If you decide to sell Twitch merch on your channel, look for high-quality brands that will manage everything for you on an order-by-order basis. Don’t purchase a lot of merch outright to send to your viewers as the orders come in. This can be costly if people don’t follow through with their purchases and sending things out can be a hassle.
Several companies are happy to create products as orders come in and they will handle everything for you, then pay you a commission, allowing you to focus on creating content.
Popular Merch Ideas
If you are unsure of what you should start out with when designing merch for your stream, here are a few popular items that sell the best:
- Mugs
- Hats
- Hoodies
- Mousepads
- Stickers
The type of merch you sell will largely be influenced by your community. If they seem to love hoodies, you may want to create 2-3 designs for them to purchase. Some of your viewers may ask for specific merch as well and if you are up for it, you can create those pieces for them. Likely, if they want something specific, others will want it too.
Best Merch Stores for Streamers
There are several places online where you can set up custom merch for your Twitch channel.
Sellfy
If you’re a Twitch streamer who’s looking for an easy way to list and sell merchandise on your channel, then Sellfy is an excellent choice. With Sellfy, you can easily create and manage your product listings, and there’s no need to worry about inventory or shipping – Sellfy takes care of all of that for you. Plus, Sellfy offers a built-in print-on-demand service, so you can get your products printed and shipped without any hassle.
And if you’re unsure whether Sellfy is right for you, you can always try it out with their 14-day free trial. You might be surprised at how easy and effective it is to make more money on Twitch by offering an extra way for your viewers to support you.
StreamElements Merch
Alerts on Stream
Low base price
Unique panel to promote your store
Twitch panel
Up to 4 weeks payout wait
No filter searches on store
StreamElements has to be my personal favorite merch store! They give you all the tools you need to not only set up your store but also market your new merch on your stream including live alerts. Not only that, but if you are already using stream elements, you are able to easily manage everything you would use for your live stream in one place.
Though there might be a base price (what it costs to have the merchandise made), the base price is pretty low, so you are able to keep your sale prices extremely affordable and still make a good profit. StreamElements have a long list of items you can add to your store including; hoodies, t-shirts, tanks, and even mouse mats.
Though there are a lot of reasons for using StreamElements, there are also a few things to consider. Firstly, there is a payout threshold you need to meet before you can withdraw payment, and then there is even an up to 4-week wait to receive payment. Then there’s the design of the store… It’s a little messy.
Although you are able to customize your merch store with stuff like banners and changing the name, unlike the other stores listed below, there is no way to filter your searches or select subcategories for clothing on the store. Instead, everything is alphabetized which for me makes it feel a little less organized and harder to navigate than it could be
Streamlabs Merch
If you prefer Streamlabs to StreamElements, you will be pleased to know they also offer a quality merchandise store. You will still have ease of access across your merch store and all your other channel assets, they even have a panel to easily display your store easily to viewers.
Their store includes the usual t-shirts, hoodies, and mugs, but they also offer some pretty unique items too and a much larger catalog! As far as customization goes, Streamlabs is far from short on options. You are able to add multiple images in one design canvas, resize, and position your designs almost anywhere you want – you still have to be within the canvas borders!
Teespring Merch
Largest catalog
Alerts on stream
Extension for Twitch
High base price
Teespring, Is probably overall the best site to use for your merch. Like StreamElements and Streamlabs, you are able to integrate your store with Twitch and show an alert on stream. If that’s not enough, you can even add an extension to your channel to help promote your store.
The catalog is bigger than even Streamlabs and offers an even better quality product. You are able to add t-shirts of various designs, hoodies, masks, gym bags… basically anything you can think of! The browsability of the website is pretty good too. Viewers will find it easy to stumble on exactly what they want using the easy to navigate, drop-down menu.
Not everything is smooth sailing with Teespring. Just like Streamlabs, it has an expensive base price making it more difficult to make products affordable and still make money. Though the store is very tidy, there seems to be almost too much there. It’s nice to have a variety, but it could be a little overwhelming for someone only looking to support your content.
Then there is also the issue of the extension. Like I said previously… Panel extensions do not show up on the Twitch mobile app. Though I really don’t think that’s too much of a problem, it just means you should still think about designing your own panel to promote your store instead.
How to Design Graphics for Your Stream Merch
To create quality merch that your viewers will want to purchase, you will need to create quality graphics that will stand out on a product. You must also ensure that the file-size is correct to ensure that you aren’t creating items that will be pixelated.
Here are three places where you can have graphics created for your Twitch channel:
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Placeit
If you have a clear idea of what you want, you can use Placeit to piece together your graphics. They offer several templates that you can change, customize, and build upon to create designs for your channel. Best of all, with their monthly plan, you can create as many designs as you need.
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Fiverr
Fiverr is a good place to start. This freelance marketplace has designers at several levels. Once you find an artist you want to work with, you can commission them to create just about anything.
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Visuals By Impulse
VBI is a group of professional designers who specialize in creating graphics for streamers. They frequently take custom orders.
When to Make Merch For Your Stream
There is no set time for when you must make merch for your stream, but it is a good idea to wait until you have some growth before you set up your shop. As with donations, setting up too early could put people off on supporting your channel.
While you can generally add a donation button after you have gathered a few viewers, it is often not worth going through the hassle of setting up merchandise until you have at least an average of 25-30 loyal concurrent viewers. As with the donation button, feel free to add it as soon as someone asks for it.
Conclusion
After you have set up merch for your stream, consider purchasing an item or two that you can wear when creating content. This is a subtle reminder to your viewers that you have branded merch and may be more likely to purchase it.
Arry
Arry, also known as ArryBo, is a full time Partnered Twitch streamer from the southeast of England! Video gaming and music are two of the passions he shares on his stream.