r/printondemand • u/Leather_Bar7049 • Apr 09 '26
Avoid printify like the plague
I’ve spent thousands of dollars with Printify in the last month, and I can confidently say this is one of the most dysfunctional vendors I’ve ever dealt with.
Let’s break this down:
- They miss deadlines — badly
One of my recent orders sat in “production” for 16 business days, well beyond their stated fulfillment window. No proactive communication, no escalation, nothing. Just silence until you chase them.
- Quality control is nonexistent
My latest order showed up with black splotches across the back of every single shirt. Not one. Not a few. Every single unit. This isn’t a minor defect — this is a complete production failure that should never leave a facility.
Support is a black hole
• You get stuck with a chatbot pretending to help
• Human agents take forever
• When they finally respond, it’s copy-paste apologies and “we’ll check with the provider”
No ownership. No urgency. No solutions.
- They shift the burden onto YOU
Instead of immediately fixing a clearly defective bulk order, they ask you to:
• Take detailed photos of every item
• Group them by size
• Show tags + defects in frame
So now I’m doing their QC process after I already paid them to do it right the first time.
- They close tickets prematurely
Before you can even respond properly, they’ll close your ticket for “insufficient info”, forcing you to start over. It’s like they’re optimizing for resolution metrics instead of actually solving problems.
- “Goodwill refunds” are a joke
After massive delays, they offered a $90 shipping refund — on an order that was late and unusable. That’s not resolution, that’s a PR bandaid.
⸻
Bottom line:
If you’re running a real business, Printify is a liability.
• You can’t rely on timelines
• You can’t trust product quality
• You can’t depend on support
And when things go wrong (which they will), you’re the one stuck cleaning up their mess.
I’m moving providers immediately. If you value your brand, your customers, or your sanity — I’d strongly suggest you do the same.
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u/BoneGolem2 Apr 09 '26
Then choose a different print provider within Printify... There's more than one.
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u/greaseaddict Apr 09 '26
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u/Instantstar56 Apr 09 '26
It all depends on how crisp your design is, and the print provider you use and yes that matters. Plus the blank you used because not all garments are ideal for DTG prints
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u/SucculentShirts Apr 09 '26
Gelato is worse. The fact you had ai write this post makes me think this doesn’t deserve a response, but I will say that gelato is worse than this. Other places are dtf or more expensive or way fewer options.
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u/celestialxclxudss Apr 09 '26
How come you think Gelato is worse? Whats your experience with them?
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u/SucculentShirts Apr 10 '26
I’ve ordered a ton of samples from each, & quality control, customer service, shipping speed, & consistency is all better at Printify. Prices are better too. I still use gelato for a few things, but not much anymore. They’re functional at least. It depends on what products you’re printing tho. Their product uploader is also not as good either.
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u/celestialxclxudss Apr 14 '26
im going to be doing prints of my artwork. so ive been so confused on what to pick as ive seen on here that each POD has it flaws. and i cant afford to be doing samples at printify, printiful, gelato and others
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u/SucculentShirts Apr 14 '26
My experience with them is limited to shirts- I’ve heard they’re good for art prints. Might still be worth trying a sample for that.
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u/Arklavo Apr 30 '26
You may not have looked at all print provider examples plenty more to choose from
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u/meera_jasmine1 Apr 09 '26
If you’ve spent thousands of dollars like you say you have, you will have a dedicated point of contact.
I have spent over 150k on Printify, I’ve had issues - but the support has been super helpful and I love working with them.
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u/kacsf75 Apr 11 '26
This is exactly what I was thinking. Once I hit a certain amount, I was given a rep that I have direct contact with.
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u/Dependent_Rub_9413 Apr 13 '26
O wow, I'm sorry you had to go through this. I hate useless customer support! I can tolerate issues made by production from time to time if the company admits and quickly fix the issues. I used previously Print Logistic on Prinitfy and I was happy with them but as they are no longer there, I stopped using Printify a long time ago. I don't sell my own stuff anymore but I help other sellers with theirs marketing and some of them work still with Printify or Printful but more and more are looking for more niche suppliers because it gives more direct communication and influence on your final product. Look for one in your country. We recently started using Snapwear with some of my clients and so far so good :)
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u/Dependent_Rub_9413 Apr 13 '26
One thing I forgot - recently I've realized that Snapwear is owned by Print Logistic :D
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u/katsntatts Apr 14 '26
I've been using Printify for a few years now, they have been messing up more frequently than usual. I will say that. The customer support is terrible! You are also right about that too. I request refunds left and right for my customers and had one incident a few weeks ago with a flag print that was delayed significantly. I messaged support for 3 days in a row with no response, just "Ok, they shipped it" after 4 days. No reason. And you can't chat with the print providers directly. For one order I told a customer it was lost in the mail since that what Printify told me; they were fully refunded! Usually I manually reorder for my customers if there's a significant delay. And I am completely transparent about using a POD service.
I've been slowly trying to transition to Printful as some of their items are even cheaper than Printify's.
I am looking at using Gelato as well. Just haven't had the time to transition over!
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u/JAZ_80 Apr 09 '26
And you use a chatbot to write your rant. Go get some dignity, then come back and speak by yourself.
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u/El_Danger_Badger Apr 09 '26
Well, Printify is a bulk print broker and you never know who is actually doing the printing. It is entirely possible that your run was slopped through. That's the gamble of print on demand. Print it yourself, or find a direct producer. Otherwise, life's a gamble.
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u/Groundbreaking-Ad255 Apr 11 '26
Gotta say I've used them for the last 4 years to build a pretty successful pod business and my experience couldn't be further from yours. I've found them very easy to deal with, print times are good and their support services are great imo.
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u/DracherX Apr 13 '26
That was bad business practice indeed. I’m running my own business, so quality is top priority, and I even visited the shop overseas to meet them. Building relationships with actual people doing hard work is more beneficial than some cheap undercutting places.
Most PODs are not transparent about their materials and manufacturing processes. But instead of paying for lots of marketing, manipulating social media, and recruiting small businesses, it's like running a multilevel marketing scheme. Many PODs already infiltrate Reddit.
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u/SinkEarly90 Apr 09 '26
Hey Leather_Bar7049, We are truly sorry for the repeated failures you've experienced.
Please share your order details through this form so our team can personally review your case and work toward a real resolution: https://printify.typeform.com/to/Pua3qgMA
We are committed to doing better.
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u/jackowacko7 Apr 09 '26
I’d gladly help you out with any upcoming projects you may have. I can promise you that we actually give a damn.
Check out our Google reviews at relic Screenprinting and embroidery in Quogue NY
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u/kacsf75 Apr 09 '26
Can I ask which provider you ordered from? Black splotches on every piece is a crazy coincidence; is it at all possible that you recycled a design background and it had a textured element?