When you think about what it takes to be a profitable musician, one of the things that should come to mind is selling merch.
From t-shirts, hats, and lighters to stickers, patches, posters and more, there’s a lot of potential for significant sales through offering your merch wherever you can. So, you’re probably selling merch at your shows and at in person-events, but what about your fans who can’t make it to those shows and events?
Don’t worry, you’ve got options.
We’ve put together a list of the top websites for selling merch.
To kick it up a notch, we made sure to only include sites that won’t drain your bank account. Check ‘em out:
1. Dizzy Jam
Let’s start with a basic one. Dizzy Jam is totally free, so you get all of its easy to use features at absolutely no cost. Sounds good, huh? Design and upload your own logo, choose the merch you want it on, and Dizzy Jam will do the rest. The benefit of this one is that Dizzy Jam works specifically with a ton of musicians across many different genres, so they’ll provide you with a unique user URL so your fans can easily access your items in one convenient place, made just for you.
Sites like this are a great choice for independent artists looking for an easier, more hands-off approach to selling merch. Additionally, this process eliminates the possibility of buying too many shirts that don’t end up selling, avoiding any risk of you wasting your hard earned money.
2. Big Cartel
Big Cartel’s user-friendly dashboard is packed full of creative features for you to play with. This is great news for independent artists who might not have tons of funding or extensive experience for selling merch on larger platforms, but still want easily accessible, modern features. Through this site, any artist can create a uniquely customized and professional business presence with their online store.
With features like SEO optimization and mobile application capabilities, Big Cartel ensures you have efficient marketing tools to get the most out of your efforts. Setting up an online store with them is an easily customizable experience that can be tailored to your individual needs. There are multiple package options available, but the standard option is free of charge.
3. Shopify
The unique part of this online tool is it’s multi-functioning abilities and e-commerce software. For starters, Shopify allows artists to sell their merchandise with ease by connecting it to their other social media platforms, giving users the ability to link all their accounts, giving you a more cohesive way to sell your stuff.
For example, this’ll let you make sales via Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and even Amazon if that’s what you want. This feature is a great way to access an even larger group of fans, no matter what social network(s) they might frequent. While some of the more advanced features come at an extra cost, the benefits outweigh the higher price since it allows for a fully customizable online store, the ability to track sales and growth, and more.
4. Artist Shops
For those looking for a platform that’s a bit more visually customizable, along with the added benefits of all the other sites we’ve mentioned combined in one, this is for you. Artist Shops is totally free and has all the benefits of a fully functional e-commerce store, minus the usual hassle.
Because this site is powered by Threadless, a 16+ year old e-commerce business, you can rest assured knowing experience is on your side. Artist Shops handles the inventory, manufacturing, shipping, and customer care for you. All you have to do is create the products and spread the word.
Utilizing sites like these alleviates many issues. You don’t have to put down a ton of money on a bulk order of merch with only the hope of selling it all. There’s no longer a need for you to waste time on the customer service aspect of selling things, because these sites handle it for you. Also, the sites we’ve mentioned are free, so what do you have to lose?
Not only is this a great source of income for any independent artist or band, it’s a perfect way for all your fans who couldn’t physically buy your merch to still get in on the action. So while you might prefer the old fashion merchandise booth setup, it’s never a bad idea to try and improve your strategy.
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Need inspiration?
Check out Symphonic’s Merch Store.
