Does anyone have an opinion on which is best to start with? pros/cons? And what about others like Gelato? Also, if I wanted to create "different" products from the ones on these POD sites ( which are very generic products that differentiate themselves only by the design), what would be the process?

Welcome to Merch Makers! The community created to help POD sellers everywhere learn, create, and grow their online business! Put yourself out there, and connect with your fellow sellers as we all embark on the journey of growing our e-commerce business. Take a few minutes and introduce yourself by telling everyone: 👉🏻 Your name and where you’re from 👉🏻 Where you are in your POD journey 👉🏻 What products or niches you’re interested in 👉🏻 Your biggest goal for your business 👉🏻 One thing you’d love help with inside the community Once you’ve introduced yourself, scroll through the comments and welcome a few other Merch Makers! You may find someone working toward the same goal as you. We’re so excited to have you here. Let’s start selling some merch! 🤝

I have built a self-documenting AI system for my Etsy shops around external tools such as MyDesigns, Photoshop, ListingView, GPT-Image-2, and Midjourney. The system can be adapted to use different tools. If you are patient and explain what you are replacing, the AI can help rebuild that part of the workflow around your preferred tool. MyDesigns is primarily for uploads of the XLSX outputs at the end of the process. I use Photoshop because I have been working with it since version 0.9 and can automate it to do almost anything. I still handle the background knockouts, upscaling, and positioning manually because that gives me one final opportunity to inspect every piece of artwork. Most images take about 30 seconds, so I can process roughly 120 images per hour. ListingView, along with its Etsy browser extension, is my canonical research source. I use GPT-Image-2 and Midjourney through APIFrame for image generation, choosing between them based on the needs of each design. The AI uses browser control to research and run Etsy searches. The system can start with niches, sub-niches, lists of possible T-shirt designs, or even a conversation with the AI in voice mode. It turns those inputs into evidence-backed T-shirt designs packaged and ready for upload. I like to spend a few hours on Monday coming up with niche ideas, talking through them with the AI while the AI provides research backing to my questions. My part of the process is to provide direction, approve the important decisions, complete the background dropouts in the upload directories, and upload the finished XLSX packages into an Etsy upload tool. That tool applies a few template additions to the Description field only. You could automate the background removal and uploads as well, but I prefer to review every design and upload myself. This is not just a collection of scripts. It is a specific, gate-driven work process in which I approve the research, ideas, and outputs before the system moves to the next stage. I treat the AI like a very talented junior employee. During the design phase, for example, I can tell it to try a different direction, attach reference designs, provide unique phrases, or ask it to revise a concept before continuing.

Hi, I am new here. I love making my own designs, walking my dogs and a lot more. I hope to get a lot of knowledge and a workable system for POD one Etsy here. If you want to connect, feel free to message me. Baukje from Holland

Biggest listing publishing day to date! 43 new listings up - mostly graphics. Loving the mockup creator in ListingView as it has saved me HOURS of work.