Buying Print-on-Demand Products

What is Print on Demand?

Print-on-demand (POD) for photography and digital art is a business model that allows artists and photographers to sell their work online without having to handle the printing, shipping, and fulfilment themselves. With print-on-demand, customers can order prints of an artist's work online, and the printing and shipping are handled by a third-party service.

In the context of this site, my photographs have been uploaded to a number of websites for sale to the public. In fact, the main purpose of this site is to connect with the possibilities. In general, all images are available on all sites, though there are exceptions, for example where an image will not be appropriate to a particular product type. You, the buyer, can look at the images and purchase them directly from the sites. The fulfilment site then has responsibility for fulfilment and dealing with any problems you may have. 

At present I use three sites, all with good reputations in the market:

1. Photo4Me

2. Redbubble

3. Fine Art America - also under the banner of pixels.com

As a photographer, this means that my work is available in a number of markets with fulfilment services suitable to the market. 

It also means that you can buy the images in many different print formats, and on many types of merchandise, from greeting cards to iPhone cases and jigsaw puzzles. In fact, there are over 90 different products for each image on Redbubble.

Some Things to Think About When Buying

The sites aim to make the experience simple and easy. As a buyer you do need to be aware of details. Here are a couple of points to watch.

Delivery Period and Charges

It does take time to print and package up your order. Unlike an order of goods from a warehouse, your POD order is actually made to order. So do be aware of this.

Delivery charges can be an issue. You do need to ask and be aware of these.

For example: If you make an order from my pixels.com site, owned by Fine Art America, the delivery cost may be high if, for example, the printing is completed in the USA and you live in Europe. But some products are actually printed to order from FAA by services in Europe. So delivery charges may substantially vary from one product to another. Obviously delivery of a 40 inch canvas print will be substantially greater than a jigsaw puzzle.

Returns Policy

We aim to not have any returns. But problems can happen. 

Be sure that you are aware of the fulfilment site policies. Generally, they are reasonable and fair. It does take time to produce and deliver your order and that is taken into account when limits are placed on the time in which you can return the item.

That's It

Keep those in mind and enjoy the art that you buy.