This might be deleted, but we all need to band together and advocate/ demand that Z reverse these changes. Can anyone suggest a way we can lobby z as a group ?, rather than or in addition to these posts. Which seem to fall on deaf ears. Ive been a shop owner for close to 20 years, my sales took a huge hit too, almost nothing anymore.
If we are loosing money Z is loosing money, but they are looking at short term, over long term. Which will continue to cost them , and us .
I read this interesting article by the owner of FineArtAmerica about why many POD sites have struggled in recent years. Granted, he’s trying to get people to use FAA as their POD service, but the info about how these businesses are funded maybe gives good insight into the changes here and why we might expect them to be permanent. Also, since Zazzle is a private company and not public, we have no way to know where the profits are going. Are they pocketing more money or just trying to stay afloat? Thousands of people, not just designers but the manufacturers and the companies that supply those manufacturers, would be affected if the company failed, so would it be like cutting off our nose to spite our face if we forced them to reverse the changes they’ve made? Zazzle may be thinking more long-term than you realize. Just some food for thought.
Zazzle used to be very profitable for designers, I remember these days. Now I think this change motivates us to create more and better product. It’s more profitable for Zazzle and for I believe advanced designers and store owners possibly, their product is the best on Zazzle, I saw these products I can’t compete with skilful people like that but I find them very inspirational so I learn about trends from them but their products are out of my league so I stay with what I know best with my niche. My store is my hobby and so is my designing, an outlet for joy, for advanced designers it’s a serious business and it looks like that for less advanced designers and for customers, the professional look of the stores and the products, beautiful products and affordable prices, that’s how and why Zazzle remains afloat thanks to these people that put a great amount of time and skill into their Zazzle business and are very competitive with local regular stores and out of the rest of Zazzle designers league. And designers like that are many and Zazzle relies on them. I wish I can design as them but I simply can’t although I try.
They are the greatest Zazzle asset.
For me as a hobbiest I am grateful for any sale and thrilled whenever I sell any product, I still can’t believe it was something I created that a customer choose to pay money for and it makes my day the happiest, I sold just around 40 products in my time owing this store. I am just in owe of more advanced designers and know I can’t compete with them only get inspiration. So for me it all is a motivation that’s how I’d recommend looking at this change, motivation to become more professional, better, competitive that’s what it is for me.
Thank you for sharing the @Baylee
Wow that’s a great article, thanks for the link! I used to sell on FAA but I found a lot of inconsistancy in the quality of their prints. I never knew if the customer was getting a print of my art that looked the way it should, which made me concerned that it would reflect badly on my art. But maybe I should try them again…
I’ve also been here a very, very long time. Through all the changes I remained positive until the new terms last year. It is my opinion that once a company starts taking more, they’re not going to reverse it. I don’t know their financials, but I’d wager that they are not losing any money based on my numbers at least. I looked at my recent sales just now and found that a 3rd party referred stamp sale resulted in a decrease in earnings of $3.26 (based on same royalty/base price as before the fee changes). If Z is the 3rd party, that is all profit for them. If an actual 3rd party gets paid, Z would be profiting only .46 cents. That’s still a profit for them and a loss for us. And that’s just one sale. I’ve had around 160 sales this month, and I am not even a top seller.
So we very likely may be the only ones losing money and that’s why all of these forum complaints fall on deaf ears, unfortunately.
Very well said, @tiffjamaica
I’m afraid we have nothing to celebrate on April Fool’s Memorial Day.
@Peter222 I think it would be helpful if we had a trade union as artists/designers.
I came to my realisation but at first I was saddened and shocked and surprised so I understand were you @Peter222 are coming from, I just moved on and tried to stay positive, it’s just the way I generally approach life. I don’t have many sales but I am grateful for any to be honest but I do wish to be more. I am looking into what I can do now, I have a lot of products with many views but unsold so I have decided to do something drastic from my side lower my royalty rate and see if I will the customers back to my store. But I hear you for sure. May be try to see what you can do from your side, I wonder if Zazzle would reverse their new financial strategy if they earn more and it’s working for them, they have so many designers that they are not afraid to loose those of us that cannot roll with the punches.
Sorry typo.
Updated.
I came to my realisation but at first I was saddened and shocked and surprised so I understand were you @Peter222 are coming from, I just moved on and tried to stay positive, it’s just the way I generally approach life. I don’t have many sales but I am grateful for any to be honest but I do wish to be more. I am looking into what I can do now, I have a lot of products with many views but unsold so I have decided to do something drastic from my side lower my royalty rate and see if I will win the customers back to my store. But I hear you for sure. May be try to see what you can do from your side, I wonder if Zazzle would reverse their new financial strategy if they earn more and it’s working for them, they have so many designers that they are not afraid to loose those of us that cannot “roll with the punches.”
Demand? Yeah that will work lol
You might get this response from your demand: You don’t like the sharing in the advertising cost tell you what… we’ll stop advertising completely and you can do your own advertising allowing you to control your own advertising costs and eliminate the 45% fee.
I’m not trying to be mean here in any way. Just a reality check.
The article seems to suggest that Zazzle needs to take a big part of our royalties because otherwise it would go bankrupt. If this is true than Zazzle must really be hurting. The article also mentioned that Red Bubble now also charges high fees which isn’t quite accurate. What you get deducted from your royalties depends on the style, social following, uniqueness of your uploads and on how much you sell. If you sell a lot, there’s no charge at all.
@igiftcenter Do you have any evidence that Zazzle actually uses the advertising costs from the product you just sold to promote any of your products? It is my understanding that these costs are used for any product Zazzle deems to be good to promote. So maybe the same products you see on the product page above your product (which you yourself had done the marketing for)? I may be wrong in this, just asking.
I just sold 10 cards for $15. The royalty I received was 64 cents.
Since when 64 cents is 10% of $15? That’s 4.27%.
Seriously?
I have no idea for the answer to this. Nor do I have any idea if sales displayed as None in the royalty history are generating 45% to the platform. I’m just going with the flow doing everything I’ve always done, designing and trying to make a living.
Yes this topic burns my butt. only because Zazzle is STILL advertising ambassador royalties of 30-50 % of the sales, when in reality at a 10% royalty rate, we end up with 5% in the end. It is false advertsing. On top of that, I purchased my own products to see how they looked, and I looked to see if I was docked, and sure enough, I was. So I wrote to customer service for 2 reasons: 1 to complain about the false advertising, and 2 to get clarification if when WE share OUR OWN links to our own products, we get the percentage taken away. And yes they confirmed, any time we share a link to our own products under the ambassidor program, they take 30-50%. So, sure they may give us the percentage under the ambasidor program, they immediatly take it away with the fees.
So I would flood customer service with complaints.