Print on demand with Shopify in India: Qikink, Printrove, GST, COD and margins (2026)

Qikink and Printrove are the two Indian print on demand providers with their own Shopify apps, and both handle printing, white-label shipping and COD inside India. A ₹699 t-shirt from Qikink leaves roughly ₹290 to ₹300 per order before ads on the assumptions below. GST, COD and returns work differently on POD than on a stocked store, so sort those out before you spend on ads.

I see two kinds of POD question in my search data: the "which provider, how much margin" question and the "how do GST, COD and returns work" question. This post answers both with numbers from the providers' own pages, checked in October 2026.

For what Shopify itself costs before any of this, see my Shopify pricing in India hub.

Which print on demand providers integrate with Shopify in India?

Two notes on that table. Qikink's low App Store rating comes from a small number of reviews, and the complaints there are about dispatch delays and price changes. Nine reviews isn't enough to judge a provider that says it serves tens of thousands of sellers, but it's enough to tell me to order samples and test dispatch times before launch. Printrove's rating is high but on even fewer reviews.

Global POD apps like Printful and Printify are also on the Shopify App Store. The one POD project in my own work used Printful: Sanctified, where I built the brand and a Shopify Plus site. If your customers are mostly in India, compare delivery times and shipping costs carefully before choosing a global provider over a local one.

How does the Shopify integration work?

The flow is the same for both Indian providers:

1. Install the provider's app and connect your Shopify store.
2. Pick blank products in the provider's dashboard, upload your designs and generate mockups.
3. Push the products to Shopify with your own titles, descriptions and prices.
4. When a customer orders, the order syncs to the provider, which prints, packs and ships it under your brand.
5. Tracking flows back to Shopify so the customer gets shipping updates.

What the app doesn't do for you: product pages that sell, a size chart, photography beyond mockups, GST invoices to your customer, and the return policy. Those are your job.

How is GST charged on print on demand sales?

As the store owner, you're the one selling to the customer. The POD provider sells to you. So there are two GST layers.

What the provider charges you. Qikink's pricing page shows product prices plus GST at the product's rate (5% on its t-shirts, hoodies and mugs), and notes that printing and shipping carry their own GST, 18% for most services.

What you charge your customer. If you're registered, you charge GST at the rate for what you're selling. Qikink's HSN table shows the rates since the 22 September 2025 change:

For garments, the 5% rate applies up to ₹2,500 per piece and 18% above it, so a POD apparel store priced under ₹2,500 sits at 5%. Set these rates in Shopify under Settings, Taxes and duties, store the HSN code in each product's HS tariff code field, and install a GST invoice app. Shopify doesn't create GST-compliant invoices on its own. I cover the full setup in GST on Shopify in India.

Do you need to register? This is where advice conflicts. Qikink's blog says sellers below ₹40 lakh turnover can sell without registration because Qikink handles the tax paperwork on its side. Shopify's India GST FAQ lists inter-state supply as one of the registration triggers, and a POD store ships to every state. I'm not your CA, and these two positions don't line up neatly, so get written advice from a chartered accountant before launch.

How do COD and RTO work on a POD store?

You turn on Cash on Delivery in Shopify under Settings, Payments, as a manual payment method. Shopify's help docs say manual payments carry no third-party transaction fee. Prepaid orders through a gateway pay Shopify's fee (2% on Basic) plus the gateway's own (Razorpay's standard pricing is 2% plus 18% GST on the fee). Shopify Payments isn't available in India, so every prepaid order pays both.

On the provider side, COD costs ₹40.12 per order on Qikink and ₹50 per order on Printrove. The collected cash is then remitted to you by the provider. Check the remittance timeline in your provider's dashboard before you plan cash flow around it.

RTO hurts more on POD than on a stocked store, because a refused parcel holds a product printed for one person. Qikink says it doesn't charge for RTO orders, which removes the return shipping cost. Its pages don't say whether you're charged for the printed product, or whether it can be resold. Ask before you assume RTO is free.

To keep refusals down, the COD verification apps I compare in COD verification on Shopify India work on POD stores too. On a POD store I'd put WhatsApp confirmation on every COD order from day one, because there's no stock to fall back on.

How should you handle returns on print on demand?

Qikink replaces damaged or defective items if you raise a request within 7 days of delivery. Wrong sizes and change-of-mind returns are a different story: the provider printed exactly what was ordered, so those costs land on you.

What I'd set up:

• A size chart on every apparel product, with measurements from the provider's blank, not a generic chart.
• A return policy page that separates defects (replaced) from size issues (exchange at the customer's shipping cost, or store credit) and change of mind (not accepted on custom prints, if that's your choice). Say it before checkout.
• A 48-hour photo rule for defects, so you can raise the replacement with the provider inside its 7-day window.
• Credit notes in your invoice app for any refund, so your GST return nets it out.

What margin can you make on a POD t-shirt?

A worked example. Every number comes from the providers' pages above, and the assumptions are mine, so swap in your own:

• Qikink Unisex Classic Crew T-Shirt at ₹190 + 5% GST = ₹199.50
• One front DTG print on a coloured tee, assumed at the ₹100 minimum, + 18% GST = ₹118
• Surface shipping, assuming the packed tee is under 500 g: ₹50 incl. GST
• Selling price ₹699 including GST, on Shopify Basic with Razorpay standard pricing
• Costs shown including GST, as an unregistered seller would see them

If you're GST-registered, you'd pay about ₹33.29 in output GST on this sale (5% inside ₹699) and claim credit for the GST inside the provider's, gateway's and Shopify's charges. The net works out close to the table but not identical, and your CA will do it properly.

The ₹300 is before Meta ads, apps, packaging inserts and the Shopify plan itself (₹1,499/mo on Basic billed yearly). If ads cost you ₹250 per order, the business makes ₹50 a shirt and one RTO wipes out several orders of profit. That's why I tell POD founders to price for ads first. A ₹699 tee works when most orders come from organic social, a community or repeat buyers. Running mostly on paid traffic, you'll likely need a higher price, a bundle (two tees for one shipping charge), or both.

What I'd do to launch a POD store in India

1. Order samples from both Qikink and Printrove, timed from order to doorstep. Print quality and dispatch speed matter more than a ₹10 price gap.
2. Talk to a CA about GST registration before the first sale.
3. Start on Shopify Basic with a free theme, a size chart and a clear return policy.
4. Set up GST rates, HSN codes and an invoice app.
5. Turn on COD with WhatsApp confirmation, and a small prepaid discount if your margin allows.
6. Put real photos of the samples next to the mockups. Shoppers can tell.
7. Track ad cost per order from week one and compare it with the ₹290 to ₹300 above.

Want help building it?

If you're setting up a POD brand on Shopify and want the store, GST, COD and checkout done right the first time, tell me about it on the intake form. My rates are on the Shopify developer rates page.

Related reads

• GST on Shopify in India: tax settings, HSN codes and invoice apps
• COD verification on Shopify India
• Can you sell on Shopify in India without GST?
• Shopify for fashion and apparel D2C in India

Sources

• Shopify App Store: Qikink Print on Demand
• Qikink: Shipping details
• Qikink Help: No Return-To-Origin (RTO) charges
• Qikink Help: Pricing
• Qikink Help: HSN codes and tax rates of products
• Qikink homepage (replacement window)
• Qikink blog: Is dropshipping legal in India? GST and tax guide
• Shopify App Store: Printrove ‑ Print & Dropship
• Printrove pricing
• Shopify Help Center: GST in India FAQ
• Shopify Help Center: Manual payment methods
• Shopify India pricing
• Razorpay pricing
• All India Radio News: GST on readymade garments up to ₹2,500 cut to 5% from 22 September 2025