Get Started
The first thing you must do to start your Merch career is to get accepted into the Merch by Amazon program. It may take up to 6 months to get accepted into the program. Some may not get into the program for reasons only Amazon knows, although this is rare. If you never receive an email from Amazon Merch confirming your admission into the Merch program, I would suggest for you to sign up under a different email address.
While you are waiting for Amazon to accept you, you can begin to brainstorm, research, and design shirts. I would recommend becoming familiar with the software programs you are using so that you can easily create and mass produce shirt designs. You can skip to the Design chapter if this is the case.
Designing t-shirts may differ depending on who you are. Regardless, you don’t need to be a graphic artist to succeed on Merch and simple creative twists or more in-depth research and keyword selection is all you will need to succeed on Merch by Amazon.
Note that I will be referring to Merch by Amazon as “Merch” with a capital “M” to simplify the reading experience. In addition, throughout this book, I will be referring to the shirts as “t-shirts” or “designs” when applicable, even though hoodies, sweatshirts, and long sleeve shirts all exist now on Merch. This should not affect your results any.
Request an invitation to the program here: https://merch.amazon.com/landing
(scroll to the bottom and click the orange “Request Invitation” button).
You will have to fill out the information Amazon asks honestly before and after being accepted into Amazon’s program. When it asks for “Organization Name” you can insert your full name. From here on onwards, I will assume that you have already been accepted into the Merch by Amazon program.