We are always trying to improve our offerings and we love to hear from you guys. We are happy to announce that Contrado now has the ability to connect with Shopify. It’s easy to connect both the Contrado store and Shopify in just a few steps. Then you can start selling your creations on both platforms. Another question we get asked is “Is Printful available in the UK?” Our Shopify integration does just that! Below, we have compared the two to show you how they compare.
Printful vs. contrado – The Products
Range
Printful
Printful provides 226 products to customers. Printful offers a wide range of products, including clothing, accessories and jewellery as well as occasional homeware items. Printful has the advantage of offering both print-on-demand and engraving as well as embroidery.
Contrado
Contrado has over 450 products. These include clothing, homeware and stationery as well as fabric, leather, and fabric ranges. Currently, we are developing our embroidery collection. However, it is not available at this time.
Qualitative
Printful
You can find their clothing range online and you will see familiar names like ‘Gildan, Next Level, and ‘Bella+Canvas. While browsing, I found a few Cut & Sew products, but these were limited to the few items with all-over print.
Contrado
Contrado cuts and sews to order. This means that every garment is made to order. Nearly all our fabrics are sourced in the EU. Many of them have been certified. We only use high-quality, responsibly sourced material such as FSC certified wood. This gives us the opportunity to ship canvas prints to Australia.
Labelling
Printful
Printful allows you to add your logo in many places. Printful allows you to add your logo on the inside labels of a wide range of garments. A few items, such as garments, allow you to add your logo to the inside label. You can also add your logo on the back of the neck or the sleeves for short- and long-sleeved garments. In very rare cases, an embossed logo is possible. All options have a price increase of different levels depending on the style.
Contrado
Contrado allows for you to add an interior label to almost any garment. There will usually be an additional charge for the inside label, but in some cases there may be a slight uplift. All-over printing is available on all items in our range. You can add your logo to sleeves, back, neck, or across the chest. This is the same place you would embroider a symbol. The best thing about all-over printing? It’s our standard and there will be no additional charges.
Contrado vs Printful – The Money
Set-up and Subscription costs
Both
Printful and Contrado have absolutely no fees for creating an account. Both will not charge Shopify for integration, nor will they charge a subscription fee. Both options are completely free, except for the set-up and sign-up fees.
Minimums and discounts
Both have minimum orders, regardless of whether they are MOQ (minimum ordered quantity) or MOV(minimum ordered value). Both offer bulk order discounts.
Printful
Printful offers bulk discounts starting at 4% and going up to 26%. You can get discounts based on how many products you order. For example, 25-49 long-sleeved T-shirts will get you 4% off, while 75-99 will get you 10% off, 100-199 will get you 12%, and 200-199 will get you 15% off. For unisex tshirts, the discount is 8% for 25-49, and 26% for 200+. It can be confusing.
Contrado
Contrado also uses a tiered ordering system. This means that the more you place, the more you save. The discount applies to nearly the entire range. There are exceptions for large or low-cost items, such as suitcases. You get a 20% discount on 1-10 products, a 25% discount on 11-20 products, a 25% discount on 21-50 products, and a 35% discount for anything more than 50. A 40% discount is available for any item over 50. This applies to orders of five or more t-shirts, five long-sleeved tops or any combination of at most ten.
Profit
Printful and Contrado both allow you to adjust the price and increase your profit for each item. Both models have the same structure for calculating your profit.
Printful
Printful suggests that you price your products with at least 30% profit. However, they recommend that you check your market and compare prices to similar products on the market. Printful also recommends that customers receive free shipping, but they warn that this will impact your profit margin. We’ll get to shipping later.
Contrado
Contrado products come with a 20% profit standard. You can also increase your selling price to make up to 70% of your profits. If you want to offer free shipping, this will be deducted from the profit. However, we will pay shipping costs later. Your bulk ordering discounts apply to dropshipping. If your customers order multiple items, the price per item will be reduced. A accumulative discount is also being developed. This means that your discount percentage will not be calculated per order, but rather per 30-day period.
Printful vs. Controdo – The Service
Register and create a product
Printful
Printful registration is easy. You will need to complete an online form. Once you have completed the form, you will be able to log in to your account. You will then need to confirm your email address in order to get started. Printful is currently compatible with many different platforms, including eCommerce and marketplaces.
Their online tool allows you to create products. This video will show you how to do it. This video warns you to limit the design area. Except when you are specifically choosing an all-over print garment, the design should be limited to a rectangle at the front.
Contrado
You can sign up online via the drop-shipping webpage. It’s an automated process. You will receive an email with a link to confirm your registration. Our app can currently only be integrated with Shopify for drop-shipping.
After you log in to your account, you will be able to create products with the Design Tool and our Product Mockup Generator. The tool warns you about the bleed area. This is the area that runs along the edges and seams. This area should be filled in so that there are no white areas. These areas should not be used for important features as they could be removed by seamstresses when it is all stitched together. All of the product ranges are all-over printed, so there’s no printing area to worry about. Some products, such as silk scarves, can be printed only one way.
Production
Printful
Printful currently has four locations, with another one coming soon. There are two in America (Los Angeles CA and Charlotte NC), one Mexico (Tijuana), and one in Latvia (Riga). The next facility will open in Spain (Barcelona). The fulfilment centers in the USA are where most things are made. Some items can be made in Latvia, but they are often routed through the US fulfillment facilities and not printed there. Printful explains that their European suppliers do not have the same quality standards as they do. Printful states that fulfilment takes 2-7 business days.
Contrado
We work out of one location in London, UK. All items are handmade from scratch, and all orders are fulfilled on-demand. There are some exceptions to this rule, such as metal tins. This information is provided on every product page. As the garments are made in-house, we no longer need to depend on suppliers. This also reduces our production time. On a few items, production can take up to five days. Standard production takes 1-2 days.
Shipping (Times).
Printful
Printful states that standard shipping takes 1-8 business days within the United States, with an average of 4 days. Mexico fulfilment centres ship products from America. There is no overnight shipping. Shipping from EU to EU orders takes between 5-10 business days once fulfilment has been completed. Orders shipped from Europe to non-EU regions will take between 10-20 business days. The same-day shipping is available for non-print-on demand products that you can store at their warehouse.
Contrado
94% of orders placed within the UK are delivered the same day. Sometimes it takes 2-5 days, and in rare cases up to 15. Standard delivery days for most orders include Saturday. We use a different carrier for large, heavy, or bulky items. Standard delivery is the next business day, but Saturdays are not included. International deliveries usually arrive in 3-5 days, depending on the destination. This is usually possible in two days for major cities.
10. Shipping (Costs).
Printful
Printful charges shipping costs based on the product you order. The cost of shipping varies between PS5.05 for jumpers and PS50.80 to ship bean bags (US to US). They will use the most expensive shipping option if the order is mixed. Additional products will be charged at an additional charge, typically at a lower rate (PS1.55 if you order additional jumpers or PS50.80 if you order additional beanbags).
Contrado
Shipping costs depend on the item we deliver and where it is being delivered. Shipping costs for items less than 2kg within the UK are usually around PS4.50-PS5.50 or PS14-PS22 to all other countries. This can increase the cost of larger items. To give you an idea, a bean bag would cost PS15 to be delivered next day within the UK. This applies regardless of whether you order one or ten. It would cost PS54 to ship to Australia.
Printful vs. Contrado
Here’s a comparison between the two. Is there an equivalent service to Printful that is based in the UK/EU? We would love to believe so! Do you want to start with Printful on Shopify? Click the banner below to get started.
Dropshipping FAQs
You now know how to launch your ecommerce store using dropshipping. You might still have questions as you begin your journey to ecommerce success. Dropshipping is a topic that can be confusing for ecommerce site owners. Our FAQs section will help you to understand the basics.
Why is Dropshipping a Bad Idea?
Dropshipping is a bad business model. The main reason is profit margins. Dropshipping is not the best option if you are looking to make large upfront profits. Dropshipping is a good option if you’re patient and realize that it takes time to sell online. Dropshipping is a great way to get started with selling online. It also helps you get familiar with the operation of your website.
What are some examples of drop shippers who have been successful?
Many drop shippers are successful. There are many success stories from dropshipping businesses that specialize in a single product niche to those that focus on a single niche. Wayfair, Notebook Therapy and Blue Crate are just a few of the drop shippers that have been successful.
What amount of money is required to begin dropshipping?
Dropshipping doesn’t require a lot of money. Dropshipping can be started for as little as the cost of your ecommerce platform. You will also need to use a dropshipping provider. The platform provider and dropshipping firm you choose will determine how much this monthly cost.
You have the option of purchasing a subscription to your ecommerce website and dropshipping supplier, or spending a little more to get better dropshipping tools.
Dropshipping businesses should be advertised with at least $100-$500 to gauge product demand.
