This is Getting Old

[Jadendreamer13]

So here I am again—in the exact same unfair scenario that I complained about last week.

Once again, today I sold 50 pens at a sale price of $245.00. Once again, it was a third-party sale (that’s all I get now). So, instead of receiving my 10% royalty of $24.00, I received $13.00 and some change. That’s nearly 50% of my royalty given to a third-party, leaving me with a ridiculous 5% royalty.

This has got to stop. 🛑 Something is drastically wrong and out of balance with this scenario.

If I set my royalty at 10%, I want 10%, not 5%. So, in order to receive a 10% royalty, do I have to raise my royalty to 15%? And will the third-party receive half of that, leaving me with 7% instead of 10%?

What will it take for me to earn the 10% royalty that I want and deserve?

[SORS]

Somehow Zazzle should be compensating designers for custom work. I’m not sure what that would look like, but custom work by designers certainly increases sales, but most of the time short changes the designer. 

[KittyKat]

100% Zazzle should compensate custom designs with a commission. At the bare minimum designers should be paid their posted commission rate. My rate is 10% and I only got paid 5%. Just not fair... 

[Sea-Change]

I'm still catching up after travelling and recovering from a bug, so I'm grateful for all the insights in this discussion. I'm also disheartened.

On a personal level, it feels like there's little or no hope of ever growing my shops to the point of predictable viability. It doesn't matter how many covers, videos, social media posts, carefully constructed and timed pins, etc. I create, sales are too unpredictable and paltry after fees are deducted.

I'm also sad about the impact on the collective design community. As much as I appreciate the opportunity to be a Zazzle creator, it's hard to reconcile Zazzle's lack of transparency and radio silence, especially given the dire financial impact on designers. It doen't align at all with their "Empowered by People" tagline.