Interview With $150k Print On Demand T- Shirt Seller - Juna From @DetourShirts

About this video

Note: the transcript is in English (despite a ’none’ language flag in the ledger). RJ Martinez interviews Juna of Detour Shirts, a graphic designer (commercial art degree; magazine, scrapbook-paper, and ad design jobs) who sold a Halloween design to Crazy Shirts, started print on demand on CafePress in 2005, then Zazzle, and joined Merch by Amazon after applying in late 2016 and being accepted around May/June 2017. In the intro Martinez says Juna has done over $160K in royalties with Merch by Amazon; asked directly later, Juna guesses his all-time royalties are somewhere between $100K and $200K (around $160K-$170K) and says he is close to 50,000 all-time products sold — all figures are the speakers’ claims. His top Merch by Amazon tips: figure out what is selling now, have a multi-year plan (he worked backward from a tier goal), and scale once on bigger tiers. His best seller is dark/black standard t-shirts; he prices standard shirts at $13.99, raises sellers to $17.99, then $18.99, capping at $19.99. He uses Affinity Designer (about $50 one-time, per him) after years on Illustrator, has not fully tried Canva, runs Amazon ads at roughly $10/day for a claimed 5-8 sales a day, and shares Redbubble posts free on Pinterest and Twitter. For Redbubble (where he has been since 2010 but let it slide), his tips are: design quality matters even more, design for the specific product, and learn what sells for you and develop your own style; stickers are his top Redbubble product. He says saturation should motivate better designs and trend speed, tags matter only alongside a buyable design, and full-time income should be planned backward from a yearly target (his example: $50,000/year at roughly $3-$4 per shirt).

Key takeaways

• Juna’s claimed Merch by Amazon record: close to 50,000 products sold and all-time royalties he estimates between $100K and $200K (Martinez’s intro says over $160K) — speakers’ claims, not verified figures
• Top Merch by Amazon tips: research what is selling right now, build a multi-year plan worked backward from a tier/income goal, then scale and automate
• Pricing ladder for standard t-shirts: start at $13.99, raise sellers to $17.99 and $18.99, cap top sellers at $19.99; dark/black standard tees are his best-selling product
• Merch by Amazon suits trend-driven, scalable shirt selling to Amazon’s gift/funny-shirt buyers, while Redbubble suits higher-caliber art across many products, with stickers his top seller there
• Use Affinity Designer (about $50 one-time, per Juna) or whatever tool you already know; tags only help if the design itself is worth buying, and never add unrelated tags

Episode details: published November 6, 2020 · 47:06 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are RJ Martinez’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

← Previous: Hiring a VA in the Philippines - Hiring A Virtual Assistant Or Outsourcing For Beginners Tips · Next: 5 T-Shirt Thanksgiving Trends/Ideas In 2 Mins For Your Print On Demand T-Shirt Business →

All RJ Martinez videos · RJ Martinez profile · RJ Martinez on YouTube