BlogGuide
What Does an Employee Swag Store Cost, and How Long Does Setup Take?
An employee swag store shouldn't need a budget line or a project plan. Here's what it costs to run one on demand, what you don't pay for, and how fast it goes live.
An employee swag store on Brikl is free to open: no setup fee, no monthly subscription and no per-seat charge. Brikl charges 3.5% per transaction, plus standard Stripe card processing, so the store costs nothing until someone orders. A branded store can go live the same day, in about ten seconds with Turbo Store, and every item is made on demand with no inventory to buy.
In short:
- A Brikl swag store has no setup fee, no monthly subscription and no per-store or per-seat charge.
- Brikl charges 3.5% per transaction; card processing through Stripe is separate at 2.9% + $0.30 in the US.
- Every item is produced on demand, so there is no minimum order quantity and no inventory to buy or store.
- A branded store can go live the same day, in about ten seconds with Turbo Store.
- Most domestic on-demand orders arrive in 7–10 business days after the employee orders.
What does an employee swag store cost to set up?
On Brikl, nothing up front: no setup fee, no subscription, no per-seat charge, and unlimited stores on the Launch plan.
The traditional company store starts with a purchase order and boxes that arrive before anyone has chosen anything. On Brikl, the first dollar is spent when the first order is placed.
If you'd rather not build it yourself, your first store build is free.
What do you actually pay for each order?
You pay for what employees order, plus Brikl's 3.5% and the card processing fee.
The 3.5% covers software maintenance, platform updates and integration management. On the Launch plan, Brikl is also the Merchant of Record: it collects payment through Stripe, calculates, collects and remits sales tax, and handles chargebacks.
Blanks come in at wholesale cost: a tee is $5–8 on Brikl versus $12–18 on consumer print-on-demand platforms, with decoration priced separately.
What you pay, and what you don't, for an employee swag store on Brikl (Launch plan)
| Cost line | Do you pay it? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Setup fee | No | Opening a store is free. |
| Monthly subscription | No | No standing fee to keep a store open. |
| Per-store or per-seat charge | No | Unlimited stores, users and organizations. |
| Inventory and storage | No | Items are made on demand; nothing is pre-bought. |
| Product and decoration | Yes, per order | Blanks at wholesale cost; decoration priced separately. |
| Brikl transaction fee | Yes, per order | 3.5% per transaction. |
| Card processing | Yes, per order | Stripe, 2.9% + $0.30 in the US. |
| Shipping | Yes, per order | $9.95 for the first item, $1.00 for each additional item (non-Printful providers). |
| Store build service | Optional | First build free; Simple $99, Advanced $199, Migration free. |
Are there ongoing or inventory costs?
No. Every item is produced when an employee orders it, so no office buys, stores or writes off stock, and there is no fee to keep the store open between orders.
The difference is clearest next to a bulk buy, where you pay for a guess about demand up front.
Illustrative example: 100 hoodies vs. 38
Say a company bulk-buys 100 hoodies at $32 each, or $3,200 up front. Over the year, only 38 people actually want one, which is $1,216 worth of hoodies. On demand, you pay for those 38, and Brikl's 3.5% on them comes to $42.56. The other 62 hoodies, and the closet space they take, never enter the budget. These figures are illustrative, not a quote.
Bulk buying also locks in sizes: the mediums run out while the 3XLs sit untouched. On demand, each employee picks their own size.
How long does it take to set up an employee swag store?
The same day; with Turbo Store, a stocked, correctly priced store stands up in about ten seconds.
Turbo Store needs three inputs: a company profile, a quality tier (Value, Everyday or Premium) and your logo as a PNG or SVG. It builds a matching catalog, applies one pricing rule, places your logo on every product and creates a storefront on its own URL, fully editable in the Store Editor.
Building by hand takes five steps:
- Decide who it's for. Choose whether the store is public, private to people you invite, or gated behind a sign-in.
- Pick a tight range. A curated set is easier to choose from.
- Upload your logo. Set the allowed placements for each product.
- Set pricing and who pays. Employees, the company, or both.
- Launch and announce. Publish on your own web address and share the link.
A custom domain connects with a CNAME record, and HTTPS is set up automatically. Propagation takes 1–72 hours, so connect it before you announce. For the full walkthrough, see setting up an internal company store, step by step.
Should you build the store yourself or use a store build service?
Build it yourself if you want it live today; use a build service if you have many products, logos or brand rules to get right.
Brikl offers three store-build services. Simple is $99 per store, for up to 20 items and a maximum of two logos, using marketplace items only. Advanced is a flat $199 and covers many products and logos, brand standards, a multi-store landing page, artwork dimensional specs, coupons and a custom URL. Migration is free and rebuilds stores from any platform, without preserving existing URLs.
A 60-person company with one logo and a dozen products is usually well served by Simple or Turbo Store; several brands with strict guidelines point to Advanced.
Who pays for employee swag: the company or the employee?
Either one; you set it per store.
Employees can buy at a set price, or the company funds the merch with allowances and coupon codes that cap what each person can spend, for example per quarter. That replaces approving every order by email. When an order is fully covered by a 100% coupon, there is no Stripe fee; product cost, shipping and the 3.5% still apply, and Brikl invoices the balance.
With several offices, one store serves everyone: each office gets its own capped budget, and a location can add an approval step. See how to run employee swag across multiple locations.
How long does delivery take after an employee orders?
Most domestic on-demand orders arrive in 7–10 business days.
Production takes 2–5 business days for DTG and DTF, 3–7 for embroidery and 3–5 for print products. Orders route automatically to a fulfillment partner, and tracking numbers appear in one dashboard. Each order can ship to an office in a batch or straight to an employee's home, so new hires can order their own kit in their first week.
What does this mean for distributors running stores for clients?
It means you can offer a swag store to a small client without asking them to commit to a bulk order first.
With no per-store charge, a store for a 40-person client costs nothing to open. You set your own markup (most distributors use 70–80%), and profit is paid out on the 1st and 15th through Stripe Express. Compared with chasing minimums by email, more small accounts become worth serving. See the full Brikl pricing breakdown and how company swag stores on Brikl work.
Ready to open a swag store?
Open a store for free, build it in minutes, and pay only when someone orders.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a minimum order quantity for an employee swag store?
No. Brikl products are sold as eaches and produced on demand, so a single employee can order a single item. There is no minimum order quantity and no inventory to hold. This is what lets a company open a swag store without first committing to a bulk purchase of each product in each size.
Can employees exchange swag if the size is wrong?
Made-to-order items on Brikl are not returnable for size, color or a change of mind, because each one is produced for that order. If an item arrives damaged or defective, Brikl replaces it free when reported with a photo within 7 days. Orders can be cancelled only before production.
Can I use our own domain for the company store?
Yes. Each Brikl store has its own URL, and you can connect a custom domain with a CNAME record. HTTPS is set up automatically. DNS propagation can take between 1 and 72 hours, and each domain serves one store, so a company running several stores connects a separate domain to each.
Who handles sales tax on swag store orders?
On Brikl's Launch plan, Brikl is the Merchant of Record. It collects payment through Stripe, calculates, collects and remits sales tax, and handles chargebacks. On the Enterprise plan, the distributor is the Merchant of Record and can use its own tax software, such as TaxJar, Avalara or Vertex, and its own payment gateway.
Can employees outside the US order from the store?
Yes. A Brikl company store can ship internationally, with international delivery handled through Printful Enterprise, and the platform supports 17 currencies. Each order can go to an office in a batch or directly to an employee's home; the buyer chooses per order.
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