Who each one suits
Merch on Demand suits a designer who wants Amazon's shoppers: you upload artwork, Amazon reviews it, lists it, prints it, ships it and handles the buyer, and you collect a royalty each month.
Merch5 suits someone whose buyers already know them: a creator, a band, a podcast, a business. You get your own store, a widget for your site and production by Customnia in New York, and you decide the price and the margin.
The core difference is control. On Amazon, Amazon sets the royalty, the upload limit and the rules, and the customer is Amazon's. On Merch5 the store, the price and the audience are yours, and so is the work of bringing people to it.
Merch by Amazon vs. Merch5 at a glance
Merch on Demand facts come from Amazon's own pages for the program at the time of writing (November 2026).
| Merch on Demand | Merch5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to start | Free account; no upfront costs | $0. No subscription and no setup fee; selling is free on every plan |
| Getting listed | Amazon reviews every design before it is listed; original artwork only | Sign up and publish. No card and no contract |
| How many designs | Upload limits by tier: new accounts start small and the limit grows with sales | No tier system on your uploads |
| How you earn | A royalty: your list price minus Amazon's costs and tax, calculated by Amazon | You set the retail price; printing and shipping come out of each paid order and the rest is yours |
| Platform cut | Built into the royalty Amazon calculates | 0% platform cut of your margin |
| Where buyers come from | Amazon search and recommendations, next to every other shirt on Amazon | You bring them: your link, your website widget, a QR code |
| Your store | Product pages on Amazon; buyers are Amazon's customers | A storefront at yourstore |
| Buyer service | Amazon handles production, shipping and customer service | Buyers write to support@merch5.com about orders: tracking, address changes, faulty prints |
| Minimums | None | One item |
| Production | Amazon prints and ships each order | Printed and embroidered by Customnia in New York. Tracked shipping to 100+ countries |
| Payouts | Royalties paid monthly through the Merch on Demand portal | On request, to PayPal or your bank account, no minimum |
Merch on Demand facts from amazon.com/earn-with-amazon-merch and developer.amazon.com/apps-and-games/merch at the time of writing (November 2026). Amazon sets and revises royalties itself; the current rate for each product is in your Merch on Demand account.
Merch on Demand or Merch5: which one fits
Pick Merch on Demand if
- You want your designs in front of Amazon's shoppers
- You publish many niche designs and let search find the winners
- You are happy for Amazon to set the royalty and own the customer
- You never want to answer a buyer's email
- You are already approved and past the first upload tiers
Pick Merch5 if
- Your buyers already follow you, visit your site or come to your shows
- You want to set the price and keep the margin, with 0% to the platform
- You want your own store under your own brand, with no approval queue
- You want the store inside your website as a widget
- You want payouts on request to PayPal or your bank, with no minimum
Try Merch5 next to Merch on Demand
Keep your Amazon listings. Give your own audience a store you control.
Upload the same artwork
Pick products and set prices. The production cost is shown next to each one, so you see your margin before you publish.
Share it where people already are
Post the link, print the QR code or paste the widget into your site. Compare what one sale leaves you in each.
Merch by Amazon vs. Merch5 questions
Yes. Amazon now calls the program Amazon Merch on Demand; many sellers and guides still use the old name, Merch by Amazon.
Amazon says your royalty is based on the list price you set, less Amazon's costs and any applicable tax, and pays it monthly. Amazon calculates the royalty for each product and price and has revised its royalty terms over the years, so check the current figure in your Merch on Demand account before you rely on it.
On Merch5 you set the retail price, printing and shipping come out of each paid order, and everything above that is your margin, with 0% taken by the platform. The production cost is shown next to each product before you publish, so you know your margin per sale up front.
No. That reach is the main reason to use Merch on Demand, and Merch5 does not offer it. Merch5 is a store you send people to: a link, a widget on your site or a QR code.
No. Sign up at app.merch5.com with no card and no contract, upload your artwork and publish. Merch on Demand reviews every design before it goes live, and new accounts start with a small upload limit that grows with sales.
Yes. Many sellers keep Merch on Demand for Amazon shoppers and send their own followers to a store they control. Opening a Merch5 store costs nothing, so you can run both and compare.
On Merch on Demand, Amazon handles production, shipping and customer service. On Merch5, buyers write to support@merch5.com about orders: tracking, address changes, faulty prints.
Customnia prints and embroiders every order in New York and ships it with tracking to 100+ countries.
Your price. Your margin. Your store.
Free to open, printed per order, paid out when you ask.