Gooten vs. Printful: The Battle of the Print on Demand Companies (POD). You don’t have to choose between the two, we’ve got you covered. This review will help you decide which one is better. We hope you’ll have a better idea of which one best suits your needs.
We don’t have to tell you it’s a great time to make money with the POD Dropshipping model. You probably know that there are thousands of products that you can adapt to the interests of your customers and make a profit. To ensure that your new ecommerce venture is successful, you will need to find a reliable and trustworthy POD service.
Let’s get to the point.
How printful works
First, create a Printful account. Then, integrate your online store with it. You can also use the traditional POD model, which is similar to its competitor.
It is also worth noting, that you can order samples of products, just like Gooten. After you have successfully connected Printful to your online shop, you can begin creating product mockups using Printful’s mockup maker. This is a simple design tool that allows you to create customized prints for your products by using customizable templates virtually. All your final designs are high resolution.
You can also make mock-ups with Gooten. It doesn’t seem like one of Gooten’s main selling points, as Printful does.
You can choose from over 200 Printful products, customize them, upload them, and then sell them on your website. Printful also has production houses located across the USA, Mexico and Europe, so you can sell to international customers. Printful does not ship to North Korea, Iran, Crimea or Cuba.
Below are a few Printful product categories.
- Men’s clothing ( T-shirts Hoodies etc.
- Clothing for women
- Children’s apparel
- Hats
- Accessories like bags, flip flops, phone cases, etc.
- Products for the home and living room, such as pillows, towels, wall art, and so on.
How Gooten Works
Gooten can be used in a very simple way. It is similar to other POD platforms.
- Choose the products that you like the most
- Add your own designs to them
- You can publish custom products for your eCommerce store
It’s easy to connect your Gooten account to your Shopify shop. Go to the Shopify app shop, search for Gooten and you’re good to go!
After you have installed Gooten’s plugin you can add products to your Shopify dashboard. Launch Gooten within your Shopify dashboard, then go to your “Product Catalog” and click “Add a product”.
Select the product that you wish to sell from this page. Use the product filters to help you find the exact product you are looking for. You can then upload your design to see how it looks on each product variant. Next, create a description and a product title. Save your work and your product will be automatically listed in your online store.
Simple right?
Be careful, before you sell anything, you can first order a sample product. This is useful for quality control, it’s obvious. Go to your Gooten dashboard and click on “Orders,” followed closely by “Order sample.” Then, follow the instructions.
You’ll be able to get on the global business stage quickly with over 140 quality products and an international network that includes shipping companies and vendors.
These are just a handful of product categories that are available.
- Notebooks and journals
- Leisure and travel
- Ornaments
- Bags and totes
- Wearables
- Living and kitchen (kitchen, baths, mugs), living room, holiday decor. Bedroom, outdoor space.
- Tech supplies and office supplies
- Wall Art
- Apparel
Printful’s pros and cons
The pros
- Printful offers a wide range of trendy products.
- Printful can integrate with many major eCommerce platforms and marketplaces.
- Printful currently has warehouses in LA and North Carolina as well as Latvia and Mexico. They plan to expand this list. Printful can fulfill international orders quickly because of this.
- Printful is incredibly simple to use
The Cons
- Printful’s products are expensive, so it is difficult to make a profit.
- Printful will only issue a refund if an item is damaged or lost.
- Printful’s canvases and framed posters aren’t available for shipping everywhere.
Gooten’s pros and cons
Let’s begin with the perks.
The pros
- Gooten has a wide range of products that are unique, so it’s an excellent choice if you want your customers to see something new.
- Gooten’s products are very affordable.
- Shopify seamlessly integrates Gooten. Gooten has a wonderful out-of-stock functionality that automatically updates your store if a Gooten item is out of stock.
- Gooten customers are very happy with the platform’s ease-of-use.
The Cons
- Gooten’s interface doesn’t seem as intuitive as Printful.
- One user complained about Gooten shipping the wrong products. The merchant had not even listed the items on their website!
- Your printing house can be chosen by you, but this can lead to inconsistent quality.
- Gooten integrates only with Shopify, WooCommerce and Etsy. If you use a different eCommerce platform and need a native integration to Gooten, then you will have to search elsewhere.
Gooten vs Printful: Pricing
What will these POD companies cost you? Let’s take an in-depth look…
Printful
Printful has white-labeled products at a fair price. All inside labels for any Printful POD product can be tagged with your branding, along with the garment’s dimensions and material information. Printful charges $2.49 per label. This is a great deal! You can customize Printful product labels very easily. Printful has many label templates that you can choose from and customize it to reflect your brand.
There are many other fees to be aware of, so we have compiled a list below:
- Outside labels: $2.49 per label
- Long-sleeve prints: $5.95 per sleeve
- Short-sleeve prints: $ 2.49 per sleeves
- A embroidered logo is $2.95 per unit
How about packing slips? Your logo can be printed on your packing slips for no extra charge! You will need to pay $0.75 for extra packs such as flyers, business cards and stickers.
Printful has proven pricing strategies that will help you make a profit. They recommend charging a markup that guarantees at least a 30% profit margin.
A profit calculator will give you an estimate of your net profit on every product that you sell. Printful has all the tools you need to make sure you are able to sell POD products while still maximizing their potential for profit.
Gooten
Gooten charges no setup fees or monthly fees. Gooten only charges you when your customer places an order. Gooten then manufactures and ships the products.
Prices listed in Gooten’s product catalogue include the cost of the item as well as the printing of your customized design. Pro and Elite VIM merchants may qualify for discounts on products. Based on your quarterly performance, you can earn VIM status. There are four possible bands that you can fall into. The more you make, the more perks and benefits you get.
- Insider: You generate between $1 – $6,249
- Plus: You generate between $6,250 – $24,999
- Pro: You generate between $25,000 – $99,999
- Elite: You generate $100,000+
Their white label support package is also available. The monthly cost depends on your VIM status and order volume. Support requests are also considered. You can also add custom neck labels to your order for $2.
Integrations
What about plugins? What can Printful and Gooten have to say about this?
Printful
If you are lucky enough to be able to code, that’s great! Printful has an API that allows you to create your own integrations. Printful also offers native integrations. You can choose to use these, but you have many options.
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
- Squarespace
- BigCommerce
- Weebly
- Ecwid
- Amazon
- PrestaShop
- Big Cartel
- eBay
- Gumroad
- Magneto
- 3rdcart
- Launch Cart
- Wix
To name just a few.
Gooten
Gooten has a JSON-friendly API that is well-documented. This means that developers can code to their hearts’ content. Gooten has a limited number of native integrations.
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
- Etsy
…That’s it.
Fulfillment and shipping costs
Printful
After a customer places an online order, prints out the order and begins fulfilling it. Printful promises same-day fulfillment for orders placed before noon.
Printful estimates that it takes between 2-7 business days to make apparel products, and 2-5 working days to make non-apparel items.
Shipping times vary depending on where they are going. It usually takes four business days to ship orders. Printful uses the following shipping companies to make sure orders get sent on time: FedEx and DHL.
This is the shipping cost that customers will pay for their first product.
- USA: $3.99
- Europe: $4.39
- Canada: $6.49
- Australia: $6.99
- New Zealand: $6.99
- Other: $5.99
Customers who add an additional product to their order can expect to be charged the following:
- USA: $1.25
- Europe: $1.09
- Canada: $1.25
- Australia: $1.25
- New Zealand: $1.25
- Other: $1.25
You can choose to include shipping costs in your product’s retail price or make them an additional cost at checkout.
Gooten
Gooten uses a network approach to manufacturing and shipping products near your customers. This not only speeds up lead times, but also reduces shipping costs!
You can also choose flat shipping rates through Gooten. These rates include fulfillment costs and are applicable to domestic orders. You can also calculate shipping costs based on customer’s shipping method and location. Gooten’s Shipping Calculator can help you estimate shipping costs per product or location to get an idea of what it could look like.
Gooten takes orders from customers and holds them for two hours. It’s then automatically routed to production. This can take up four business days. When one of Gooten’s vendors prints a shipping tag and the shipping carrier scans it, tracking is added.
Delivery to the US can take up 12 business days, and to international destinations it can take up 21 days. However, expedited delivery takes between 2 and 4 business days.
You can get overnight shipping within one business day.
Gooten has partnered with many carriers to make sure your products reach your customers safely.
- UPS
- USPS
- FedEx
- Royal Mail
- DHL
- DPD
- India Mail
Customer Support
Printful
One of Printful’s greatest customer service features is the free onboarding session for all new users. You can then contact Printful’s customer service team by telephone, live chat, or email.
Printful has a blog that provides a lot of information on how to run a print-on demand business.
Gooten
Gooten’s customer service team can be reached via live chat between Monday and Friday, 8am to 4pm EST. You can also send Gooten an email message to their support team. They will aim to respond within 72 hours. You can also opt for self-help using Gooten’s extensive online knowledgebase or blog.
Design and quality of products
We found mixed reviews online about Printful and Gooten’s print quality. However, Gooten’s print quality seemed inconsistent to us. Their product creation is outsourced by many different manufacturers.
Which comes out on top?
Printful and Gooten share many things in common.
- Both products start at $7
- Both platforms are user-friendly
- Both allow for the same time frame to print and send your products.
The most significant difference between Printful & Gooten is how they fulfill their orders. Printful factories produce all Printful products or they use a trusted third-party such as Gildan or American Apparel.
Gooten, on the other hand, outsources your orders through a network of hundreds of global manufacturers. This has the downside that quality can differ. If your customer orders two products, for example, they could receive one before the other, confusing customers.
This concludes our Gooten and Printful review. Which (if any) do you prefer? Are you also considering print-on-demand options like Teelaunch, Printify, and Storenvy Let us know what you think in the comments below!
