Lulu Direct

Jan. 6, 2021

Have tried multiple times to get this app working and all I have to show for it is a lot of frustration and wasted time. Absolutely the WORST app experience I've had so far. Incredibly disappointed, expected much better from such a major company.

Dec. 21, 2020

I launched a print on demand store for stationery. And have had a horrible experience in terms of the length of time it takes for orders to be delivered in addition to customer assistance. The "estimated time frames" are merely suggestions. The real dates of arrival could be more than 2 weeks past then... Also, they never actually say how long production takes. however, once they list your order's status as "in production" they refuse to allow you to cancel your orders. Would definitely look into other print on demand partners for books

Dec. 8, 2020

I connected this app to my website so that my journals can ship to the customers directly without me having to order in bulk. There must be a glitch in the system because several of the orders from my website has not transferred over to the app. Thankfully my number of orders is self manageable or this is something that I would not have easily caught. In trying to resolve the issue, Lulu is currently not taking calls, they are only handling everything through email which requires a longer wait time. I have customers ordering items as Christmas gifts and I can't even process their order which is so frustrating from a business stance.

Dec. 6, 2020

I am new to the Lulu xPress app, and I have had more than 100 orders go thru the app in the past 2 weeks. The problem is, I can only see my most recent 20 orders within the Lulu app, if I try to click beyond the first 2 pages - it does not show the rest. I am not able to access the status, tracking or customer information for those orders via the app and this is a potential nightmare waiting to happen during the holiday season.

Dec. 1, 2020

I tried installing the app but it appeared to be buggy. My one star is based on just that experience. I was thinking I might try it again, but reading these reviews, I don't know if that's wise. I'm new to Shopify and ecommerce, but I can read! It seems there is more dissatisfaction than there should be with the lulu app. I've never used them before. I'm awaiting arrival of a sample calendar I did that I'd wanted to offer on my store. I created the calendar on the lulu site and thought I could just pull it into the lulu Xpress app, but apparently I'd have to start over and re-do the calendar inside the app. But I see nearly as many complaints about service here as satisfied customers. Are there any other options that anyone knows about for print on demand books publishers who integrate well with Shopify and are more highly rated?

Nov. 16, 2020

Poor quality control. Poor customer support. I placed orders for several samples from LuLu (both in Shopify via the app and through xpress.lulu.com). The gloss cover paperback was fine, but the matte covers on three different paperbacks were badly curled. I also contacted support about the customized packing slip: LuLu acknowledged that there was an issue and said its developers were investigating, but it's been three weeks now and I still haven't heard back... It's a pity, because done properly I think this service would be a tremendous success (many small publishers would welcome the ability to have a third party process single book orders for them from their own websites) — but there is no way I could sell such a shoddy product to customers.

Nov. 5, 2020

I use Lulu xPress for about two years now. It worked well until several months ago and it became a disaster. Apparently there is 0 quality assurance made at the printing facilities. I have numerous copies of my book delivered with pages empty of content. The support is always helpful and sends a replacement, but in last several weeks I had several clients who received faulty product even on second and THIRD attempt. Unfortunately it damages my relationship, since I really look unprofessional when customer receives a faulty product, then the replacement arrives faulty again and the next one again. It also affects my income since I have to refund such customers. I asked for clarifications when such issues can be fixed but didn't receive concrete answers. If you have an alternative consider avoiding Lulu.

Feb. 5, 2021

Update: 2/5/2021. I am no longer using this app. I had a lot of calendars ordered that took months to arrive, and only did get printed and shipped because I contacted customer service relentlessly. I have entire threads of emails. Customer service did help get the orders fulfilled after customers started complaining, and after MANY emails back and forth. The calendars were really nice, and I would have preferred to keep using Lulu but not at the expense of my customers' business. Update: I really wanted to come back and change my original review saying things were resolved, but I can't. After multiple attempts, I finally got a human on the phone, who I thought was helpful. They did enable my product in my store so that customers could order, which they did, however, it has been 20 days now and the order has not even gone to production because the original issue was not fixed. I am stuck with $400 in sales, no product, angry customers, and still, no answer when (or if) they will get their product at the height of the holiday season. If I could give zero stars I would since they have done nothing to assist nor can I get any product. I made a calendar for my Shopify store, it shows up in my store but you can't order it, I keep getting an error message when attempting to place an order. I have contacted their customer service, no response. I contacted Shopify, they confirmed it was not on their end and contacted Lulu xPress's customer service copying me on the email and I did get an email back several days later. I sent screenshots as requested and since then nothing. I have tried for 10-days to resolve this and nothing. I will move on to another app and start over.

Oct. 30, 2020

I really like the Lulu App and how it all easily integrates with my website. It has allowed me to sell my book directly and because it is automated that gives me more to follow-up with the my readers.

Oct. 25, 2020

Love that lulu came out with a Shopify app! Now we can sell our print on demand books all around the world straight from our website while capturing our customers information for future marketing. Not to mention, their customer experience is AMAZING!

Oct. 20, 2020

When I press the option to associate one of my books with lulu app, the full list of books doesn't show up. If I put the whole title, the book doesn't show up. The paperback cover takes too much time to process as well, because of the size requirements. There should be a format that integrates the front image and allows to add text to the back image. This would allow a much faster process. The advantage for me with Lulu is the creation of hardcover books. Not many platforms allow me this. I wanted to sell hardcovers through this app, but it's just too complicated to create the hardcover cover, and then go through a system that doesn't work properly. I don't even really know how much I am paying per sale, because that price shown includes production only, and not shipping. P.S. I am not trying to do more with the app that it was designed for. Unless you mean accelerating what already exists and expect the full list of books to appear in the search engine. As for my last email it was meant to improve your business, and has nothing to do with this review. It's disappointing when help is transformed as a justification to nullify an argument.

Sept. 8, 2020

I tried to use the app and create a book but I failed. So after a few hours trying I wrote an email to the Customer Service. They answered that my request was highly important but they won't answer because of too high level of request they have to face. It's an absolute shame to face such a situation so I deleted the app and wen to competition and found some offering great service. So as a piece of advice, I recommend to flee Lulu "service".

July 15, 2020

For children's books, the print quality from LuluXpress is amazing! Their 80# glossy paper makes the color so vibrant. They ship worldwide, and easily handle large orders. Our experience with this app has been positive all the way. Highly recommended.

June 9, 2020

LOVE LULU!!! There is nothing I dislike about the app. Make sure you aren't using in Safari, Chrome works great. The main thing is putting turnaround times on your site so customers aren't expecting overnight shipping. Even through the Covid ordeal, this company was awesome to work with and never shut down. Once set up this app really does allow you start small and grow quickly. And AWESOME customer service. They resolved any issue quickly and were really communicative. Their printing costs are comparatively super low as well. I have moved to bulk orders and they are still the cheapest domestically.

April 16, 2020

App works but so much room for improvement. It's buggy and often hangs and spins. The connected books cannot be easily filtered in a search and requires you manually search page by page to find anything (a real PITA when you have lots of titles!). The benefit of the app is that it connects shopify orders and, for the most part, it does achieve that. However, it often causes lots of unnecessary frustration in the process. Hoping the developers continue to work on this app to improve the functionality and ease of use for the end users.

March 25, 2020

This app has been really helpful to us! We've been able to hook up our printed items from Lulu (we love their printing quality!) to our shopify buttons and use them on our website for a streamlined order and fulfillment process. We couldn't do business without this!

March 5, 2020

This app doesn't work. I installed it then tried to create a book. I keep getting the following message: IMPORTANT NOTICE: Unable to select your Connected Shopify Product? We've identified a bug that is preventing users from selecting a Product while creating their Lulu xPress project. We're actively working on a fix.

March 3, 2020

LuLu enabled us to deliver our book directly to our customers with a minimum of difficulty and our contact Cary was very helpful and patient with us as we went through the process.

Sept. 21, 2020

(SECOND REVIEW - 9/21/2020): Production times are over a month. I have customers complaining daily, asking where their orders are. This is not an issue of the USPS or Fedex, this is a production/manufacturing issue that Lulu has faced since we began working with them. We get the same old runaround from customer service about how they are working on it. We have been working with Lulu for about a year now and it has just been painful from start to finish. If you're serious about starting a print-on-demand product, look elsewhere. It will save you a lot of headache in the long run for your business. Do not be fooled by Lulu's flashy interface and design. It's all smoke and mirrors. Behind the scenes it's a mess. (FIRST REVIEW - 4/27/2020): If you are planning to start a business around selling books, be vary wary before jumping in head first with this app. There are issues with the app as well as print quality control. We have been using the Lulu Xpress App for about 4 months now to print thousands of books. Our library consists of about 90 titles and we have spent thousands of dollars with Lulu. The app is riddled with bugs and issues. It is finicky and breaks easily. Many times it feels like wrestling a bear to get the app to do what it is supposed to. Whether you're trying to view your orders or trying to upload/update a book, a new error or bug will present itself. The app requires various workarounds to avoid these bugs, but regardless a new one will pop up in its place, bringing production to a halt. "Internal Server Errors" seem to never go away. We hold our breath every time we launch the app, cringing at what broken mess we're going to run into. This is not something that a business can afford to deal with on a weekly basis. As it stands, we have not been able to access the app at all in over a week. We have been working with customer service to solve these issues. This is an additional problem in itself. The line of communication is not efficient. You will be in contact through an email support ticket chain. With this chain, your customer service rep will relay or mediate your issue to a "developer" who is "working on the problem." It is just flat out inefficient and we expected more support and competency considering the volume we are producing and future plans of growth for our business. To their defense, customer service does reply fairly quickly. They do try and it seems they are sincere in their efforts to help in whatever way they can. Unfortunately, they're dealing with a broken app. The backend development of this app has a long way to go. The errors and bugs shouldn't exist to begin with. Because we are in this far, we will continue using Lulu for the time being, in hopes that they are able to iron out these issues soon. I will update this review once they do. Until then, I would not recommend this app.

Nov. 11, 2019

For YEARS I've searched for a solution like Lulu xPress. This is a complete game-changer for anybody wanting to publish a book and sell with complete ease. These guys are way ahead of the game and their prices rock too.