Guides

Print on Demand Case Studies

Most "case studies" online are made up. These aren't. Every one below is a store I actually ran, with the real revenue, the real ad spend, and the real losses.

This is the honest ledger — the wins and the ones that went sideways. Steal what works.

The case studies

How I Made $258k Selling Coffee Mugs on Mother's Day and Father's Day (And How You Can Do The Same This Q4) Aug 6, 2026 Print on Demand Profit Margins: The Real Numbers From My Stores Jul 5, 2026 Coffee Mug Case Study: How I Make $174K/Year Selling POD Mugs May 4, 2020 How to Sell Mugs on Amazon: My $76K/Year Coffee Mug Strategy Oct 18, 2023 How I make $12,230+ per month on Amazon FBA May 21, 2019 Facebook CBO: What I Learned Spending $77K Testing It Aug 20, 2019 Print on Demand on Etsy: How I Made $2,252/Month — And Quit Dec 13, 2019 [CASE STUDY] How I Worked for Just two Hours and Made over $2,810.60 Selling Bracelets and Keychains Oct 18, 2021 Case Study: The Secret Hack I Use To Find *Unicorn* Print-on-Demand Products on Gearbubble May 22, 2020 Selling print-on-demand products on Amazon without FBA: My 2021 Mother’s Day Experience May 12, 2021 Print on Demand on Etsy: What My First $642 Taught Me Nov 27, 2019 How I Lost $2,551.88 on Amazon FBA: What You Need To Know May 4, 2021 I accidentally sold some personalized products on Etsy and this is what happened… Mar 25, 2020

Frequently asked questions

How much can you actually make with print on demand?

The case studies here run from a first $642 on Etsy to $174K a year on coffee mugs. The honest range is wide, and the difference is nearly always listing volume and niche choice rather than anything clever.

Are these numbers revenue or profit?

Both, stated separately wherever I have them. The mug case study is roughly $70,000 in sales against about $35,000 profit, for instance. Any case study that only quotes revenue is telling you half the story.

Do these results still hold in 2026?

The strategies do. Some of the specifics have moved — supplier costs rose, margins tightened, GearBubble shut down and I left Etsy. Each post says plainly what has changed since it was written rather than pretending nothing did.

More guides

Print on Demand → Everything I've learned building print-on-demand businesses — how to start, find winning niches, run your store, and sell on Amazon, Etsy & Shopify. Real numbers, no hype. Amazon POD → How I sell print-on-demand products on Amazon — getting started, picking winners, real revenue breakdowns, and protecting your seller account from hijackers and suspensions. Tools & Automation → The tools and automation systems I use to run print-on-demand mostly hands-off — bulk uploaders (PODtomatic, PODTurbo), AI listing tools, and my workflow. Honest reviews.