How to Order Printful Samples in 2024

If you’re thinking of launching a new print on demand business, or growing your venture, then you should be investing in Printful sample orders.

Printful is one of the print on demand vendors I recommend most to beginners, thanks to its ease of use, excellent product range, and incredible integrations with a huge range of sales channels.

It’s also well-known for its commitment to quality, with 99% of shipped orders adhering to customer and vendor expectations.

However, the only way to get a clear insight into the quality you’ll get from Printful, and their approach to order fulfillment, is to purchase samples.

Here’s your guide to placing sample orders on Printful.

Key Takeaways Placing Printful sample orders gives you a chance to evaluate the quality of the products you’re going to sell, vet the fulfillment process, and take unique photos of your items for product pages and promotions. Printful’s Sample Program allows companies to make one sample order a month, purchasing up to 3 items at a time to begin with. You’ll receive more options for ordering samples as your monthly revenue increases. While you can order sample versions of any product on Printful, you will be limited in the number of orders you can place. There are also limitations on the sizes of certain sample products, such as framed photos and canvases. Printful members on the “Printful Business” plan (reserved for companies earning over $60k in a 12 month period, get 25% off sample products. Ordering Printful Sample Orders: The Sample Program

Like most POD partners, Printful allows companies to order “samples” of the products they want to sell, to examine their quality, and take authentic product photos.

The Printful “sample program” allows store owners to order products with a 20% discount. However, as a beginner on the platform, you’ll only be eligible for 1 sample order per month, with a maximum of 3 items per order.

As your monthly accumulated sales increase, Printful will upgrade the number of samples you can order. However, you can’t go beyond the maximum of 5 sample orders per month.

You can check how many samples you have left in the “Discounts” section of your Printful dashboard.

Notably, Printful recommends editing the “retail price” for your sample products before you purchase them, as customs fees are calculated based on the retail price you set.

Additionally, while all products are available to order as samples, there are some restrictions on certain items.

For instance, frame posters are only available in sizes of 8×10 inches, and canvases are only available in 12×12 inch sizes.

You also can’t combine sample order discounts with any other gift cards or vouchers you might have on Printful.

Further reading 📚 Printful Review 2024 – Expert Insights on Quality, Pricing, and Services Printful Pricing (2024): How Much Does Printful Cost? 15 Best Print on Demand Sites and Companies for 2024 (Updated Weekly) Printify vs Printful (Mar 2024): The Ultimate Print-on-Demand Services Comparison 15 Best Selling Printful Products to Add to Your Store in 2024 How to Place Printful Sample Orders: Step by Step

The good news for beginners is that placing sample orders on Printful is relatively straightforward. You can sign up for a free account on the Printful website to get started, using your email and a password, or an existing Google, Apple, or Facebook account.

Once you create your account, Printful will ask you a few questions about your business, such as whether you’re planning to sell items online or order products for yourself.

After you’ve finished the questionnaire, you’ll be taken to your Printful dashboard. Here’s how you can order sample products from there.

Step 1: Design Your Products

Click on the “Start” button under the “Design your Product” section on the Printful dashboard homepage, or click on “Product Templates” in the left menu to visit the product creation page.

Once you click on “create new product” you’ll be taken to the Printful product library. Here you can browse through a range of special offers, fast-delivery products, eco-friendly items, and product categories.

Choose the product you want to customize, and Printful will take you to its mockup generator. Here you can choose the type of printing technique you want to use, and add unique elements to your items.

For instance, you can upload images from your computer or a cloud storage system, add clipart and images from Printful’s resource library, and add text.

Printful also allows you to customize your product extensively with layers, resizing and re-positioning options, and branded inside or outside labels.

Once you’ve created an item, click “Add to “templates”, and go back to your Printful “Product Templates” page.

Step 2: Placing your Sample Order

In the “Product Templates” page, hover over the item you want to order, and click on the menu button in the top right-hand corner on the product image.

Scroll down to “Make an Order” and Printful will ask you whether you want to place a basic order, or “test your designs” with a sample order.

Choose the “test your designs” option, and you’ll be taken to a checkout page where you can adjust the color of your item, and select the ideal size.

You can also make last-minute edits to the product, and see how much your sample order will cost. Click the “continue” button to see your discounted price (if you’re taking advantage of the 20% discount” and fill in your order details).

Confirm all your shipping details are correct, and double-check you’re getting your discount before you enter your payment information.

Once you place your order, Printful will give you an estimated fulfillment date, and you’ll be able to track order process from within your account.

Step 3: Reviewing Your Sample Order

Once your sample order arrives, it’s time to start evaluating it’s quality. Start by looking at the packaging.

Make sure your product is adequately protected by the right packaging materials, and ensure Printful has included any branded invoices or packing slips you’ve requested.

Other points to evaluate include:

Fulfillment speed: How quickly was your item produced and delivered? Did your delivery time match the estimate given by Printful when you placed your order? Product quality: Check the quality of the material used for your order, examine the “fit” of the item (if you’re ordering garments), and look for clear errors or evidence of damage. Print quality: Look at the quality of the print, from the clarity of the image on the product, to the vibrancy of the colors, and the quality of the printing method used.

You can also put your product to the test by using or wearing it yourself, washing it (if washing is an option), and monitoring how well it lives up to expectations.

Best Practices for Printful Sample Ordering

I consider ordering sample products from Printful to be a pretty straightforward process. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t best practice guidelines you should be following.

For instance, since you can only place one sample order per month to begin with, I recommend ordering the maximum (3) products initially to make the most of your discount.

Here are some other best practices to keep in mind.

Design Your Products with Care

Printful uses the highest quality materials and printing technologies to create premium print on demand products.

But the quality of your product will depend heavily on your approach to design. For instance, it’s worth ensuring you design your products with the CMYK color palette, to guarantee that you’ll get vibrant and accurate reproductions of any images you choose.

It’s also a good idea to consider fabric options and printing methods carefully. Some products, like cotton work well with direct-to-garment printing, while others are ideal for sublimation or all-over printing. Use Printful’s design guidelines to help you through this process.

Make the Most of your Sample Products

Ordering sample products from Printful is an excellent way to examine the quality of the items you want to sell on your online store, and experiment with Printful’s approach to customer service and order fulfillment.

However, it’s worth remembering that you can do more with Printful sample orders than vet the quality of the supplier.

Consider sending sample products to influencers for video and image-based product reviews to help elevate your brand’s reputation and create marketing content.

Use your sample products to take authentic photos and videos that you can use on your product pages, to help earn the trust of customers. You can even use sample product images in your marketing campaigns.

Order Samples of Each New Product you Sell

Unlike some competing print on demand vendors, Printful handles order production in house. This means you can usually expect a consistent level of quality from the vendor.

However, even if you’re thrilled with the quality of your Printful T-shirts and sweaters, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t order sample products when branching out into new product or printing methods.

Whenever you experiment with a new strategy, like embroidery, or a new addition to your product collection, use a sample order to ensure you’re going to get consistent quality.

This will help to ensure you’re delivering an excellent experience to your customers.

Set your Preferred Payment Method

Placing sample orders with Printful is a lot quicker and more convenient when you already have your delivery details and payment methods entered into the system.

Printful accepts credit cards, debit cards, PayPal, and even buy-now-pay-later solutions like Klarna. You can even purchase some products with cryptocurrency.

You can add your preferred payment method to Printful by visiting the “Billing” section on your Printful dashboard.

Here, you can also review your payment history, check out any discounts you might be eligible for, and set up a dedicated “Printful wallet”.

Consider Applying for a Printful Membership

While you can use Printful for free, it’s worth considering a “membership” as your business starts to grow. The “Printful Growth” membership is available to anyone who makes more than $12k in profits in a single year, or you can access it for a subscription price of $24.99 per month.

While this doesn’t give you discounts on sample orders directly, it does allow you to access exclusive discounts on a wide range of products when placing a standard order.

The ”Printful Business” membership, only available to companies earning more than $60k a year, increases those order discounts, and gives you sample discounts of 25%.

Plus, it comes with support for unlimited stores per account, free digitization for embroidered products and priority service.

Placing Printful Sample Orders

Ordering Printful sample products is an excellent way to guarantee the print-on-demand products you’re creating with Printful live up to your expectations, and the expectations of your customers.

It allows you to vet the quality of the products offered, examine fulfillment and delivery times, and even gives you an opportunity to take compelling product photos.

Plus, with discounts available on sample orders, Printful makes “testing” your products easier than ever. Anyone can sign up and start ordering affordable samples in minutes!

FAQ Can all Printful products be ordered as samples?​​

Yes, but there are limitations on some products. For instance, framed photos and canvas prints are only available in “sample” form in specific sizes. You can also only place one sample order per month, for up to 3 items when you first create your Printful account.

How do I ensure my sample order has free shipping and the 20% discount?​​

Printful will show you the price of your sample order on the “checkout” page when you choose the item you want to order. You should be able to see the discount included here. You can also check whether your shipping fees have been removed on the “shipping” page.

What should I look for when reviewing my sample product?​​

After assessing the quality of the product packaging, and the speed of the delivery, look at the print quality, and overall product quality. Test the comfort or durability of any materials, check for issues with fit or style, and examine the item for any potential errors or damage.

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