Twice in 2 weeks that I know of.. (not counting the number of times others have purchased ONE invitation) - I’m sure this goes on Far more than we know.. I remember back in the day Zazzle had a 10 invitation limit and this sort of thing didn’t happen - if someone wants a sample (what ever happened to those anyways?) IMHO Zazzle should allow ONE invitation sales ONLY with the sample text - this way the customer can see what it looks like but doesn’t have it all filled out to print.. This top one was from just a few minutes ago.. I flat asked her if she planned on printing it locally and she said yes -
This was from 2 weeks ago.. same basic thing.. these are Only the ones I am aware of.. not good.. Please we need to do something in the way of one invitation sales that protects us.. like I said either a minimum or NON customizable text samples.
There’s little that would be able to stop this, other than keeping previews tiny and extremely low res or seriously disfiguring them with big ugly watermarks that would be too difficult to remove to be worthwhile… While I despise people who pirate, I don’t think doing this would actually create any sales. People that brazen generally do know what they are doing and simply aren’t willing to pay - they’d just go steal from somewhere else, not buy from you…
This is very discouraging. There is a long thread about a TikTok video where a professional wedding photographer based in Utah was demonstrating how to steal our work through screenshots and then get it printed cheap at VistaPrint. I do not think Zazzle ever chimed in on that thread. I am not sure if the mods do not monitor all the threads or what. I would like to know the official Zazzle position on design theft.
The tiktok video is down but there is a youtube vid up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvRWEWwQT9s - I have messaged the owner of this invitation and given her the url so she can contact youtube to have it removed..
You can comment if you are logged in. If you have a google login it will work at YouTube too. There’s no category that fits to report it though… to report it for copyright violation, it has to be the owner, so it’d have to be either Fancy Schmancy (the store owner’s handle) or Zazzle (since it shows Z’s web pages) that reaches out to them to get it removed.
I had no less than 7 sales yesterday where each customer ordered just 1 invite.
I don’t usually count them up, but thought I would out of interest. My only consolation is those people probably would not have bought anything anyway.
Ideally invites sold as singles because they are ‘samples’ should have a watermark on them.
I reported it by choosing “spam or misleading” and then “scam or fraud”, and then in the next window you can type in more and I added that the video contains instructions on how to steal art/designs without paying. I think that works.
ooo - I just didn’t look far enough. I was being too literal. I figured it wasn’t exactly misleading… they were telling the truth, even if they were telling people how to steal, but fraud fits it just fine. I also reported it, I figure the more reports the sooner someone will look at it.
There isn’t any clear question being asked here, so I’m moving this to General Discussion for better visibility.
If you enable watermarks in your store then the watermark will appear across the image when it’s enlarged beyond ~500px in size. This option can be found in the Advanced section of your store settings.
I thought it was suggested strongly not to use watermarks due to not showing up in searches in google and not doing well on pinterest - has this changed?
They did do a test program where they sent a free invitation that wasn’t personalized. I remember seeing “sales” with zero revenue. I think reinstating that program and setting a minimum order size of 10 would cut down on some kinds of thievery. However, it does nothing for the screenshot thieves.
I’d love the idea of having a minimum order size of 10 AND being able to order a non-customized(!) sample so customers can see the paper and printed colors before they order a lot of invitations. I totally get that they want to see how the print and the colors turn out before spending a lot of money on paper goods.
I occasionally order single invitations from my own shop to post on social media and saw that you can order single invites etc. but not single RSVP cards so for some products there is a 10 items limit…
Just as there is a message that says that “gold” or “rhinestone” glitter is simulated, there should also be a message right inside the adjustment window and by the mockup that says “to make a copy without paying for it is a criminal offense including a screenshot. If you cannot afford to buy from Zazzle, then perhaps you should wait to come here until you can, as real people are not getting paid for their work when theft of this nature happens”.
I was actually planning on contacting Z regarding this very same issue. I have many orders for one invitation and I can only imagine that they are either taking it locally to print OR copying it themselves on their home printer for next to nothing. It’s very frustrating because I do remember Zazzle offering free samples to customers (but with sample text only to see and feel the invite for quality before making a large order). Has that gone away? If so, why? I think they need to re-implement that policy ALONG with a 10 invite minimum purchase to prevent this from happening. I mean, we’re not the only ones losing money to this practice… Zazzle is obviously losing the sale as well. It would be in everyone’s best interest to put these protections in place.
Best of luck to everyone with their sales. Hoping this issue is fixed very soon!
