Case Study: How to Sell Print-on-Demand Mugs on Amazon Passively (No FBA Needed)

Why Selling Mugs on Amazon?

When people shop on Amazon, they're often looking for gifts. And most of the time, those gifts fall into the "under $30" category. Coffee mugs fit perfectly into this sweet spot:

• Affordable gift range: With mugs priced between $12.95–$24.95, they're cheap enough for impulse buys yet valuable enough to give as presents
• Everyday use: Everyone already knows what a coffee mug is and how they'll use it, so there's no need to "educate" the customer
• Unlimited niches: A simple text design can instantly be turned into a gift for teachers, nurses, engineers, gamers, or any other group of people

That combination , affordable price, high demand, and endless niche possibilities , makes mugs one of the best print on demand products to sell on Amazon.

Costs & Profit Margins

To list products on Amazon, you'll need a Professional Seller account, which costs $39.99 per month. This gives you access to all the features you need to sell at scale.

Next comes the product itself. With CustomCat as my supplier, the base cost of a mug , including shipping to the customer , is around $10–15, depending on the style.

On the customer side, I price my mugs between $16.95 and $24.95, which fits perfectly into Amazon's "under $30 gift" sweet spot. I also charge $4.95 for shipping per mug.

That leaves me with an average profit of $8–15 per mug, which works out to roughly 30–60% profit margins depending on the type of mug and price point.

Now, $8–15 per sale might not sound huge at first, but remember , mugs are everyday items and popular gifts. Once you have hundreds of designs live, those small profits start stacking up into real, passive income.

Amazon Account Setup (Beginner Essentials)

Before you can start listing and selling mugs, you'll need to set up your Amazon Seller account properly. Here's how to do it step by step:

1. Sign Up for an Amazon Seller Account

The first step is to create an Amazon Professional Seller account. It costs $39.99 per month, but the features you unlock are worth it if you're planning to scale.

Click here to sign up for an Amazon Seller account

It may take a few days for Amazon to verify your details, so don't worry if you don't get approved immediately.

2. Verify Your Phone and Address

After signing up, Amazon requires you to verify your phone number and business address. Without completing this step, your products won't go live.

• Go to Settings > Account Info > Business Information > Business Address and Phone Number
• Amazon will send you a postcard with a verification code
• Once the postcard arrives, enter the code in your Seller account
• When successful, you'll see the message: "Address Verified Successfully."

3. Request a GTIN Exemption

Normally, Amazon requires every product to have a UPC barcode. With print on demand, that's not possible , so you need to request a GTIN Exemption.

The process is free, takes just a few minutes, and once approved, you can list products without needing barcodes. (Inside PODtomatic, I've created a step-by-step guide to How to Request a GTIN Exemption on Amazon to make this part easy.)

4. Set Up Shipping on Amazon

Now it's time to configure your shipping settings.

• Go to General Shipping Settings and set your Default Shipping Address to match your POD supplier's U.S. address. This ensures your listings meet Amazon's delivery time expectations.

Example supplier addresses:

• CustomCat: 1300 Rosa Parks Blvd. Detroit, MI 48216

Since I use CustomCat, I set the default shipping address to their U.S. location so Amazon recognizes short delivery times.

• After that, go to Shipping Templates and make sure the delivery time is under 7 days
• Adjust your shipping fees. I recommend charging $4.95 per order and $2 per additional item

Once you've completed these steps, your Amazon Seller account will be fully set up and ready to start listing products.

The next piece of the puzzle is choosing the right print-on-demand supplier , because fast production and shipping speed are what make your products competitive on Amazon.

Supplier Choice: Why We Use CustomCat

Once your Amazon account is set up, the next step is choosing a reliable print-on-demand supplier. The supplier you pick determines not just the quality of your products, but also how quickly they reach your customers. And on Amazon, fast shipping is everything.

That's why I use CustomCat as my main supplier for mugs:

Fast Production & Shipping

CustomCat produces mugs in about 2–3 days and ships directly to customers. This speed allows FBM products to compete head-to-head with FBA listings, since Amazon prioritizes sellers who deliver reliably.

Consistent Quality

Customers won't tolerate poor print quality. CustomCat consistently delivers sharp, professional-looking designs on durable mugs, which keeps buyers happy and minimizes returns.

Scalability

Whether you sell a handful of mugs or thousands, CustomCat has the production capacity to keep up. This matters once you scale across multiple niches and campaigns.

In short, CustomCat gives you the speed of FBA with the flexibility of POD. Their fast turnaround ensures your mugs meet Amazon's delivery expectations, which means your FBM listings can rank like FBA products , without the storage fees or inventory risks.

Creating and Uploading Mugs to Amazon

With your Amazon account ready and your supplier chosen, it's time to move on to the most important step: creating and listing products on Amazon.

The strategy here is simple: don't rely on one design or one niche. Instead, focus on uploading lots of mugs across many different niches. Why?

• More chances to get found: Each mug listing is like a lottery ticket. The more you have, the higher the chance one of them takes off
• Small niches add up: A single niche (like nurses, teachers, or gamers) might not bring in huge sales by itself, but when you combine hundreds of niches, the results stack up
• Free organic traffic: Many small niches on Amazon have low competition. By listing mugs in those spaces, you can capture free search traffic without needing to outspend bigger sellers
• Passive sales machine: Once your mugs are listed, they stay live on Amazon 24/7. Even while you sleep, your designs can be discovered and purchased

This is the foundation of my approach: create a large catalog of mugs across a wide range of niches, and let Amazon's massive search engine do the heavy lifting.

Creating Designs (No Graphic Skills Needed)

When it comes to mugs, simple designs sell best. You don't need fancy graphics or complex illustrations , in fact, the top-selling mugs on Amazon are usually just clean, text-based designs with a clever quote.

One of my favorite approaches is using repeatable templates like:

"Keep Calm, I'm a [Niche]"

With this one format, you can instantly create hundreds of variations:

• "Keep Calm, I'm a Nurse"
• "Keep Calm, I'm an Engineer"
• "Keep Calm, I'm a Teacher"

…and so on across 500+ niches.

The beauty of this method is that you don't need Photoshop skills or a design background. All it takes is a nice font, centered text, and a phrase that connects with the niche.

To make this process even faster, you don't have to design each mug from scratch. You can create one template in a tool like Canva or Photoshop, then simply replace the niche keyword. For example, swap "Nurse" for "Teacher," "Engineer," or "Gamer," and in just a short time you'll have hundreds of unique designs ready to upload.

The bottom line: you don't need to be a designer to sell mugs on Amazon. With simple text-based quotes and a repeatable template, you can quickly build a catalog that covers hundreds of niches , each with the potential to bring in passive sales.

Creating Product Photos Without Photoshoots

Another great thing about print-on-demand is you don't need to spend money on photographers or product samples just to get pictures for your listings. Instead, you can use mockups , digital product images where your design is placed onto a mug template.

You can buy high-quality mug mockups from places like Etsy or CreativeFabrica. These polished images look professional and trustworthy, which is important for building buyer confidence on Amazon.

One important rule to remember: Amazon requires your first product image (the main mockup) to be on a plain white background. This ensures your listing looks clean and meets Amazon's standards. After that, you can upload additional lifestyle images or styled mockups to help your product stand out.

With mockups, you can create professional-looking product images in minutes , no photo studio, no cameras, no extra costs.

Uploading Products to Amazon

Once you've created your designs and mockups, the next step is to upload your mugs to Amazon. This can be done manually inside Seller Central.

The process is straightforward, but it does take time:

1. Create a new product listing.
2. Do keyword research to find what buyers are actually searching for. Look for niche phrases like "Funny Nurse Mug", "Engineer Coffee Cup", or "Teacher Appreciation Gift".
3. Write your product content carefully:
   • Title: Include the main niche keyword (e.g., "Funny Nurse Mug – Gift for Nurses – 11oz Coffee Cup").
   • Bullet Points: Highlight the features (dishwasher safe, microwave safe, durable print) and benefits (perfect gift, everyday use).
   • Description: Expand on the benefits, gift potential, and who the mug is for.
   • Search Terms (Backend Keywords): Add related phrases that don't fit naturally into your title (e.g., "coffee mug for nurse gift, medical assistant cup, RN graduation gift").
4. Upload your product images (start with the required white background mockup, then add lifestyle images if available).
5. Set your price and shipping.

Why does this matter? Because Amazon is a search engine. The keywords you put in your title, bullets, description, and search terms determine what searches your mug will show up for. If you skip keyword research or write weak content, your mugs won't appear in front of the buyers who are actively searching for them.

If you're just starting out, manual uploading is fine , you'll learn how listings work, test a few niches, and see what sells. But if your goal is to build a large catalog across hundreds of niches, uploading products one by one will quickly become too time-consuming.

Uploading Products at Scale with PODtomatic

Manually uploading mugs to Amazon works in the beginning, but it quickly becomes overwhelming if you want to scale across multiple niches. That's where PODtomatic comes in.

With PODtomatic, you can upload up to 200 products per day automatically. Here's how it works:

• Connect your Amazon account to PODtomatic
• Set the number of products you want the system to upload each day (up to 200)
• Choose your pricing for the mugs

That's it. The system handles the rest.

Each listing comes with AI-generated titles, bullet points, and descriptions that are written to be both SEO-friendly and optimized for Amazon search. This means Amazon Ads can also use the keywords in your product content to automatically match your mugs with relevant searches.

Because PODtomatic spreads your designs across many niches, you end up casting a much wider net. Some niches won't perform, but others will start generating consistent sales , and you don't have to manually manage hundreds of uploads to find those winners.

The more listings you have live, the more chances you have to rank in Amazon search results and tap into free organic traffic. With automation, scaling becomes not only possible but easy.

Amazon Ads Strategy (Deep Dive)

Amazon is the world's biggest shopping search engine , but it's also pay-to-play. If you want your mugs to be discovered quickly, you need to run Amazon Ads. The good news is you don't have to spend a fortune. My approach, which I call The Evergreen Ads Method, is designed to keep ad spend low while focusing on niches that sell year-round.

Why Ads Matter

Even with great designs and keywords, it takes time for new listings to rank organically. Ads give your mugs instant visibility, especially in competitive niches. And since you only pay when someone clicks, your costs stay manageable.

One Campaign = One Niche

The foundation of this method is creating one ad campaign per niche. For example:

• Engineer mugs → 1 campaign
• Nurse mugs → 1 campaign
• Teacher mugs → 1 campaign
• Gamer mugs → 1 campaign

Over time, this can scale to 500+ campaigns. But instead of launching them all at once, you roll them out gradually, focusing first on niches that show sales or potential.

Step-by-Step: Creating a Campaign

1. Go to Amazon Campaign Manager and click Create Campaign
2. Select Sponsored Products
3. Select Automatic Targeting
4. Search for the niche (e.g., Engineer Mug, Nurse Mug, Teacher Mug)
5. Add all relevant mugs from that niche

6. Double-check and remove any products that aren't mugs
7. Set the suggested bid (Amazon recommends this automatically)
8. Set a daily budget of $5/day
9. Launch the campaign

The Evergreen Ads Method in Action

By combining low daily budgets with evergreen niches, you can run hundreds of campaigns throughout the year without overspending. Some campaigns may only bring a handful of sales each month, but across 500+ niches, those sales add up into a reliable, passive income stream. That's why I call it Evergreen , the ads keep running quietly in the background, producing steady sales all year long.

Results: Real Numbers From Amazon Ads

After setting up my campaigns, I mostly let them run on their own. I rarely go back to check or tweak them, which shows just how passive this system can be once it's in motion.

Here are the real numbers from running mug campaigns on Amazon:

That works out to a cost per order of about $6.50. Since I make roughly $8.50 profit per mug after Amazon fees and product costs (before ads), that leaves me with around $2 net profit per order once ad spend is factored in.

Multiply that across 1,240 orders, and these campaigns have generated around $2,480 in profit so far , all while running almost completely on autopilot.

It's also worth noting that this number is very conservative. I've deducted fees aggressively, so the actual profits are a bit higher. On top of that, when mugs sell through ads, they naturally start ranking better in Amazon search results , which leads to additional sales from free organic traffic.

The lesson here is that you don't need to micromanage every campaign. With the Evergreen Ads Method and enough products uploaded, the system takes care of itself and grows into a reliable, passive income stream.

Lessons Learned

Looking back, here are the biggest takeaways from building and scaling this mug business on Amazon:

Mugs beat other POD products

I've tested different print-on-demand products, but mugs consistently sell faster and easier. They're affordable, giftable, and universally understood, which makes them much easier to move than t-shirts or hoodies.

Volume + speed = rankings

The more mugs you upload, the more chances you have to get discovered. Pair that with fast fulfillment from CustomCat, and your FBM listings can compete directly with FBA products in Amazon search results.

Ads are safe when done right

Running ads might feel risky at first, but with niche targeting and low daily budgets, costs stay under control. Since Amazon buyers already come with purchase intent, conversion rates remain strong.

Repeatable designs scale best

You don't need to reinvent the wheel for every mug. Simple, text-based templates that can be adapted to hundreds of niches are the fastest way to scale.

Put together, these lessons show that success doesn't come from chasing one "winning product." It comes from building a system: upload at scale, fulfill fast, run safe ads, and rinse-and-repeat designs across niches.

Action Plan for Beginners

If you're ready to start selling mugs on Amazon with print on demand, here's the step-by-step roadmap you can follow:

The formula is simple: account setup → supplier → designs → uploads → ads → scale. Follow these steps, and you'll have everything you need to start selling POD mugs on Amazon.

Conclusion

Selling on Amazon doesn't have to mean stocking inventory, running a warehouse, or figuring out FBA. With print on demand, you can build a business around everyday products people already want , and coffee mugs are the perfect place to start.

The formula is simple:
Coffee mugs + POD designs + The Evergreen Ads Method = passive Amazon income.

• No inventory
• No photoshoots
• No shipping headaches

Just create designs, upload them, run simple ads, and let Amazon's massive search engine do the rest.

If you want to scale faster without spending hours uploading products one by one, that's exactly what PODtomatic was built for. It automates uploads, creates SEO-friendly product content, and helps you cover hundreds of niches in a fraction of the time , giving you more chances to rank, more campaigns to run, and more sales on autopilot.