Merch By Amazon - A Beginners Intro

One of my passions is trying to make money online. I’m sure it’s a lot of our passions here on Steemit. The holy grail is making passive income while you are sleeping. If only it was that easy.

One of the side hustles that I’ve gotten into lately is creating T-Shirt designs. In particular, for Merch By Amazon. I thought it would be interesting to post a beginner's journey into this business and give some tips along the way that I’ve learned.

What is Merch By Amazon?

Merch By Amazon is a print on demand service provided by Amazon. When a customer orders a t-shirt, Amazon prints this shirt and ships it out to the customer.

They handle selling the product, creating the product, shipping, and any customer service issues. All you do is create and upload the design. On a $19.99 shirt, Amazon gives you $7.19 per sale. Not a bad deal.

How to get into the program?

You have to apply. Go to https://merch.amazon.com and put in your application by clicking the “Request Invitation” button. Log into your Amazon account and fill out the request form.

You don’t have to be from the USA to apply. You can also have more than one person having an account in the same household as long as they have separate checking accounts.

I recommend that you go back to this page and log in once a week to see if you have been accepted. Most of the time they send you an email but I’ve also heard people logging in and finding out they have been accepted but they never get an email.

You will know that you are into the program if you have the option to upload a design. You have 120 days from then to upload a design or Amazon will terminate the account.

Note: When you log in and see the application form again, it doesn’t mean it didn’t work the first time you filled it out. There is no need to fill it out again.

Some do after a few months if they haven’t been accepted but Amazon does have your form already. I really wish they would fix this.

How long does it take to get accepted?

There is no set time frame to get accepted into the Merch By Amazon program. I’ve seen anywhere from 2 weeks to 9 months. I’ve also heard there is a list that is over a year long right now.

It took me almost 3 months to get in. It took my brother 3 weeks. My nephew and wife have been on the waiting list for over 2 months now.

It’s pretty much the luck of the draw at this point but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply. Get your name in now.

Personally, on the application form, I’d list that you are a graphic designer and list anything else that might help your cause like a huge social following, website, etc.

Why even apply?

Making a few bucks on a t-shirt doesn’t sound that exciting, so why should you even apply? First, this is Amazon and they are a selling machine. There are lots of people crushing it on this platform right now making 5 figures monthly without worrying about shipping a product or dealing with customers.

Second, it’s one of the greatest opportunities that I know of right now that you can get started for free. You can get free software to create designs and it won’t cost you a dime, although, I recommend spending a little to get started (more in another article on that).

Third, Amazon currently only ships these shirts out within the USA. They are going to expand globally and when they do sales are going to go up with a whole new group of customers.

Finally, t-shirts are just the tip of the iceberg with this merchandising. There is other print on demand sites that have hoodies, pillows, mugs, backpacks, phone cases and hundreds of other products they print designs on.

Amazon will be getting a lot of these too. The sales numbers you see now could be double or triple that when these products roll out.

Conclusion

So that’s just a little introduction on what the Merch By Amazon program is and why you should apply to get in. I’ve been on it for almost 3 months now. In my next article, I will talk about my experience so far, what tier I’m on, and how sales are going.

Future discussions will include:

• Tools
• Trademark Research
• Niche Selection
• Speeding Up The Tiers
• Outsourcing
• Buying Designs
• Other PODs

If there is anything you would like to know ask below and I will try to get to it in a future article.