Once you’ve set up your first Shopify store, here are some key things to keep in mind as you move forward in your print-on-demand journey.

You don’t need technical skills to set up your store

If you want to focus on selling and getting your brand out there without the technical aspect of setting up a personal storefront, Shopify is the way to go. Go to themes.shopify.com to view their extensive catalog of premade themes, including a selection of highly customizable free themes.

There are costs associated with selling on Shopify, but they are low

Shopify offers a 3-day free trial, after which you must choose from several plans, ranging from $29/mo to $299/mo. 

If you’re just starting out, the basic plan is more than enough to set up a storefront, and offers a special of $1/mo for the first 3 months.

There are certain steps to take to set up the automated shipping calculation at checkout

There are currently two ways to set up shipping, the first being our Shipping Calculator. This feature is available to anyone on an annual plan, Shopify plan, Advanced plan, or as an additional monthly cost. Learn more.

Alternatively, you can set your own flat shipping rates, as described here. This is a simpler option if you only plan to sell products of the same type (e.g., all t-shirts).

You can purchase a domain to promote your brand

By default, your store can be found at mystore.myshopify.com, where “mystore” will be replaced by your store’s name. For a more professional look, you can purchase a primary domain, since this is how customers will find your store. 

You can look up your domain name choice and find purchase options here, or alternatively by using a service like GoDaddy.

You can adjust your order import settings

By default, your Shopify orders are automatically imported into Printify. After that, these orders will go to production according to your selected order approval settings in Printify.

If you prefer to send your orders to production right after they’re paid for, bypassing your Printify settings, you have two options:

• Click “Request fulfillment” in Shopify to send the Printify order to production immediately.
• Select “Automatically fulfill the order’s line items” under “Order Processing” settings in Shopify. Then your Printify orders will go straight to production.