Since the transition to the new Ambassador Program, I’ve noticed that the referral rate for the zazzle_flatpapersheet product is calculating as either 15% or 18% + 5% royalty. This is noticeably lower than any of the products listed on the referral rate table provided with the program update.
I submitted an issue request about this over three weeks ago with 4 follow ups but have only received confirmation that the matter is being looked into — with no further update since.
Could you please clarify why this particular product is not aligning with the referral percentages outlined in the official table?
If I understand your question correctly, and I’m not sure that I do, the self-referral percentage is applied based on the marketing department that you chose in the product details, not on the physical product itself. So if you had a product on a paper sheet that was listed in the wedding department it would (should) be 50%, if it was listed under office & school it should be 45%, if it was under crafts & party supplies it should be 40% etc. _ But this percentage includes both the referral and the royalty _ - they adjust the referral percentage so that the total amount you make (including both the referral and the royalty) equals the appropriate percent. Could that maybe explain why you’re seeing various different percentages in referrals?
These percentages only apply to self referrals though. If you’re promoting other people’s products, you just earn 15% regardless of the department. If it’s your product and it sold as a third party referral, then the marketing fee deducted would equal the percentage in the referrals table.
There you go! Clear as mud! Seriously, could they make this any more complicated?
Anyhow, not sure if that was what you were asking or not, but I hope that helps!
Thank you, Cat. This explains why it is sometimes 15% and other times 18%, as some of these products (zazzle_flatpapersheet) are Wedding while others are say Birthday, same product different marketing department. These are all my own self referred products that if they were on another product I would get between 37% - 45% on the self referral and another 5% for the royalty. I’ve received this range on around 20 different product types and this is the anomaly that I can’t figure out. If anyone has insight on the zazzle_flatpapersheet or if they have seen the same it would help. Also looking for Zazzle to chime in. Thanks!
Thank you, Sarah. I reviewed the response and I’m seeing something different than the answer to this issue. For example, I have a Wedding Invitation on Card Stock in the Wedding Marketing Dept and have received the correct self referral %, however if it is on the zazzle_flatpapersheet (sheets of paper, budget invite), the product receives the discounted 15% for self referral. I’ve had about 20 self referrals on the zazzle_flatpapersheet and it’s always either 15% or 18% which I assume is a glitch.
While waiting for a possible official explanation from Zazzle, it would be really helpful if you could provide a screenshot of the line-item from your Royalty History and the corresponding line-item from your Referral History for one of these pt-zazzle_flatpapersheet sales you put in Weddings and one you put in Birthdays.
From the data @YesItsRoy provided in the above thread @Sara_H linked to, we were able to puzzle-out that pt-zazzle_flatpapersheet in Crafts & Party Supplies were calculated at 25%.
ColsCreations/Sarah_H - It does appear that it was 25%, it’s 10% on the royalty and 15% on the referral for a total of 25%. I did not catch that 10% was on the royalty, assumed 5% based on other products.
As you mentioned in the other post, a 25% rate does not exist in the table. Appears that this is being driven by the product more than the category.
Thank you all for the assistance on problem solving this.
Thankyou. Yep, those add up to a 25% bracket, too.
Copying myself from the other thread in the Tech forum:
If you look here Putting Your Designs on the Correct Paper Products
Each blank you click on, you can scroll to the bottom of the page and see the “breadcrumb” which shows what department it is in. But there are 5 that have no category breadcrumb. They are the ones that start with an *asterisk and are described as “a generic ‘catch-all’ for miscellaneous content”.
I’m seriously thinking that these five orphans intended as “generic catch-alls” with no default cat are set to their own odd 25% bracket that Z thought was too specific and/or too uncommon to include/explain in the Commission & MRF tables. We’d need Self-Promotion sales of these other four odd blanks to find out.
Thank you, ColsCreation. It does look like the non-wedding on this product is 25%, whereas if it is wedding it is 28%. Unfortunately, I don’t have any referrals for the other generic catch-alls to validate. This does fall below the Terms and Conditions set by Zazzle on the minimum self referral, therefore I hope this is either modified in the table for transparency or adjusted due to an oversight.
Pádraig - Can you please advise on the status of this request? In the interim of figuring out the technical issue, can you advise from a commission perspective what the percentage should have been as it is lower than everything listed in the Ambassador Royalty as well as the communications on the lowest commissions for a referral.
Hi Fiona - Would you be able to provide an update on this inquiry? Could you let me know what the rate should be even if the technical fix is not available yet?
Hi @Bbourdages thank you so much for your continued patience here. We’re unfortunately still waiting for final calculations to provide you with a solution, but I can confirm we have made head-way in the inquiry and look forward to sharing with you soon.
Our team identified and resolved a system error that affected how Referral Commissions and Marketing Royalty Fees for certain Product types were calculated. Transactions since June 7th reflect the correct rates.
We can confirm that Zazzle_flatpapersheet was previously set to the department rate of 25% and it is now 50%.
