TeePublic Review 2024: Pricing, Pros And Cons

• TeePublic is an online marketplace for designers to sell their art on over 75 different products.
• Pricing is set by TeePublic, making it easy to know how much commission you’ll earn on each sale.
• Typically, commissions range between 11% and 30%, depending on your artist tier or affiliate status.
• All products are printed using direct-to-garment printing using Kornit Digital printers for the highest quality.
• TeePublic was purchased by Redbubble, a competing artist marketplace site, in 2018.

Selling your designs on TeePublic is easy. The first step is creating your store name. Choose a name you like because it will also become your store URL.

Next, you’ll need to upload your design. TeePublic has pretty strict image guidelines. Your file will need to be:

• A transparent PNG
• 150 DPI
• At least 1,500 x 1,995 pixels (5,000 x 5,000 pixels if you want to offer all products)

Additionally, TeePublic’s printing process uses a CMYK color model. It will convert RGB schemes into CMYK for you, so you don’t have to take that additional step.

You’ll then go through and customize how the design looks on a basic T-shirt. You can alter front/back printing and colors to perfect the look of your art. Once all looks good, you can also opt to sell the product on other types of products.

After setting up your store, your products will be live. For the first three days after a new product goes live, TeePublic discounts it automatically. After this period, it will revert to the regular price unless TeePublic is having a sitewide sale. You can’t control custom pricing on your products.

When you make a sale, TeePublic handles everything for you. You won’t have to deal with printing or shipping, although you can track all your orders on your account dashboard. You’ll get paid your cut of the profits monthly on the 15th.

TeePublic is different from other artist marketplaces because it has a very transparent commission scheme paired with set pricing. This means you’ll know upfront what you’re earning on each sale without needing to do any complicated math. Other marketplaces have variable pricing as well as confusing account fees you need to pay on top of a cut of every sale.

We also like how TeePublic uses direct-to-garment printing with a high-quality printer like Kornit. This produces higher quality merchandise that customers won’t be disappointed in. For nonapparel goods, TeePublic uses sublimation techniques.

TeePublic also has a strong stand on sustainability. It sources garments from ethical suppliers and uses recyclable shipping bags to reduce waste. All orders have their carbon footprint offset with initiatives toward forestry and landfill gas. Additionally, TeePublic uses toxin-free production standards in facilities that follow a Fair Labor Code of Conduct.

This is something you don’t always see from on-demand printing companies and while these efforts might not reduce TeePublic’s impact on the environment dramatically, they’re at least a step in the right direction.

Direct-to-Garment Printing

With direct-to-garment printing, artwork is printed directly into the fabric of each product. It’s more efficient and less restrictive than methods like screenprinting. It also opens you up to a larger color palette. Keep in mind—direct-to-garment printing does have limitations with extremely bright or neon colors.

Large Number of Products

TeePublic offers over 75 different products. Most of those are in the apparel category, which is by far the site’s biggest seller, as it accounted for 93% of revenue in 2022. However, you can sell things like stickers, phone cases, mugs, pins, magnets, pillows and totes. It’s also possible to sell a variety of art prints, including posters, tapestries and canvases.

Off-site Marketing

TeePublic has an opt-in feature that will market your products automatically on third-party sites at no extra cost. For example, it might use your products in ads it places on Google, Instagram, Facebook and more to pull in customers to its marketplace. If your product is featured, you won’t pay anything for this service. However, there’s no guarantee TeePublic will promote your products if you opt in.

Fan Art Program

If you’ve ever wanted to create art using licensed properties, TeePublic has a special program where you can do so. It’s partnered up with over 30 different properties like “Stranger Things,” “Squid Game,” “Star Trek” and more to allow you to create art about them and sell it legally. The payouts for creating this art are the same as with any other artwork you upload—but keep in mind that you can’t sell these licensed designs elsewhere.

TeePublic doesn’t offer plans in the normal sense. It’s free for anyone to sell their designs on the site. You don’t have to pay for listings or subscribe for access. That said, it does charge a commission on every sale you make. What you earn can vary whether you’re classified as an Artisan, Apprentice or Curator.

	Artisan	Apprentice	Curator
Earnings for T-shirt	$4 normal, $2 sale	$3 normal, $1 sale	$2.20 to $3.19 normal
Earnings for Hoodie	$4 normal, $2 sale	$3 normal, $1 sale	$4.95 normal
Earnings for Tank Top	$4 normal, $2 sale	$3 normal, $1 sale	$2.20 to $3.08 normal
Earnings for Crewneck Sweatshirt	$4 normal, $2 sale	$3 normal, $1 sale	$4.18 normal
Earnings for Sticker	75 cents normal, 50 cents sale	75 cents normal, 50 cents sale	$0.28 normal
Earnings for Phone Case	$4 normal, $2 sale	$3 normal, $1 sale	$2.75 to $3.30 normal
Earnings for Baby Bodysuit	$4 normal, $2 sale	$3 normal, $1 sale	$2.20 normal
Earnings for Coffee Mug	$3 normal, $2 sale	$3 normal, $2 sale	$1.65 normal
Earnings for Travel Mug	$4 normal, $2 sale	$3 normal, $1 sale	$2.75 normal
Earnings for Pillow	$4 normal, $2 sale	$3 normal, $1 sale	$2.75 to $5.06 normal
Earnings for Tote	$4 normal, $2 sale	$3 normal, $1 sale	$2.20 to $2.64 normal
Earnings for Pin	50 cents normal, 25 cents sale	50 cents normal, 25 cents sale	30 cents to 33 cents normal
Earnings for Art Prints	$6 to $9 normal, $3 to $4 sale	$6 to $9 normal, $3 to $4 sale	$1.32 to $5.61 normal
Earnings for Posters	$3 to $7 normal, $1.50 to $4 sale	$3 to $7 normal, $1.50 to $4 sale	88 cents to $3.85 normal
Earnings for Canvases	$12 to $21 normal, $8 to $14 sale	$12 to $21 normal, $8 to $14 sale	$8.91 to $19.03 normal

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Artisan Accounts

Artisan accounts are the highest-tier account you can have with TeePublic. Generally, they’re reserved for artists who design unique products that will attract more customers. While TeePublic doesn’t have exact criteria for how to get to this level, it takes into account design quality, artistic skill level, volume of designs and consumer appeal. You will need these minimum requirements to qualify:

• A profile image
• Banner
• Bio
• Social media links
• At least 10 designs in your storefront

Apprentice Accounts

An Apprentice account is the starting tier when you sign up for TeePublic. All designer accounts start at this level. You’re more likely to stay at this level if you upload an extremely high volume of designs, upload automated content like vector packs or clip art or don’t upload enough designs to differentiate yourself.

Curator Accounts

A Curator account is TeePublic’s affiliate marketing account. Because you make an 11% commission on every sale you refer, you might end up making more than designers for some products. It is possible to sign up for both a Curator and designer account, meaning you might be able to double your commission when selling products.

TeePublic offers customer service Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time. The main way to contact TeePublic’s customer service is by opening a Zendesk ticket or by sending an email to help@teepublic.com. It does have live chat support, but it’s only customer-facing, so you can’t use it as a designer.

To see how fast and thoroughly TeePublic responded via Zendesk, we submitted a ticket. Immediately, we received a form email that said it might take up to two business days to receive a response. However, we received a reply roughly 11 hours later that answered all of our questions in a friendly and helpful manner. Important to note: There are separate Zendesk support sites for designers and affiliates and if you contact the wrong one, you’ll have to submit another request.

In addition to the Zendesk support, TeePublic has a large frequently asked questions (FAQs) repository that details information on a wide variety of topics, including payment, uploading designs and building an audience.

	TeePublic	Threadless	Redbubble	Printful
Starting Price	$0	$0	$0	$0
Number of Products	75	100s	70	343
Sell Print-on- Demand Products on Other Marketplaces	✘	✘	✘	✔
Set Your Pricing (POD)	✘	✔	✔	✔
Order Management	✔	✔	✔	✔
Direct Shipping	✔	✔	✔	✔
Global Network	✔	✔	✔	✔
Custom Packaging	✘	✘	✘	✔
Customer Support	Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET email and Zendesk	Text, email and Twitter	24/7 live chat	24/7 email, live chat and social media
Read Reviews	—	—	Read Redbubble Review	Read Printful Review

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TeePublic vs. Threadless

Threadless has been around for longer than TeePublic, but it doesn’t get nearly as much traffic. As with TeePublic, it allows you to upload your own designs and sell them on a variety of products. Unlike TeePublic, you can set your own prices, meaning you can potentially earn more. If you want, you can also have your products featured in the Threadless Marketplace—basically, an aggregate of the various designs on Threadless. There’s also an option to submit artwork to design contests to have your work featured even more.

TeePublic vs. Redbubble

Redbubble has a bigger reach than TeePublic and the site earned nearly double the revenue of TeePublic in 2023. This means your designs might be reaching more eyeballs. Redbubble also lets you set your own prices, which again, can increase your profit. Unsurprisingly, Redbubble has the same fan art partnerships as TeePublic. We like Redbubble so much that it made our list of the 10 best print-on-demand services.

TeePublic vs. Printful

What separates Printful apart from TeePublic is its ability to give your storefront its own presence. With Printful, you can create your own branded store both on and off platform. You can even sync up your products to other marketplaces like Etsy to increase your market saturation. It made our list of the best Etsy print-on-demand services. Printful handles all orders and can even create custom packaging for your brand for a seamless experience.

If you’re new to the world of merch design and want a service that helps you through every step of the process, TeePublic can be a great choice. Its user-friendly design, clear commission schedule, partnerships with licensed properties and efforts toward sustainability help it stand apart from the competition.

TeePublic is best for:

• Designers without their own online store who want to sell their designs
• Designers who want to create artwork on specific licensed properties
• Designers who appreciate a straightforward commission schedule

TeePublic is not recommended for:

• Designers who already have a thriving online store with decent traffic
• Quality-obsessed designers who want to inspect each product before sending it to the customer
• Designers who want more control over their earnings