Upcoming Changes To Zazzle’s Terms of Use

[Heather]

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. 

UPDATE 4/7/25

This forum post is now closed for new replies. Please see our most recent update for information about the Terms of Use Changes and information about the new Ambassador Program. Thank you!

[ClareS]

Ah I think you're carving that out for self referrals via the RF code - which makes sense!

[PetStar]

Thank you so much for explaining this in a way I can understand! I’m feeling some hope now. On another note, Is Zazzle automatically lowering royalty rates? Just woke up to find my stickers although set at 14.9% — today sold at 14.6%? 

 

[Laura]

@PetStar It seems the difference is most likely due to the customer adding secondary content.

[PetStar]

Thank you so much for that info! 

[jophb]

I had that happen to me yesterday too. Someone purchased two identical products, one was at my normal rate and the other went through as .2% lower.

[Laura]

Thank you @ColsCreations for taking the time to figure it out and explain it so well!! 💕 You are a z-Math Rock Star! ✨

[DancingPelican]

Thank you so much @ColsCreations for your explanations and charts. It is so very helpful and eye-opening! Now, I would like to take these charts and come up with one using a wedding invitation as an example. I need to determine the effect of a royalty change on a product that typically sells in quantities of 100, 200 or 300 as wedding invitations often do. Finding that sweet spot with royalty could get tricky to both stay competitive with other sites that offer wedding invitations and keep our earnings at a level that is expected for our efforts.

[Connie]

Yes, I'm in the same boat!

[Saints_Aplenty]

@ColsCreations

Colleen, you are a treasure! I was hoping you'd chime in!  You always manage to translate Zazzle math into something understandable!  Many thanks!

[sharonrheafords]

I replied, but I think it's deleted. I do thank you for the amazing post and insight!

[Amanda23]

Just looked at this again now that I’m more awake. And I have to say, 

NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES! 🎉💪🤩

THANK you. 
💕

[LindaS1]

Thank you for all your hard work on this! Is it possible to get a link to your new spreadsheet so we can use it to calculate our own scenarios? Thank you!!!

[Saints_Aplenty]

I was just about to ask what @LindaS1 did!  Will you be posting an updated version of your calculator in Tools? It would be much appreciated!  

[Getzaz]

Really appreciated! 🤗🌟

[Zizzago]

Thank you so much 👍

[tsikona]

Thank you, this information is very helpful. 

[Fiorenzo]

@ColsCreations 

Thank you once more for your rescue! Got completely caught by surprise and still have to figure out all the stuff but your last recap (your disclaimer) gave me the input I needed. Kudos again for taking the time to analyze and share! I guess I will let all stuff be where it is by now and go forward step by step together with my hp. I assume, if we are in the promo and affiliate programs we don't have to re-apply for that new Ambassador program? Also wondering when the changes are seen in the RF calculator. As a positive side note, the % you get on self-referrals seems to have risen, if I interpreted Z's new table correctly.

Thanks again and have a pleasant week! If I don't respond quickly, I'm taken by my new evil rescue devil right now (Jesus Christ, what a destruction machine, and he "ruined" my big boy Whitey - all said about the adult dogs educating the new pups, it's a blatant LIE, in reality it's the other way around).

[mylittleeden]

Thank you for this. The only thing I remember from when this first happened and we all changed to 14.9 or lower was that products above this percentage where no longer promoted in the marketplace... I therefore reduced most of my products apart from my detailed artwork that took me months to create. I thankfully still sell these. But my concern is the general items I have and will the marketplace favor those at 10% or less as a result of this change? It seems to be unclear at the point. I am hopeful this will not be the case as this really could be that final nail in the coffin which is frustrating as I finally started to see an uptick in sales... just my luck...
I really am thankful for your detailed insight. I will now consider raising some of my prices (I have alot of various prices from 10-14.9 and see how things go both at what sells and what appears in the marketplace moving forward). I do believe if you have a good product and you are fair with your prices it should not be a major issue moving forward, but I guess time will tell, how customers and the marketplace reacts. Wishing everyone the best of luck. 

[uniqueshopdk]

 Thank you so much 

[CharlotteH]

Thank you so much! 

[tnestico]

Wow, just wow, you put so much work for us here. Thank you so much!!!

[NHW]

@ColsCreations Thank you so much for sharing this info! I have a chronic illness that causes severe brain fog, so there's no way I would ever have been able to figure this out on my own.

Increasing my royalty rate resulted in my zRank dropping, but that's a hit I'll have to take. My earnings dropped dramatically in 2022/3, so I can't afford to cut it in half. I'm confined to bed due to illness, so I don't have any other way of supporting myself. I'm interested to see how this all shakes out in the coming months - will most designers go with 10% or above 20%?

[Barbara]

Am I wrong in thinking it's the wedding designers who are most likely to take the biggest hit? If this is true, it seems Zazzle is sabotaging itself unless the top sellers have mostly stayed at 10%.

Also, I thought my royalty, being set at 20% was high, but it appears I'd have to go even higher now to stay where I am.

The new terms are horribly convoluted. Must have been written by a lawyer.

Colorwash's Home

[PrintablePretty]

Hey all. Not that anyone cares about this but me probably I wanted to make a small clarification after re-reading some of my posts in this thread (because I over think everything, yay anxiety lol). I mentioned that Zazzle income was my "only income". I do technically sell on other platforms too. Spoonflower, Merch by Amazon, KDP, and Creative Fabrica but those bring in so little they wouldn't cover a trip to the grocery. Zazzle is the the only platform I have been able to count on to help me pay the bills.

I wanted to clarify because once I realized what I had said my anxiety riddled brain would not let it go lol. 😅 This is why forum posting isn't my jam. I'll spiral while posting and then for days after too, anxious over everything I said and the way I said it. Can we maybe get a delete option that doesn't time out? Just a thought 🤣

[Mariholly]

You don’t have to give any explanation. Whether your earnings on Z are a small or large part of your overall income is your business, and you have the same right as everyone else to express your feelings about this situation, constructively and respectfully.

[sharonrheafords]

Your posts seem fine to me.

I haven't been on the forums in a couple years or more since I sort of forgot they are a great place for answers, but understand the anxiety, and as you, I jump right on it. Zazzle understands I'm sure. The founder and family are intelligent business people, and I would imagine they understand that we have concerns. Our prosupport has been extremely patient with me and kind over the years with my frantic emails. We are for the most part allowed to express concerns and get comfort from our peers. No apologies needed. We  are passionate as creative people .... and bright ourselves in business ...

...and with that being said, if I don't get to follow this thread anymore, it's because my dear next door neighbor  just texted they are selling their beach house which startled me and gave me anxiety for personal reasons, and I jumped up ... and my laptop just drank my cup of coffee, so .... I may be offline. At least it didn't drink coffee and kahlua like once before.

[wheresthekarma]

Don't worry about that. I think most of us are in the same boat. We all sell on several platforms but Zazzle has been our bread and butter as the others are mostly chump change, at least that is how it's been for me. I knew what you meant by that, Zazzle is the one that helps you survive, the biggest money maker you rely on.

[AirTwin]

I'm glad people are making sales, because without those that are making sales this place (and other pods) wouldn't exists at all for even the hope to make sales. 🙂 

[Colorflow]

Regarding the marketing fee, are we going to be deducted this marketing fee any time someone comes to Zazzle and purchases our product without using a direct link from us to our product or store?  So if I am a buyer and I do a google search for "llama birthday Invitation" and see an image of my invitation from Zazzle, click it and buy it.   Is the marketing fee deducted?  Or if i a buyer just ends up on Zazzle through a google search for invitations are there fees deducted for that too?  

Hope i am explaining it right.   Feeling so unmotivated and disappointed by Zazzle right now.  I have been on since 2017 and put in so many hours a day only to see these changes last night.  I could even get behind monthly fees to artists if Zazzle needs the money, but taking this much of our royalties on just about every sales is just insulting to all the work we do.  

[jophb]

I believe it is any sale that is noted with '3rd party' under your sales 'Royalty History' page. Under the 'referred?' column. For me this is probably like 85-95% of my sales, so this is going to hurt big time. I could be wrong.

[tamirazdesigns]

So discouraging, more than even before.  Majority of my sales (like many other's have also noted) have always been 3rd Party for years!  I  have None sales mixed in there, but nowhere as many as 3rd Party sales!  And forget about Self-referred sales ever coming in....Doesn't matter the Tons of pins shared to Pinterest over the years...  It's usually a 3rd Party Sale for my items!  It is unbelievable though.

[jophb]

100% agree! Mine are like 85-95% 3rd party. Then mostly 'none' of the remaining, and lucky if I get 2% self.

[AuntieShoe]

It is virtually 100% of my sales, minus one or two that I get from posting on Pinterest.

[Malissa]

There is a lot of talk of lowering royalties so that you don't get priced out of the market, etc. , but if everyone valued their work properly and raised their rates accordingly then the (Zazzle) market standard rises with it.  People shop here for the unique customizable products and not because it's the cheapest place out there.  No one wins when you undervalue your work.  Zazzle has covered themselves with their pricing model and you should not worry about covering yourself with yours by bumping up your rates in what @ColsCreations has shown to be a nominal amount to the customer. Especially if you give value to the customer with unique and well thought out designs that can't be purchased elsewhere.  Yes, they might like to keep prices lower on the products they advertise and feature, but you will still show up in searches. 

If you feel like keeping your royalties low is in the best interest of you and fits your business model, by all means you know what is best.  But fear based pricing hurts us all in the end.  That's my 2 cents for whatever it is worth.

[LMGildersleeve]

Not only that Melissa but Zazzle always has coupon codes to offer customers to take advantage of. Customer's will pay for customization and uniqueness.

[klstock]

It's worth a lot more than 2 cents and I totally agree.

On cards and invitations my royalty rate is on the high side and I have seen Zazzle promote them on occasion - not as much as I wish they would, but I have seen them do it. So for those who are saying Zazzle won't promote a product if the royalty is higher, in my experience that is not true. 

[PrintablePretty]

Mine are going o 23.7%. Done playing these games with POD, I am tired. If I sell I sell and if not I will figure out a way to make money somewhere else. I am not the best designer there is but I value what talent I do have not to stoop to what they want us to. I begrudgingly set them to 9.9% the other day and they updated today but after seeing @ColsCreations post and the royalties I made today BEFORE these market fees kick in. Uhh yeah NO! I changed them to 23.7%.

I am DONE selling myself short being overworked and undervalued. I just opened a shop on Creative Market, I've done well there in the past when I sold clip art and patterns before I gave it all up and sold off the clipart and copyrights to focus on selling here. Not gonna lie I regret it now especially after all this. Design Bundles paid me well for the rights but that money is long gone lol. 

I have a crap ton of hand drawn wedding doodles I have been working on in procreate, and vectorizing in illustrator. I planned to use them here in a new wedding shop I just opened but why bother. I'll just sell them and let other people make pretty stuff with it. Much less headache and more money hopefully doing it that way.

I've taken a ton of procreate illustration and pattern courses in the last several years to polish my skills to use here and spoonflower and I am a WAY better illustrator now than I even was when I successfully  sold clip art before. So that is the game plan I am pretty sure I have settled on I think. Dabble here but work on getting back into illustration. 

Some of the old stuff I used to sell before I sold the rights to design bundles and before I got married and had the slight surname change lol. Prettty sure I can pull this off again if handmade designs are still valued on CM.
  

And the new style I am shooting for now.

[KLP]

Great points Malissa - I think maybe a two pronged approach could come into play here, yes keep the higher royalties on art you have put a lot of time into and yes or no depending on what Z are looking for to promote it will or will not get promoted, but if Z are going to promote more in the lower bracket, then put a handful at a lower price.  Z promotes these items from your store, and then what behavior will the Jo Public customer do?

A) Buy the item they found on the general search; or

B) Have a look around your shop while they are there (this then will lead them straight to your higher priced items) - Win Win in my book.

Without thinking and focusing on royalties, (and yes, I realise this is bread and butter for some and not to detract from that argument) the main goal here is to get people into your store - looking at your items - and buying your artwork.

[tamirazdesigns]

Yes.  That's why I said previously I'm keeping my Royalties where they are.  Since I'm already mostly above that 10% for majority of items.  I did however look through some of my items earlier this morning and raised some to what I feel may best work with these crazy changes!  Then I'll see after awhile how things look with all of this.  No way I'm lowering the % for my designs that low!  

[sharonrheafords]

I am with you 100% on not lowering anything. If anything, I'll raise it. As I said previously, I have "ColsCreations" brilliant post (she so graciously shared with us) right by my laptop now. I'll name it my ZBible. I think I needed her with me last week as my taxes were rejected FOUR TIMES!

I thought all this might backfire as the customers would see a higher price when many are going to raise royalties rather than lower them; yet, as LM said, Zazzle gives great daily discounts, so ... it is what it is, and I cannot lower a thing. As is between purchasing art and the time we all put in, it's no profit. I just love creating on Zazzle, and never ventured into any of the other POD venues.