I’ve struggled to understand this “Comparable Value” labeling ever since it turned up. Your theory is very interesting and could be right, anything is possible, but first I want to address this one thing.
I would assume that this a benefit to Zazzle’s bottom line since the price is more, but we still get a royalty based on the amount we set in the royalty calculator.
My address labels mentioned above show in the calculator as being at 20% royalty with “retail price” of $20.25 (for the 5-sheet minimum). The “comparable value” on the product page is $22.25. The sale of them this morning confirmed that I got 20% on the higher $22.25 price that the customer paid.
This page “explains” the comparable value pricing thing. But it makes zero sense so either it was just very poorly written or they are purposefully obfuscating and I would like to think it’s the former.
The yellow part makes it 100% clear, no bones about it, that this number is just an estimation of what competitors might be charging. But it’s the actual price on Zazzle as well if you fail to apply any promo code. The blue “price you pay at Zazzle” is the price after any discounts have been applied, not the list price. But Zazzle’s example has left off the red line that tells you that number reflects whatever the current sale price is.
I have had orders come in with no discount and had to wonder how that happens, how does someone manage to not get at least the standard 15% off? Even going in as an anonymous shopper, the promo code for the 15% off is automatically applied in my cart, I’d have to intentionally click the Remove button to not get the discount. No idea how it happens that shoppers occasionally pay full list price but the point is, it does happen so the “Comp. Value” is not just a marketing ploy showing you the supposedly higher price you might pay at a competitor, it’s the actual price you will pay on Zazzle if no promo codes are applied.
How it’s worded and displayed now on the above linked page, they’re saying they are comparing what you might pay elsewhere to what you will pay on Zazzle. But that’s not the case, they are actually comparing what you will pay on Zazzle to what you will pay on Zazzle with a promo code applied.
If you look at the Info blurb on the product page
That makes much more sense. That doesn’t say anything about other online marketplace prices, it just explains why you might see something else similar on Zazzle for a different price. I think it’s saying (using my address label example) that all other 2.25 x 0.75 return address labels where the independent creator also set their royalty to 20% will all be the same $22.25; there might be hundreds of others of the same product probably even with similar designs that are only $19.95 because they’re all set to only 15% (just making up those numbers). I don’t think they are just making up random higher prices based on some average or something, I think they’re just trying to explain that the price shown isn’t for ALL address labels in the market, it’s just for this style/size and the price may vary depending on the markup set by the IC. I think it’s good they are trying to explain this, I’ve often wondered what customers think when they see dozens of same product with prices all over the map. But they could word the Info blurb a little better, and the Learn More page definitely needs a do-over to remove all the mumbojumbo about it being an estimation of what you’d pay at a competitor.
All I can deduce with my own eyes is that prices have gone up 9 - 11% and while our chosen royalty rate is being applied to that higher price, the royalty calculator is still reflecting the old lower prices making it impossible to know what the list price (now labeled “Comp Value”) will actually be until you publish it.
