topic Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager! in General Zazzle Discussion

Videos now allowed in the media manager!

Pixelan — Fri, 25 Aug 2023 09:06:27 GMT

Just noticed this today:

It looks like besides cover images, videos are allowed to present your products! It's a great addition to cover photos and I'm curious to spot this 'in the wild' on the Zazzle marketplace, so if anyone can share some examples on products.

The official media manager help page is updated: https://www.zazzle.com/creators/playbook/media+manager

I couldn't find a resolution recommendation, usually I use 1080x1920 which works great on portrait mobile viewing and is preferred on social media sites.

Now the best way to do this would be to actually order your product, mug, invitations, etc. and make a short insitu video of it and upload it. But, in my case, I have to earn money first before being able to buy the product(s) to showcase it (not to mention shipping cost and time to Europe).

What kind of good quality videos could be made without buying the product?

Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager!

Pixelan — Fri, 25 Aug 2023 11:55:59 GMT

As I'm looking forward to eventually order my own products to create some really good quality product videos when I reach one of the Pro levels. For now I just wanted to try creating a cover video which is in the theme of my new wedding collection.

The whole process of uploading and adding the video went pretty well!

Here is my first attempt in case you want to see it on a product (click on the image):

Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager!

Pixelan — Fri, 25 Aug 2023 13:20:29 GMT

This one shows that the customer can personalize the front and back of the card (click on image).

I'm really interested what other people create, feel free to post in this thread if you wish.

Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager!

plumb4me — Fri, 25 Aug 2023 13:57:36 GMT

I made a free video this morning of a greeting card. I used Adobe Express, but they have limited product videos, I could use for free. I used 1080x1920 and it turned out fine. I would rather not post the link to my product, because it was just my first test video, but I can confirm 1080 is fine, it was a MP4 video, it uploaded quickly and the video was crisp and clear. I am going to remake the video and will post a link then.

Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager!

Pixelan — Fri, 25 Aug 2023 14:01:49 GMT

1080 seems to be working nice indeed. After cover photos this does create some extra work, but if it results in more sales I don't mind that much. This is not something that's worth the time doing on every product IMO.

Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager!

Connie — Sat, 26 Aug 2023 02:37:30 GMT

I'm extremely disappointed in Zazzle for doing this! As a shopper, I find it annoying, distracting, and aggravating, but what really bothers me is that Zazzle penalizes those who don't have the time and money to jump on every "shiny new object" they come out with.

"Our existing commitment to an enriched customer experience is only enhanced as products that feature Cover Photos (and now Videos!) will continue to be favored in the Marketplace and will be showcased throughout the customer experience."

So then, they will say: "See, it increases sales!" Well of course, products that are featured and promoted will have more sales than those that aren't! But it doesn't accurately reflect the actual impact of those added distractions. REAL, ACTUAL Marketplace testing would be if they didn't favor them in the Marketplace, and "let the chips fall" naturally. I'm resigned to the fact that the viability of my store is time-limited, and I will eventually be phased out. But it is really disheartening, after all the hundreds of hours I've spent on cover photos, to be shunted aside because I'm unable to make videos.

Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager!

almdrs — Sat, 26 Aug 2023 16:57:49 GMT

I tried to upload an mp4 video and the file was not accepted.

Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager!

Marcia — Sat, 26 Aug 2023 18:10:38 GMT

@Pixelan Nice job! Thanks for sharing!

However, for me, I'm already mired in cover photo mockups (where I am proficient) & videos always take forever for me to make plus I hate doing them. So I hope I'm not penalized too much for not jumping on this latest bandwagon. I still need time to design new products as well as correct all my collections. There's only so much time. Can't do it all. As it stands, I made no new products for 3 or 4 months because I was too busy with the photo mockups. Enough!

Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager!

plumb4me — Sat, 26 Aug 2023 19:13:51 GMT

I can't upload any videos today either. I read in another thread, that there is some kind of issue with uploading videos and Zazzle is working on a solution.

Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager!

Pixelan — Sat, 26 Aug 2023 20:11:37 GMT

Thanks!

I can understand what you mean, doing all the extra marketing, cover photos and now videos, it does take a big chunk out of the time creating new products/ designs. Definitely not making a cover for each product, just a few from each collection. But I think that's something the Zazzle team also understands, it asks a lot extra from creators.

Still if it pays itself back in the end it's worth the extra steps. As long as products without a custom cover are not pushed too far back in the results.

Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager!

Sea-Change — Sun, 27 Aug 2023 02:12:59 GMT

I tried to upload a short MP4, and it wasn't accepted. I'm surprised such a common video format isn't supported for this latest and greatest new feature.

Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager!

Pixelan — Sun, 27 Aug 2023 08:52:01 GMT

The video specs I successfully used was 1080x1920, 30fps, mp4, empty audio, codec: MPEG-4 AVC (part 10) (avc1). This is what worked for me, but maybe there's a issue with adding videos atm?

Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager!

tracytrends — Sun, 27 Aug 2023 14:46:39 GMT

@Pixelan
- Would you mind trying to upload another video to one of your products?
- just as a test because there's another thread saying Video uploads are paused (but I don't see a Zaz announcement) so I'm wondering if they are paused or we're doing it wrong
- If it works for your new upload, please let us know if you're uploading using the media manager on the product page or your account "images" area, and then later selecting the video using Media Manager?

I was actually excited to try this.
- Thank you so much for sharing. I think you've a great start on your videos.

*appreciate your taking time for us

Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager!

Pixelan — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 06:32:42 GMT

Sure this is just a short "mood" video for an invitation.

Goto product page > product manager > Add images > ERRROR.

I now notice that video file formats are not accepted anymore. Looks like a bug or Zazzle temporarily disabled uploading videos. Because I'm using the same path as before.

"Image has failed to upload.
(We support JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, OFM, DST, PDF, EXP, PGF, SVG, HEIF, WEBP, and video files.)"

Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager!

Sea-Change — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 08:39:32 GMT

Thanks! The video I created was about a 10-second, no audio, 1080p mp4. I used the default Windows video editing tool, which doesn't provide additional specifics on the codec. I've had no issues uploading the output to Pinterest and other social media sites.

I've used Adobe Premier Pro for larger video projects, but I hope a sophisticated video editor isn't required for Zazzle videos since those can take more time and bandwidth to produce. My MP4 isn't listed when I choose Media Manager>Media Upload, but if I choose "All Files" and attempt upload, I get an error message (below). It says my MP4 file has failed to upload but "videos" are supported. I can repro with other MP4s as well.

At this point, I've decided not to further troubleshoot until this feature is more fully rolled out (my plate is also full this week), but I appreciate your help. If it's still happening in a few days, I'll post the details to the Technical forum.

Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager!

Pixelan — Mon, 28 Aug 2023 08:41:23 GMT

I'm guessing that video upload is currently paused on Zazzle. I think it's indeed best to wait until there's more official information.

Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager!

DM — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 00:23:58 GMT

When I visited your product page, clicking on the video thumbnail in the left column didn't play the video. I clicked it again, and it opened a pop-up in which the video is taller than the height of the screen. (I have a 1920x1080 monitor.) So, the text lines at the top and bottom were cut off, along with the video controls.

Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager!

sheindesigns — Sat, 02 Sep 2023 21:27:37 GMT

Does anyone know if we can share the videos to say, Pinterest and expect it to be a video...? Currently, I share the video I uploaded (working on zazzle) but static on Pin. Any advice?

Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager!

Sara_H — Sat, 02 Sep 2023 22:32:28 GMT

@sheindesigns I would just upload directly to pinterest as a video pin

Re: Videos now allowed in the media manager!

VivianD117 — Sun, 03 Sep 2023 16:16:59 GMT

You can make little MP4 videos just using the product pictures and some music in the background and you don't have to buy the product. That may be a solution. I just tried one, kept it to 19 seconds and it uploaded nicely. I can put in a link if you would like to see it.