This step by step guide will make it easy for you to join Teepublic and start your own business within minutes all for free. Start earning from day one. Most beginners won’t have the experience to join print-on-demand platforms that gets too complicated and time-consuming.
That is why joining Teepublic is the best option to get off the mark quickly.
- Join Teepublic
- Set up your Teepublic account
- Upload your first design
- Set up your Teepublic storefront
- Join Teepublic print on demand – Conclusion
Join Teepublic
The first thing you have to do is to join Teepublic by creating an account. But before you get there it will be advisable to plan your print on demand journey before you start. This will make setting up your account and storefront easier if you have all the information on hand.
Before you start make yourself a simple onboarding list that will contain the following information.
- Your personal details such as name, surname, country
- A carefully selected password you will remember
- The chosen name of your store
- Your store banner ( Minimum 1000 x 300px ). Create free on Canva.
- A store icon ( 324 x 324px )
- Payment gateway details for either your Paypal or Payoneer account
- Google Analytics Tracking Code ( Optional )
Step 1 – Join Teepublic and Set up your account
First, go to the Teepublic website
Click on the “Create Account” button to start the joining process.
The “Account Sign Up” box will pop up. Complete all the details required but remember to choose a password you will remember. My advice is to note down all the information you used especially if you have joined more than one print on demand website.
You can also join with your Facebook account but if you’re going to build a serious business out of it I suggest you separate the two.
Take Note:
- Off-site marketing is for when you will be running your own ad campaigns on other platforms which I suggest you do
- Read terms and conditions carefully. Hard work goes for nothing if your account gets banned
- Read the privacy policy
Step 2 – Verify your email
If all your information is correct it will automatically go to the next step which is to verify the email address you have chosen for your account. Depending on how busy their server is it can take a couple of minutes.
Take Note:
- Make sure you look for verification in the correct mailbox
- The verification does expire after a period of time so don’t leave it for days
- To have the verification sent again re-enter the email address and click “Resend Mail”
Step 3 – Activate your account
Below is a sample of what you will receive in your mailbox. Just click on the “Activate Now” button to complete this step.
Step 4 – First glimpse of your new account
By clicking on the “Activate Now” button you will automatically be redirected to your first time login page. You can now log in using the email and password you have entered in your account information.
Take Note:
- You can change your password at a later stage by going to your account settings
Congratulations!!!! You have now joined Teepublic and can start the process of earning some money.
Set Up Your Teepublic Account
This quick two-step process of your Teepublic journey will involve providing Teepublic with some personal details that will form part of your online profile.
Step 1 – Learn your account menu
Now that you are logged into your new account you can click on “My Account” to complete the process. Because it is a new account you will only have four options in your menu. This will grow with each step of your journey so keep coming back to your account.
Take Note: (Image Below)
- Log Out – For you when you are finished and need to get out safely
- Upload a design button – Where you click to start adding designs to your storefront
- Feb Earnings – Current month earnings will be displayed here (No sales yet as we are busy setting up)
- Next payment – Your sales figure as at the last monthly cut-off which will be paid at the next pay date which is the 15th of every month. (Pay threshold of min $20 before payout)
- Upload a Design – Same option as with the button
- Account – Your personal info and other details provided
- Messages – Messages you might receive from Teepublic or other artists via Bubble mail
- Make $1000 – An invite link that can help you from recruiting other artists to join and make money
Step 2 – Setting up payment method
By clicking on “Account” in the menu it will take you to your estimated earnings and payment portal set up.
Take Note:
- Take great care that you are entering the email used for your Paypal or Payoneer account or the money will go elsewhere
That is it for now. Your account is ready to start fine-tuning your storefront and upload your first designs.
Upload your First Design
It is now time to get the action started by uploading your first design. By doing this it will also unlock more features in your account menu as well as make it possible to edit your storefront banner.
Go to your main page and click on the “Upload Art” button.
Take Note:
Before starting this step make sure you have the following ready.
- A design for your product in the correct format and size
- Between 150 and 300DPI
- Transparent high resolution PNG format
- Min size of 1500 x 1955pixels
- Ideal size to fit all products is 5000 x 5500pixels
- The size does not include transparent pixels outside of the design
- For simple text based designs you can try Canva for free.
Step 1 – Learn your product configuration menu
The uploading process is simple and uncomplicated which is what makes Teepublic ideal for beginners. First, let’s familiarize ourselves with the simple editing toolbar they provide.
This toolbar you will use on all your designs to make sure it fits perfectly onto each product. From left to right:
- The first button you see is the color hex code which you can use to change the background color of your design. In other words the color of the product.
- The little eye dropper does the same but allow you to apply the background color to only one specific product or to all your products.
- Next up is the vertical alignment button which will align the design vertically along the centre of the product print area
- To complete your alignment you will next find the horizontal alignment button. This aligns the design horizontally onto your print area
- Finally you have to scale your product to ensure a perfect fit onto the product. You can either use your mouse to set the size or for fine tuning use your left and right arrow keys on the keyboard. (Tip: You have to click on slider first in order to use keyboard)
Step 2 – Select your store name
You have an option to upload one or several designs but for a beginner, I suggest starting with individual files until you are familiar with the process. Multi-file uploads come in very handy at a later stage when you want to scale up your print on demand business.
Click on single file upload.
The first time you upload a design it will ask you to set up your store name. Be careful in your selection as it will become part of your store URL.
For example one of my store names is eTees0609 and therefore my URL ended up as https://www.teepublic.com/user/etees0609
It is also possible that the name you have chosen is already taken. In this case, you will have to become creative and use another.
Step 3 – Upload your design
Using single file upload you can now select your design from your hard drive and upload it to Teepublic.
If you have selected incorrectly you can always click on “Change Artwork” and find the correct design.
Take Note:
- If your design file does not comply to file requirements as stipulated by Teepublic it will warn you
- It will highlight the “File Requirements” information block below your image
- You will have to abandon, recreate your image and start the process again
- It won’t ask you to set up store name again
Step 4 – Complete product information
This step is very important as the information you provide here is how people will find your designs. It is the best organic traffic ( free ) that you will find. A lot of customers will join Teepublic themselves because they have found it through Google and Teepublic searches.
Learning more about this section will count in your favour but research, before you upload, is the key. You will also learn to do it better without keyword spamming which can get your account banned.
Here are the basics of how to start getting your design noticed.
Design Title – Include the text in the design and the main keyword you are targeting eg: Grillin With The Homies Design For BBQ Master
Main Tag – What you suspect a potential buyer will type in when looking for a design like this eg: BBQ Master
Description – Describe your image in a way that the buyer will know what it is but also make sure you include your main keyword.
Supporting Tags – Find other keywords that your buyer might be searching for. You can select up to 15 keywords for your product. I suggest using the Teepublic suggestions that pop up if it is related to your design.
Does this contain mature Content – This must be ticked off or it won’t publish in the end.
Step 5 – Configuring your product appearance
Next, you will set up the print positioning of your design onto the product.
Tools – Horizontal and Vertical positioning of the design within the print area.
Scale – The size of your design on the product. It must remain inside the print area as indicated.
Next, you will set up your main colours. These are the colours your visitor will see the first time they click on the product. It also gives you back and fronts printing options on garments. Just remember it affects the product pricing and as a beginner, you want to keep it competitive. Unless of course if this is the style you are targeting.
You can also switch off products you are not selling. As a beginner, I suggest putting it on all unless the design is not relevant for that target market.
By clicking on the colour box you can then select your main colour from a dropdown.
After setting up your main colour you can select other colours for your customer to pick from. It is not advisable to select all as it can confuse buyers. I suggest around 7 Colours that match the design colours. I also suggest doing this manually by removing the tick marks from the colours you don’t want.
Take Note:
- Click on t-shirt then hover over the colour box. This will give you an idea of what it will look like. If it doesn’t look good then remove the tick mark
- If the design is light you can select the dark background or vice versa. Still check the end result as above
- Select 4 popular and 3 additional colours that matches your design
- If colours are not available from the suppliers they will not show
Step 6 – Setting up other products
Follow the same process with all other products that you would like to sell. As a beginner, you should put it on everything possible as you never know what might sell. The reason why we join Teepublic is to make money so why not have a large inventory?
Agree with the terms and conditions and click publish.
Take Note:
- Look at size requirements for each design to make sure it is a good fit
- Make sure you do the alignment correctly on each product or it won’t sell
- Switch of the products that does not suit the product
- When changing a product colour make sure you select for “This product only”. If not it will change all your background colours
- Take some time when your are finished to go to your store and see if all the products look right
- You can always come back and edit products to your liking
- Read the terms and conditions because getting your account suspended will make all your hard work undone
- Once published you can right click on the image coming up and save to your hard drive
- Always remember that you join Teepublic to start a legitimate business so keep to their rules
Congratulations!!! You have your first design available for sale.
It is now time to play around and set up your shop front to give your visitors a pleasant experience.
Set Up Your Teepublic Storefront
To get your visitors to buy from your store it is important to make it as attractive as possible. If it is a niche store then make sure your banner and icon match the topic. It has been proven by best selling stores that the banner is as an attraction as the designs.
Take Note:
Before you start this process you need to have the following ready.
- A storefront banner consisting of a PNG with minimum size of 1000 x 300pixels
- A storefront profile icon PNG file of minimum 324 x 324Pixels
Step 1 – Change your Teepublic store banner
From your main menu drop-down box select “Storefront”.
Hover your cursor over the top right corner of the current banner. Your editing box will show and by clicking on it you can now find your own design and upload.
Step 2 – Change your store icon
On the left-hand bottom, you will see the current icon which should be a grey anonymous image. Hover over the right top corner and your edit tool will show.
Click on “Upload New Icon” and you will be able to go to your drive and find the icon you prepared. Upload it and you are done.
Your storefront is open for business and you can now focus on uploading your masterpieces. The more designs you upload the bigger your inventory gets and the better chance of making consistent sales.
Join Teepublic print on demand – Conclusion
By joining Teepublic you have found the easiest free method to start an online income stream. This is an easy business to start from home and it provides a doorway to many other print-on-demand platforms.
Although it takes time and hard work in the beginning it can become a fairly passive income source over the long run.
Your success will depend on the quality of your products and your patience.
Feedback and questions can be left in our comment section.