Questions and answers – we’ve got plenty of both! While we have a Help page filled with questions and answers galore, there are a few we get quite often. And we’d like to give them a little room to breathe here.
This article was updated in January, 2019.
Shop
How does Spreadshop work?
Opening a Spreadshop store for your merch is very easy. You’ll be able to choose the designs and products you want to put up for sale, and you earn money every time a purchase is made!
We store the products for you, and we’ll print the items as soon as a customer orders them via your Shop. For you, this means there is absolutely no risk or obligation involved – it’s 100% free. We take care of payment, shipping and customer service. All you have to do is create products and designs, put them up for sale in your Shop, and promote your Shop and products on social media. Take a look at how this can be accomplished.
To create an online Shop, click here. Enter your registration information, and you can immediately start your online business by uploading designs and creating your products.
How do I create products for my Shop?
The product creation process is particularly easy:
Go to the “Designs” menu in the left column to import a design, choose and edit all wanted products for that design, and enter all the necessary information and tags. Watch this tutorial to see how quickly this task can be completed.
Is Spreadshop really free?
Yes, having your own Spreadshop is completely free. Since we only print products on demand (see more information here), you have no expenses.
What is the price of a product composed of?
The price of a Spreadshop product consists of:
- Product base price (without printing)
- Printing cost
- Your commission (consisting of Design Price, Affiliate Commission and Volume Commission)
How do I integrate the Shop with my website?
Your Spreadshop can easily be integrated with any website. It’s simple to integrate it into WordPress or Joomla. Depending on what you want to do, some knowledge of HTML, CSS or JavaSript may be required. Please use JavaScript to integrate the Shop with your website.
In “Sales Channels” > “Edit” > “Advanced Settings” > “Shop Settings” > “Embed Shop in Website,” you will find all the necessary information. You’ll also find information on less complicated ways of integrating your Spreadshop into your website.
What is the difference between Spreadshop and Marketplace?
Spreadshop offers you the opportunity to have a free merchandising shop (and URL) that can easily be integrated into your website. You are the manager, and you choose the products and designs that you want to offer. It is up to you to advertise and market your Shop so that your products can be found by customers. With each sale, you will receive the design price and Affiliate Commission on generated sales, set at 20% of the cost of printing and products. Depending on the number of products sold, you can even earn more with the Volume Commission.
The Marketplace is part of the Spreadshirt site. It is a great platform on which creative minds can offer their designs. You can simultaneously have a Shop while selling your designs on the Marketplace. As for the Marketplace, you don’t have to worry about marketing, since thousands of visitors browse and buy on the Marketplace every day. In addition to choosing the design, the customer selects the product on which the design will be printed. The design can also be adjusted on the product, and customers can even change the size and (sometimes) the colour. With every design you sell, you will receive the design price you set.
To find out which sales channel is most appropriate for your needs, take a look at this article.
Can I customise the Shop layout?
It is entirely possible to adapt the layout of your Shop. You can activate your own start page, import a logo for the header and choose a colour theme. It is also possible to determine your own colour palette. More advanced users can use the “HTML and CSS” option to customise the Shop. You can also make adjustments to the header and footer in the checkout area.
Do you offer white label shops?
Yes, that’s standard. The Spreadshirt logo will not appear on your Shop. It allows you to add your personal touch the way you see fit. The only mention of Spreadshirt is in the footer (“Powered by Spreadshirt”), which you can eliminate via CSS.
Designs and products
Can I work on several products at the same time?
Yes, that’s possible.
You need to select the relevant designs (by checking the box at the top right of the design preview), and on the top left you will be able to edit design keywords and Design Price (you can also delete unwanted designs). For the products, you can use our great template functionality, allowing you to save recurring work steps for all your products.
Why was my design refused?
There are many reasons for rejecting a design. The most common reason is that the lines of the vector graphics are too thin. If the lines are too thin, the design can’t be printed properly, or the print may deteriorate after several washes. It is also possible that designs violate copyrights (e.g. trademarks or word marks). You will find a list of reasons for refusal in our FAQ section for partners.
Commission
How does the commission system work?
Depending on the distribution channel (Marketplace or Spreadshop), you’ll find different types of commission (see the question “What is the difference between Spreadshop and the Spreadshirt Marketplace?”).
Regardless of the chosen distribution channel, you always receive the design price. You’ll also set the amount you want to receive for each sale. The design price can be set up to $15. We advise you, however, to take heed of how some of our more popular designers price their designs.
If you have a Shop and sell a product, there are two additional types of commission:
- The Affiliate Commission on sales generated. This is 20% on the price of the product and printing (after deduction of tax that the customer pays to Spreadshirt).
- The Volume Commission on sales. If you sell more than 26 products in a matter of a bonus period (one month), you receive a bonus ranging from 0.5 to 40% of the price of the product and the printing.
You will find all information on commission types in our help center.
Why have my commissions still not been paid, and how do payments work?
The amount of commissions generated by sales can only be paid to partners who have correctly stated their name, address and bank account details (we also accept PayPal). As soon as the minimum balance has been reached, all commissions earned are paid out once a month, regardless of the distribution channels or the commission type. We begin accounting for your fees no later than the 15th day of the following month. It may take up to two weeks for the money to be in your account. Therefore, you’d receive the money earned in e.g. October by the end of November.
Payments are only made if you have reached the minimum balance. The latter depends on the currency you have chosen. If the chosen currency is the dollar, payment will be made when the accumulated credit amounts to $10 (minimum).
Taxation
Do I need to register a business?
Unfortunately, we can’t make any blanket statements here. Factors here depend on your personal and professional situation. If in doubt, please refer the matter to a tax consultant.
Why do I need to enter my tax identification number (TIN)?
Spreadshirt requires the tax identification number (TIN) of partners with a residence (or company headquarters) outside Germany. This is due to two reasons: we are required by German tax regulations to collect information about your tax status. Moreover, as a company headquartered in Germany, it is our duty to identify our Partners (Shop Partners and Designers).
§50a of the German Income Tax Act determines the withholding tax on beneficiaries of abroad payments. The withholding tax is a deduction at source, the amount of which depends on whether or not there is a double taxation agreement between your country and Germany. You will find more information about this in this article.
Please note that if you don’t correctly indicate your tax identification number (TIN), we will have to deduct 15% withholding tax from your design price earnings plus a 5.5% solidarity tax on the withholding tax (mandatory in Germany).
Did not find all the answers to your questions? Visit our FAQ section for Partners or email us at partner@spreadshirt.net.
Hi I noticed you out an Iban code for bank but I have a few accounts within my bank account. I couldn’t see a place where you can specify and account code and sort code so I can specify which exact account tthe money goes into
Are the designs copyright?
Hi John,
of course you get to keep all the rights for your designs. We only use and sell them for you. You always have the right to take them down whenever you want.
Best,
Ben
Hello! I was just wondering, why does spreadshirt need my home address before I can submit any designs? I just need to make sure I’m not going to be sent anything, as my home address does not have a mailbox (I use a P.O. box.)
Thanks in advanced, I hope you have a good day! 😀
Hi Ari,
please write an e-mail to partner@spreadshirt.net. My colleagues can help you with your question.
Best,
Sandra
When you make your own products does the first time u make some get sent to ur house or do u have to pay?
Hi Isabelle,
you have to pay, but if you order while you’re logged in then you only pay the base price. We also suggest you wait until there’s a promotion like free shipping or 15% off everything so it gets even cheaper. For more shop related questions please ask our colleagues in the Spreadshop Forum.
Greetings,
Sandra
Hi
How do I get a TIN in the UK or any other taxation information in order to sell my designs on Speadshirt?
Thank you
Hello Rik,
please see the following links for information about the TIN and other taxation related topics:
https://help.spreadshirt.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207194399-Taxation-of-Your-Earnings
https://help.spreadshirt.com/hc/en-gb/articles/212640345-Withholding-Tax-on-Design-Price-Earnings
https://help.spreadshirt.com/hc/en-gb/articles/207905515-Payment-of-Your-Earnings
You can also use our Forum for additional information or discuss topics with other designers.
Best regards,
Sandra
Can you put more than one design on one product?
You can indeed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7yNpsQjPBY
What is the story with the Tax Number if I am in Australia?
What is the difference for an Australian based designer regarding setting the “shipping from” location in either the US or Europe?
Hi Steven
What do you mean exactly with “shipping from”? If you’re based in Australia, then you should open your shop here: https://www.spreadshop.com/ on our American platform.
Moreover you’ll need to fill in your TIN number (https://www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-exchange/crs-implementation-and-assistance/tax-identification-numbers/Australia-TIN.pdf) and fill out a W-8-BEN form.
Best,
Lena
Best,
Lena
I do not know English, but I make an effort, the products come with personalized labels where the name says and other details
Hi Rafael,
Unfortunately at this point in time we are not able to produce products with your own customized labels in the back of products.
Thanks for your understanding,
Lena
How on earth do I order my own designs that are in my ‘shop’? Would be very helpful to know how to do this rather than having to create from scratch each time!!
(Obvioulsy I don’t want to pay my own ‘design’ commission, that would make no sense either!)
If you buy from your Shop while being logged in your account the design price is automatically deducted. Enjoy!
Hello, I’ve successfully created my store and I’m almost ready to launch. I saw that shipping out of the US is very expensive. How do I create an EU store and link it to my existing store?
Hi Yanula,
In EU you open your shop here: https://www.spreadshirt.co.uk/spreadshop
In US you open your shop here: https://www.spreadshop.com
You can link your shops in your Shop admin under: Advanced Settings > Language & currency > Link to your North American/European Shop
Hope this helps 🙂
Best,
Lena
Hi! Why are my products priced differently in the Marketplace in differently in my Shop, even though there’s one set price for both?
That has probably to do with the commission structure. Can you please send me the links of both marketplace and shop products?
Thanks 🙂
I know you mention a change in the platform for accounts which were created after October 2016, but the new system is way more restricted. A friend of mine has the platform before Oct 2016 and you can create products with more flexibility to add different designs of your own work front and back and in the store you can simply select the colour of the product and purchase.. The new system just puts your own design on the front with no option to add a different design to the back and you have to select the colour on creation. The store is very poor in comparison also.. if you try to create a shirt you cant select any of your own designs and you only have a selection of stuff which have been created elsewhere taking away the personal/custom aspect which the older accounts have… 🙁
Hi Colin,
Thanks for your feedback. The new account is constantly being updated with awesome features and soon you’ll also have control over every single product. For example in the new account, products are automatically created with just a few clicks, you can publish your designs internationally to all our marketplaces, we offer posters, we have a great new page for statistics, and many more cool features that do not exist in the “old world”. Moreover, the old world is not being developed anymore.
Best,
Lena
How do I get a tax number if I’m unemployed and trying to start this going and if I can’t get one what will happen to my sales ie how much will be deducted and to what authority gets a percentage of the sale? And do we get proof that it’s been paid to them
Hi Lynda, just to make sure I get it right: in which country do you currently live?
How can I have a shop in english if I live in Norway?
OR do I have to register a shop in each country (Norway is not a member of EC). and then need heaps of mail adresses to do that?
Please guide.
Hi Morten,
Yes you can normally register for a shop on our norwegian site: https://www.spreadshirt.no/start-selge-C5780 and in the shop settings (before you create products/sell anything) you can have your shop in EN with Norwegian Krone. Hope this helps 🙂
Best,
Lena
If you don’t have a tax no. then you take out a higher percentage for a sale that I make?
Hi Natasha,
as someone doing business with us you should get a tax number 🙂
If you cannot provide us with your tax number, then indeed we will have to transfer a percentage of your commission to the tax authorities.
Best,
Lena
I’ll be honest, I am confused as heck about creating products for the shop. I am able to make a design for a shop.
I was able to make a shirt with a front and back design on the home page under ‘create’ but in the shop it seems to only allow one side shirt designs. Then I don’t see how to save it to the shop to sell.
Is there a walk through somewhere? Your videos don’t address it and I can’t find anything that is clearing this up.
Please follow the instructions here (there’s an onboarding helper) by clicking open your own shop –> https://www.spreadshirt.co.uk/spreadshop
I did and it didn’t answer any of my questions. You get to the end of designing a product and you’re given the option of selecting how many you want to buy but not the option to save it to the shop. I also still don’t see any way to do a front and back design while inside the shop.
Sorry, but I think your interface and tutorials could use improvement.
So, I’ve got how to add a product to the shop but I still need to know how do I add a shirt with a front and back design to the shop. You can do it under the create tab, but it doesn’t give you the option of saving it into the shop. You can only share it on Facebook or email and the like.
Does the shop not allow two sided designs?
Currently you cannot add a product with a deisgn on the front and on the back in your shop or on the marketplace. The shop does not allow for two sided designs.
Best,
Lena
But you can do it as a “create” design.
You guys should really update that. It makes no sense.
These are two completely different technical systems. If you want to sell on our platform, you upload the design once and then it’s placed on all our products automatically. With two designs this automatic placement gets very complex. The use-case of using two designs on a product is so low compared to using one design, that the investment cost of creating this feature is currently not worth it. Hope this explanation helps.
Best, Lena
Like the idea of submitting designs and getting commisions for it, have to sig up then
While we don’t ship to India, you can still open an account on our platform and sell your designs. Your commission can be paid out via PayPal. During sign up, simply select a random country from the list. If you have any questions, let us know.
WHAT IS TO BE DONE IF THE DESIGNER IS IN INDIA?