Hi there - not sure where to put this question best! I just made my first sale under the new program (and had reduced my seller commissions to 10% in alignment with the new suggestion), the sale is $77.84 but says it's referred by a third party (everything is third party whether from Zazzle or an ambassador unless a self-promoted link now right?), so it says the marketing royalty fee applies. That leaves my creator royalty for a $78 sale at only $4.67 total earnings (5.999%). Does that seem correct? Also what should I be doing instead? Should I increase my seller commission over the 10%? It doesn't seem sustainable to make only 6% on sales? Thank you for your suggestions and help! ... View more

Hi there - So Zazzle's new ambassador program states that you can create self-promotion links to individual products, collections, or even just to your store overall. So I'm wondering should I only be linking to my store because: It was indicated to me that if I create a self-promotion link to a specific item (say for instance my Pink Chinoiserie Monogram Pillow) and put that on my website or email newsletter to customers, etc. then one of my customers clicks that link but then decides instead of the pink pillow, they want the purple variation (or any other color) of that exact same pillow design that then I would NOT receive the self-promotion referral % and only my standard seller commission.  That seems amazing to me - because I still drove the traffic. Very counterintuitive and I hope you make changes to address this. But - if I'm allowed to create self-promotion link to my entire store - then I get the self-promotion referral % plus my standard seller commission on ANY product the customer buys in my store right? So is this what I should be doing - only linking my store? So I don't take the chance on a customer selecting a variation of a specific product? @zazzle- please let me know if this is accurate - if I self-promote link to my store I will receive self-promotion referrals on anything the customer purchases in it vs. linking directly to a product, I would not it they choose a different variation. Thank you! ... View more

Hi Creators, First and foremost, we want to express our sincere gratitude for your valuable feedback and insights. We truly appreciate the time you’ve taken to submit your questions and feedback through our form regarding the updates to our Terms of Use, which are effective today, April 1st. We’ve carefully reviewed each of your questions and, based on your feedback, have put together a comprehensive Creator FAQ and Ambassador FAQ to help clarify the changes and provide more detail.  As we all know, the world around us is constantly evolving. Marketing costs are rising, and competition for Customer attention is higher than ever. In order to keep up with these changes and continue thriving together, we too must adapt and grow. We understand that change can be challenging, but it's essential for us to stay dynamic and align with the ever-evolving landscape. For almost 20 years, we’ve been proud to be a marketplace where Creators from all walks of life can sell their Content, and many have even built a sustainable income doing what they love. Creators are the heart and soul of our platform, and we truly appreciate the partnership we’ve built with all of you.  With the launch of our new Ambassador Program, we want to ensure that Creators who actively promote their Products and drive traffic are properly rewarded. The new program simplifies the Earnings model, ensures a fairer fee distribution, and aligns financial incentives with Creators’ success. Whether you’re actively promoting your Content or allowing us to handle it, we’re here to support your growth.  We’re hopeful about the new opportunities this opens up for you as a Creator. This update means you’ll have the chance to earn what we would pay those “other guys”—and we hope you see it as a way to grow your Earnings in meaningful ways.  To keep the discussion and questions for us organized, please reply below and we ask you to continue to submit your questions to the form. We also opened an “Ambassador Program” board for Creators to discuss specific topics together.  Once again, thank you for your continued contributions to our community. We can’t wait to see what the future holds as we continue to evolve together in our marketplace. Warmly, The Zazzle Team   UPDATE - 4/2/25 Hi Creators, We’ve heard some common questions that we’d like to address and clarify. We've added these questions to our FAQ and will be addressing more questions soon.  Why does it seem like the Excess Royalty is taken out twice for the Self-Promotion? Why am I being charged a Marketing Royalty Fee for Self-Promotion Sales? Why in some cases did I make more money in the Promoter 2.0 Program?  Q: Why does it seem like the Excess Royalty is taken out twice for the Self-Promotion example below?  Example 1: Self-Promotion Link (own Product) in Clothing & Shoes with Your Royalty Rate set at 12%  Product Price (= Net Referral Sales for this example): $100 Your Royalty Rate: 12% → $12 Gross Royalty Excess Royalty Fee: → 5% of $12 = $0.60 (applies because Your Royalty Rate is above 10%. The fee is 5% of your Gross Royalty)  Marketing Royalty Fee: → 35% of $12 = $4.20 (applies to all Referred Sales. For Clothing & Shoes, it's 35% of your Gross Royalty)  Royalty: → $7.20 (after deduction of Royalty Fees) Referral Commission for a Referred Sale via a Self-Promotion Link Department Rate: → 35% of Net Referral Sales (Clothing & Shoes) Self-Promotion Earnings Goal: → 35% of $100 is a $35 Goal. (from this $35 goal, you’ve already earned $7.20 in Net Royalties and the $0.60 Excess Royalty Fee applies) Referral Commission from Self-Promotion Link: → $35 - $7.20 - $0.60 = $27.20 Your Earnings = $34.40 ($7.20 paid via Royalty, $27.20 paid via Referral Commission). Note: Because Your Royalty Rate was above 10%, the Excess Royalty Fee slightly reduced the total Earnings you could have received from the Referred Sale via a Self-Promotion Link. A: If you look at Example 1, the Self-Promotion Earnings Goal is $35, and the Excess Royalty Fee is $0.60. Your Earnings are $34.40 ($35 - $0.60). So while we need to deduct the Excess Royalty Fee from the Gross Royalties to help calculate the Royalty - which we then use to calculate the Referral Commission by deducting it from the Self-Promotion Earnings Goal - it is more to do the math to figure out the amounts you’ve earned rather than actually being taken out twice. Q: Why am I being charged a Marketing Royalty Fee for Self-Promotion Sales? A: The Marketing Royalty Fee applies whenever a sale is referred, whether by you, another Ambassador, or Zazzle. This structure helps our systems run smoothly across all types of Referrals.  So in order to make sure your Earnings hit the Self-Promotion Earnings Goal (which is based on the Department Rate), we calculate your Referral Commission to make up the difference between the Self-Promotion Earnings Goal and your Royalty.  The math can be a little bit complicated, but the end result is the same - your Earnings for that sale do not change. Q: Why in some cases did I make more money in the Promoter 2.0 Program?  A: Promoter 2.0 was originally a "beta" program, and we're now expanding it to all Creators. The Ambassador Program is designed to serve a wider population of Creators, while reflecting current marketing costs, so while there were situations where former Promoters benefitted more, this new program is designed to benefit the whole Ambassador community more overall. ... View more

Hi All, I've just tried to share a link as I always do (using the share option) and I notice the link is no longer coming with ?rf=. and our affiliate / ambassador link. Is this correct?   I know there has just been a change, but I wonder if we need to manual add the ?rf= now or this is just with issues during this transition period.  I am sure I am doing something wrong 😄 Thoughts? Cheers, Rachel ... View more

I decided to crunch some numbers, and here’s what the hard data says about how the new measures affect my income. I’d love to hear from other sellers—how do you see the Ambassador Program affecting your income? Feel free to share your own calculations in the comments! ... View more

Why am I making less money when it is SELF referred instead of NONE?  When I sell a digital download with no referral I make $10.55 When I sell a digital download with 3rd party referral I make $5.00 When I sell a digital download with SELF referral I make $5.00 and then $.42 so $5.42 total. This is a mistake correct?  can someone from Zazzle please answer this? ... View more

Can anyone explain this to me in a clearer way? Do I need to NOT use the Ambassador ID if I want to earn more? I am quite confused! Thanks for any help! Ambassadors: Ambassadors can earn Referral Commissions through two types of Referral links: Cross-Promotion Links: Ambassadors earn a Referral Commission of fifteen percent (15%) of Net Referral Sales on sales of any Creator’s Product, via Cross-Promotion Links that include their Ambassador ID.  Self-Promotion Links: Ambassadors can generate Earnings (Royalty + Referral Commission) of thirty-five to fifty percent (35-50%) (varies by Product department) for sales of their own Products, via Self-Promotion Links. ... View more

Hello Creators, We’re making updates to Zazzle's Terms of Use, including the Creator License Agreement, and introducing our new Ambassador Program Agreement, which replaces our Associates Program Agreement. While the onsite experience will not be updated until April 1st, you can preview the updated Terms of Use here.  We understand you might have additional questions or feedback. Please use this form to share them directly with us. While we may not be able to respond individually at this stage, we’ll review all submissions and address frequently asked questions after the Terms of Use go into effect. To keep the conversation organized, all community discussions on this topic will be redirected to this thread. Thank you for your understanding and for helping us make Zazzle a thriving community for all Creators! Best, The Zazzle Team UPDATE 3/24/25:  Hi Creators - Thank you all so much for your valuable feedback and for taking the time to submit your questions through our form. We truly appreciate your engagement and insights. Rest assured, we are carefully reviewing each question and will address the most commonly asked ones soon. Timely Update Regarding Royalty Rates: We understand your concerns about adjusting royalty rates, and to support you through this transition, we will be processing royalty rate changes daily from now through April 15th, allowing creators time to make any necessary adjustments. Please note that updates may take 24–48 hours to appear. After April 15th, we’ll return to our regular schedule, with royalty updates processed on the 20th of each month.  *To clarify: Setting your royalty to 10% exactly will not trigger the Excess Royalty Fee. Royalties above 10%, will trigger the Excess Royalty Fee when changes go into effect 4/1.  ... View more

I think these changes are going to have a negative impact on Zazzle itself, despite their short-term gains by taking so much in Marketing fees. Creators are already increasing their royalty percentages to offset the new excessive fees, and will continue to do so, making products all across the site more expensive for consumers. Eventually, Zazzle will get priced out of the market, especially as we have been suffering from runaway inflation for a couple years now, and the cost of living continues to increase, meaning consumer spending continues to drop. It will especially impact the Digital Downloads market, which in economic downturns usually thrives. Creators will either remove the digital option altogether, or increase the royalty to the max. either way, customers lose out, and Zazzle does, too. ... View more

I had a breakthrough today about self referrals being subject to the Marketing Fee (MF). I made some comments with the math worked out in another forum post, but wanted to post a summary here so it was more visible.  SO... the MF is applied to self referrals. However, because of the way that self referrals are now calculated, which is very different than before and much more complicated, the MF does not affect your total earnings.  That said, whether or not you will make more money on self referrals depends on many factors - were you in the Promoter Program, what your royalty rate was/is set at, what bracket your product falls into, etc.  I was so confused by the explanations saying we'd now make more money on referrals because in all of my own calculations I was making less money (that's because I was in the PP program, had higher royalty rates, and sell in the 50% bracket). It's going to be different for everyone.  Hope this helps clear up some confusion.  And I hope this allows people to more accurately adjust their royalties to reflect the new system based on what's best for them.  ... View more

If we use our ambassador link on our own products, this means we will earn the 15% referral on our own products right? Would this be a flat out 15% for the whole amount of that sale or is this in addition to our set royalty rates?   ... View more

Hello, all.  I’m attempting to understand  the logic: if the idea is to reward creators for advertising their creations, why am I being charged a marketing fee? I do the work, but I’m charged a fee? But if no one does the work (“none”), there is no fee? I will submit a question via the form as well. I do not understand why there’s a marketing fee when I market my own products. I already pay for quite a few tools for this purpose, and I know some people pay for ads. ... View more

I just wrote a reply to another creator who was talking about facing the many changes to our rates and Zazzle's terms, and in it, I shared a little about my strategy for revamping my royalties (which is still very much a work in progress).  I love sharing and thinking through challenges together, so I thought I'd share what I wrote. I'm hoping many of you will reply with your plan for attacking the "how do I proceed" question as we face these changes.  I don't think my solution is a great one by any means, but I know seeing other people's plans and logic helps me A LOT, so I'm hoping maybe this thread can be a resource of sorts?  My basic strategy:  With @ColsCreations calculator Excel sheet resource the other day, I revamped some of my royalty rates. I need to do a lot more.   I decided to work backward, and I only worried about royalty earnings because referrals are unreliable. For each product type, I decided what I thought I would be comfortable making for a royalty (eg. at least a dollar for one product, two dollars for another, etc). I did this while also remembering that one sale will not come anywhere NEAR the amount of time I invested in creating that design. I also took a look at how much a customer would pay for the item. ( I presumed a 15% off sale even though the new low Zazzle seems to be offering is 10. So sometimes I will make more, but sometimes I'll make less.)  Keep in mind, I'm not a huge seller and we don't rely on this as our survival, so I can "play" perhaps a bit more freely than others. I'm "new-ish" and have under 1,000 items in my main store.  We no longer need to be tied to the 14.9%, and the "penalty" fee is the same no matter if we make our royalty rate 10.1%, 14.9%, or 39%. You can go up to 50% max. I definitely raised some of mine much higher than I would have thought to before... Please share your strategies. I'd love to hear how we can make this work (with what we may be able to control)! Also, I'm contemplating moving to sharing cross-promotion links all the time except for in my personal Facebook group, which largely comprises family and friends who purchase from me largely because I'm me. 😄 Does anyone else think you might do this? The big reason I'm contemplating is to 1. cast a wider net for potential earnings and 2. combat the appearance of 60+ other items being featured when shoppers click on my product link.  ... View more

Hi everyone! I've recently been curating more collections that include both my own and other designers' products to create a more inspiring experience for visitors to my store. While doing that, I noticed something I wanted to ask about: When I share a curated collection (especially one that includes other people's designs), it seems like my referral ID doesn't carry over — even if I’m logged in and sharing from my own store. I’m wondering: Is this expected behavior, or am I missing something? Has anyone found a reliable way to promote curated collections and still earn affiliate commissions? Would it be helpful if there was a way to add our referral tracking to collections more easily? Just curious how others are approaching this! Thanks in advance for sharing your experience  ... View more