I had three customers come in today as a "none" and, as you will see below -- and the 3rd is the same -- I did not get the anticipated 10% from the sale.  On the 22nd, with a "none" I did receive the full 10%. Is this a system error today that can be corrected or has something changed? Thanks,  Vivian ... View more

How discouraging and disappointing that with this new Ambassador Program I have gone back to my earned royalties being lower than when I first started with Zazzle years ago.  I have always had my commission at 10% so that’s not the issue.  It is unconscionable to me that with all the work with designing, listing and maintaining our stores we are down to earning pennies for our efforts.  It is my opinion that a company (Zazzle) who used to care about its creators has moved on to just treating us as pawns in how their company can make the most profits with no consideration about the people who help them achieve that goal.  Beladora Designs ... View more

I’d like to raise a concern about how Zazzle's 50% marketing fee on gross royalties unfairly penalizes creators who adjust their pricing just to offset increasing platform fees. Right now, the more you charge for your design (by increasing your royalty), the more Zazzle takes in marketing — even if Zazzle's actual marketing effort remains the same. Here's a real-world comparison for a 3rd-party envelope sale (250 units): Set Royalty Sale Price Gross Royalty Excess Royalty Fee (5%) Marketing Fee (50%) Net Earnings Net Royalty % 10% $212.50 $21.25 $0.00 $10.63 $10.63 5.0% 18% $235.00 $42.30 $2.12 $21.15 $19.04 8.1% 22% $245.00 $53.90 $2.70 $26.95 $24.25 9.9% 🧾 As you can see: Raising the royalty from 10% to 22% increases the creator’s earnings by ~$13.62… …but it also increases Zazzle’s marketing take by over $16 — simply because the royalty is higher. The marketing fee is not based on performance, actual advertising costs, or conversions. It’s a flat 50% of your gross royalty — no matter what. 🔍Why should a creator who raises prices only to survive platform fee changes end up being penalized by those same fees? This structure discourages fair pricing, forces creators into low-margin work, and erodes the financial viability of maintaining a Zazzle store. 💡Suggestion: Make marketing fees performance-based or capped Provide per-sale transparency Stop penalizing creators who are adjusting just to stay afloat Zazzle’s marketing strategy should empower creators — not punish them for trying to earn a livable income. ... View more

Hi!  I don't have time to write a full-blown Google Analytics tutorial (I tried; it's insane what they've done to this tool), but I have a quick tip for those of you who've already set it up for your Store(s) or are willing to deep dive into the Google Beast. TL;DW (Too Long; Didn't Write) version:  - Sign up for a Google Analytics account - Get your G-00000000 number from your Admin Panel in Google Analytics -- There are 3-4 various numbers associated with a Property now; you want the G- number  -- It'll be G- and then numbers and letters - Add it to your Store Settings (it says "UA number," but that's old) -- zazzle.com/store/STORENAME/settings/advanced (at the bottom); save your settings - You can TEST in your Google Analytics account on the INSTALL MANUALLY screen in Admin  - Once set up, you want your PROPERTY ID (not Stream, not Measurement, not Random Numbers Google associates) -- If you can't find it clearly labeled, go to any report and copy the p0000000 number from the URL of ANY report If you get through all that, you can see various reports in your Google Analytics account.  If you're not familiar with the terms Google uses, it can take a while to find this one report.  Use this link and change "p000000000" to your own number, so it'll be like p123456789:  https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/?authuser=1#/p000000000/reports/explorer?params=_u..nav%3Dmaui%26_r.explorerCard..selmet%3D%5B%22sessions%22%5D%26_r.explorerCard..seldim%3D%5B%22sessionManualSourceMedium%22,%22landingPage%22%5D%26_r.explorerCard..hideBreakdown%3Dfalse%26_r.explorerCard..startRow%3D0%26_r.explorerCard..rowsPerPage%3D50%26_u.comparisonOption%3Ddisabled%26_u.dateOption%3Dyesterday&collectionId=11109117994&r=manual I copy that link into my daily checks workbook, so I don't have to hunt around for it.  You'll see the LINKS for traffic to your Products and the SOURCE for many clicks.  In the LINKS, you'll see the RF ID, when used.  I use that information to find the quiet people who are promoting my Products, and I return the favor.  Sorry no tutorial... my dance card is just so full these days, but I hope this is helpful. 😎   ... View more

Hi everyone, I want to share my experience after testing four of my own products and over 6,000 pins, including both my own and third-party designs. Despite following all the Ambassador Program rules, I have never received a single referral commission. During my tests, I found that Pinterest often modifies referral links. This happens even if I manually create the pins, use the correct referral ID or tracking code, or post my own product. Pinterest often replaces the links with elements like "epik=", "pin.it" is from Pinterest, or "zazzle.campaign" is from Zazzle, which turns Pinterest into the official referrer. In that case, they receive the referral credit – not the artist who shared the link. Even when I used a clean browser and created new Zazzle test accounts with separate email addresses and payment details, the result was always the same. I clicked on my own pins and made real purchases. Three of the products were mine, and one was from another designer. None of them generated a referral commission for me. Instead, all of them were listed under "3rd Party Referrer" in my reports. One of the items didn’t show up in the report at all. This issue does not seem to be directly Zazzle’s fault. If Pinterest rewrites or strips out referral data, Zazzle cannot track the sale correctly. Unfortunately, it makes Pinterest referrals unreliable and unpredictable. In my case, I have tried everything – using clean links, test purchases, different tracking formats, and over 6,000 pins. Still, I have never seen a single valid referral in my reports. Everything is marked as 3rd Party, no matter what I do. If anyone has had a different experience, I would love to hear it. I still love designing, even if I earn almost nothing. But I will now focus more on the creative side and less on chasing referral income. Stay smart and informed, Holmer ... View more

I ran into something "frustrating but ultimately preventable" that I wanted to share. I created a set of table cards for a friend's wedding: 4 variations of the same design using Zazzle's table card product. I set the royalty to 10% and marked them all as direct-only to make the order simple for her. When the sale came through, I noticed one of the cards had both a higher referral AND a higher royalty, even though all 4 were created the same way (I used the first one as a template for the others). After checking the backend, I saw that one of the cards had gone into Weddings > Invitations & Stationery > Day-of Stationery > Table Numbers, while the other 3 were in Crafts & Party Supplies > Party Supplies > Stationery > Table Numbers. Now, I had assumed all table cards would default to the same department (they don't…surprise!). I used the first one as a template, but somewhere along the way, one of them got re-categorized, which explains the discrepancy in payouts. Granted, I was moving quickly (these were direct-only, so admittedly I wasn't being overly careful about Marketplace placement), and I'm honestly not sure if Zazzle auto-assigned the category or if I just clicked through too fast. 🙈 But that small change in Marketplace Department was enough to affect both the referral rate and the royalty! 😦 I've always known referral rates were tied to Department, but what I hadn't realized is how PRODUCT TYPE can also influence which Department your listing ends up in. And that mismatch obviously matters a lot, because my nearly identical products earned very different payouts based solely on where Zazzle filed them.  Anyway, just something to keep an eye on...especially if, like me, you sometimes use alternate departments for visibility. (For example, I list my downloadable games on flat cards under Party Supplies > Games & Activities, but of course now I’m wondering if I should just leave them in Invitations to be eligible for the higher referral rate. 👀) It's also a good reminder to double-check your Marketplace placements across the board (and especially if you're using one product as a template for others), because even small category shifts can mess with your earnings more than you'd expect. I'll add a screenshot for transparency. (Ignore the blurred-out product - it's not part of this issue.) You can see that three of the table cards show a 34% referral rate and $0.70 royalty, while one shows 45% referral and $0.58 royalty. All were created using the same product and sold in the same order. The only difference? Marketplace Department. ... View more

Hello Zazzle Team, Since the transition to the new Ambassador Program, I’ve noticed that the referral rate for the zazzle_flatpapersheet product is calculating as either 15% or 18% + 5% royalty. This is noticeably lower than any of the products listed on the referral rate table provided with the program update. I submitted an issue request about this over three weeks ago with 4 follow ups but have only received confirmation that the matter is being looked into — with no further update since. Could you please clarify why this particular product is not aligning with the referral percentages outlined in the official table? Thank you, ... View more

I used the product share button to share a product from my shop on Facebook. But Facebook ALWAYS adds all kinds of tracking info to 100% of the links posted on their platform so I was wondering since the Ambassador program pays out self-promotion rates only on “clean” links, how does using the Facebook share button EVER result in self-promotion royalty % being properly credited to the resulting sales?!   example: Using the “share” arrow & selecting the Facebook option, turns my clean link to this mess once it posts on Facebook because Facebook dirties up ALL links posted on their platform .. So my question to @zazzle is .. Is THIS still considered a “clean link”?   Does Facebook muddy CLEAN self promotion links? ... View more

Anyone make any referral sales worth talking about? I haven't and it would be nice to hear someone is having luck. I still have four network sites I share products to daily - five if you count Bluesky ( don't do much in the way of posting there)  Also I run ads on FB besides having three stores there.  I also surf Traffic Exchanges. Any ideas what to do? Oh I forgot my website   --- Visit Leatherwood Design  --- ... View more

Well, now. In attempting to earn a Self-Referral today, I learned how to not earn one. 😂 Process:  Clear cookies, paste Clean Link into browser URL bar, change name on custom Design, Add to Cart, log in, check out.  I clear cookies before the first order and after each order.  I do this b/c the Z system has been wonky on Referrals since the beginning of time. And I place orders on a second computer where I don't do any other Zazzle work.  Order numbers below are for my reference. Third-party cookies and Java on/off are references to my browser settings for Zazzle on that machine.  "New customize interface" refers to the new interface a customer may see now which I believe to be in A/B testing. Order ID 131-41781193-1857009   Third-party cookies off > Java turned on in window (off by default) > new customize interface > no Referral Order ID 131-50534084-3691429    Third-party cookies off > Java turned on in settings > new customize interface > no Referral Order ID 131-29253922-7487801  Third-party cookies off > Java on in settings > old customize interface > no Referral Order ID 131-15173342-8667631  Third party cookies on > Java on in settings > new customize interface > no Referral On my last attempt, Order ID 131-24178869-5605323, I turned off four Chrome Browser Extensions: - UBlock Origin - User-Agent Spoofer - All Fingerprint Defender - Fingerprint Spoofer And once turned off, I earned the Referral (old interface).  So if you're working closely with a friend or relative or even a customer where you're comfortable saying "The site might not work as intended, if you have blocking-type extensions enabled in your browser; you might turn those off, place your order, and then turn them back on," that might help your Referral game.  Nowhere in such a statement are there any untruths -- the site is intended for us to earn Referrals. 😊 IMPORTANT ETA:  I just noticed that the Discount Code didn't auto apply on the first four orders!  THAT would be a motivating factor to someone making a purchase! ... View more

Since Zazzle doesn't want us to use our RF except when they do (BTW I hate toilet paper math!) are they going to change up all the ways to share things? Like the share to Pinterest button? I've gotten used to just sharing the way i share and now it's all crazy. Also I have to change hundreds of product links on my website and the Benable pages that I did wrong because I'm used to just adding the RF code that I thought was supposed to help me.  Or at least can we have an easy sharing guide written on concise terms as in do this, then this, and this. Not do this unless you want to do this, but you may also do this, but only if it's this, but not this and also not this except in times where it's applicale to this this, though remember not to do this except when you need to do this and only this, except where this doesn't apply except sometimes this applies, but only on the rare everyday exception where this also applies to this but not this. Also here is an acronym no one knows. Follow that too.  ... View more

I just made another third-party sale. I want to know who is taking 50% of my royalties. Was it an affiliate sale? Another Ambassador listing my products on Pinterest? Was it a sale from a Zazzle email, promotion, or other marketing tactic? We designers need to know who or what is grabbing half of our royalties, so we can plan our next steps. We can’t develop a sales strategy without this data. We need transparency—not just a notation that a sale was a third-party sale.     ... View more

What’s the best platform to run ads on for Zazzle products (Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.)? Also, how long should I run the ads and what’s a good starting budget to actually see some profit? Would love to hear from anyone with experience! ... View more