I have mixed feelings about Amazon Merch On Demand for 2025. It was a year of a lot of changes. Amazon changed the way creators can get tiered up. Now creators have to sell at least 80% of their designs before they will get tiered up. At least that’s the rumor and it appears to be true. I am nowhere near 80% of my designs sold. Amazon also started deleting designs that aren’t selling. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. In fact, I’ve had 18 of my designs deleted. I’ll discuss all of this later in this report.
2025 ended on a high note. I made a lot of sales to end the year and I’m optimistic about 2026. I think I can really bump up my sales and income if I put into place the right strategy. But before we can look to the future, we have to look to the past. Let’s see how I did in 2025, what went right, what went wrong and then figure out a game plan for 2026.
How Much Did I Make in 2025?
In January 2025, I made 16 sales and spent $8.78 in ads for a total profit of $68.80. In December, I had 25 sales, 1 return and I spent $24.08 in ads for a total profit of $111.43. My best selling month was December. Overall in 2025, I had 167 sales, 15 returns and made $804.14 in royalties (does not include ad spend). This is worse than 2024 where I had 189 sales, 13 returns and made $930.50. I didn’t do a single thing with my MOD account in 2025 so it makes sense that my numbers would be lower. My most sold product in 2025 was the standard t-shirt with 152 sales, 2nd was the throw pillow with 4 sales and 3rd was a tie between the pullover hoodie and tote bag with 3 sales each. I sold kids sizes 37% of the time, women sizes 35% of the time, and men sizes 13% of the time. Black, pink and purple were my top selling colors.
I also had advertising costs. I spent $259.48 on ads in 2025 which was more than 2024. I had an ACOS of 23.82% with 66 orders. I can’t figure out how to show just the year so here’s a lifetime graph of my advertising costs and ACOS.
2025 Amazon Merch on Demand Income: $544.66
2024 Amazon Merch on Demand Income: $695.21
What Went Right In 2025
- I kept making sales even though I didn’t add any new designs or products.
What Went Wrong In 2025
- I attempted to advertise individual products instead of the lottery ads but it didn’t work out. The ACOS was far too high.
- I’m stuck in T500 and I can’t seem to get to the 80% of designs sold mark that is required to tier up.
- I didn’t try marketing my current designs on places other than Amazon Advertising. I should have tried Facebook or Instagram to market my current designs to try to boost sales.
Looking Ahead to 2026
In my very first income report in April 2024, I said that my goal with Merch on Demand is $1,500 a month. That is still my goal. I’m pretty sure I’ll need to get tiered up to T1000 in order to reach my goal. I plan to do that by adding new designs and advertising them on Instagram. Luckily, Amazon is deleting my designs that aren’t selling so I have more slots to add these new designs. Two years ago, I created a strategy to advertise on Instagram but I never put it into action. This will be the year that I complete this strategy. If I do everything right, it should be successful. Once I get tiered up to T1000, then I’ll add more designs and repeat my Instagram marketing strategy.
2025 Goals
- Add 25 new designs – These 25 new designs are going to be in a specific niche which will make them easier to advertise on Instagram.
- Tier up to T1000
- Start advertising internationally
- Complete the marketing plan that I came up with in 2024
- Fill all design slots in T1000
While I’m not happy that I never got tiered up in 2025, I am happy with my sales – at least in December. They stayed consistent despite not adding any new designs. Unfortunately, I made less money this year than last year. That’s expected given the economy and how little time and effort I put into it. I’m hoping that adding some new designs and advertising them on Instagram will help me get more sales and get tiered up in 2026. I would love to be T1000 with all slots filled by the end of the year.
