You probably have seen YouTube videos that promise effortless income from a POD Etsy shop, with gurus boasting about how you can make thousands with minimal work.
But that’s just not the case.
While starting a POD Etsy shop might seem affordable and low-risk, the time investment and effort required can quickly add up. The time and effort needed to truly stand out in such a saturated market can be overwhelming.
In this article, I’ll break down 9 reasons why opening a POD shop on Etsy may ultimately be a waste of your time and energy. I’ll share practical insights into the challenges and realities of this business model from my own and my students' experiences.
Let’s get started.
The POD market on Etsy has exploded, largely due to the accessibility of modern design tools and the rise of AI image generation. With virtually anyone able to create a design in minutes, it's no surprised that the level of competition has become incredibly high.
This low barrier to entry has flooded the platform with generic offerings, making it difficult for your products to stand out. The over-saturation in many POD niches means that visibility for products is low, and low views often mean low sales.
The intense competition in the POD niche has driven prices down to a race-to-the-bottom scenario. Sellers are forced to lower their prices just to be competitive, which in turn squeezes profit margins to barely over a few dollars per sale.
The fixed per-unit costs of POD items, combined with Etsy’s fees and additional costs for design tools and mockup services, leave very little room for profit.
For many POD items, you are likely looking at less than $5 of profit per sale after all the fees and costs. And that means, if you want your POD Etsy shop to be a viable income source, you’d need to sell hundreds of products each month - a goal that is unrealistic for most new Etsy sellers.
Many “gurus” make it sound as if a POD Etsy shop is a great passive income source. In reality, creating designs that stand out requires a considerable amount of time and effort. You can’t simply rely on a handful of Canva templates and expect to generate a steady flow of income.
The truth is that success in selling POD products requires significant design labour. Beyond just making a design, you need to continually refine your offerings, keep up with trends, and invest in learning advanced design tools.
Canva is a good place to start with your POD shop, but if you are looking to create a large volume of high quality designs efficiently, you would need to be proficient in design software like Photoshop, Illustrators and more, and learning to master those tools can take weeks if not months.
The recent surge in AI-generated art has added another layer of difficulty to the POD market. With AI designs from tools like Midjourney, Dall-E and Ideogram flooding the platform, it’s becoming harder and harder to stand out.
Unfortunately, the general public is not equipped to differentiate real artist designs vs AI designs, nor do most people care about as long as the product is cheap.
This influx of AI designs has forced many sellers, including myself, to rethink our strategy. While AI tools can speed up the design process, they also contribute to an environment where quality and uniqueness are devalued. As a result, the marketplace has shifted, and standing out has become an uphill battle that demands more than just leveraging technology.
A recent development that further complicates the landscape is the merger between two of the biggest POD providers, Printify and Printful. Announced in November 2024, this consolidation means that a significant portion of the POD market is now controlled by this new bigger company.
For Etsy sellers, it's not certain whether this merger is a good thing, but here are some potential challenges. With increased control over pricing and production processes, these providers might raise prices without offering comparable benefits to smaller sellers. Limited alternatives, with Gelato and Gooten being the most prominent alternatives, leave many Etsy sellers with few choices if they don't want to continue with the Printify-Printful merger.
One of the key ways to stand out in the crowded marketplace is by offering personalised or customisable products.
Unfortunately, with most POD services, the only element you can truly control is the design itself. There is little room for customisation beyond that, which severely limits your ability to differentiate your products.
In my experience, the lack of customisation has often been a major roadblock. When customers are looking for something unique that speaks to their personal style, the nature of POD products simply doesn’t allow that.
Building a strong brand is crucial for long-term business success.
However, most POD providers ship products in unbranded packaging, which makes it nearly impossible to cultivate brand loyalty. Without the ability to include branded packaging, order inserts, or other marketing materials, your efforts to build a recognisable brand could fall flat.
I found that even with an excellent design and a solid shop, the lack of branding opportunities could lead to difficulty in developing long-term relationship and return customers.
Customers are less likely to form a connection with a business that feels impersonal, and without the chance to add that personal touch, it's hard to create lasting relationships and have customers return to your shop for future purchases.
Running a POD Etsy shop means you are heavily dependent on third-party providers for production and fulfilment. This lack of control can lead to a number of potential issues, from fulfilment delays to unexpected stock shortages. Even small changes in the provider’s terms of service or sudden price hikes can have a dramatic impact on your business.
Similarly, shipping is another critical factor that can make or break your customer satisfaction levels. Depending on where your POD provider is located, international shipping can lead to long delivery times and high costs. These factors often deter potential buyers who are increasingly expecting fast and affordable shipping options.
