How can I use multiple Print Providers for a single listing?

Written by

Sabrina Barnes

If you receive an order for a customer who is located in a different country (or continent) than your chosen Print Provider, it is a good idea to fulfill the order using a Print Provider closer to the customer’s delivery address. This will significantly shorten the delivery time and reduce the shipping costs for your customer.

However, note that if you want to use this approach, some manual work will be required for each order.

Step 1: Create two (or more) unpublished product listings in Printify

Create two unpublished product listings in Printify, for example: one for the US and one for the UK (or another region of your choice). Choose a US-based Print Provider for the US product and a UK-based Print Provider for the UK product. Leave the products unpublished (click Save as draft).

However, you are not limited to having just two options. If the same product is offered in multiple locations, you may want to create separate listings for the US, Canada, and Europe (and/or the UK).

Note

Make sure that you choose the same garment colors/sizes for both (or all) Print Providers, and make sure that they have the same print area.

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Step 2: Create a manual product listing on your sales channel

Create a manual product listing directly on your sales channel (i.e., Shopify) with two variant options: color and size. Add the colors and sizes that you’ll be offering.

Step 3: Set up flat shipping rates for the sales channel product

You’ll need to set up flat shipping rates (weight-based or price-based) for the product that you just created on your sales channel.

For example, if you have chosen the UK Print Provider T Shirts and Sons for the UK version of the product, you should set the shipping at USD 3.98 for the first item (and USD 1.29 for each additional item) for the UK shipping zone – which is the domestic UK rate for t-shirts from this Print Provider.

Repeat the same steps for the other shipping zone using the chosen Print Provider’s rates. You can check all of the shipping rates for each Print Provider here.

Your customer will enter their delivery address and receive the corresponding shipping rate at your store checkout.

Step 4: Manually import the order when a customer submits it in your store

After you receive the order in your sales channel, navigate to the Orders → Other orders tab. There you’ll see the customer’s submitted order.

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To import the order and send it to production, click Select product and choose one of your previously created unpublished products: the one that is created closest to the customer. For example, if the order is for a UK customer, select the UK version of the product.

Note

Make sure that you do not check the box next to Automatically import orders with this product variant, as that will map the store product to this version only.

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Next, click Import order. Then send it to production by clicking Submit order, and the rest of the process is automated.

As an alternative solution you may consider enabling Order Routing, which will automatically route the order to the Print Provider that is closest to the customer (if available). However, note that it does not affect the shipping costs for the customer.