Self referrals have gone all but out the door for me .. I never did get a ton but I got a steady supply of them.. now ? I haven’t seen a self referral since july 11 .. Bad enough we are taking huge hits on the final payout, but something has most definitely changed in the algorithms .. and sales without 3rd party are also nil.. again .. I used to get a reasonable amount of sales where nothing extra had to be carved out .. not now .. what has happened to mp placement ? The HUGE question from me is .. what was the whole point of this April disastrous redo of how the artists earn? I have had a number of bookkeepers look at this entire system of how zazzle pays (or doesn’t) and even they cannot see rhyme or reason to what more than one has called a ‘convoluted scale or earnings ‘.. so .. I ask a simple question.. to zazzle .. _ What exactly _ was the point of this entire change? I seriously would like to know .. Im working harder, I have better designs, I promote more and Im making maybe a 4th of what I used to make .. I came here after cafepress did a similar redo that pretty much ruined earnings there .. and I remember being told .. “ here at zazzle, we will never treat our designers like that” yet here we are 18 years later …… 
I, too, would like to know.
I’ve done a related post on this here https://community.zazzle.com/t5/general-zazzle-discussion/understanding-the-logic-behond-zazzle-s-new-fee-structure/m-p/219209#M26451
Though it doesn’t explain why referrals are lower
It also doesn’t explain how the reduction in royalties changed literally within a month after the changes were set it place
I have had a number of bookkeepers look at this entire system of how zazzle pays (or doesn’t) and even they cannot see rhyme or reason to what more than one has called a ‘convoluted scale or earnings ‘.. so .. I ask a simple question.. to zazzle .. _ What exactly _ was the point of this entire change? I seriously would like to know .. I
The answer straight from Zazzle:
community.zazzle.com/t5/ambassador-program/30-40-pay-cut
"The Ambassador Program was designed with the goal of supporting Creators who actively drive traffic and sales while also helping us manage our overall cost structure. The previous structure had become unsustainable, and this new approach aims to encourage greater engagement by bringing targeted traffic to Zazzle, "
They couldn’t make it any clearer than that. That they did not reduce the 3rd Party Referral commission (still a flat 15%, no fees deducted) further backs up this position. Actively bringing in sales is more valuable then just, making sales.
(My blog post about this topic here.)
There was always a “carve-out” fee on referred sales; 20% of the gross royalty. People were generally OK with that, thought being, eh, wouldn’t have had the sale at all if someone hadn’t led them to me. The “carve-out” has increased to 35-50% which IS pretty extreme, but I think the big mistake was in labeling it specifically a “Marketing Fee”. That labeling has led to endless questions, misunderstandings and outrage. They’d have been better off if they’d just continued to generically call it a “carve-out”.
And of course in addition to the new carve-out rate(s), the cookie structure that decides all this has also changed. The ‘first-click’ attribution now lasts for 14 days instead of just 7, and Zazzle themselves said in the FAQS that their tracking technology has been updated/improved for more precise tracking, and further evidence shows that that tracking extends past just local browser cookies that can be cleared by the user. So it is indeed much harder/rarer to get a self-referral or even a None, especially since we are competing against Zazzle themself for the referral.
Back to the original question, the short & simple answer is … Zazzle is a for-profit business and they can change things up any way they want to to benefit their own bottom line; Designers are just independent contractors who can agree to their payment terms or seek work elsewhere. OR, designers can accept the new reality and adapt their own business strategy accordingly. I’m not a fan of these changes (the “cookie” one + Zazzle treating themselves as a 3rd party referrer really upsets me) but I am a realist. They are a for-profit business not beholden to the IC’s who gain work from them and it’s extremely unlikely they’d roll back any cost/payment strategies in favor of the IC’s instead of themselves.
It may be related to the fourteen day rule?
Zazzle’s referral tracking lasts forty-five (45) days, with a rolling fourteen-day (14-day) lockout period during which other referral clicks won’t override your attribution.(help.zazzle.com)
In simple terms:
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Once someone clicks your referral link, you’re credited with any sale they make up to 45 days later.
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For the first 14 days , your link is “locked in”—even if they click someone else’s referral link, yours stays valid.
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After day 14, if they click a different referral link, the new referrer gets the credit for any future purchases.
I wonder if this allows for Zazzle to be the new referrer?
If it does then I think we need to accept the 14 days might be the new normal … unless the Pepperjam/Ascend affiliate program ( I’d have to check as I’ve been away from all things Zazzle for a long time) is still running in which case the rules for that might be different.
We’ll keep getting this issue pop up, as it is both unfair and impossible to work with. It would be better if we’d had a decent chance of earning a referral, but that’s not the case.
I agree, Anne, that this issue isn’t going away, and designers will not accept it.
Kudos for the well-thought-out and useful answer, but I’m still mad as heck about the unfairness of this situation. (Just want to make sure that my Kudos has nothing to do with Zazzle’s Ambassador program).
Haha, Yeah, I think Zazzle execs would be the only ones kudoing the AP. 