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There are only a few things that POD sellers look for in a printing and fulfillment partner.
Good quality, reliable shipping, and good customer service. That's all we really want, right? Sure, cheap pricing is good too but not at the sacrifice of customer satisfaction.
Whilst meeting these simple requirements might seem relatively straightforward, you might be surprised at how hard it is to find a print-on-demand company that ticks all the boxes!
If you go with small “no-name” suppliers, you run the risk of encountering shipping issues or poor quality. Choose the “big boys” and the quality control goes down the drain and your customers are unhappy!
Well, today I'm here to tell you about an amazing POD company that DOES tick all those boxes, especially if you're looking for the best UK POD provider. (They do ship worldwide, though).
Let's take a little look at the history of AOP+ before looking into the finer details such as their product catalog, pricing, shipping, and other “must-haves” when choosing a POD supplier.
Who and What is AOP+?
AOP+ is owned and operated from London, UK, by a friendly, long-haired Turkish gent named Uygar Turantekin.
He's a gentle character, the type you'd half expect to be selling you spices or knock-off shoes at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. (flashbacks of a great holiday when I was young & free! )
This might seem like a strange way to describe someone but If you're already a member of their Facebook Group then you'll know exactly what I mean about Uygar.
Flashback to 2009, before the birth of AOP+ as we know it, Uygar was a young and energetic stall owner in the famous Camden Town Markets of London.
If you're a Michael Jackson fan that followed the sad news of his death back in 2009, you may also have seen Uygar and his famous t-shirts at Glastonbury Festival!
Between 2010-2014 Uygar's printing business went from strength to strength as he scaled his business online with Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and his own website.
It was in 2014 that Amazon completely shut down Uygar's printing business, right after he invested in 3 DTG machines from the USA.
With 4 staff to support and no sales coming in, Uygar and his team had no choice but to venture into the world of print-on-demand and AllOverPrint.it was born!
Nowadays, AllOverPrint.it is known as AOP+ and they have over 10,000 users on Shopify and Etsy. You might have even seen their YouTube Ads (I actually know the guy who made the video so I think it's pretty cool!)
So after all these ups and downs over the years, Uygar might have taken a bit of a beating but one thing remains. He still works on the business daily and is always listening to his sellers and improving the business so we can all prosper!
AOP+ Product Catalog
It would be way too much to write about every single product that AOP+ offers, but they match most other POD vendors when it comes to their product catalog.
I personally love the quality of their regular DTG (direct-to-garment) products like t-shirts and hoodies, and their range of sublimated “all-over-print” items like the face masks and blankets are fantastic.
In addition to the standard range of apparel items they include, you'll also find some more unique items such as:
- Doormats, Flags & Cushions
- All-over-print sublimated t-shirts (not cut & sew)
- Phone Cases
- Sequin Pillow Cases & Custom Shape Cushions (very cool!)
- Pet Blankets
- Tote Bags
- Neck Warmer Morf Scarves
There are a lot more great products to choose from in their catalog and the app is free to install, so feel free to check it out here.
Product Quality
There's no secret that DTG printing can be lower quality than a screen-printed product, but it's really the only printing process suitable for POD.
What that in mind, the print quality that AOP+ pumps out is by far one of the best you'll find in the POD game.
The team at AOP+ was kind enough to print the branded merch for Storehacks and it came out looking phenomenal!
They also have a nice range of organic apparel that turns out really nice with their top-quality printing.
AOP+ Pricing
The AOP+ app is free to use but like many POD companies, they do have monthly subscription options available for those that are doing regular sales and want to unlock extra benefits and some discounts.
Let's take a look at the monthly subscription plans before we dive into the individual product pricing.
Optional Monthly Subscription Plans
As I just mentioned, the subscriptions are actually optional. So if you want to stick to the Start-up Member plan and pay no monthly fees, you'll still receive great support and the quality service that AOP+ is known for.
Once you start selling regularly and you want to add some branding options to your products, you'll want to look at upgrading to either the Super Member or Hero Member plans.
Here's a snapshot of what you get with each.
Super Member Pricing & Features
- Costs $11.99 Per Month
- 5% Discount on All Product Prices
- Priority Support
- Access To Personalized Product Features
- Branded Heat Press Garment Labels
Hero Member Pricing & Features
- Costs $19.99 Per Month
- 10% Discount on All Product Prices
- Dedicated Support
- Access To Personalized Product Features
- Branded
- Heat Press Garment Labels
- Sticker on Postal Bags
- Package Inserts
- Optional Expedited Shipping with FedEx
- Access to Private and Exclusive Products
Just the branding options alone are worth upgrading, let alone the nice product discount you get too.
It's worth noting you do need to pay for your garment labels and physical stickers and package inserts but they are super cheap and worth it when it comes to branding.
AOP+ Product Pricing
Because they have over 100 products in their catalog, we can't list them all here but feel free to go install the app and take a look yourself.
The prices below do not include the discounts on the paid monthly plans, so if you are on the Super or Hero Member plan then you can take a further 5% or 10% off these prices.
Classic Adult T-Shirt
$6.49 White, $8.99 Colors
Shipping to continental USA is $5.49 and UK shipping is $3.99.
Classic Adult Hoodie
$18.99 + $9.39 for US shipping, $5.99 for the UK.
Premium Fleece Hooded Blanket
$44.99 + $19.99 for US shipping, $11.99 for UK.
Because AOP+ is located in the UK, blanket shipping to the USA is quite high. I sell lots of these on Etsy and they are a beautiful quality product but if you're selling to a price-sensitive market in the USA, you might want to consider a supplier like Subliminator for your blankets.
Shipping
You've already been given a bit of a preview of the shipping pricing for AOP+ above and for the most part, they are very reasonable. Even “international” shipping to the USA is very well priced for most items.
There are quite a few USA-based brands that use AOP+ simply because of their superior quality.
Production & Shipping Times
Production times are very good, generally about 3-5 days max. Shipping to the USA can take about a week or slightly longer which is acceptable for POD.
If you're selling to the UK then your customer orders will arrive in only a couple of days which is a huge advantage.
Custom Branding Options
As we've already covered earlier in this article, AOP+ offers their sellers the option of adding various forms of branding to their customer orders.
Free Start-Up Members can make use of branded packing slips which can be customized from within the app, but additional branding options are only available to paying members.
Super Members get the added option to have the garment label removed and a customized heat pressed label added. There is a small cost of 75 cents per order for this service which is very reasonable.
Hero Members get a reduced rate of 50 cents per order for the heat pressed label service, plus they can also add a branded insert with full-color printing and a sticker on the outside of the packaging. The insert and the branded sticker cost an additional 25 cents each.
About the AOP+ App
The app dashboard itself is nicely designed and runs quite fast. When you enter the app, which can either be via your Shopify dashboard or as a standalone application, you get a snapshot of your revenue and invoices/debt for current orders.
You can choose to have AOP+ auto bill, or you can manually pay for pending orders when you like. This is a handy feature in case you only want to process orders on certain intervals during the week.
One thing that can confuse new users is the lack of ability to simply go and browse all of the products available.
What you first need to do is create a collection, which requires you to upload your artwork.
In this example here you can see I've already created a collection with one of my favorite metal albums of all time. 😉
But of course, you would use an actual design file for the product that you want to create. You can then scroll through the entire product catalog and toggle on/off for the products that you want to use this particular design on.
Whilst it might seem a little confusing at the start, the great thing about this app is you can then add your design to many different products and publish them at once, in bulk.
Integrations
At the time of writing this article, AOP+ offers both Shopify and Etsy integrations.
Even if you're a seasoned Shopify seller, I highly recommend you jump onto Etsy with some of your products. It really can bring in some nice passive sales, especially if you learn a little about how Etsy listing optimization works.
Note: If you're paying for the Super Member or Hero Member plan, you don't need to pay twice if you want to sell on both Shopify and Etsy. The one account will cover both platforms.
Pros & Cons
As with any supplier, there are always going to be great things and not-so-great things. I prefer to think of negative aspects as simply part of the learning curve, rather than cons, but if I were to approach this with a brand new set of eyes, here are the pros and cons of AOP+:
Pros
- Amazing Quality Products
- Great Customer Service
- They Care About Your Business and Listen To Feedback
Cons
- The App Can Be Confusing (as I outlined above)
- Lack Of Cut & Sew Sublimated Products
- Location of Warehouse (London, UK) – High Shipping to USA for Items Like BlanketsAuthor's Note: Since reading this article, AOP+ has informed me that they are investing a lot of money into their cut & sew product range so expect some new products very soon!
Conclusion
Well there you have it, another amazing POD supplier to add to your arsenal!
I've never found one single supplier that meets all of my needs. That's why I tend to have a select few that I use on all of my Shopify and Etsy stores.
If this sounds like you then I highly recommend adding AOP+ to your store, even if it's just on the free plan for now.
Over the years I've seen many suppliers come and go, trying to capitalize on the POD boom but only the quality companies remain through the good times and bad. Those are the ones that you want to do business with.
Thanks again for stopping by and reading this review, hang around a little longer and drop a comment below or keep reading some of the other great articles on Storehacks.com!
