Redbubble

Redbubble is a print-on-demand marketplace: artists upload designs, Redbubble puts them on apparel, stickers, phone cases, wall art and home goods, sells them to shoppers on its own site, and has them printed and shipped when an order comes in. Wikipedia describes it as "a global online marketplace for print-on-demand products based on user-submitted artwork," founded in 2006 in Melbourne, Australia, with offices in San Francisco and Berlin. It suits artists who want an existing marketplace audience and no store to run, and who accept the platform's fee rules in exchange.

Company background

According to Wikipedia, Redbubble was founded by Martin Hosking, Peter Styles and Paul Vanzella after raising $2 million in investor capital, and listed on the Australian Securities Exchange in May 2016. In October 2018 it acquired the US marketplace TeePublic for $57.7 million, and in November 2023 the group that owns both rebranded as Articore, which trades on the ASX as ATG. Vivek Kumar was appointed group CEO on 2 June 2025. Wikipedia gives revenue of A$290.7 million for FY23, and says that in fiscal year 2023 Redbubble had "5.0M customers, buying 4.8M different designs, from 650K artists." Earlier milestones in the same article: in March 2014 it was reported that 51,900 artists had sold work on Redbubble, earning more than $15 million, and in January 2017 the company reported 450,000 active artists and 10 million site visits per month. Wikipedia also records a string of web awards from 2008 onward, including a 2012 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 win.

How selling works

The core deal is simple, and every source describes it the same way. Wikipedia says the company "offers free membership to artists who maintain the copyrights to their work, regulate their own prices, and decide which products may display their images." Vograce, a manufacturer that sells to creators, puts it as: "Redbubble makes it easy to upload a design, place it on products, and let someone else handle production and shipping." The Printful blog describes it as "a built-in marketplace, so you upload designs and rely on its existing traffic." Merchone adds that the platform handles "production, checkout, and shipping."

Production is outsourced. Merchize, another POD company, writes that when an order is placed, "Redbubble automatically sends it to third-party printing partners near the customer for production and delivery." The Printify blog, from a competitor, states that Redbubble does not let sellers connect it to third-party sales channels, so the marketplace is the storefront.

Products

Wikipedia lists "prints, T-shirts, phone cases, hoodies, cushions, duvet covers, leggings, stickers, dresses, and scarves." Fourthwall's blog says artwork "lands on more than 70 products," and Merchize also counts more than 70 product types, naming stickers as the top-selling items "because they are low-cost and easy to access," alongside apparel, phone cases and wallets, pillows, blankets, canvas prints, posters, notebooks and greeting cards. For wall art specifically, Merchone lists "Posters, photographic prints, art prints, canvas, framed prints, art boards, tapestries, and other wall art."

Fees and what an artist earns

This is the part sellers most need to read carefully, because the sources describe a tiered fee system. Blogging Wizard says Redbubble charges no listing fee and is free to join, and that "whenever you make a sale, Redbubble deducts their service fee as part of the 'base price' of the product. You only get paid the artist's margin that you set on top of the base price." It gives the default artist margin as 20%, which the artist is free to raise.

Fourthwall's blog, which cites the Redbubble Help Center, sets out the current account tiers: "Redbubble's Standard-tier accounts pay a 50% platform fee on monthly earnings, dropping to 20% on Premium and 0% on Pro, and Standard and Premium accounts also pay a 50% Excess Markup Fee on any markup above 20%." Its worked example: "A Standard-tier artist who sets a 20% markup on a $20 T-shirt ($4 markup) takes home $2 after the 50% platform fee." It adds that "Redbubble caps the total monthly platform fee at $150." Merchone confirms the Standard, Premium and Pro structure and that "applicable account fees are deducted from artist earnings." The Printify blog says Redbubble "charges platform fees based on your account tier and monthly earnings," and attributes higher retail prices to these fee structures and to sellers raising markups to compensate.

Shipping

Fourthwall's blog says "Redbubble typically ships within 3 to 5 business days of production, with total delivery of 5 to 12 business days for US customers depending on the fulfillment center." Merchone notes that production and shipping "vary by product, location, and season" and that "checkout provides the estimated delivery date."

Content rules

Wikipedia records that since February 25, 2024 artists can tag designs as mature content, which then shows only to viewers who opt in and is "not be indexed off-site," and that failing to tag such work "may result in account restriction or closure." Trademark enforcement has been an issue: in 2019 the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club sued Redbubble in the Federal Court of Australia and was awarded $5,000, and in a second ruling in July 2022 Redbubble was ordered to pay the club more than $78,000.

What sellers report

The reviews are mixed on long-term earnings. Blogging Wizard calls Redbubble "a reputable online marketplace that's highly trusted by both sellers and customers." The Bootstrapping Ecommerce writer, who started on Redbubble, names its "biggest issues" as "oversaturation, low royalties, and poor content moderation," describing bots flooding the site with AI-generated designs. Merchize calls it beginner-friendly but says it "mainly works well at the early stage," citing higher product prices, print quality that "is not always consistent since it depends on multiple printing partners," and competition with millions of sellers. Fourthwall lists account risk from "Takedowns, tier reclassifications, and marketplace policy changes."

Who it suits

Redbubble fits artists and illustrators who want to upload a design once and have it offered on dozens of product types to an existing marketplace audience, with production, checkout, shipping and customer service handled for them. Stickers, apparel and wall art are all covered. It fits less well for sellers who want their own branded store, their customers' email addresses, or the full markup on each sale, and anyone planning volume should work out which account tier their monthly earnings put them in before setting prices.