Can someone explain this excess royalty fee to me? i feel like i’m being robbed on every sale.
10 Likes
I think since the April 1st changes, if you set your royalty over 10% it is applied. Before April 1st it was charged when a royalty was over 14.9%. It’s fairly minor compared to the new ‘marketing fees’ but yeah, it does lower your earnings.
4 Likes
That’s because you are getting robbed at every sale.
20 Likes
Van’s reply is correct but there is also now a marketing fee on every 3rd party sale as well. More info here: https://www.zazzle.com/assets/graphics/z5/zmisc/ambassador_program/Ambassador_Program_FAQs.pdf
2 Likes
Thank you, everyone!
Understanding new Ambassador program, the excess royalty fee apply on royalties set more then 10%, but it is a percentage applied on the royalty amount, instead that on the price of product sold. When you set the royalty, try to enter 17% for example, or other amount >10%. In the meantime you can see below the excess royalty fee amount, that will be deducted from your royalty earning of one sale. If you put an amount <10%, you will not see the excess royalty fee notification (Underlined in Red in screenshot attached)
1 Like
You’re not alone. “Excess royalty” may seem minor, but it quickly adds up alongside steep new marketing fees. It unfairly limits creators from valuing their designs properly. Further, it’s unclear—however logical it may sound—why the penalty applies to the entire commission instead of just the portion deemed excessive.
New program was promoted as an opportunity but has turned out to be the opposite in my case. My revenue has dropped by about one-third, self-referrals have nearly vanished, and the average royalty now hovers around 8%. The system feels discouraging for small creators who simply want to price their work fairly and be rewarded for their effort. Given all this, I’m seriously rethinking whether continuing on Zazzle is worth the time and effort.
7 Likes
It’s my understanding that the excess royalty fee was started to offset the fee that credit cards charge to merchants. So let’s say a designer sets an item to $10 and Zazzle gets $5, they are paying the CC company a percentage based on the $10 sale. Let’s say another designer sells that item for $20 and Zazzle gets $5. Now Zazzle is paying the CC company a percentage based on a $20 sale instead of a $10 sale and they are still only making the $5.
I could be wrong, but that’s how I remember the conversation when the excess royalty fees were first introduced.
1 Like
Correct so you either raise your royalties, suck up the losses or drop down to 10 and hope you make more overall sales to get the same amount. Not great but it is what it is…
1 Like