I want to share something that happened the moment I uploaded my mockup, because it raises real concerns for creators. My mock design used simulated lace. There is no foil on the product, no claim of foil, nothing that should trigger a foil‑related message. And yet the instant the mockup finished loading, a popup appeared over the image saying “lace is simulated” with a hyperlink inviting viewers to “see real foil here.”
I didn’t click anything. I didn’t hover. It appeared automatically before I even touched the page. And here’s the part that really matters. The only way to get the popup to leave is to click it. There is no timer, no fade‑out, no passive dismissal. You have to interact with it. And the moment a customer interacts with Zazzle’s popup instead of my product, that clean ambassador link I worked for is gone.
The tracking cookie is gone. And Zazzle now owns the customer I brought to the platform.
If the popup happens instantly for me, it happens instantly for my customers. That means the very first thing they see isn’t my design it’s other creators products, and a Zazzle’s popup with a link leading them away from my listing to browse foil products that have nothing to do with what I’m selling.
This isn’t a warning label. It’s a platform‑level overlay that redirects traffic away from creator listings, even when the product has no foil and makes no claim of foil.
I’m tired of doing the work to bring in my own traffic only to have Zazzle intercept it on my landing page..
@Susang6 I’m no cookie expert but I don’t understand why the pop-up is removing your cookie? Isn’t that placed as soon as you arrive on Zazzle? Those pop-ups are happening for a while now and they are in some cases useful in my opinion and in others just plain silly. I don’t remember though seeing a link in them, I will pay attention to that one going forward.
I browsed the marketplace and it happens on any invitation with a lace imitation ( at least ) , not with other products . My understanding here is that, on some products with a product type that also exist with a foil layer, the message is just wrong.
It probably comes from a modification that has been made at first on messages for designs with gold or silver , pushing the customers to real gold or real silver foil products as this type of product exist in the marketplace.
But, it has not been verified that this modification didn’t affect the other messages that have nothing to do with foil ! Probably just a developer error , but really annoying for us and customers, I agree.
Your description says “adorned with lace” and you have a tag with “lace and pearls”. That is what triggers the message about “the lace detailed are simulated, etc.” showing on your product image. If you remove the word “lace” in your description and tags, that pop-up warning should go away.
I clicked on one of your links and was able to close the “window” by clicking the X in the upper right corner. I believe this is the way the info boxes have always behaved, no need to click on the blue link to close the window.
MOM, there are multiple discussions on this forum where creators have raised the concern that when a clean Ambassador link arrives on a landing page and the customer is then forced to click to remove the 25% coupon, and again forced to click to remove the foil‑redirect popup, those required interactions can overwrite the original referral cookie. Zazzle has not issued an official statement on this, but two moderators have been present in this discussion and neither corrected my explanation. You are the only person pushing back on it.
My comments are based on standard referral‑tracking behavior and on what many creators have observed in their analytics. I’m not claiming insider knowledge, and I’m not speaking for Zazzle. I’m describing what is happening on my own listings and what others have reported. If Zazzle provides an official clarification, I will gladly defer to that. Until then, I’m simply sharing documented creator experience, not speculation.
Yes, for sure. I was just talking about the wrong link about foil which should not be displayed in this case. ( I never said that the box couldn’t be closed )
I don’t think that’s the way it works. They pick up your cookie in the act of following your link to the page. Even if they click something else once they get to the page, your original cookie should still stick. That’s the way Zazzle explained it to us. The trouble is, we don’t know if a customer clicking our clean link has already clicked on a Zazzle link beforehand. Cookies can’t be overwritten for at least 2 weeks, so certainly they won’t be overwritten by clicking on a popup or some other thing on Zazzle in the first few minutes.
The red flag I was referring to wasn’t the simulated lace. My mockup and design contained no foil at all. The concern was the popup’s placement and the hyperlink redirecting customers to unrelated real‑foil products the moment the page loads
@Susang6 I’m not/I wasn’t “pushing back on it” for the purpose of just voicing an other point, it was my true experience that I had a 100% success rate on getting a referral when I buy our own products. But I will also gladly tell when that has changed and it did so early this morning when I purchased our postcard with the opacity problem (to check on the status) together with a few other items. And yup, it rolled in as a 3rd party sale. Now I’m join your club because the 25% pop-up window didn’t let me proceed without clicking it off. I definitely have to learn more about cookie behavior because (as I said) I’m no expert and never claimed to be one either. I also have to find out if I maybe transferred the 3rd party cookie via email (if this is even possible) because I have been using an email account for the last few days I rarely ever check. Where is the cookie baking class I can sign up to learn how to bake those tasty s to sweeten up my life?
@Connie Thank you Connie, that was exactly my understanding too. I really have to learn more about this matter, sigh.
On a site note: I made a referral on March 10th (just two days ago) and that was a Cross-Promotion Link. So this customer didn’t run into the 25% off pop-up window or what?
I hear you! But if you try removing the word lace in your metadata, that pop up that mentions both lace and foil should go away. IT only appeared because of the word “lace” in your metadata. I understand that the mention of foil in that pop up is totally off the wall and just weird. Also, I am wondering if the odd reference to foil on that pop up appears due to the mention of “silver spoons” in your description. Foil invitations include gold, silver and rose gold. Who knows? Hopefully a Zazzle mod will provide an explanation.
I removed the lace tags and the one in the description and the popup is gone. Prior to updating tags I did notice that Zazzle moved it off my mockup and tucked it directly under. A better placement, but still don’t understand why there is hyperlink to reroute customers to real foil products. That still hits me as being wrong. Thanks for sharing your tips.
Hi, Fiona. In addition to the message’s link being out of context, e.g., a foil link for lace details, the message also has a grammatical error. I think “lace detailed” should be “lace details” so that the noun agrees with “are” as its verb, or else the sentence should be reworded a different way. Thanks!
s to sweeten up my life? 