Youtuber Merch: The Ultimate Guide To Selling with Spreadshop

The #1 free platform for your Youtube Merch since….well, since Youtube even began!

There’s a reason that Spreadshop has been the number one choice for youtuber merch. You might have known us by the name “Spreadshirt”, but our “shop” service is what helped many early Youtube stars level up their channels and make a living from their income. Sometimes even well beyond their ad revenue! We often post tips and strategies for Youtubers on our blog.

How to level up your youtuber merch game?

You have your designs and creative ideas, but now you need somewhere to sell them! Well, here’s some excellent news for you. Spreadshop has collaborated with YouTube so you can now sell your custom clothing and other merch accessories directly on your channel with Merch Shelf. (more on that later) You will always make money with every sale while the folks here at Spreadshop handle the production, shipping, payment processing, and customer service.

Before too long, you will be wowing your fans with the type of youtuber merch they expect from their favorite creators. Hopefully, they will be encouraged to buy your merch and show their friends. It’s a great feeling when you see your fans wearing your merchandise!

Youtuber Merch: Getting Started with Spreadshop

To get started, head over to our registration page, and sign up. It only takes a few seconds, and before you know it, your shop will be ready and waiting for your wonderful designs. Seriously, it’s the fastest shop registration out there. Oh, and it’s always free. Always.

We’re also official partners with YouTube, so if you’re looking to create merchandise directly on your channel, or under your videos,  we have all the tools you need to help you succeed there. (more on that in a minute.)

Creating your Youtuber Merch for your channel

Whether you have one design or over a hundred designs, you can easily upload them them into your account with a drag and drop. You can instantly add your designs to clothing & accessories of your choice, over 140 products you can offer through your YouTube channel. We have something for every one of your subscribers, whether they know it yet or not, so be sure to explore our product range to get a closer look at what we have available.

What is the best selling youtuber merch?

The answer may surprise you! While it’s tempting to want to go with higher end products, the best selling merch on Youtube is the classic standard t-shirt! We have even seen our top Youtuber shop owners like Brandon Farris decide to only sell one product at a time. This also can create both a sense of urgency and a focus on your merchandise to make the design even more special for your subscribers.

After choosing something from our product range, a number of editing options are available to you for customizing your product. Click on the item in question, then customize the design, change the product color if you want to, and choose the print area.

After completing your product, you should describe the design as accurately as possible to help Google and other search engines find what you have created. Choose the appropriate keywords to increase the chances of people finding your products online. If you need help with SEO for your shop, check out this article.

You can learn more in our article on creating YouTube merchandise products.

After creating merchandise for your YouTube channel, you then need to activate your shop, and choose the products that you want to appear under your YouTube videos with the merch shelf feature (more on this in a moment). It can take up to five days for your products to appear under your YouTube videos during their review process, but you can use this time to set up your shop to suit your followers.

Keep an eye on the Partner Area, as this is where you will be informed about your first sales. Make sure you enter your preferred payment details so you can get paid! You’d be surprised how many youtubers miss this part!

Tailoring youtuber merch to fit your subscribers

What’s the best selling youtuber merch? It can vary. You know your subscribers better than anyone (well, except perhaps their moms), so create merch designs with your followers in mind. After all, if you want them to buy it, you do need to keep their tastes and quirks in mind. Text designs are very popular, especially when they are about a catchphrase or an inside joke unique to your channel, but pick whatever you think is best.

You don’t have to go through the design process alone. Collaborate with any designers or artists you know, and if you don’t know any, use sites such as Fiverr and 99 Designs to find somebody who can help you.

Take inspiration from what others have designed too. Check out these examples that have been created by some of our talented Spreadshop users and visit design websites online for more ideas. You might even want to get in touch with your subscribers. What would they like to see? What would they like to wear? Talk to them and perhaps even collaborate with those that have an eye for creative detail.

What Is Merch Shelf?

Okay, so we mentioned merch shelf a moment ago, but what exactly is it? Well, this is the tool that will showcase your merch directly under your videos. It creates a ‘Store’ tab on your YouTube channel and lets you add up to 12 products. Fantastic, yes? Sure it is, though you do need to meet certain requirements to use the YouTube merch shelf.

Youtube Merch shelf requirements

To use the YouTube merch shelf, you need to meet the following eligibility rules.

• Your channel must have more than 1,000 subscribers
• Your channel must be approved for “monetization”
• Your channel is not marked as made for kids
• The YouTube partner program is available in your region

If you don’t meet YouTube’s requirements, fear not! You can still open a Spreadshop and sell your fan merch, even if you don’t have the YouTube merch shelf. You can make money on your merchandise by linking your Spreadshop in your video description and ‘about’ page, as well as on other places around your YouTube page. We will then produce your products print on demand while you concentrate on your content and your YouTube community.

You might be surprised to learn that even top Youtube sellers have reported to us that they sell more through the link in their video descriptions than on their official Merch Shelf. It really all depends on your audience.

Why aren’t my products showing up on YouTube?

Having met all the requirements for YouTube merchandise and prepared your products for import from Spreadshop to YouTube, they should show up on your merch shelf within 3-5 days, sometimes sooner. YouTube checks each product to ensure they are compliant with their community guidelines so you have to expect this waiting period. You can check the progress of your merch review in the monetization tab in your YouTube studio at any time. If, for whatever reason, your product was rejected because it’s against YouTube guidelines, you will find that out in the tab.

Connect Spreadshop With YouTube

To connect your Speadshop with YouTube, you need to head over to the YouTube Creator Studio. If you meet all of the requirements we listed above, you will be able to see the category ‘Monetization.’ Simply click on this, then click ‘Start Now,’ and choose Spreadshop as your merch shop.

With merch shelf, your subscriber community will have direct access to the products you want to sell. If you don’t meet the requirements for merch shelf, you can link to Spreadshop in your video details, the channel header, and in your ‘about’ section.

Heads up! If you are eligible for merch shelf but you can’t see it below your video, it might be because of your ad blocker. You may need to disable this for the merch shelf to appear.

Earning Money With Your YouTube Merchandise

The great thing about YouTube Merchandise is that it doesn’t impact your other YouTube revenue streams. YouTube Merchandise simply offers you an additional way to make money, and to make your channel even more attractive for your fans. You might even get a few more subscribers as a result!

Set your own prices

With YouTube Merchandise, you can directly influence your earning. Every product in your Spreadshop will have a fixed Base Price, but you can set the retail price for each product individually in the Shop settings: (Prices & Promos > Shop pricing). The difference between retail price and the base price is your margin, and your margin will determine your earnings.

You can increase your earnings if you sell lots of products in one month. Okay, so we know that is rather stating the obvious, but there is another way to boost your profits. At Spreadshop, we reduce the base price in seven successive sales tiers if you make enough monthly sales, so this is one way to increase your profit margin. You won’t find this kind of feature anywhere else for Youtube merchandise. That’s why Top Youtubers can earn more with Spreadshop than any free merchandise platform today. We’re awesome like that.

Share your promo campaigns to supercharge your sales

We regularly offer promo campaigns and you can pass these onto your fans. These include free shipping and 15% off everything promotions, and you can access these by heading to the promo campaign section within the shop settings: (Prices & Promos > Promo campaigns). You can attract more buyers and earn more money this way so plan your promo campaigns at a time that suits you.

Pro Tips for Marketing Your Youtuber Merch

After creating your merch, you then need to do all you can to promote it. Thankfully, if you are eligible for merch shelf, you will have something beneath your video to attract your fans and subscribers. You should also add links to your Spreadshop from within your video content and in the ‘About’ section of your channel. But there is always more you can do, including the following.

Youtuber Merch Pro Tip #1: Wear your merch in your videos

To show your fans how confident you are in what you’re selling, wear your merch in your videos. You don’t necessarily need to model it, of course, as you can simply wear your clothing while you’re hosting your video. You should still give it a shout out though because if people like what you’re wearing, they will naturally want to know where they can buy it. Point out your merch shelf or link while chatting to your community and flag up any promotions you might be running.

Youtuber Merch Pro Tip #2: Announce the launch of your merch with a video

If you want people to get excited about your youtuber merch, you’ve got to get excited about it too. When your Spreadshop is ready for business, let people know. Use your best creative ideas to attract the attention of your fans and get ready to show lots of enthusiasm for your merch. You don’t want to turn your video into an advert, of course, as you might turn off your subscribers. Keep your voice genuine, be yourself, and perhaps follow this example for your launch video. Be sure to host similar videos every time you have a new product line that you want people to hear about. Look at how great EMKFit’s videos turn out!

Youtuber Merch Pro Tip #3: Promote your discounts

One of the big reasons many creators choose us for their youtuber merch are the running promotions we offer. You can always find the in your user dashboard. People love a bargain so they might be more willing to buy if you can entice them with a promotion. You can announce these discount sales on all of your social media accounts, with links back to your YouTube channel or directly to your Spreadshop. Pin a comment about current promotions in your current videos (remember to remove it when it is no longer happening) and make mentions of your promo deals in the comments section of your videos and in the YouTube Community tab.

Youtuber Merch Pro Tip #4: Create click and shop moments for your merch on YouTube

You can promote your Spreadshop as a card on the end screen of each of your videos. When you link to it there, your viewers will be able to click on it directly and check out your merch! Hopefully, they will be keen to get busy with their bank cards too!

Youtuber Merch Pro Tip #5: Get your subscribers involved

You can hype up your youtuber merch by getting your subscribers involved. You could encourage them to wear your merch in their own videos, perhaps by offering them a discount on the item they are promoting. You could also collaborate on a design with your subscribers during a live stream or host a design competition and pick a winner! You could create polls in the YouTube Community tab too, and you could do the same using your other social platforms with a link back to your YouTube channel.

Want to know even more about selling merch on Youtube?

We hope these tips and strategies have been helpful to you and that you soon start to make money from the merch you create. We’re sure this is the start of something great, but if you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask. Our team is super accessible on all of our social channels, or drop us a line. Leave us a comment below if you feel we haven’t covered something and we will get back to you as soon as you can. Alternatively, visit our help pages, check out our FAQ page, or visit our YouTube channel for a plethora of tutorial content to held guide you on your journey in winning the Youtube merch game!