Please note
On March 30, 2023, Printful changed the auth process to OAuth 2.0, so the Printful API will no longer be accessible using legacy API keys. To avoid losing access to Printful, you will be required to migrate to the new API tokens before March 30, 2023. So please remove your old integration and follow the guidelines below to setup and use Printful on your store.
Summary:
1. How to use the Zakeke+Printful integration
1.1 Connecting Printful with Zakeke
To make use of the Zakeke and Printful integration, you’ll need to:
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create a Printful account
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and connect it to your Shopify store from Stores > Choose Platform > Shopify
If you already have a Printful account, just follow the steps here below.
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Go to your Zakeke back-office > Print-on-demand services > Printful and click Integrate > Authorize
Make sure to choose the right store (your Shopify store) when you authorize the connection.
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For now, don't pay attention to the Order Import Settings, you'll learn about it in the How to Get Orders Fulfilled section.
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Go to your Printful dashboard > Settings > Orders > Sync as you go and make sure that the options Import existing products and Import unsynced orders are checked.
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Go to your Printful dashboard > Billings > Billings Methods and make sure that the currency is the same as your Shopify store.
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The connection is now enabled and you can start adding customizable products from the Printful catalog.
Please Note
If you use our native integrations with the POD services, the PODs' catalogs will be available only for the first store (master sales channel) that you integrate and won't be available for the extra sales channels you might add to your Zakeke account.
1.2 Adding customizable products from the Printful catalog
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In your Zakeke back-office, go to Customizable Products > Add a Customizable Product > Print-on-demand service > Printful
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By clicking on a product, you'll be guided through a few steps. In particular:
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Edit the default name and the description of the product;
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Choose the colors and the sizes, if available;
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Select the sides of the product, if applicable;
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Set the retail price of the product and your profit;
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Once you finish all the steps, save the product. A new customizable product is created at your store and synced in Printful.
IMPORTANT
Usually, it takes a couple of minutes to have the product synced in Printful. We suggest not to make any order before the sync process is completed.
IMPORTANT 2
All customization tools (text, upload, galleries, ...) are activated by default and customers are free to customize the product as they want. If you wish to limit the customization tools or sell editable designs, you can create pre-designed templates
1.3 How to get orders fulfilled
Fulfillment settings
Orders are automatically sent to Printful as long as Payment Capture option is set on Automatically capture payment for orders in your Shopify settings.
In order to check your Payment Capture settings go to your Shopify admin panel > Settings > Payment Providers > Payment Capture section.
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your Payment Capture option is set to Manually capture payment for orders (read on the difference between the two options here). In this case, orders will be sent to Printful only once you have captured payment for the order in your Shopify back-office.
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you allow your customers to pay their orders also through a manual method (such as Cash on Delivery or Bank Deposit). In this case, orders won't be sent to Printful until you manually mark them as paid in your Shopify admin panel.
IMPORTANT
When you activate the integration with Printful, you can choose whether to have the orders from Zakeke imported as drafts in your Printful account and manually confirm them to be fulfilled or have orders automatically fulfilled by Printful without having to confirm them.
The default setting is on "manually import".
To change it go to Integrations > Print-on-demand services in your Zakeke back-office and under the Printful tab activate the option Automatically confirm orders to be fulfilled.
Please note that if you activate the automatically fulfilled option, you won't be able to edit the print files before fulfillment as they'll be sent directly to Printful from Zakeke.
Orders in Printful
While the order is immediately created in Printful, you may continue to see it as Not Synced for a few minutes because Zakeke is still generating the print files and attaching them to the order in Printful.
Once the print files are attached, you will no longer see the Not Synced product in the order and it will be ready to get fulfilled and shipped by Printful.
2. FAQ
If your questions are not replied to in this guide, please take a look at our FAQ section dedicated to Print-on-demand services integrations.
3. Pro tips
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For products imported from third-party catalogs, it is not possible to change the product images and size and position of print areas because they are automatically provided by the POD services and must follow their rules. However, once the product is created, you can:
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Add a 3D view of the product by using the Zakeke real-time 3D preview feature. You can use this feature instead of the Printful mock-up generator to show a real representation of your products.
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Change the product price.
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Add a pre-made design with editable parts on the product.
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If an order contains two or more customizations of the same "variant" model (Product+Size+Color) the order will not be updated by Zakeke but it will remain in DRAFT status. In this case you'll have to update the order directly on Printful backoffice loading the correct printfiles that you'll find in the Zakeke order section. It's the only case in which Zakeke can't update the order using Printful API.
Discover all details in the video below: