If you want truly passive print-on-demand income — upload a design, walk away, and collect royalties — your two best options in 2026 are Merch by Amazon (MBA) and Redbubble. Both handle everything from printing to shipping to customer service. You just upload designs and set a price. But which one actually puts more money in your pocket? We compared real earnings, traffic volume, product selection, and growth potential to help you decide.
"Passive income" in POD means you earn royalties without handling fulfillment. You still need to invest time creating and uploading designs. The income becomes more passive over time as your catalog grows.
Amazon Merch and Redbubble use completely different earning models. Understanding both is essential for pricing correctly.
Amazon uses a royalty model. You set a list price, Amazon deducts their production and marketplace costs, and you receive the remainder as a royalty. The royalty varies by product type and list price. Here's the standard t-shirt royalty table:
| List Price | Production Cost | Royalty (Your Earnings) | Royalty % |
|---|---|---|---|
| $15.99 | $7.32 | $1.93 | 12.1% |
| $17.99 | $7.91 | $2.71 | 15.1% |
| $19.99 | $8.51 | $3.52 | 17.6% |
| $21.99 | $9.10 | $4.32 | 19.6% |
| $24.99 | $9.99 | $5.50 | 22.0% |
| $29.99 | $11.47 | $7.04 | 23.5% |
Most sellers price between $19.99 and $24.99, earning $3.52–$5.50 per sale. The sweet spot is $19.99 — competitive enough to convert but still a decent royalty.
Redbubble uses a markup model. They set a base price for each product, and you add a percentage markup on top. The default markup is 20%, but you can set it anywhere from 0% to 1000%+. Your earning is the markup amount.
Redbubble gives you more control over your earnings, but higher markups mean higher prices, which can reduce sales volume. Most successful Redbubble sellers keep markups between 20–30% for apparel.
Let's compare what you actually earn per sale at a roughly equivalent $19.99 retail price:
| Metric | Amazon Merch | Redbubble | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Price | $19.99 | $19.20 (20% markup) | Similar |
| Your Earning Per Sale | $3.52 | $3.20 | Amazon Merch |
| Monthly Traffic (est.) | ~200M visits | ~20M visits | Amazon Merch |
| Product Types | 13 | 70+ | Redbubble |
| Application Required? | Yes (invitation only) | No (open to all) | Redbubble |
| Buyer Trust | Very high (Amazon brand) | Moderate | Amazon Merch |
| Seller Control | Low (Amazon controls pricing display) | Moderate (set markup %) | Redbubble |
| Payout Threshold | None (direct deposit) | $20 minimum | Amazon Merch |
Per-sale earnings are similar — Amazon pays slightly more ($3.52 vs $3.20). But the real difference is traffic. Amazon has roughly 10x the monthly traffic of Redbubble. Higher traffic means more potential buyers seeing your designs, which typically translates to more sales overall.
Amazon Merch is heavily focused on apparel. You can sell t-shirts, long-sleeve shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, tank tops, raglan shirts, V-necks, PopSockets, phone cases, tote bags, throw pillows, and a few other products — about 13 total types.
Redbubble offers over 70 product types including stickers (their best seller), phone cases, mugs, posters, art prints, home décor items like shower curtains and duvet covers, laptop skins, notebooks, and much more. The sticker market on Redbubble is enormous — many sellers report that stickers generate more revenue than t-shirts.
Stickers on Redbubble are a goldmine. The base price is low (~$1.30), and at a 50% markup ($1.95 retail), your earning is $0.65 per sticker. That sounds tiny, but stickers sell in much higher volume than apparel. Some sellers move 500+ stickers per month.
Amazon is the world's largest online marketplace with approximately 200 million unique monthly visitors in the US alone. When someone searches for "funny cat shirt" on Amazon, your Merch design competes for that traffic. Amazon's search algorithm heavily rewards sales velocity — once a design starts selling, it climbs the rankings and gets shown to more buyers.
Redbubble gets roughly 20 million monthly visitors globally. It's a niche marketplace for independent artists, and buyers come specifically looking for unique, creative designs. The competition is different — you're competing against other independent artists rather than major brands. Redbubble's SEO also extends to Google, meaning your designs can appear in Google Image searches and Google Shopping results.
This is the biggest practical difference between the two platforms:
For new POD sellers, Redbubble is far more accessible. You can start earning immediately while waiting for your Amazon Merch application to be approved.
Scaling on each platform requires different approaches:
Both platforms have strict intellectual property policies, but enforcement differs:
Never upload trademarked phrases, logos, or copyrighted characters to either platform. On Amazon Merch, a single IP violation can get your entire account terminated with no appeal. Always use the USPTO trademark search tool before uploading text-based designs.
Choose Amazon Merch if: You have access (approved application), you want the highest per-sale royalties on apparel, and you're willing to slowly tier up. Best for sellers who focus on keyword-optimized evergreen designs in niches with consistent demand.
Choose Redbubble if: You want to start immediately, you want to sell across 70+ product types (especially stickers), and you prefer a creative, artist-focused community. Best for sellers who produce high volumes of original artwork and want to monetize designs across many product formats.
Absolutely — and you should. The same design can be uploaded to both Amazon Merch and Redbubble simultaneously. There's no exclusivity requirement on either platform. Most serious POD sellers upload to 3–5 marketplaces: Amazon Merch, Redbubble, TeePublic, Etsy (with Printify/Printful), and their own Shopify store.
A practical workflow: Create a design, upload to Redbubble first (instant), then upload to Amazon Merch. Use Redbubble as your testing ground — if a design gets traction there, prioritize it on Amazon where the traffic volume can multiply your earnings.
For maximum passive income potential, Amazon Merch wins on per-sale earnings and traffic volume. A single bestselling design on Amazon can generate $500–$2,000+ per month because of the massive buyer pool. However, the invitation barrier and slow tiering system mean it takes months to build a meaningful catalog.
Redbubble is the better starting point for new sellers. Open access, instant listing, 70+ product types, and a strong sticker market make it easy to start earning quickly. The total income potential is lower per design, but the ability to upload unlimited designs from day one means you can build a large catalog fast.
Our recommendation: Start on Redbubble today. Apply for Amazon Merch immediately. Use Redbubble to build your catalog and learn what sells while you wait for MBA approval. Once approved, upload your best-performing Redbubble designs to Amazon and scale from there.