Print-on-Demand Shipping: Printful vs Printify vs Gooten

I ordered the same custom t-shirt design from Printful, Printify, and Gooten on the same day. Same design file. Same destination. Same shirt style (unisex Bella+Canvas 3001).

Printful arrived in 6 days. Printify arrived in 8 days. Gooten arrived in 11 days.

But Gooten cost $4.20 less than Printful. And Printify's print quality was slightly better than both.

That's the print-on-demand shipping dilemma in a nutshell: no single platform wins on every metric. Your best choice depends on which trade-offs matter most for your business.

The Platforms at a Glance

The fundamental difference: Printful does most production in-house. Printify and Gooten are marketplaces that connect you to third-party print providers. This has massive implications for shipping consistency.

Shipping Costs Compared

Let me break down actual shipping costs for the most common products and destinations. These are the rates you'll pay — what you charge customers is up to you.

US Domestic Shipping (to continental US)

*Printify and Gooten costs vary by print provider. The range reflects cheapest-to-most-expensive provider options.

Printful has the most consistent shipping pricing. You know exactly what you'll pay before you route an order. Printify and Gooten's provider-dependent pricing means shipping cost varies based on which print partner fulfills the order.

International Shipping (from US to common destinations)

Printful wins on international shipping because of their multi-location fulfillment network. A UK order gets printed at their Latvia or Barcelona facility and ships locally within Europe. Printify and Gooten can do this too, but it depends on the print provider — and not all providers have local fulfillment in every region.

Production + Shipping Speed

Speed has two components: how long to print the item (production time) and how long it spends in transit (shipping time). Both matter for the total delivery experience.

Average Production Time

Printful is the fastest producer on average, and the most consistent. Their in-house facilities have standardized production workflows. Printify and Gooten's times vary because different print providers have different production capacities and priorities.

During peak season (November-December), production times across all platforms stretch by 2-5 additional days. Printful tends to handle volume better because they control their own facilities. Printify and Gooten providers can get overwhelmed.

Average Total Delivery Time (Production + Standard Shipping to US)

That "worst case" column is what your unhappiest customers will experience. On Printful, a 14-day delivery is rare and usually involves a production hiccup. On Gooten, 14+ day deliveries happen frequently enough that you need to set expectations accordingly.

Shipping Quality and Reliability

I track customer complaints across POD platforms for several stores I consult with. Here's what the complaint data looks like:

Complaint Rate by Category (per 1,000 orders)

Printful's complaint rates are roughly half of Gooten's across every category. Printify falls in the middle. This makes sense given Printful's in-house quality control versus the variability of third-party providers.

The "wrong item / misprint" category is telling. When you use Printify or Gooten, your order might be routed to a provider whose color calibration doesn't match what you see in the mockup generator. The shirt arrives and the color is slightly off, or the placement is different than expected. This happens less with Printful because their facilities use standardized equipment and calibration.

Packaging Comparison

First impressions matter, and POD packaging has improved a lot over the past few years.

Printful takes packaging the most seriously. Their poly mailers are branded (you can add your own logo on Premium plan), include tissue paper, and have your store's return address. It looks like it came from a real brand.

Printify's packaging depends entirely on the provider. Some providers (Monster Digital, for example) have excellent packaging. Others ship in generic poly mailers with the print provider's name on the return address, which can confuse customers.

Gooten's packaging is functional but unremarkable. It gets the job done but won't win any unboxing awards.

Choosing Based on Your Business Type

You're a New Seller Testing Designs

Winner: Printify

Why: Lowest product costs, widest catalog, free plan. When you're testing 50 designs to find the 5 that sell, you want the cheapest per-unit cost. Printify's provider marketplace gives you the most options at the lowest prices. The inconsistent shipping is less of a concern when you're doing low volume.

You're Scaling to 100+ Orders/Month

Winner: Printful

Why: Consistent quality and shipping speed matter more at scale. One bad review from a Printify provider with slow production can hurt your store more than the $2-3 per item savings. Printful's reliability reduces customer service time and refund rates.

At 100+ orders/month, consider Printful's Growth plan ($24.99/month or based on volume) which gives you up to 30% product discounts, pushing their pricing much closer to Printify's.

You're Focused on International Customers

Winner: Printful

Why: Their global fulfillment network (US, EU, Mexico, Japan, Australia) means international orders ship domestically in most major markets. A UK customer gets their shirt from Latvia in 3-5 days instead of 14-21 days from the US.

Printify has EU providers, but the routing is less predictable. Gooten's international network is limited.

You Sell on Etsy and Compete on Price

Winner: Printify or Gooten

Why: Etsy is price-competitive, and margins are tight. The $2-5 per item savings from Printify or Gooten gives you room to either price lower or maintain margins on lower-priced products.

Etsy customers also tend to be more patient with delivery times than Shopify customers, so the speed disadvantage matters less.

You Sell Mugs, Phone Cases, or Home Goods

Winner: Depends on the specific product

Compare all three for your specific product. Printful might be cheapest for mugs but most expensive for phone cases. Check current pricing because it changes frequently.

Shipping Rate Strategies for POD Stores

Whatever platform you choose, here's how to handle shipping pricing for your customers:

Strategy 1: Free Shipping (Baked Into Price)

Add $5-8 to your product price and offer free shipping. This works best when your products are $25+ and you sell on platforms where free shipping is a competitive advantage (Shopify, Amazon).

Example (t-shirt on Printful):

• Product cost: $14.95
• Shipping cost: $4.69
• Total cost: $19.64
• Sell at: $29.99 ("Free Shipping!")
• Margin: $10.35 (34.5%)

Strategy 2: Flat Rate Shipping

Charge a flat $3.99-4.99 shipping. You lose a small amount on heavy items and make a small amount on light items. It averages out.

Strategy 3: Real Cost Pass-Through

Show customers the exact shipping cost calculated by your POD platform. This is the most transparent but can hurt conversion if shipping seems high relative to product price.

The Production Partner Problem

Here's something that doesn't get discussed enough in POD comparisons: with Printify and Gooten, you don't control who fulfills your order.

You might set up your store, choose a provider with great reviews, and then that provider gets overwhelmed and routes your orders to a different facility. Or they raise prices. Or their quality drops. You find out when customers start complaining, not when the provider makes the change.

Printful doesn't have this problem because they own the production. If quality drops at a Printful facility, Printful's management fixes it. If quality drops at a Printify provider, that provider might not even know you're affected.

This isn't theoretical. I've watched Printify providers go from 4.8 stars to 3.2 stars over a few months, and every store using that provider got dragged down with them.

Mitigation if you use Printify/Gooten: Regularly test-order your own products. At minimum, order one of each best-selling product every quarter. If quality or speed has degraded, switch providers before your customers tell you.

My Bottom Line

If I were starting a POD store today and quality/shipping speed was my priority, I'd use Printful for domestic US orders and take advantage of their global fulfillment for international orders.

If I were starting a POD store today and margins were my priority, I'd use Printify with carefully selected providers for each product category, and I'd test-order regularly.

I wouldn't use Gooten as my primary platform in 2026. Their shipping times are too inconsistent, and the cost savings over Printify aren't significant enough to justify the customer experience trade-off. They're fine as a backup when your primary platform is out of stock on something.

Whatever you choose, build your customer-facing shipping promises around the worst case timeline, not the best case. If Printful says 2-5 days production + 3-5 days shipping, tell your customers "7-12 business days." When it arrives in 6 days, they're delighted. When it takes 10 days, they're within the window you promised. Under-promise, over-deliver. It's not sexy advice, but it's the advice that keeps your review average above 4.5 stars.