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.

I'm also having a lot of issues connecting LuLu direct app with my Shopify store. This has been an ongoing problem.

They have fundamentally broken this App after the recent "update", by removing mapped shipping and not implementing an equal alternative. Essentially useless as a hands off print on demand service, where you now have to baby every single order to make sure the shipping method is correct, otherwise it defaults to a more expensive method and you lose money on the sale. Pre update this was a very useful service that ran perfect for many years.

I am having the hardest time getting my products properly linked / set up through Lulu Direct. All of the instructional videos are out of date, so all the information and instructions that they are giving doesn't apply to this new format, making it a huge pain to set up. If you update your entire structure, you need to update your videos too. Otherwise, you are just leaving people in the dark, which doesn't make for very happy customers / users of your platform.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.