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# [Journey] Tumblers After T-Shirts: The Product Type That Didn't Sell
- URL: https://pixelsnprofits.com/print-on-demand-tumblers-worth-it/
- Published: 2026-10-24T11:24:56.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T11:24:56.000Z
- Author: Nick T
- Tags: Print On Demand

Version three of my workflow was built, and it worked. Products went up fast, so the next move was the next product type, and after t-shirts I had a few lessons to carry into it.

I picked tumblers. They seemed close enough to mugs that my mug designs could move straight over, which meant less work each time I scaled into another product type. So I ran everything the same way I had for [t-shirts](https://pixelsnprofits.com/print-on-demand-t-shirts-amazon/), with what I'd learned from them, and the products were posted quickly.

If you're weighing up tumblers for your own store, what happened next is the useful part.

They didn't do well.

**Not nearly what I expected.**

Two things explain it, and I only worked them out afterwards.

---

## The demand was never there

Tumblers get a lot of searches. That was easy to see, and it was the wrong thing to look at. The people searching for tumblers were looking for a Stanley or a Yeti, not a funny tumbler to give as a gift.

> The product type had the searches. The print on demand version of it didn't.

So before any new product type now, the demand check has three parts.

**Search the print on demand version of the product, not the product.** "Tumbler" tells you nothing about whether anyone wants a tumbler with a design on it. "Funny tumbler" does. The search volume check I run on a niche is written up [here](https://pixelsnprofits.com/validate-print-on-demand-niche/), and on a whole product type it only works with the right search term.

**Check it in more than one place.** Google Trends is one. Amazon and Etsy specific tools are another, and the comparison that matters is against mugs, or another product type you already know sells.

**Then look at the marketplace itself.** On Amazon and Etsy, do tumbler listings have BSRs as low as mugs do, or the same evidence of selling that the popular product types show? Or is it a product few people buy printed? For tumblers, once I looked properly, there wasn't enough demand.

---

## The price was in the wrong fight

On t-shirts, the lesson was that my price couldn't compete with the Merch sellers. Tumblers were a different problem.

My supplier's price on this product was high. That pushed my tumblers into the same price bracket as the Stanleys and Yetis, competing on price against them, and they couldn't. They were too expensive.

---

## What tumblers taught me

Before the next product type, two questions get answered first: is there demand for the print on demand version of it, and does my price land somewhere it can compete.

I'm writing this up as I go, the misses included, and you can [keep up with it by email](https://pixelsnprofits.com/#/portal/signup).

Take care,  
Nick T