Commission on Sale

Discussion Forums Ambassador Program
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Not sure if i put this post under the right subject matter but here goes

I am new to zazzle and I asked some of my friends to buy some of my  Christams cards, wrapping paper 

I sent them links to my store but in my commission report  Zazzle has take a marketing fee of 40% to 50% from my profits

But Zazzle has done no marketing here . I got my friends to buy and sent them the links

I know I should have used my referral code as part of the Ambassador programme but I fogot

But how can Zazzle take a marketing fee when they did no marketing

I can see why people quit Zazzle…its daylight robbery 

So much work on my side for nothing and they get 50% of my tiny commission …absolutley rotten

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I totally agree. When designers send links to customers, they have done the marketing — not Zazzle.

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I have tried to understand this Ambassador program. The issue of my friends and the link is not important as it is a  one off purchase by them.  I use it as an example and I am glad I did not add my ambassador ref code to the link i sent them as it highlighted to me the problem with whole Zazzle Ambassador program

Even the language in the Zazzle policy is opaque and confusing

They write  about ‘no referral’ being applied but when exactly is this ?

It seems unles you have an ambassador ref code on a link you are always going to be charged 40% -50% of your royalty as Zazzle can just say that was our marketing material that brought that customer as in my friends case   

(If someone else brought a customer to your store it is not an issue as this can be proved by their referal code)

Its in the case of my friends who only came to Zazzle becasue i gave them a direct link and they never even heard of Zazzle before

So how do established sellers handle the referral fee issu ? 

So what if someone is searching internally on Zazzle (having not come through your referral) and they land on your stuff and buy do you pay Zazzle the referal fee …looks that way..that is what happened with my first sale

Or if a customer is a returning customer to your store  but they typed Zazzle.com (or a link with no ambassador ref) code ..looks like you pay the referrral fee as I did for my friends purchases

But if Zazzle takes 40%-50% of my royalty for every one who comes on the Zazzle store that was not a direct link from me with my ambassador code on the link I am going to never earn the full commission. I am going to only earn a fraction of the commision 

So should i just  should assume the Marketing Royalty Fee will be taken on almost every sale where the buyer didn’t come through my ambassador link ? 

When is there ‘no referral fee’ that Zazzle talk about …what is the instance when this happens ? I cannot see it. I have 2 example now that counteract this assertion

So it really means that you can never earn your full royalty unless the person follows your link…you will always forego 40%-50%…

People say use Pintrest to drive traffic …but pintrest is flooded with pins driving traffic to SHEIN, TEMU, AMAZON, ETSY, etc ..i

Plus what is the point being on a market place if you have no market at all ? or you have one but your commission is neglible 

What with referrral fee  OF 40% - 50% , surcharge on going above 10% royalty and 5% exchange rate …I cannot see this platform as a good option for new sellers . There is no incentive and no reward. Older established sellers with a back catalogue may be ok but being new is a massive uphill struggle

If cany can answer when is ther no referral fee (given the example i  wrote) 

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These are excellent questions, and you deserve answers. There is a long thread where Zazzle answered a lot of frequently asked questions about the Ambassador Program. Maybe someone can find it and post a link for you to review.

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@Jadendreamer13   is it this thread you were thinking of https://community.zazzle.com/t5/ambassador-program/upcoming-changes-to-zazzle-s-terms-of-use/m-p/194748#M1 @MPFG-sos  

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@MPFG-sos  When you signed up for Zazzle - you agreed to the terms and conditions of the site. https://www.zazzle.com/terms/updated_user_agreement

The Marketing Referral Fee is now part of those terms and conditions. https://www.zazzle.com/terms/ambassadors_agreement 

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That’s it. Thanks, Sara!

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So I am supposed to understand conflicting and opaque information on the Ambasador_Agrement and just keep my mouth shut ..is that what you mean ..becasue i signed the terms and conditions …yeah heaven forbid I should question the validity of anything 

I did not undrrstand the Ambassador Program as many dont but hey excuse me for complainoing about a program that is confusing, opaque  and wrong and benefits Zazzle and not the designer

My friends used my link and Zazzle took a marketign fee ..where does it say that in the terms and conditions  - Please enlighten me ?

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@MPFG-sos   

I can’t enlighten you. Your friend could have easily picked up a zazzle cookie before they clicked on your link. Could have been from anywhere, browsing pinterest, the site - a “welcome to zazzle email” perhaps.

I don’t know.

I’ve found it’s wasted energy complaining about it. A lot of us have over the months. I’m not saying you should keep quiet. It’s the nature of the beast so to speak and I can’t see them changing the T&C’s now.

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The problem with hosting a business on someone else’s platform is that designers have no control over the decisions platform owners make.

I understand your anger and frustration. I also believe that if designers don’t ask for what they need then nothing will change. Folks can’t receive what they fail to ask for.

If you want full control over your business, you could hook up with a print provider, create your own website, and sell your products via Shopify. But then you’d have to do your own advertising and drive customers to your website. Not impossible to do, but it’s harder to find customers that way, in my opinion.

I say speak up and ask for what you need. Plenty of designers feel the same way as you do.

Sara’s thoughts on the issue are just as valid, if you prefer to preserve your peace of mind and accept things as they are today.

It’s all good.

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Yes of course i have accept the situation as is unless as you say I leave and try something else..which I am considering. I am of course angry to see how low commission is with this Ambassador Program 

And of course that, I think, doesnt make it profitable to Zazzle in the long run when they dont attract new blood and when other sites are hot on their heels on personalization 

I guess i am angry because the - everyhting is a Zazzle referral deduction  but a link with your own referral code attached - is not clear in the policy and looks to be the situation  …none of my friends had ever been on Zazzle before  and used a direct link…So this should be challenged 

thanks 

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I have a similar situation. I helped someone design something and sent them the link. They clicked through and everything went through correctly. I received the sale and it also came in as a self-promo. I do not understand how a marketing fee can be charged to a self-promo sale but I got hit with the 40% Marketing Fee. Something is rotten somewhere…just sayin’.

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Just an FYI: for your own products, you do NOT need the referral code. The clean links (just the product URL without a referral code attached) are how Zazzle knows it came right from you, to give you the self-referral. However, it is impossible to know if your friends had picked up a Zazzle cookie from an online search or elsewhere, before they clicked on your links. Self-referrals are hit-or-miss, just because there are so many tracking mechanisms out there that override each other. The whole internet is flooded with them.

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I gave my friends a ‘clean’ direct link  as I have said on more than one occasion and they didn’t pick up cookies as i was with them ..they hit the direct link and have never been on Zazzle before . 

A direct link from 2 different friends resulted in Zazzle taking 40% and 50% of my commission…Cant say it any clearer..

FYI a link with no referrral code does not result in full commission …as I have proved and would kinda negate the need for the referral code in the first place. . Also becasue ‘they are my own products’ makes no sense ..they are not my friends own prodcuts so how would Zazzle know I gave them the direct link if it contained no referral code  ???  My point is without the referral code Zazzle is claiming the marketing fee and I have yet to get an answer that makes sense as to what is a non referral and when it applies

anyway I guess everyone else are happy to put it down to the machinations of the internet. So I will  bow out now and decide myself if i continue 

Thanks

i

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gave my friends a ‘clean’ direct link as I have said on more than one occasion and they didn’t pick up cookies as i was with them ..they hit the direct link and have never been on Zazzle before .

A direct link from 2 different friends resulted in Zazzle taking 40% and 50% of my commission…Cant say it any clearer..

There is a key piece of information missing in this situation and that is how did the sale show in your Royalty History?
Was it listed as 3rd Party or Self? Because even if was credited as a Self referred sale, you still see the Marketing Retail Fee being deducted. With a “clean” link, if you are successful in being credited as the Referrer, you do see the MRF as being deducted but the math works out to your net royalty + referral totaling 35-50% of what the customer paid just as the terms explain. 

So is the issue here that your friends’ purchases came through as 3rdParty sales, or that they came is as Self  and you’re wondering why they still show the MRF deduction?

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The referrral was deducted as a 3rd party referral … as I said already. Zazzle took 50% of the commission. (ie a 3rd party referral with Zazzle listed as the receipant ) But they did no marketing , etc  for these sales. My question remains : When  there is no Ambassador Program ref code on the link then Zazzle claim it as their 3rd party referral even when it wasnt 

And I am still waiting for someone to explain what is a ‘no referral’ catagory sale ? and in what instances this occurs 

Here is the bottom line …if Zazzle (as it seems to be so far ) takes 40%-50% of your commission for anyone who comes on their platform that you did not send there with a link containing your  ambassador code then Zazzle is not providing a  market place really 

They take 90% of the sale …I get 10% …of which they take 50% and 5% for exchange fee … 

So in the end I get 4.5% and they 95.5% ..I created the desings, did the marketing , asked my friends to buy and for what ? 

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I’m not a high-volume seller, but I’ve been here for many years and I genuinely liked this platform — I guess that phase might be over.

I started with T-shirt designs and recently began shifting toward card designs. I was planning to expand my card collection here alongside Etsy.

Zazzle said that if you share your own link, you can earn 40–50%, which sounded great. Last night, I decided to research this “ambassador program” in detail by digging into Zazzle’s documentation. The more I read, the more concerned I became: the 14-day rule for affiliate links, the fact that almost all recent sales are marked as third-party, etc. It all started to look like the system was working against creators.

And that’s how I ended up in this forum — because something felt wrong, and it seemed like many creators could be affected.

From the topics and comments here, it’s clear that no matter what we, the content creators, do, the affiliate system on Zazzle is basically dead for us. Sales seem to default to Zazzle’s own affiliates or a few large traffic providers.

So, until these issues are actually fixed (and honestly, I doubt they will be), I won’t be sharing or promoting any Zazzle product again.

They told us we’d earn 50%, but in the end, everyone got pushed down to 5%.

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