Exposing The Truth About Print on Demand Niches

[@xXxPhoenix5]

Thank you!!! I watched the other gurus in the beginning, because I didn't know a lot of information about POD. I found myself running around in circles, and I kept doing this for far too long. I found you about a year after you did the big T-shirt breakdown (the wash test), which answered a lot of my initial questions, and I've been a fan ever since. This video touches on what I thought was going on, and I decided I was going to just focus on a brand that I enjoy designing for. Initially, I thought I was going to do 100, but a couple weeks ago you suggested 500, and this sounds more accurate. Now that I have confirmed what I was thinking about the gurus I've stopped watching them. They just want to sell us something. You seem to be the only one who actually wants to coach us. I do with I had money for your course, but here we are. I can support you by watching, and commenting. That is all I can actually afford.

[@shimmymorris1]

Thank you! That’s really appreciated. Liking, commenting and watching is more than enough. I just hope these videos help you in your business

[@juniorrhinox]

If no one told you today imma tell you. You are appreciated. 👊🏾

[@shimmymorris1]

thank you!

[@NotMolly-jf2rh]

Me too. 🌷

[@EtsyMentor]

Underwater welders 😂 you need to send me that video! Great content, as always!

[@shimmymorris1]

Hahaha it was Greg Fred video I think. I’ve seen so many now they’ve all blurred into one haha

[@micpicgraphics8155]

I was thinking one armed wallpaper hangers.

[@remnantrizing-therealgospe4340]

That one gave me a good chuckle😂

[@automaton111]

Niche is important. For example the store “hot topic” specializes in rock band T-shirts and related clothing and accessories for alternative culture customers. If you do a good job at cultivating a niche brand then you will have people following your store and following you in general to see what you come out with next. As opposed to the common POD advice which says to put out simple designs targeting popular search terms of the day throughout the year or other generic things like “girl trip 2024.”

[@lupina015]

Pretty great to hear. Designing is the fun part and I belive everyone who is serious about this business and actually wants to provide value to their customers will very happily get to work.

[@invinciblevettel5]

When choosing designs, remember one of the most important rules ..... You're selling emotion. The hook is how your designs make customers feel. The rule of thumb here is that cute sells and cool sells. Whilst cool is subjective (your target audience will determine this), cute however is fairly universal.

[@shimmymorris1]

Funny sells too. Don’t forget funny

[@spedupblink]

The only KZbinr who's transparent and exposes all the truths about POD!

[@shimmymorris1]

Thank you!

[@Condon1972]

Some of the best POD advice I've gotten is from this channel. I've been tying myself in knots trying to discover some unheard of niche. Thanks Shimmy

[@shimmymorris1]

thank you!

[@SpeedbirdHeavy]

"Etsy is a numbers game..." - nope. Fact: Etsy is actively cleaning up its platform, getting rid of low quality stores, resellers, dropshippers and the like. Why? Because there are too many sellers and not enough buyers, which has contributed to their key company indicators going in the wrong direction. They're trying to get back to their handmade roots. On that basis, does it make sense to continue rewarding sellers who post hundreds of products? Cos that's not what handmakers do. No, Etsy's direction of travel is quality, not quantity. And yes I am talking POD here.

[@shimmymorris1]

@@SpeedbirdHeavy I am very clear with my quality over quantity advice. I always say quantity is far more important and if you’re going to mass upload to Etsy then MAKE SURE the quality is good on every upload.

[@SpeedbirdHeavy]

@@shimmymorris1 indeed. It's the numbers thing I'm challenging.

[@NotMolly-jf2rh]

Underwater welders are underappreciated. Have you seen those massive catfish or the squids they deal with?!?

[@judywall576]

😂

[@G.G.8GG]

I love, love that you have sorted this so we can make more appropriate decisions about the direction we take and what we want our success to look like, as opposed to scrambling to follow the latest POD guru that we encountered. One reason I decided not to do POD before is that one guru said, flood the site with as many designs, in as specific a niche as you can. The next guru said that's ridiculous, that won't help at all. Make one only design per day, go low and slow and you'll eventually get there. You give us the why's and where's so that we can relate the advice to the available choices and make much more informed choices. Phew! Thank you.

[@londonstar3657]

This is one of the best videos I've ever seen. I really like you being transparent. I only subscribe to KZbin whom I believe are telling the truth and are very transparent. This is a very great video.!!!

[@shimmymorris1]

@@londonstar3657 thank you so much!! Really appreciate that!

[@thecanary4238]

Thank you for your videos! This has helped me so much and given me some good insight on my product creations. 👍🏽

[@BeInspiredByPrettyThings]

Great video! Validating a niche is a lot more difficult than I thought. For example, I’m a huge true crime fan. Clearly this niche is popular on Netflix or trending podcast. But Erank and everbee data doesn’t show the popularity for merch?

[@Blake-n9o]

Thanks for the info Shimmy! Also, question. I'm a newer seller on Etsy and I've just had my 90 day payment reserve removed but I still have to wait 20 days from the date that I've made a sale to deposit my funds. Is it like that for all Etsy sellers or does Etsy eventually remove the hold too and allow for deposits sooner?

[@Delightfullala]

It’s like you knew I wanted this video 😆😂✨✨✨

[@gryphnft8129]

I like your videos. I love the honesty. I have a new Shopify store. I need to focus on my marketing/ads. Thanks for your insight.

[@shimmymorris1]

Good luck!!! Most of the time people need to focus on new designs. So just make sure you’re sorted in that department before jumping to ads

[@gryphnft8129]

@@shimmymorris1 Thanks so much for the response. I have over 300 items or 290 designs in my store currently. That is why I feel it is the right time to do research on facebook ads to bring traffic to my store.

[@simplyfilms3153]

I based my entire business on underwater welders. Please help!

[@shimmymorris1]

Haha

[@chrisharris5497]

Buddy, can I ask your advice regarding a return and refund policy. Pinterest have knocked back my store as I currently don’t have a return or refund policy and tbh I don’t really know how to approach it. Obviously if there’s faults then fine, printify will honour those issues but I’ve seen some statements regarding a 30 cooling off period. At this precise moment I can’t even afford an ad let alone a t shirt refund when there’s nothing wrong with the item, can I ask you in your experience what the best way to approach this is please. Thanks mate 👍

[@shimmymorris1]

We offer refunds happily. A happy customer is worth a lot. If there’s ever a problem we tell the customer to keep or donate the item to charity and we refund. It works out cheaper for us than having to sort return shipping. Good Customer service is vital so we always accept returns. If you can’t afford to accept returns pod might not be right at this current time. I’d suggest putting money aside from a job or something each month to fund your pod business

[@qualikio]

i said it once and i'll say it twice the truth without lifting or bottox that's why i follow you channel, stay honest bro

[@shimmymorris1]

Thank you!

[@CloudOfThoughts]

Well, the title of the video is not relevant to the content. I’m sick of this cheap approach.

[@iDeRaven]

How many designs a month would recommend when just starting with print on demand on Etsy?

[@shimmymorris1]

Lots! As many as you can. Good quality as well. Over 100 but if you can do more brilliant.

[@frankieinnyc657]

How about exposing the overuse of the word "niche". Retire that tiresome word and the problem is solved!

[@shimmymorris1]

Haha that’s one way to do it

[@fuzzysjamaicankitchen]

This is the funniest thing ever it was that greg fellow i think thats his name that spoke of the underwater welding niche lol he always recommends red bubble that goes to show u if anyones actually taking him serious something wrong with them i heard him say it n that when i clicked off his rubbish 😂

[@ikcaruswingz]

Just doubt in some case, when they had a good niches with low competition why they have to market sharing it for free?

[@shimmymorris1]

Some people like teaching and training. The market is also HUGE so it doesn’t really matter if they share

[@citybloomstreasures]

So you confirm not necessary not to have any niche on Amazon? I have just started Amazon POD.....thanks for your time

[@shimmymorris1]

Yes. Post trendy/viral designs especially at the beginning when you need those sales to get out of tier 10

[@nelly9x]

How to make a niche subject video without making a niche video.

[@GaborKmetyko]

Jist copy the link of the video and watch it in an incognito-mode browser *if* you want to get rid of the clever YT algorhythm flooding you with same niche (ehm :) ) videos.

[@shimmymorris1]

True! But that’s effort haha

[@TheCNCDen]

YT should have a 'research' button so that when involved in studying for stuff like this, it doesn't affect your normal feed. Edit: and don't knock 'Submarine Washers' until you've tried it!

[@dioneosphorus8847]

It's easy to fall into 'false differentiation'. As in, the niched down target audience will need an actual reason to buy the niched down product. Siamese cat lovers will buy Siamese cat t-shirts because they have a reason to do so. Siamese cat t-shirts for elderly Asian female Siamese cat lovers who work out is a very niched audience, but it is falsely differentiated from your regular Siamese cat lover because the fact that they're elderly, Asian, female and frequent the gym has no bearing on their love for Siamese cat t-shirts. Underwater welding equipment for underwater welders is an actual niche, but cool work ethic t-shirts for underwater welders is a false niche. Underwater welders looking for a cool work ethic t-shirt would just look for a cool work ethic t-shirt (I'm not sure you can even wear t-shirts while welding underwater). Anyhow, you get the point. Make sure the niched-down target audience has a actual reason to look for/buy niched down products. If you limit yourself to some falsely differentiated niche just for the sake of niching down, you're just shooting yourself in the foot.