Heat press or print-on-demand for a Comfort Colors 1717 tee: a worked example
A seller moves 40 orders a month of one design on a Comfort Colors 1717 tee through print-on-demand. Most buyers take one shirt. Would a heat press and purchased transfers pay?
Public list prices checked . This is an illustration built from price lists, not a real shop's books. Put in your own numbers.
The inputs
| Line | Value | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| POD price per printed shirt | $12.65 | Printify's custom t-shirt page lists this cost for the Comfort Colors 1717 |
| POD shipping | $4.75 first, $2.50 each more | Typical US tee rates across Printify providers; first-item rates ran $3.99 to $5.49 |
| Blank shirt | $7.53 | Jiffy, colors, sizes S to XL, no minimum |
| Transfer, 11 x 11 in front | $4.50 | Suppliers listed about $6 to $8 for one, $4.45 to $5.68 at 50 pieces, $2.11 to $4.06 at 250 |
| Misprints and spoiled blanks | 3% | Assumption |
| Packaging per shipment | $0.45 | Assumption |
| Postage, one shirt | $7.69 | USPS Ground Advantage, published commercial rate, under 1 lb, zone 5, July 12, 2026 list |
| Postage per additional shirt | $1.75 | Assumption: a second heavy tee tips the package into the next weight bracket |
| Your time | 3 min a shirt, 4 min an order, 2 hr a month | Assumption, valued at $20 an hour |
| Press and tools | $600 | A mid-priced 15 x 15 in press plus cover sheets, scale and label printer |
| Orders | 40 a month, 1.2 shirts each | One order in ten also holds an item POD still ships |
One order, line by line
| POD prints 1.2 shirts | $15.18 |
| POD ships them | $5.03 |
| POD charges the seller | $20.21 |
|---|---|
| Blanks and transfers, grossed up for 3% misprints | $14.88 |
| Packaging | $0.45 |
| Postage | $8.04 |
| The seller pays in cash | $23.37 |
| Cash difference per order | −$3.17 |
| 7.6 minutes of the seller's time | $2.53 |
| Difference after time | −$5.70 |
Pressing it at home costs $3.17 more per order than print-on-demand before any time is counted. The blank and transfer together cost nearly what POD charges for the finished shirt, and the seller's own label costs about $3 more than POD's shipping charge.
Over a month
Forty orders take about 7.1 hours of pressing, packing and reordering and leave the seller $268 a month worse off than staying on POD. A $600 press has no payback. Selling more widens the gap, because every order loses money.
What would have to change
Holding everything else still, pressing starts to save money per order only if one of these happens:
- POD charges more than $17.40 a shirt instead of $12.65.
- The one-shirt label drops below $1.99 instead of $7.69.
- Blanks drop below $2.92 instead of $7.53.
- Free transfers would not be enough on their own.
Three variations
Buy transfers 250 at a time, on white shirts
With a $2.84 transfer and a $6.75 blank the cash gap almost closes: −$0.15 per order. After 7.6 minutes of time it is −$2.68. The seller is also now holding 250 transfers of one design.
The same seller on a pricier POD service
At $15.60 a shirt and $4.95 shipping, pressing saves $0.46 per order in cash and loses $2.07 after time. It only works for someone who values their hour below $3.65.
Two 20-shirt group orders a month, handed over in person
POD would charge $305.25 for each order. Pressed at home with transfers at a 50-piece price and no postage, the order costs $247.46 in cash and 64 minutes. That saves $36.46 per order after time. Two such orders a month pay off the press in about 11 months.
What this example shows
For single shirts shipped one at a time, print-on-demand is hard to beat with purchased transfers at these prices. POD providers buy blanks and postage at volume and pass part of that on. A press earns its place on the orders POD prices badly: many shirts going to one buyer, and orders that need no postage.
Run your own numbers, or see which kinds of orders change the answer.