topic Re: Collections vs Categories in Collections

Collections vs Categories

Nightmareartist — Wed, 20 May 2026 17:48:59 GMT

Hello all,

I'm not a new contributor, but it has been a very long time since I have participated in the form. But now, I would like some opinions. I am beginning to question the actual value of collections vs categories from the home page.

I can't find out if my items are being sold from a collection, or from a category. I want to know because the only real advantage I can see with collections, is being able to organize products the way I want them to appear. Not that this is easy, but that's a gripe for another day (Return the send to front, send to back option!). I can't organize items in a category. Of course a sorting drop down menu would solve this, but alas.

I already have categories of like products, t-shirts, prints, and so forth. If items are not being sold from the collection, I am wasting an awful lot of time making a redundant collection from the category.

So what are your thoughts on this? I am really leaning toward dumping collections altogether.

Re: Collections vs Categories

ColsCreations — Wed, 20 May 2026 20:04:55 GMT

My personal belief is that 1) categories are only important if people are actually visiting your storefront and 2) creating categories based on specific product type is redundant since Z's own built-in categories already let people filter by specific product type.

If you have a brand and a follower base where you expect people to be going directly to your store specifically for your goods, then categories are useful for grouping things in a different way than Z's own categories that are based on product type.

If you're not expecting much traffic directly to your storefront, categories are best used as a way for you as the Designer to organize and keep track of things because shoppers will never see them.

Collections though - these are important! Because even if people never go to your storefront, they will see other products from the Collection (with a live link to it) directly on the product page of whatever product they happen to be viewing. Collections are way more complicated now then they used to be but are still IMO hugely important because of the way they show on product pages which can lead to more sales.

https://community.zazzle.com/t5/general-zazzle-discussion/opinions-on-creating-a-new-store-for-each-niche/m-p/126442/highlight/true#M16176

Re: Collections vs Categories

Nightmareartist — Thu, 21 May 2026 03:06:23 GMT

Thanks much. You've given me a lot to consider, and I appreciate that.

Re: Collections vs Categories

doggenhaus — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 19:30:27 GMT

From what I’ve seen, categories and collections do very different jobs. Categories are like divider tabs in a binder: they help you internally sort your own products, and because each category has its own ID, you can also use them via RSS to show items on an external website (that’s how I rebuilt product views on my Typemill CMS site). Categories = something for order, designers.

Collections, on the other hand, let you group products – including items from other designers – exactly how you want them to appear and share that as a curated landing page. That’s useful for things that naturally belong together, like invitation suites, business stationery, or simple pairs such as card + envelope or tie + matching cufflinks. Landing page = this ist the sharing futures now, something like a own shop without shop.

I also feel that the old “featured products” concept isn’t really up to date anymore and that our shop homepages have become rather unfriendly for designers: we constantly show other people’s products there and the commissions are inconsistent. For people selling themed assortments without creating their own designs, collections can be very helpful, while designers with thousands of products mainly need categories to keep structure and an overview.

Since we all sell differently – only on the marketplace, via our own sites with RSS, or mainly as referrers – there is no one “right” solution. Collections pay off if you actively share those URLs as landing pages, while categories are more about internal order and external feeds, and what works best depends on how you drive traffic to your shop.