I had $149.81 in verified Referral sales. The VB page says I had $293.89 in Referral Sales. That’s a $144.08 difference. How am I being credited with Referred sales without getting the associated Referrals??
I know we’re not getting paid for Volume Bonus anymore, and VB itself isn’t the reason I’m here. I’m here because it would _appear that we may not _be getting our Referral Earnings. I kind of thought I might be losing my mind or inputting into my workbook incorrectly, and then this happened:
A client I’ve been working with for many years made purchases today – both sales are showing as Third Party. Her last 10+ sales have been None sales, as she blocks cookies. She clicks links I provided her for custom designs and makes her purchases. It’s _possible _she clicked someone else’s link, but I’m skeptical because she has been consistent for years.
If she clicked one of my links, it had my RF ID in it; if the cookie stuck, it should’ve been 15% to ME
Both sales were Third Party to someone else; I won’t know if that was Zazzle until I get the sales email
Today’s sales are 169-67266977-6690558 and 169-12686358-0821994
Her prior 10 sales neither Third Party- or Self-Referred:
169-46659475-4508012
169-28668320-5932039
169-96555768-3846927
169-14026550-0685865
169-17471121-0767316
169-83073682-1105877
169-78490171-6776833
169-17028918-4948451
169-52175373-7193063
169-57643573-3547421
As Zazzle can see the Products purchases, my RF ID/Member Account is knowable to anyone looking into the issue, but if I need to ID myself via email to Support, happy to do so.
Just curious. You said “- Both sales were Third Party to someone else; I won’t know if that was Zazzle until I get the sales email” I have those “you made a sale” emails turned off because I get totally overwhelmed with stuff from Zazzle anyhow, but I’m now wondering how the email will let you know who the referrer is. Is that info included in the email? If it is, maybe I should turn them back on!
Zazzle now attaches the referral cookies right to the person’s account instead of the browser, so even blocking or clearing cookies won’t help if she happened to click another Zazzle link in the 45 days before she purchased your products. Zazzle said in the updated FAQ that they are trying not to have any “none” sales.
The Tracking Cookie associated with the sale is in the email. Of course, now that I was stupid enough to say that, it may change. I find it invaluable in helping me know where my Third Party sales are coming form, so I hope not.
Okay, now that’s ridiculous. We have NO CHANCE at earning Referrals under these circumstances, if that’s true. Zazzle sends out thousands, if not millions, of emails daily – all linked up with their RF ID. How could this program even be considered an ethical business practice, when all the facts are taken altogether?
Although, I just made two purchases tonight and did the usual – cleared my Z cookies and then made my purchase. I *know* I had a cookie set (my RF ID), and it registered as Self, but as a Clean Link.
Even she had another cookie set – and that’s a possibility, for sure – why is my BV total going up? If it was “just another Third Party sale,” I’d have chalked it up to exactly that. But for it be Third Party AND my BV total to increase – that’s the strange part.
The system is acting like it’s my Referral, but someone else is getting the actual Referral. It’s not a lot of money, the $20 is more than the $2 I’d have earned under BV, and when BV stats are taken away, we won’t even know how many of “our” Referrals are going to someone else, if that’s what’s happening.
I had $149.81 in verified Referral sales. The VB page says I had $293.89 in Referral Sales. That’s a $144.08 difference. How am I being credited with Referred sales without getting the associated Referrals??
I know we’re not getting paid for Volume Bonus anymore, and VB itself isn’t the reason I’m here. I’m here because it would _appear that we may not _be getting our Referral Earnings.
This is still happening. I would like to know how my Associate/Ambassador account can be attached to a sale and yet I am not the person receiving the Referral Commission please.
I very rarely get referrals since I don’t do much promoting but I had one surprise referral in April and at the higher “Self-Promotion” rate none the less. After reading your post I looked at my VB page and was even more surprised to see a dollar amount there for April that’s almost 5x’s greater than the total of that one referred sale I had.
Please look at sale 169-19466722-8933144 which appears to be related to the above problem.
I am the purchaser.
No RF ID was in the link (i.e clean link)
The Royalty paid was reduced by the Excess Marketing Fee
NO REFERRAL WAS PAID to me
There were no other RF’s stored in my browser
This was a two-part sale: one printed and one digital
– printed Royalty and Referral are correct and paid to me
– digital Royalty is reduced by Excess Marketing Fee, but NO REFERRAL WAS PAID TO ME
– Volume Bonus total sales increased following the sale
Process:
Delete Zazzle Cookies in Chrome (chrome://settings/content/all?searchSubpage=zaz&search=cookies)
Manually confirm no RF ID is set in browser
Paste Clean Link from another PC (the two work together; cookies do not cross over)
Personalize using right side Personalize Panel
Add to Cart
View Cart
Click “Add Digital for $14.95”
Click Checkout button
LOGIN
Complete payment
Based on this experience, it “appears” that we are not being paid Referrals due to us, but we are being charged Excess Marketing Fee for same. I am really angry right now (and trying really hard to remain civil, in spite of it) that no one has responded to this thread while the problem is ongoing, but more importantly, that we have to check every single sale to confirm we’re getting paid properly – and it _appears _we are not.
Further to above, I am not able to cancel the digital portion of the sale. It is a test alternative-use product, and I want it, but I don’t want the sale to be inked if I’m not getting paid what I’m due. Not interested in giving Z free money.
Scott – I know this isn’t all you do and you are most likely to respond; please don’t take this personally toward you. It’s toward Zazzle and the fact that something very hinky with earnings isn’t being addressed.
See my above comment made just now, @ColsCreations . *I* made a purchase of both digital and print on the same product. Print Royalty/Referral correct; digital Royalty was cut by Excess Marketing, but *I* didn’t get the Referral – my VB went up appropriately.
I’m feeling more confident the same thing happened in April and with another May sale where VB went up and no Referral was paid to me.
I don’t think you can get self-referrals by clearing the cookies and cache anymore - at least it’s hit and miss at best. I’m guessing they’re storing the referral info somewhere other than just in browser cookies - like inside your account or something like that. I believe that’s a feature, not a bug, so I don’t think you’ll get much traction on that part of your issue.
BUT, are you saying that you bought both a physical & digital product in the same purchase and got the referral on one but not the other? If that’s what you’re saying, that does indeed sound wonky.
is probably the key to why you got the ref for the print but not the digital in same order. I would guess that Z sees their prompt at checkout to add X as marketing that’s bringing that extra sale and thus they get the 3rdP ref credit for that portion of the order. ??
I appreciate the point of view, but Z prompts for add-ons, upgrades, and additional upsells throughout the shopping process, and the Referral Commission is paid the Associate/Ambassador who brings the CUSTOMER here. If I post the cheapest paper option, and the customer upgrades, I still get the Referral Commission on everything purchased (except certain exclusions and upgrades/options are the lower 5% rate, I know).
We are referring USERS to the SITE.
Your Marketing Efforts as an Ambassador: There are two (2) methods through which you can refer a User to the Site (“Referral”) who then purchases a Product (“Referred Sale”) and earn a Referral Commission (as defined below): … [snipped]
If I refer a User and they click another Product from within the site, the appropriate Referral is paid to me for physical products; no citation anywhere I can find that won’t apply to digital.
If I go back right now and purchase another of my own Products, I should receive the Referral Commission per the terms of the Agreement (so long as the cookie or lack of cookie isn’t overwritten from an off-site click). If I don’t, it violates 3.4.2 and 4.2 of the Agreement:
3.4.2. Each Referral will be valid for forty-five (45) days. You will earn Referral Commissions for Referred Sales during this timeframe.
and
4.2. Only Products that are sold by us (as a result of Links to the same domain of the Site on which the purchase is made), shipped or delivered to a User and for which we have received full payment will qualify for a Referral Commission. For a sale to generate a Referral Commission, the User must follow a Link to the Site or access the Site via Your Ambassador ID, purchase the Product or Products in question using our online ordering system , accept delivery of the item at the shipping destination, remit full payment to us, and not receive a refund for such Product.
There are zero legal reasons I shouldn’t get that Referral that I can find. If the Cart click is the cited reason, every designer who sells digital just had their fees slashed further and should shut down their digital sales.
It’s in the JavaScript, and I checked for it (confirmed no RF was set), but, yes, I’m saying I bought the physical and digital in the same purchase. Referral was paid on the Physical, but not the Digital. The digital Royalty was reduced by the Excess Marketing Fee Marketing Royalty Fee, so Z kept 40% of the Royalty, but I wasn’t paid a Referral Commission.
Correction (applies throughout): Where I say “Excess Marketing Fee,” it should be Marketing Royalty Fee (I think) – it’s the 35-50% (not the 5% for over 10% Royalty Rate; which DOES apply and was properly applied).
Adding to my prior response from the Creator License Agreement:
3.3.1. Marketing Royalty Fee: If the sale of a Product is to a User referred (i) by an Ambassador from Links (as defined in the Ambassador Program Agreement); or (ii) through Zazzle’s marketing efforts (e.g., social media or affiliate networks, search engines, press release(s), tv/media ads, etc.), then a marketing fee (“Marketing Royalty Fee”), equal to a percentage of your Gross Royalty for the Product as specified here, will be deducted.
“Zazzle’s marketing efforts” examples do not include on-site promotions. In terms of our Agreement with Z, this is significant.
I truly believe it’s a tech issue. Or maybe I truly want to believe that it’s a bug and not a feature.
