Sell Products Your Shoppers Design: Step by Step

This guide takes one product from nothing to its first printed order. The example is a T-shirt printed on the front and the back; a phone case, a mug or a poster works the same way, and the differences are noted where they matter. Set aside about 30 minutes for the first product; the next ones take a few minutes each.

You will need:

• A photo of each side of the blank product, taken straight on against a plain background (a plain front, a plain back). For each colour you sell, either a photo of that colour or one light photo you can tint.
• The real size of each place you can print (for example 30 × 40 cm on a T-shirt's chest) and the print quality your printer wants, usually 300 DPI. Ask your print shop if you are not sure.

Step 1: Switch the Designer On

1. Open Settings › Plan and Billing and find the Product Designer card under Add-ons.
2. Press START 14-DAY FREE TRIAL. It works at once and nothing is charged for the trial.
3. Press ADD PRODUCT DESIGNER before the trial ends to keep it. If you don't, the designer is hidden from shoppers and everything you set up is kept for later.

Step 2: Choose the Fonts

1. Open Products › Product Options › Designer Library.
2. Under Free Font Library, press ADD beside each font shoppers may use. Six to ten is plenty: a clean one, a bold one, a script, and one that writes Hindi (filter by Hindi).
3. Put your favourite first, then SAVE.

Optional, in the same place: Art for your own clip art and logos (or keep Mercayo's 24 starter pieces), and Palettes if shoppers should only use your brand's colours. See Designer Art.

Step 3: Add the Product's Sides

1. Open the T-shirt product (add it first if needed, with its colours and sizes as options, and the side photos in its photos).
2. On the Product Designer card, press SET UP DESIGNER.
3. Press ADD SIDE, name it Front, and under Base Photo press REPLACE to choose the front photo.
4. Press ADD SIDE again for the Back with the back photo.
5. If the product comes in colours, open Photos by Colour and choose each colour's photo, or Tint From a light photo so the navy and black shirts look right.

For a phone case, add one side (Back) and choose a photo for each phone model under Photos by Model. For a mug, the side is the wrap around it.

Step 4: Draw Where Printing Can Go

1. On the Front, choose the area's shape (Rectangle for a T-shirt's chest; for a phone case, the preset phone back with its camera cut-out).
2. Drag on the photo where printing can go, then drag the corners until it sits right.
3. In Print Area, fill in:
   • Name: "Chest".
   • Real Size: the printed size in cm, for example 30 wide and 40 high.
   • Print Quality: 300 DPI, or what your printer asks for. The screen shows the file size it will make.
   • Bleed and Safe Margin: 3 mm bleed and 5 mm safe margin are usual.
   • At the Edge: Cut at the Edge if designs may run past the line (cases, posters), Keep Inside if everything must sit inside it (a chest print).
4. Choose what Shoppers Can Add: text, photos, art, shapes, QR codes.
5. Set the Price When Used, for example ₹199: it is added once when anything is placed on the chest.
6. Do the same for the Back (₹149, say), then press SAVE.

Step 5: Set the Prices

The shopper pays the product's own price, plus each print area used, plus any priced art, plus your price rules. For most stores the area prices from Step 4 are enough. For extra charges (a long name, more than two photos), add a rule in Designer Library › Price Rules. The shopper always sees each charge before adding to the bag. See Designer Price Rules.

Step 6: Make a Template (Recommended)

Many shoppers would rather fill in a ready design than start blank. A template is that ready design.

1. In Designer Library › Templates, press NEW TEMPLATE and pick the T-shirt. Your store's designer opens in a new tab in template mode.
2. Design it: a heading, a name, a photo spot.
3. Select each part and choose its lock under In the Template: Locked for your logo, Replace Only for the name and the photo (shoppers change them but cannot move them), or free.
4. Press SAVE TEMPLATE, give it a name and a chip ("Names", "Festive"), and offer it on This Product.

The product page now shows Start From a Design under the DESIGN YOURS button. See Designer Templates.

Step 7: Try It as a Shopper

1. On the product's Designer screen, press PREVIEW AS SHOPPER. Open the same link on your phone too: most shoppers design on a phone.
2. Press DESIGN YOURS, add a text, curve it, add a photo and pinch it to size. Watch the photo's quality meter: it turns red when a photo is too small to print sharply at that size.
3. Press CHECK AND ADD. Check each side, the price lines and the tick "I have checked the spelling, colours and placement".
4. Press ADD TO BAG, then in the bag try EDIT DESIGN.

If something looks wrong (the print area in the wrong place, the price too high), fix it on the Designer screen, SAVE and reload the preview.

Step 8: Add the Extras You Need

Each is optional; switch on only what your products need:

• Team kits: names, numbers and sizes for a whole team in one go, each row its own item in the bag. See Names and Numbers.
• Posters and banners: the shopper picks or types a size, priced by its area. See Sizes and Languages.
• Templates in other languages: a Hindi version of a template for shoppers browsing in Hindi; Urdu, Arabic and Hebrew text written right to left.
• Background cut-outs: shoppers press CUT OUT BACKGROUND on a photo; 300 a month are included.
• Saved designs and share links: shoppers keep a design in their account or share a read-only link. See Saved Designs and Share Links.
• Only Sold Designed: switch it on when the product must always carry a design; its ADD TO BAG then opens the designer.

Step 9: Print the Orders

Once an order is paid (or its cash on delivery is collected), Mercayo makes the print files by itself, usually within a minute or two: a PDF with bleed, a PNG at print size and an SVG of the layers for each print area.

1. Open Orders › Print Queue. Each print file waits there, grouped by product or by print area.
2. Tick the files to print and press DOWNLOAD ZIP, or send them to your print shop with SEND TO and its name (set it up once under PRINT PARTNER, with its email or webhook; Send When Paid sends every paid order by itself).
3. When they are printed, press MARK PRINTED. If a print goes wrong, REPRINT sends it back to waiting with your reason.

Each order's own page also has its Print Files card, with the shopper's original photos and what was checked before printing. See Print Queue.

Step 10: Before You Go Live

• Each side's photo is straight on and fills the frame; each colour looks right.
• Each print area's real size and DPI match what your printer prints.
• The prices add up as you expect on the CHECK AND ADD screen.
• At least one template is offered, so shoppers who don't want to design can still buy in a minute.
• You placed one test order and opened its print files in your printer's software.
• The product's description says it is made to order and how long it takes.

Common Problems

A Colour Is Not Offered

The bag says "Pick one of the colours offered for …": the design uses a colour the print area does not offer (its palette or own colours). The shopper changes that part's colour. If it comes from your own template, see the palette note in Product Designer: the parts a template locks keep their colours.

The Photo Quality Meter Is Red

The photo is too small for the size it is shown at. The shopper makes it smaller on the design or uses a bigger photo. Lower the print area's Lowest Photo Quality only if your printer accepts it.

The Design Crosses the Print Area's Line

The bag says "Move everything inside … first": the area is set to Keep Inside and part of the design crosses the line. The shopper moves or shrinks it. Use Cut at the Edge where designs may run off the edge.

A Print File Shows Failed

Open the order and press RETRY on that file. If it fails again, contact Mercayo support with the order number.

The Shopper Says the Print Is Not What They Designed

Open the order: Checked Before Printing shows the design exactly as it was when they ticked that they had checked the spelling, colours and placement, and when they ticked it.