Michael Essek - Start A T-Shirt Business Online

Michael Buxton Illustrator DinoMike Interview

Artist Interview: Michael Buxton AKA DinoMike

Last Updated: November 23, 2018

Have you ever had a great idea, turned it into a great design – and then had someone else copy it, sell it under an official license, and then turn around and demand royalties from YOU??!?!

Michael Buxton has!

Michael (AKA ‘DinoMike’) is a fellow UK native who has been at the online T-Shirt game for over 6 years – with bestselling designs on Threadless, TeeFury, and of course all over Redbubble and Teepublic.

Mike was kind enough to answer some questions from me – and I think there’s a lot of great value in here for both the newbie and the seasoned T-Shirt designer alike.

I’ll share some quick thoughts at the bottom of this article – where you can also find links to Michael’s stores and social media.

Enjoy!

Print-On-Demand T-Shirt Fulfilment Companies 2018

Comparing Print-On-Demand T-Shirt Fulfillment Companies In 2018

Last Updated: June 15, 2018

Last year’s T-Shirt Fulfillment Companies review is a little out of date now, so it’s time for a fresh look.

In previous articles I’ve compared Printful, Printaura and Customcat – but recently I’ve begun using Printify to fulfil some of my Shopify orders.

Printify is a slightly different beast to other POD T-Shirt fulfilment options, in that Printify serves as a platform connecting you to a variety of fulfilment partners.

Printify doesn’t do any printing or shipping directly – instead, it sends your orders over to a partner of your choosing (Printify works with several different providers). In this way it creates direct competition between printing partners so you can compare the best price and turnaround time.

In this article I’m going to throw Printify into the mix, and compare (through direct experience) the prices, turnaround time and monthly costs / potential profits of these three services (Printful, CustomCat and Printify).

Selling T-Shirts Online Last Updated: June 15, 2018

The Rise Of ‘Officially Licensed’ Print-On-Demand T-Shirts (& Merch Collab)

Last Updated: June 8, 2018

For years now (maybe even decades) – the print-on-demand t-shirt industry has benefitted from – and contributed to – and incredible amount of Intellectual Property Infringement.

That infringement went largely unnoticed – or was ignored – for a long time, but increasingly the victims (or potential victims) of such infringement have begun to stir, and to realising what is going on.

In response to that stirring, some new opportunities are springing up.

The most recent and high-profile example of this is Amazon’s new ‘Merch Collab‘ program.

Selling T-Shirts Online Last Updated: June 8, 2018

2017 Q3 Income Review – Where I’m At, Where I’m Going

Last Updated: October 5, 2017

It’s QUARTER FOUR!

Which means I owe you one Q3 review blog post.

I know, I’ve been awfully quiet the past few months – I’ve been busy behind the scenes working on a lot of secret stuff (shhh).

But – if you can forgive me – then let me share what’s going on with my T-Shirt royalty income right now…

Merch By Amazon Selling T-Shirts Online Last Updated: October 5, 2017

The Best Print-On-Demand T-Shirt Fulfillment Companies To Use In 2017

Last Updated: June 15, 2018

Update: I’ve written a new article for 2018 with some more recent recommendations. You can check it out here: Comparing Print-On-Demand T-Shirt Fulfillment Companies In 2018

Last year I wrote an article comparing some of the top Print-On-Demand T-Shirt Fulfillment Companies.

But things move fast in the world of T-Shirt Fulfillment – so I though it was high time for a review / update – a kind of ‘State Of Print-On-Demand 2017‘

This time – instead of just reviewing the POD companies and comparing prices like I did last time – I’ll talk about why you might want to use a Print-On-Demand T-Shirt Fulfillment Partner in the first place, and try and find the right partner for you.

(Fair Warning / Disclaimer: This post it littered with affiliate links to those companies that I use and recommend.)

First let’s explain what a Print-On-Demand t-shirt fulfilment company actually does.

Print-On-Demand T-Shirt Fulfilment Last Updated: June 15, 2018

Why I Don’t Show You My Own T-Shirt Designs

Last Updated: July 21, 2017

I get asked a lot of questions, and one that comes up very often is this:

“Can I See Your Designs / Store?”

The answer, I’m afraid, is no.

It’s not because I don’t like you, or because I’m rude.

It’s for these 2 simple reasons.

Selling T-Shirts Online Last Updated: July 21, 2017

2017 Q2 Review – Merch By Amazon Income Review + 2 Big Lessons

Last Updated: July 6, 2017

Woah, we’re halfway there.

Yes friends, 50% of the year is up and that means it’s time for my Q2 Review.

Here’s how things have been looking for the past 3 months…

Selling T-Shirts Online Last Updated: July 6, 2017

Using Print-On-Demand T-Shirt Fulfillment Companies: Advice & Tips For Designers Using Printful, Teelaunch, CustomCat Etc.

Last Updated: May 12, 2017

Are you looking at using a Print-On-Demand T-Shirt fulfillment company like Printful, CustomCat or Teelaunch to do the printing and shipping for your clothing brand or business?

If so, I have some advice for you.

I’ve been using Print-On-Demand T-Shirt Fulfillment companies (or T-Shirt Dropshippers) for over 3 years now – and in that time I’ve dealt with pretty much every issue you could ever expect.

In this article I’m going to explain the difference between T-Shirt fulfillment companies like Printful and sites like Redbubbble, Merch By Amazon and TeeSpring – and delve into some of the nitty gritty with some helpful tips and tricks for YOU – the budding brand owner.

Print-On-Demand T-Shirt Fulfilment Last Updated: May 12, 2017

Got Your Merch By Amazon Approval? 4 Strategies To Help You Tier Up Fast

Last Updated: April 27, 2017

When you get your Merch By Amazon account approval, you get just 10 design ‘slots’ to fill.

In order to increase your total number of slots (or ‘tier up’) – you need to make at least 10 sales.

Note: Amazon actually says that tiering up is not based solely on sales. And I quote: “Admission to these tiers are based not only on sales, but the quality of the products being sold by the content creator as well.” Worth knowing!

Anyway – as you climb through the tiers you should find it gets easier to make sales, because – generally speaking – the more designs you have live, the greater your chances of generating sales.

There are already lots of great suggestions out there to help you tier up – and if you haven’t checked out Daniel Caudill’s video chats on the subject you should really do so here.

But in this article I want to share some different – an perhaps slightly unconventional – ideas about how you could tier up in as short a time as possible – getting those initial 10 sales, to your next 25, and then beyond.

Merch By Amazon Last Updated: April 27, 2017