How To Start a Sticker Shop - PART 2 (Patreon)

Today I share with you the second part of the series “How To Start a Sticker Shop”I´m a bit late with posting this, I´m very sorry... The wo

Today I share with you the second part of the series “How To Start a Sticker Shop”

I´m a bit late with posting this, I´m very sorry... The wood got delivered last week and I needed two days to store it and I had to be quick before it started to rain again yesterday.

But I hope that you are still excited about this one!

So in the first part of the "how to start a sticker shop" series, I talked about what supplies you need to start a sticker shop.

If you have missed it you can find it by clicking on the pre-saved How-To Blogpost Box at the top of the main page:

The second part is about:

So now let´s get into this month's topic! 🧡

There are two main options that you can choose from when outsourcing your sticker production.

1st: Typical Sticker Manufacturing Websites

I shared with you these three possible manufacturers in my last Blog:

Stickerapp

Sticker Mule

when you´re from Austria: Sticker Yeti

Let´s talk a bit more about them!

When I´m searching for a new manufacturer for any product I firstly check on google if there is any in my country, so that I don´t have to pay that much for shipping. 

But also keep in mind to check the prices from other countries before ordering. I don´t know how it´s in your country but here in Austria ordering things like stickers or sticker sheets is very expensive, so most of the time it´s much cheaper for me to order from another country.

I already ordered a lot from Stickerapp and I really love their quality, and a lot of other creators are also using them for their products.

From Sticker Mule, I only ordered Packaging Tape, so I don´t know if the sticker quality is good, but also a lot of creators are ordering there.

Sticker Yeti is a sticker printing company from Austria. I ordered sticker sheets there and the quality is really really good, but the sheets are immensely expensive, so I´m very happy that I can make them at home now.

Then there is also Vograce where I always order my Keychains and Pins. They also sell stickers and sticker sheets. I haven´t ordered stickers from them but the Keychain quality is just amazing, so you can also try them! Just keep in mind that they produce in china so you have to pay taxes for your order.

You can also check your country's online printing companies that print things like business cards. A lot of them are also already offering stickers!

These Sticker Manufacturing Websites are very good to buy from when starting out, because you can order very low quantities. Vograce has an MOQ of 10, which is veeery low. 

So if you are not sure which design will sell well at the beginning I would recommend you to buy from these websites.

More possible sticker & merch websites:

Zap! creatives (Stickers, Keychains, Pins)

The Enamel Pin Factory (Enamel Pins, Embroidered Patches)

Washi Mill (Washi Tape)

When you plan to buy a biiiiiig stock of stickers or need more customization to sticker sheet sizing or maybe clear sticker sheets I would recommend searching for a specific manufacturer, which brings us to the second option:

2nd: Searching for a manufacturer on Alibaba 

Alibaba.com is a website, where you can find manufacturers for custom products like sticker sheets, suncatchers, washi tape, and nearly everything else you want to sell in your shop. 

The big problem with Alibaba is that the companies there have very big MOQs. So most of the time when you want to order a custom design you have to order 500 or more. But of course, one item is getting very cheap when buying so much. 

So when you want to buy something from an Alibaba manufacturer just search for the product (including custom) in the search bar and you will see A LOT of possible companies. 

First, check the reviews! Very important! 

I would recommend chatting with a couple of companies and checking for their MOQ and how they print the products, and just see if you like them.

It's also very important to check for the shipping, so don´t forget that! 

I would also recommend asking for a product catalog with photos of the products they already made. 

And if it´s possible then order samples!

Finding a good manufacturer on Alibaba definitely takes a lot of time and effort, but I think it´s a very good option for special products.

Lastly, something important I want to mention here:

Do not order from Awesome Merchandise!

I´m not sure if you already heard it: 

"Awesome Merchandise", a big merch company where I also ordered products often, ENTERED BANKRUPTCY!

The thing is that they still take orders, and take money but don´t fulfill the orders!

So please don´t order from them! A lot of other creators are waiting for months for their purchased products. Awesome Merchandise is not responding to their messages and they are not getting the money back.

This is really really sad because this company had A LOT of amazing products. And I can´t find a lot of their products from other manufacturers...

Hopefully, this gives you a bit of insight into buying from manufacturers! 

I know that most of the creators out there are not sharing their manufacturers, but that´s just because when you search on Alibaba it really takes days or weeks to find a good one. I haven´t tried any manufacturer on Alibaba for now, but when I will share it here for my Creative Club Patrons 🧡

The next Parts of this series are the following:

Part 3: Setting up an Etsy Shop + what’s important on Etsy

Part 4: How to make good product photos + a bit of editing insights

Part 5: Ways to advertise your shop

🧡🧡🧡