I remember thinking: I can make cool designs better than that in 20 minutes.
I had no design degree and no Photoshop skills. I’d never sold anything online. But I’d been hearing about Merch by Amazon (now officially called Merch on Demand), where Amazon prints and ships your designs and you never touch inventory.
It didn’t start easy. The first month was humbling. If you want to know more about how I started this journey, check out my About page.
Here’s exactly what I did to turn cool designs into real income, what I got wrong, and what I’d do differently.
What “Cool Designs” Actually Means on Merch by Amazon
Let’s start here, because most beginners get this wrong. A “cool design” on Merch by Amazon isn’t about being artistic. It’s about being searchable. It’s about a design that says something about who the buyer is or who they’re gifting to.
You upload a design. Amazon puts it on products like t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, and tanks. When someone buys, Amazon prints it, ships it, and handles customer service. You get a royalty.
You pay nothing upfront, and you never hold inventory or deal with returns.
The catch is that you have to be approved. You apply on the Merch on Demand site, and it can take days or even weeks. Some accounts get put on a waitlist. I got approved after about 10 days, but that’s not guaranteed. Also, new sellers start at a low tier, which means you can only have a limited number of designs live at once (Tier 10 at the start). You unlock more as you make sales.
The real numbers: prices and profit
These matter most, so here they are. Amazon sets minimum prices, and your royalty depends on the price you pick. Royalties change with Amazon’s cost updates, so use the royalty calculator in your dashboard for exact figures. These are approximate numbers from typical listings:
| Product | Typical selling price | Approx. royalty per sale |
|---|---|---|
| Standard T-shirt | $19.99 | ~$5 to $6 |
| Long sleeve tee | $24.99 | ~$6 to $7 |
| Sweatshirt | $34.99 | ~$7 to $8 |
| Pullover hoodie | $39.99 | ~$9 to $10 |
Amazon’s minimum for a standard t-shirt is around $13.99 and for a pullover hoodie around $34.99 to $36.99, but I found that pricing right at the minimum barely helps. The gap in profit is tiny, and slightly higher prices don’t hurt sales much on evergreen designs.
How a good month can break down:
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About 100 t-shirts × ~$5.50 = ~$550
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About 15 hoodies × ~$10 = ~$150
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Total: a good amount
Notice that hoodies were only 15% of sales but a big chunk of the profit. One hoodie sale equals almost two t-shirt sales.
I’m not going to pretend this is guaranteed. Some designs earn nothing. A few earn most of the money. That’s normal.
Month 1: Learn, research, and fail a little
Step 1: Stop designing what you think is cool
My first mistake. I made designs I personally liked: minimalist mountain lines and abstract stuff. Zero sales.
People on Amazon buy shirts that say something about who they are or who they’re gifting to. Nurses, teachers, dads, dog owners, gamers, fishing guys, and people with specific hobbies buy the most.
Step 2: Do 30 minutes of research every day
You don’t need paid tools at the start. Here’s what I did:
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Type a broad phrase into Amazon’s search bar, like “funny nurse shirt,” and note the autocomplete suggestions.
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Look at the best-seller ranks on existing shirts.
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Check the recent sellers, not just the top ones. If a niche has lots of listings under 6 months old with good rankings, that’s a green light.
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Use Google Trends to check whether a topic is seasonal or dying.
Later I tried a paid research tool, but honestly I wouldn’t buy one in the first month. Free research taught me more, because I had to actually look at the shirts.
Step 3: Make a list of 20 niches
Not designs. Niches. Something like “night shift nurses,” “pickleball moms,” “retired teachers,” “fishing dads.” Then pick the 5 most specific ones.
Specific beats broad. “Funny shirt” is impossible to rank for. “Pickleball grandma funny shirt” is not.
Month 2: Building Cool Designs (Without Breaking the Rules)
Here’s where the real work happens. It’s not glamorous, but it’s what works.
The tools I used
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Canva for layout, fonts, and typography-only cool designs.
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My own sketches and drawings for the graphics that needed custom art.
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GIMP (free) for basic image cleanup and background removal.
I kept it simple. Canva alone covers 90% of what a beginner needs.
⚠️ The AI rule you cannot ignore
This is important. Amazon Merch on Demand requires creators to declare AI-generated content. If you upload AI-generated designs without proper disclosure, your account can be terminated and royalties withheld. The platform’s automated systems now detect AI-generated patterns and compare them against existing works. Undisclosed AI content is a direct path to a ban.
I made the decision early: no AI image generation. Everything I upload is either typography I assembled myself in Canva or artwork I drew by hand. It’s slower, but it’s safe.
Read Amazon’s content policy for the current rules before you upload anything.
My actual workflow for one design
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Pick a niche, for example “night shift nurse.”
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Write 25 short, funny or proud phrases about it in a notebook.
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Choose one that feels like something people would actually say out loud.
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Build a typography-only design in Canva, or draw a simple graphic yourself.
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Clean the background and check the edges.
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Upscale it to Merch’s required size.
Technical requirements (don’t skip this)
Amazon’s specs were something like a PNG at 4500 × 5400 pixels, 300 DPI, transparent background. Check the current requirements in your dashboard, because they can change. My first three uploads got rejected because the resolution was too low.
The rules that can get you banned
This is important, and it’s where many beginners get burned:
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Never use copyrighted or trademarked stuff. No Disney, no sports teams, no movie quotes, no “Just Do It.”
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Don’t copy other people’s cool designs. Even a “lightly tweaked” version can be a problem.
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Check every phrase. Search it in the USPTO’s trademark search system. Some common phrases are trademarked for apparel.
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Declare AI content if you use it. Amazon requires it, and undisclosed AI designs lead to account termination.
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Read Amazon’s current content policy. Rules change, and you’re responsible for what you upload.
I threw away about a third of my ideas after checking trademarks. Annoying, but better than losing my account.
Month 3: Upload, wait, and improve what works
Titles and listings
Amazon gives you a brand name, title, two bullet points, and a description. Keep it honest and natural:
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Title: something a real person would search, like “Night Shift Nurse Funny Coffee Lover Shirt”
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Bullets: who it’s for, what makes it a good gift
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No keyword stuffing. Repeating the same word ten times looks spammy and can hurt you.
My upload routine
I upload 3 to 5 designs a day. Not more. Then I leave them alone for at least two weeks. Amazon takes time to index things, and checking sales every hour will only make you anxious.
What to expect with your first sales
Your first sale will probably come somewhere in weeks 2 or 3. One t-shirt. A few dollars royalty. It’s a small win, but it means the system works.
Over the next few months, a handful of designs will do most of the work. Treat every design as a test and make more like the ones that sell.
Mistakes I made (so you don’t have to)
1. Uploading too much too fast. I burned through my tier limit on weak designs. Quality over quantity, especially when you’re at Tier 10.
2. Ignoring seasonality. Halloween and Christmas designs need to be uploaded 2 to 3 months early. I uploaded a Christmas shirt in December. Useless.
3. Making the text too small. A shirt is viewed from across a room. If it’s not readable at thumbnail size, it won’t sell.
4. Bad color choices. A dark design on a dark shirt disappears. I test every design on black, navy, and white mockups.
5. Expecting instant money. The first 3 weeks often make almost nothing. That’s normal, not failure.
6. Not tracking results. I now keep a simple spreadsheet: design name, niche, upload date, sales after 30 days. It shows me what to repeat.
What a 2-hour day looks like
This is what a normal day looks like:
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30 min: research new niches and trends
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45 min: create 2 to 3 cool designs
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20 min: upload and write listings
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25 min: review what’s selling and plan more of it
That’s it. The important thing is that most of the income comes from designs made weeks ago. The work is front-loaded, and the sales come in the background.
Is it worth trying?
If you want a fast, guaranteed paycheck, this isn’t it. If you’re willing to put in a few weeks of consistent effort without seeing much, and you can treat it like a small experiment, it’s one of the lowest-risk side hustles to try. You spend nothing except your time and maybe a Canva subscription.
Treat every cool design as a test, keep the ones that work, and make more like them.
If you’re starting this week, do just one thing today: pick one niche you actually understand and write down 20 phrases someone in that group might proudly wear. That’s your first real step, and it costs nothing.
Have questions about getting started with Merch by Amazon? Contact me here — I read every message.