Lulu Direct

June 1, 2024

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.

April 3, 2024

I am noticing a very inconsistent product when ordering. I ordered 3 copies of a book entitled "Life's A Journey" that should have been printed in an 8 1/2" x 8 1/2" book format. I received 3 books in 8 1/2" x 11" format. As I didn't need them immediately I didn't open the package until to longer after the order. Then I ordered a 2nd book entitled The Wonderfully Wacky World of those Crazy Critters Around Us!". Again 8 1/2" x 8 1/2", color book. It came in the correct size but was in B/W. LuLu's put in a request to reprint it with expedited shipping. Shipping was delayed, it arrived in color, whoever, the shipper had managed to mangle the book. I am now attempting to secure an updated version of the 2nd book; however, the system isn't allowing me to connect it to the right item. Therefore, I can't get it in their system so I can request a printed copy to see what I might get this time. More than a bit annoyed at the lack of quality. I can see how my customers would feel if getting charged for a product that didn't arrive as specified and requested.

Nov. 2, 2023

11/1/2023 I updated my review from a 2 to 4 after receiving a helpful email directly from Lulu about how to configure the Shopify checkout to ensure tracking auto-populates an order. The problem should be fixed now. My other concern regarding error notifications is already being addressed in an upcoming app update. There is no ETA when the new features will be available, but it is being worked on by the development team. Also, I would like to say the printing quality of the book is beautiful and a lot better than what Amazon can produce. I applaud Lulu for their excellent customer service and ability to address their customer concerns in a timely manner. I look forward to using the new updates. ---------------------------------- Old Previous review.... The app is easy to use, and the prices for printing are double that of Amazon, but overall, it works well and gives the seller full control over their paperback book profits. Another good feature of this APP is the orders are processed automatically. Now for the negatives. The APP does fall short. A developer can't state that an APP is integrated with Shopify if it is missing critical key features that are common across all Shopify APPS. What is missing is error logging and notification. If an order is invalid or fails to process, it is critical this information is sent automatically to the Shopify Admin. I should not have to check my order page daily to find errors. This lack of notification support can cause customer service issues. Secondly, your APP does not update tracking information or notify the customer when their package is shipped. The Admin gets notified, which is strange because I get notified of a shipping notification but not for order errors. I have to add the tracking information to an order manually, which is another large gap in the design of your APP. These are common things that are in every APP. These gaps need to be fixed and are large enough to cause my rating to drop from a five to a two. Your APP completely misses the customer service part of the Shopify business. Your design does not support the sellers properly. Please correct this in your next update to the app. The features are not hard to implement and need to be integrated ASAP. I will update my review when these features are implemented. Thank you for taking the time to read my review and input. I am open to assisting with developing or testing these features when ready.

Sept. 6, 2023

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.

Sept. 5, 2023

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.

Sept. 11, 2023

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.

March 15, 2023

Just installed but but wondering why it's charging me an extra $2 to print a book than on the Lulu website. I like that it allows variants! Would be great if i didn't have to upload interior to every variant if it's the same and just choose to use the same interior and just change the covers. We'll see what happens I might place a test order just to see how it arrives.

Jan. 20, 2023

Lulu is by far the best and nicest company I've ever worked with. They continuously put authors' and book-publishers' needs and concerns at the top of their list. The book quality is perfect and the process is smooth and easy. The results are great and the integration with Shopify works without a glitch. And, if you have any questions or doubts Lulu personel is the nicest, most helpful people there is, while at the same time being very good at what they do! We have never had any problems with Lulu whatsoever. The few times our customers have complained is when books have not arrived – which is never Lulu's fault (but UPS's). And even at those times, Lulu has been very helpful. I would recommend Lulu to absolutely everyone! You will not find a better company.

Oct. 19, 2022

I wanted to sell paperbacks of my own books at a discount independent of the larger companies if you know what I mean. Lulu looked good. I contacted them with my concerns and they assured me I would be pleased and there's no contract. The quality of the books is great. My readers have told me so and I have ordered them myself at cost by momentarily dropping the price on my products page on Shopify. The only problem left was constantly having to correct shipping prices both foreign and domestic. I contacted Cary Penrose who called me at my request and patiently talked me through setting up live shipping worldwide. It worked and now my readers in England can order delivery any way they want. I find Lulu very convenient and have had no complaints about pricing or delivery. I have just started advertising internationally, so time will tell how this works out when the volume picks up.

Oct. 19, 2022

I received the very best customer service from a wonderful person at Lulu. They helped me get my book print ready. They were quick to respond to my support ticket when I was having trouble. The trouble I was having was user error. I am a writer not a digital artist. The software I was using to create my files was bare minimum. They were happy to assist me in getting my book print ready. I love Lulu Direct and highly recommend them for print on demand.

Oct. 10, 2022

I am very disappointed with the Lulu app. When attempting to edit my books the page will not load. I can't make any updates to my books because of this. The shipping time is marketed at 3-5 business days but all of my orders have taken 10-15 days to deliver. I get that shipping may take longer under certain circumstances but if the majority of my orders are going to take almost 2 weeks to deliver then this app is not worth my time and I would rather go a different route. If someone could help me with these 2 issues that would be much appreciated but as of now I am looking for other options.

Sept. 17, 2022

The app is very glitchy and there are major issues with their fulfillment and printing of the books. Their site has a production time of 3-5 business days which is false advertising. When emailing them about how it is taking much longer, now on 12 business days they respond saying that they're aware of it and that I should tell customers that it is a custom printing job for each and every book and that should keep them happy. This is before the shipping even occurs. I'm only in the stage of printing out proofs and am realizing I likely will not be able to use this for print on demand and dropshipping directly to customers due to the insanely long print time. This is not a sustainable model for print on demand and more so a better model for printing in bulk and holding inventory.

Jan. 22, 2024

Recommended. The app works well. So far, all orders have been fulfulled properly. There have been one or two minor problems which customer service have handled well and promptly. In general customer service is excellent. [EDIT - over one year later, customer service continues to be excellent] There are some downsides to consider before using the app: - Orders to some locations seem to arrive very slowly... some took around three weeks. Need to let customers know about this, especially if they are expecting Amazon fulfillment times. Customers see the shipping time when they order, but this doesn't include production time to actually print the book, so from their point of view the book often arrives later than scheduled. - There is basically no functionality for looking through your own orders and gathering data, even just how much you've actually given Lulu. You have to email them to ask for a csv file (which they do provide promptly). In general the app is very poor for looking at data, looking at past orders etc. Searching for past orders is glitchy. - More costly than manually ordering from Lulu or making a bulk order. They add a fulfillment charge for orders through Lulu Direct. However I am glad I am using the app, despite these limitations

Aug. 15, 2022

I appreciate the fact that this app helps save time in submitting and fulfilling orders, but the print cost / revenue shown on the Lulu.com website is inaccurate with the cost to actually sell a book in Shopify. The Lulu Direct print cost is about 20% higher than the Lulu book store cost--they say that's to cover fulfillment costs. But yet they ALSO charge an extra $1.50 PER BOOK on Shopify, listed as a fulfillment fee. That's crazy, and I'm looking into ways to get around this because having to mark up a notebook over $3.00 just to get any profit it all is not sustainable.

July 24, 2022

Everything about this app is easygoing but the processing and shipping are insane. I am better off ordering in bulk in processing the orders myself.

June 6, 2022

Lulu has been great to work with! We print and ship around 100+ books per month. Very few issues with that volume of orders and when there have been any issues Kristen with customer support has very quickly fixed the issue (even when the error was due to customer issues and not Lulu). Highly recommend!

April 21, 2022

I use Lulu Direct to publish my books. This was my first experience with self publishing. I considered Amazon but then I decided against it since it meant that I would have to work to market my website as well as to drive traffic to amazon. As a newbie, that was a bit much. I AM VERY pleased with my decision to go with Lulu. My second and third shippments had issues! BUT, Kristen is a darling! She was with me every step of the way. My second shippment had a few printing issues. She got them replaced at no extra cost with free shipping. My third order, for some reason, did not get to me. I informed her and it was replaced free of charge. I really do appreciate how quick she responds ( most times, within 48 hours. If ever her response is tardy, she humbly apologizes. ) So far, I rate my overall experience as 5/5!!

Jan. 11, 2022

I used this app to launch my children's book. It is pretty easy to do as long as you have the video as provided by LULU. I do like having a store besides Amazon (I had major issue uploading my book on that platform, even hired someone to help me, but we couldn't get it to work). I still haven't used this forum to its greatest potential, but I know that there are a lot of ways to boost my book with the shopify store, so that is also great!

Jan. 7, 2022

I am a new author and I have used this app only once. I had a problem connecting the app to my online store. I communicated with Kristen, and she walked me through the process to connect the app to my store. I appreciated the great assistance that I received. My orders can now be automatically fulfilled by LULU Direct. I am looking forward to using this app again in the future.

Nov. 3, 2021

At first I was intimidated by Lulu’s self-publishing platform because I had never published a book and am not proficient in Adobe Suite products which several of the templates require. My customer support expert, Tim S, was fantastic. He answered all my many questions, in detail, within 1-2 business days and was helpful in sending me templates to help me format my book. He even helped prepare my files when I ran into a printing issue with certain images not printing correctly - he helped me understand what the problem was with my file and fixed the issues for me so that my books would print correctly. When I received a damaged book I ordered for myself as a sample, he issued me a refund so that I could get a new sample book clear of shipping damage, which was considerate. He was always professional, positive, responsive, and immensely helpful in the setup process of my book. I am so grateful to have had his support through the file creation process and initial ordering process to help me get my book set up online correctly. I'm proud to now officially be a published author and happy the quality of the books looks very nice. I can't speak to other customer rep experiences at Lulu but Tim S. was 5 stars! Thank you Tim!!