Dear fellow Zazzler’s. I’m curious when your last self-referral was. I have not had one since June 20, and that month I made over $100 in referrals. But since that date, I have not had one single referral. Is anyone experiencing this in the same timeframe? When was your last referral.
It is possible that other factors were at play for me during this period, but I never expected a complete drop to zero. I’m investigating other possible reasons for the fall off, but wondered if anyone else has had the same thing happen to them.
This is once again why it would be so helpful to have some way of understanding where are self-referrals actually come from, when we get them!
I’m very happy to hear referrals are continuing nicely for many of you, so I’m studying some other things that might have impacted me. I had been using “Tailwind” on my @AntiqueImages instagram, but I cancelled it earlier this year since its interface never indicated anyone clicking on links. Perhaps people really were going through there and their analytics were off? I assumed my referrals were coming from my website and FB. Anyway, I just decided to try Linktree instead - and I’ll let you all know if things pick up! It seems to have improved since I last used it years ago, in terms of design options, having a grid for your shop etc.. Let’s hope this works.
I don’t use either of those applications. I post links to Pinterest using Zazzle’s built-in Pinterest icon and I also create manual Pinterest pins when I have the time.
Thanks for this. For years I posted actively to Pinterest, but didn’t think it was having much impact anymore (was relying in FB, Instagram, and my Blog which runs hundreds of thematic RSS themes from my Zazzle shop. This morning, thanks to your post I’m diving in and giving Pinterest a try too. Now I just wish that Zazzle would find a way to let us know where our self-referrals come from so that I know whether it’s amping up Pinterest or adding Linktree that make a difference (if I’m lucky enough to start getting regular referals again like I used to). Pleased to see how easy it is to use Zazzle’s built in icon.
Many other designers have expressed their disappointment in this inequity in better ways that I would, so I will simply hope that Z is LISTENING.
Also, I’d love to know where these 2 links came from!??
Before this, my last referral was 3/17/2019 - before Z made whatever change they made that killed my all my referrals on my numerous backlinks, blog posts, social links, etc.
If those were self-promo type self referrals then the amounts paid for royalty & referral individually don’t matter as your total earnings will be 35-50% of the total the customer paid, less Excessive Royalty Fee if applicable.
My last self-referred sale was in August—a car floor mat—but unfortunately it was canceled. The last completed self-referred sale was in July. Since then nothing .
Sorry to ask here but I also have a question regarding this self-referral system. A customer recently requested that I design something up for them a retractable banner and put it up for sale so they buy it. I did and I sent the link to the product but I never received my royalty for that self-referral. It does however show that the purchase was made via a referral from a 3rd party meaning she bought through referral. No way would anyone else have promoted it elsewhere in a matter of minutes because as soon as I was done I sent her the link and she purchased instantly as she was waiting for it. So my question is who got credited my royalty because I didn’t get it but someone else sure did because it’s showing a 3rd party referral. This happened twice before when customers would request something specific and I send them the link but I never get the self-referral royalties. But it does show a referral was indeed made. If anyone knows please explain it to me
Congratulations .. my self-referrals are super erratic. I can go months without any lol. Quick question though how do you refresh Pinterest? I might also want to try because I do post and pin but never really seem to get any sales. Most of my sales come from 3rd parties
I think what you mean is that you received the ROYALTY on the sale but not the referral credit on it. When someone contacts you via Zazzle it’s almost guaranteed they already have someone else’s referral cookie active, probably Zazzle’s, so it’s a 3rd Party sale.
Ooooh yeeeesss thank you so much for correcting that. Yes I meant I never get the referral credit. Ooooh silly me lol
And thank you for explaining that to me. That actually makes sense because I always wondered why when in fact I’d sent my own link to them. But this does explain why I never got the credit.
An update that sadly after that first grand success, I’ve only made one more self-referral in the interim. Still working hard on it though! By “referesh” Pinterest, I’m not referencing any magic button. I simply went in and cleaned house - removing old dead links, reorganizing my categories, and above all adding a lot of fresh new content including videos. I just hadn’t used the platform in ages, so I went through all my settings, and everything else. So it was more of a house cleaning than anything!
but someone else sure did because it’s showing a 3rd party referral. This happened twice before when customers would request something specific and I send them the link but I never get the self-referral royalties. But it does show a referral was indeed made. If anyone knows please explain it to me 
.. my self-referrals are super erratic. I can go months without any lol. Quick question though how do you refresh Pinterest? I might also want to try because I do post and pin but never really seem to get any sales. Most of my sales come from 3rd parties