library.
• Processing: Amazon is creating the listing.
• Pending Approval: After the listing is created, you’ll have the chance to review a sample. If you’re satisfied with how it looks, you can approve the design.
• Live: The listing is available and you can start making sales.

There is also a Removed status, which you’ll see if:

• Amazon decides after publication that the design violates their content policy.
• No sales are made within 180 days of going live.

How To Promote Your Designs Correctly

By now, you know how to get invited to Merch by Amazon, how to create a great design, and how to submit it. But you don’t know the most important thing yet, which is how to promote your designs.

If you think Amazon will send you hundreds of customers buying your designs, you are absolutely wrong. Only after you receive strong organic traffic will Amazon automatically send you customers. When you are starting out, you will have to promote your designs yourself.

Here are the 5 best advertising strategies for your merch business:

Amazon Advertising (Amazon PPC)

Amazon Advertising is a great way to increase your sales. You must be in Tier 100 (100 listings) to use Amazon Advertising, so it’s not a strategy you can use right from the start.

I mention this strategy first because it is the most efficient. When promoting your designs through Amazon Advertising, the most important thing is that you know what keywords customers use to purchase them.

I have already shown you how you can find out these keywords in the product research chapter above. Amazon Advertising works based on the PPC model (pay-per-click). The average CPC is $0.81 while the average conversion rate is 9.58%.

That means if 1000 people click on your ad, about 95 of them will buy (on average).

Here is an infographic with daily averages per seller:

If you make a profit from your campaign, that’s great! But the main goal can also be improving your organic ranking.

Blogging

Blogging is the exact opposite of a “quick game”. You have to blog for months or even years to see results.

However, if you start blogging now, you will see lasting results for years to come.

Marketers who prioritize blogging are 13 times more likely to see positive ROI.

If you want to start a blog, you need to keep two things in mind:

• You need to know who your target audience is.
• Write blog articles that convert.

Here is a simple example:

Let’s say you sell chairs. There’s no point in blogging about tables since you don’t sell tables. You need to blog about chairs. For example, it would be a good idea to publish a blog post like “Which chair is the most comfortable”.

When you publish a blog post like this, you know that your readers are actually looking for chairs to buy. You need to do the same with your designs. If you have comic designs, write about comics. If you’re designing shirts for people who do yoga, write about yoga.

Pinterest

Pinterest is a great place to promote your merch products because Pinterest users are always looking for designs. Pinterest also has a large organic reach. When you post something on Pinterest, not only your followers can see it, but all Pinterest users.

In the long term, however, you have to build a target group. You can’t expect to post a picture every day and get a sale every day from that post.

It works more like this: you post 10 images per day for 3 months to achieve a total of 10 sales. Then, as you grown your audience, maybe you post 10 images a day for another 3 months and get 30 sales.

Building an audience across all social channels takes time and effort. You can also use Pinterest Ads as it is a great way to increase your reach and achieve your goals faster.

Instagram

There are also thousands of potential buyers on Instagram, which is why this platform is also a good way to promote your design.

Like with Pinterest, you need to build a target group. Running ads can accelerate your growth on Instagram, but you will still likely only see results in the long term.

TikTok

Using TikTok to promote Amazon Merch products is a great strategy, leveraging TikTok’s engaged audience to increase visibility and sales.

Creators can showcase their unique designs in short, creative videos that highlight the product’s appeal in real-life scenarios or through dynamic presentations.

TikTok’s viral nature can significantly amplify reach, attracting viewers who are likely to be interested in purchasing these items.

By effectively using hashtags, collaborating with influencers, and engaging directly with followers, sellers can create a buzz around their products, driving traffic directly to their design and boosting sales.

What Products Does Merch by Amazon Offer?

Merch by Amazon offers creatives the opportunity to print their designs on many different products, including:

• Standard T-shirts
• Long sleeve T-shirts
• Pullover hoodies
• Zip hoodies
• Sweatshirts
• Tops
• V-neck shirts
• Raglans
• PopSockets
• Phone cases
• Throw pillows

Summary

Merch by Amazon (MBA) is a print-on-demand service that allows creators to sell their designs on various products. Amazon takes care of all the back-end logistics like managing inventory, printing designs, shipping, and customer service.

Merch by Amazon is a great way for designers to earn passive income. Like many eCommerce outlets, however, strong promotion and marketing are key to build an audience and meet your sales goals.

FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions