T-shirt selling how so cheap?

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oatmeal

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I tried selling (dropshipping) T-shirts using teespring.com but I found the cost price is still too high
for me to sell at a competitive price point.

For example, a regular t-shirt with simple text costs around $10 but that's the most basic level.
If you want anything extra like different style shirt or slightly better quality material it can go up to
14, 16, 18, 24 dollars per t-shirt. So even if I use the most basic one at $10 per t-shirt, to make any
sort of profit you'd need to mark it up to about $20 or more (because shipping fees and if you sell
on ebay, final value fees).

But when I see stores like this: https://www.ebay.com/str/halfitco
I don't know how this store can sell tshirts for just 7.99 or 8.99 and make profit unless they are getting
their tshirts made for just $3 or $4?

Any t-shirt experienced sellers can give some advice?
 
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You don't need to compare it to Ebay sellers...this store you mentioned, most likely does not do dropshipping, they have the equipment and knowledge to create the shirt themselves and ship to customers.

You would have to hire a service like Printful for example, and this type of service also doubles the cost of the product so they can make a profit themselves...so what you are left with is selling a product 3 or 4 times more expensive than the original product so you and the vendor can make a profit.

Create unique products and focus on creativity and originality, forget Ebay's competitors.
 
Last edited:
I recommend Printify. I find they have a tighter and cleaner interface and selection of merch better than Printful.
 
T-shirts are so cheap if you order them in bulk, you can get them for sub $1.50.
 
Not in t-shirt business, but 3 years ago, I was about to get into it after seeing a thread here.

A decent printer costs ~$10,000 and t-shirts on Alibaba are around ~$0.5. So probably the final cost of a t-shirt is $1 printed or much cheaper. Imagine the profit they make if they sell it at $9.
 
heat press machine for sublimation. cost around $200. (seen ton of tiktokers with it) then you can source your blank t-shirts in bulk. now print the t-shirts in-house. do that for a bit then you can buy the $10k machine like @TomTheCat
 
I see in my country often running ads to sell
 
T
uncutu said:
heat press machine for sublimation. cost around $200. (seen ton of tiktokers with it) then you can source your blank t-shirts in bulk. now print the t-shirts in-house. do that for a bit then you can buy the $10k machine like @TomTheCat
Click to expand...
This I Think Is A Great Plan.
 
TomTheCat said:
Not in t-shirt business, but 3 years ago, I was about to get into it after seeing a thread here.

A decent printer costs ~$10,000 and t-shirts on Alibaba are around ~$0.5. So probably the final cost of a t-shirt is $1 printed or much cheaper. Imagine the profit they make if they sell it at $9.
Click to expand...

but how can they also ship for free or for so low cost? unless you are a large business that can get some kind of deal with a major shipping service, small time tshirt sellers are probably paying at least $5-$9 to ship even a t-shirt. The main reason why I dropship tshirts is because those companies ship for such a low cost. I definitely agree large businesses that do massive orders obviously can buy shirts and supplies at lower prices but how about for small timers that just sell 10 or 50 a month for side cash?

Also the cost of color ink or whatever it is they use. Those can't be cheap either? When I had a laser printer to print off color documents for my school assignments, those little color ink cartridges were pricey! I can't imagine how much ink you'd have to go through to print hundreds of tshirts with full designs and colors so ink costs must also be factored in. I don't believe tshirts can be made for $1 or less. That's probably for the absolute top of the chain manufacturer who mass produces millions of tshirts of the same design lol.

But yes, I get what you are saying and it's definitely on the right path!
 
You can buy transfers for cheap now days around $1.00 per sheet or if you have a vinyl cutter you make your own designs and just heat press. So im estimating with transfer, tshirt, labor around $4-6 shirt, charge the customer $19.99 plus $4.99 shipping you keep around $15.00 per shirt ballpark.
 
@oatmeal

Even the best quality cotton printed t shirts don't cost more than $2 (where we are based in India) - this is for smaller numbers like 50-100 units each with a different customised multicolour print based on the design file that you provide. By best, I mean top quality stuff that brands like H&M, etc. buy. I personally know the head of the company that manufactures comfy t shirts for global giants like jockey and hanes and they supply this same quality product to these brands.

DHL express shipping is roughly $200 for a 25kg box (correct fit for 100 t shirts). So total landed cost in the US is $4 per t shirt. I'm not sure about local shipping rates but it can't be more than $2 with commercial pricing through USPS or something similar right?

So even with dropshipping (combine 100 orders, get it express shipped from India in 2-3 days) then repack and ship it locally, you can still make it work at $7-$10.
 
You can never beat the bulk pricing as a small seller.
 
Hey understand this :
If 1 t-shirt costs 10$ then 100 t-shirts cost under 100$-10% or 20%
Also, 1000 t-shirts won't cost 1000$ it will cost under 1000$ so hard ( you can get that about 500$ or less depends on the supplier)
So if you get the idea the stores you see sell with 6 or 7$ have a large quantity that's why i become cheap.
===> more quantity, low price
 
oatmeal said:
I tried selling (dropshipping) T-shirts using teespring.com but I found the cost price is still too high
for me to sell at a competitive price point.

For example, a regular t-shirt with simple text costs around $10 but that's the most basic level.
If you want anything extra like different style shirt or slightly better quality material it can go up to
14, 16, 18, 24 dollars per t-shirt. So even if I use the most basic one at $10 per t-shirt, to make any
sort of profit you'd need to mark it up to about $20 or more (because shipping fees and if you sell
on ebay, final value fees).

But when I see stores like this: https://www.ebay.com/str/halfitco
I don't know how this store can sell tshirts for just 7.99 or 8.99 and make profit unless they are getting
their tshirts made for just $3 or $4?

Any t-shirt experienced sellers can give some advice?
Click to expand...
Hey man I saw 2 years ago you were trying to figure out if TikTok could censor your videos by seeing you have multiple accounts and multiple phones using the same internet/IP address
Did you ever figure out an answer? Thanks!
 
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