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Shipping errors: Lulu should be applying the lowest available shipping rate, per their documentation, but this doesn't work in practice, it's not "set and forget", and the head-scratching caveats essentially mean you can't manage shipping effectively unless you're on the Shopify Advanced or Plus plans.
Phone number required by Lulu: There's no way to collect phone numbers for one product in Shopify, so if you're not *only* selling books then you'd be forced to collect phone numbers for every product, which is a total disaster for digital product sell-through. It's not Lulu's fault per se, because the global phone number setting is Shopify's decision, but I'm sure Lulu could find some way to collect phone numbers via their app instead.
So... I mean, technically it is an app that works, so yay. The caveats are critical though.
UPDATED: To the response: This is a good note to read because it's not clearly documented in the support docs that the phone number is the key to the automatic shipping assignation.
We understand how this requirement can be frustrating, especially for stores that sell both physical and digital products.
Carriers require a recipient phone number for all shipments so they can contact the customer directly if there are delivery issues or to help manage delivery. Because of this, it is important that the phone number belongs to the recipient, not the merchant. This information must be collected during checkout, and Shopify currently only allows phone number collection at the store level rather than per product. This limitation is part of the Shopify platform, not the Lulu Direct app.
As long as you collect the customer's phone number and the shipping address is valid, we will automatically assign a shipping method to each order and you won't need to manage shipping.
We appreciate you sharing this feedback, as it helps clarify these carrier and platform requirements for other merchants considering Lulu Direct.
We use Lulu for some of our magazines and it works perfectly. The support team is very nice and always helping.
We love how easy it is to set up with our Shopify store.
I highly recommend the Lulu Direct app. The setup took just a few minutes, and now every order flows straight to Lulu for printing and fulfillment with zero manual work on my end. Print quality is consistently excellent, shipping is quick, and customers get tracking updates automatically.
I’ve tried other POD services, but Lulu Direct is the only one that delivers the same high quality every time and ships reliably worldwide. If you’re a small publisher looking for a dependable fulfillment partner, Lulu is hands-down the best choice.
i wish i could speak to a live person quicker an more direct
We’re sorry to hear you’ve had trouble getting in touch with us. We weren’t able to locate a recent support request associated with your account, but we definitely want to help. A member of our team is reaching out to you directly now so we can better understand what’s going on and get you the support you need.
You can also contact a live support representative anytime through the support link within the app or by visiting our help center. Our support team is available Monday-Friday from 8am-5pm EST. We look forward to connecting with you and getting the issue you are experiencing resolved.
Lulu has been incredibly helpful!! We thank them so much for their responsiveness with their support staff, ability to fix the issues, their patience and understanding were great. We received our first printed, full color books and they were outstanding quality! Thank you
Lulu Direct is not feasible with their current setup, so I've switched to ordering in bulk and shipping out myself.
First, Lulu takes almost a week to mark orders as fulfilled with the tracking info, so I've had to inform every customer of this fact.
Second, if a customer does not enter their phone number, then Lulu Direct throws a fit and you have to add the phone number plus additional steps of updating the address and shipping info. If you require phone numbers for all orders, then maybe this won't be an issue.
Third, sometimes there's an extra payment flow in Lulu Direct which I don't understand. Orders have been delayed because this was not obvious.
I'm also switching back to shipping myself because I can bundle the books with other products and include promo material.
Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback. We understand your concerns and want to clarify a few points that may help.
Because Lulu Direct is print-on-demand, every book is made to order. While this does take a little longer than bulk ordering and shipping books yourself, it also means no wasted inventory and a more sustainable process. Many sellers find that adding a short note to their checkout helps set the right expectations with their customers.
For the phone number requirement, Shopify offers a simple setting to collect phone numbers at checkout automatically, which prevents the extra steps you mentioned.
With payments, all transactions happen in two parts: your customer pays you, then you pay Lulu Direct. This second step can be automated, and we offer step-by-step guidance to make sure orders flow smoothly.
Our support team is always here to help with setup questions like these. Please feel free to reach out to us anytime if you have questions or need assistance – we’ll be glad to help!
When i am trying to connect Lulu direct to my shopify store and open the app, it fails to load and brings up a new tab saying unable to find correct link to website. So this leaves me unable to use Lulu direct for my needs. If anyone could help me out on this situation, I would be very grateful thankyou.
Working with LuLu and creating books directly on their website is easy and the quality of the books is superb. I gave the app 2 stars because it is more expensive to go through the app with a fulfillment charge on top of that. Better off going directly through LuLu website, it is free as well. I also found that I can't connect my LuLu books already made online into shopify without having to redo the entire process of creating a book through the app.
This was originally a ONE STAR review. I will say that tech support fixed it. Please note there is NO HELP during holidays for this international company so schedule your drops accordingly. I can say there was a problem with their plugin on my account that didn't exist before. Thank you for fixing this LULU.
Absolutely the worst app I had to use because there is no alternative that connects to Shopify. The prints take forever to get made and sent to customers. There're no notifications if there is a problem. Using this app only had a negative impact on my business's reputation and brand image because Lulu is unable to do their part. I get customers who never receive the products, only to find out that Lulu marked an address invalid because it had a special character used. Ridiculous. I do not recommend this service to anyone. It's better to not sell printed products at all then sell them with this app.
