YouTube Partners with Shopify to Help Creators Sell Merch

Want to sell your merchandise on YouTube? A new partnership with Shopify is letting creators feature products in their videos and make more money.

This month, YouTube partnered with Shopify to help video creators sell their products on YouTube. Eligible creators can connect a Shopify account to their channel, display products within videos, and have viewers buy goods without ever leaving YouTube.

This partnership makes shopping on YouTube much easier. Instead of asking viewers to click on product links, creators can feature the actual products below a video or on end screens. They can also tag products within a live stream and pin them to the top of the live chat for all to see. If an item is out of stock, the listing will reflect that.

And if that wasn't enough, this integration unlocks the Store tab on channel homepages — a dedicated space to feature your products.

The YouTube-Shopify integration is still rolling out to creators. But in the meantime, keep reading to see who's eligible for a store and how to connect one.

Which Channels Can Sell Merchandise on YouTube?

If you want to sell products on YouTube, you have to follow a few basic rules. Make sure you meet these minimum requirements before you link a Shopify store to your channel:

  1. More than 1,000 subscribers (or you have an Official Artist Channel)
  2. Accepted into the YouTube Partner Program
  3. Not a Made for Kids channel
  4. No Community Guideline strikes for hate speech
  5. No (or few) channel monetization violations

Also, not everyone can buy your products on YouTube. Viewers must live in one of 28 countries to participate:

  • Argentina
  • Japan
  • Australia
  • Mexico
  • Austria
  • The Netherlands
  • Belgium
  • New Zealand
  • Brazil
  • Norway
  • Canada
  • Poland
  • Czechia
  • Portugal
  • Denmark
  • Singapore
  • Finland
  • South Korea
  • France
  • Spain
  • Germany
  • Sweden
  • India
  • Switzerland
  • Ireland
  • United Kingdom
  • Italy
  • United States

How to Link a Shopify Store to YouTube

If you meet all the criteria above, congratulations! Now you can link your Shopify account to YouTube and start making extra money.

Here are the steps you'll need to take:

  1. Sign in to YouTube and go to the YouTube Studio.
  2. Click Monetization in the left navigation bar.
  3. Click the Shopping tab.
  4. Click Connect Store.
  5. Select Shopify and click Continue.
  6. Click Go to Shopify.
  7. On the next page, click Add App.
  8. Click Add Sales Channel in the top right corner of the next page.

From there, follow the on-screen prompts to connect your Google account, complete store requirements, and create or link a Merchant Center account.

Need a quick tutorial? Watch this video guide from Creator Insider to see each step in detail.

If you have products on Shopify, be sure to take advantage of this opportunity. The integration with YouTube allows you to make more money and give viewers (your potential customers) the shopping experience they crave. In fact, 89% of viewers say they trust recommendations from creators, which feels like a strong invitation to sell your own merch!

But before you do, check out other ways to make money on YouTube — even outside the YouTube Partner Program.