Anyone else’s number of Sales plummeting after zazzle price raise.

ModernvVintage
New Contributor III

Hello zazzle creators. 
i was just wondering  if anyone else’s number of pending sales are decreasing since the recent zazzle price increase?? My sales were going strong and have plummeted down almost 100 sales! In the past few months my sales have been rising or staying steady. I’m hoping they don’t continue to plummet! I personally thought that zazzles price increase was pretty high. A particular product example was priced $23.00 then rose all the way up to $29.00! That seems extreme to me and it seems like my sales customers are feeling the same way and turning away.😔 Anyone else experiencing this?? 

37 REPLIES 37

kashmier
Valued Contributor

Yes my sales nearly stopped. Had my first day with no sales in a long time since the increase. 

Leatherwood Design

That’s too bad we are experiencing this, I depend on my store income and surely hope it doesn’t drop even more. Zazzle should be feeling the affects too so wondering what they are thinking. I don’t mind a price increase but seemed to be a HUGE one! 🤨

ibelieveimages
Contributor II

I lowered my markup a couple months ago in anticipation of rising costs, but so far still a trickle of orders.

Connie
Honored Contributor

I haven't noticed a significant decrease in sales, but my sales do fluctuate week to week, so I'll have to monitor it for a few months.

Keep an eye on your pending sales number. 👍🏻

SORS
Contributor II

I also think that the increase will affect my sales eventually, although I haven't seen a noticeable drop yet.  It seems that the discounts aren't as good as they used to be. Is it my imagination? 

 

Not your imagination - I was thinking the same thing.  Usually there are some 50% off sales, especially on cards.  The card sale starting tomorrow is only 40% off.  Considering my cards went from $3.50 to $4.02 - even the sale price is quite an increase (From $1.75 to $2.44 - that's a 40% increase)

Connie
Honored Contributor

I think usually the sales are lower around this time of the year anyway, and Zazzle reserves the bigger discounts for the holidays (and peak wedding season). I know last year I was waiting all summer for some good sales on various items.

chefcateringbiz
Valued Contributor

I just got a shock yesterday when I ordered some stickers and labels. Had 'em in my cart for a while just to make sure the designs were what I wanted, and found that everything shot up when I was asleep, darn it. Went ahead and ordered 'em in case the prices go up again, which I'm sure they will. I work retail p/t, and half the time is spent now on changing prices. Folks, this isn't done yet. Hang onto your hats. You think it's bad now, it will get worse. Peak (maybe) inflation coupled with the incoming typical slow summer season... not gonna be pretty for many.

If the price increase continues we'll probably lose most of our business.  And have much more intellectual theft.  Just look at people stealing gas out of parked cars now.  smh.  And my sales were just starting to pick up after being very part time on here for 10 years, I retired and finally have time to do more -- hoping I could start counting on some extra money ... and now this.  It's very disheartening. 

KC
Contributor III

Are you comparing to the sales pattern from last year at the same time, or just from a few weeks ago? 

ModernvVintage
New Contributor III

I’m comparing it to the past 6 months.For example my Pending number of Sales were staying steady and even increasing little by little then right after price raise the number of sales have plummeted down almost 100 sales less. And it happened the day of price raise so I know this is the cause. The product type that I mostly sell went from $23.00 to $29.00 with no change on my part. I have reduced my percentage some but it doesn’t do much. 

I don't understand what you mean by your sales plummeted down by almost 100 the day of the price increases? If All Credits drop, that can only be due to cancellations. Pending drops when things are cancelled and/or roll over to Cleared. What exactly dropped?

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Barbara
Esteemed Contributor

Historically, my sales dwindled badly in July and August, but I began seeing the drop at the beginning of this month. It's not just a Zazzle thing. Just try to do any sort of renovation in your home and you'll be knocked over by the prices on lumber alone. Inflation is hitting fast and hard, which makes people close their wallets. They're spending a lot less on their wants, reserving their money for their needs. PODs don't cater to people's needs.

If Zazzle can hang in there long enough, and if we all have patience, things will get better. They always do. My memory spans a godawful number of decades, so I know this to be true.

BeautBotanical
Contributor

Yes a huge drop! Like you, I was really pleased to see my sales increasing month on month, and then bam 😞

That’s exactly what happend! I was doing better then ever before for about 5 months and then the day of price raise sales took a dive keep going down. 😟

Connie
Honored Contributor

I think what will have a bigger impact on Zazzle is not the price increases HERE, but the HUGE increase in gas prices! People HAVE to buy gas to get to work, and now the gas is taking a huge chunk of their paychecks, so they have less disposable income. We'll probably not do too badly around the holidays, as people will probably rather shop online than in stores, but the summer is going to be slower than normal, I fear.

ModernvVintage
New Contributor III

That’s a great point. 

J32Design
Contributor III

I don't think it much to do with Zazzle's price increase in particular, but price increases across the board on everything people regularly buy. Food, rent, power, water etc.
Less money to buy things you can live without.

Barbara
Esteemed Contributor

@J32Design wrote:

I don't think it much to do with Zazzle's price increase in particular, but price increases across the board on everything people regularly buy. Food, rent, power, water etc.
Less money to buy things you can live without.


Absolutely.

I think it's merely coincidental that Zazzle's price increases and drop in sales happened at the same time. Everyday people out there in the world are choosing to not buy all manner of things due to prices. Grocery shopping alone can show this. Beef, for instance, is often avoided. Lamb is out of the question. How does this affect the grocery stores whose profit margins are already small?

northwestphotos
Valued Contributor

I was shocked as well with some of the pricing. For example, I'm still scratching my head over who would buy a clipboard that costs over $40. And that's just with a 10% royalty! And the mini clipboards are way up there as well. No wonder I don't sell any! I think Zazzle should have some serious discussions with their product manufacturers over pricing.

MasterpieceCafe
Valued Contributor II

Yes.

I need to now hunt down everything that has increased and start making price/percent changes. This a nightmare.

I guess I don't need to worry about a master list of products that need changing, I will assume it's everything.  😭

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masterpicecafe@gmail.com

My sales have not skipped a beat since the price change.  I'm not changing anything, not my royalty percentage, nothing. 

Only after several months would I even consider the idea of changing prices and ONLY if I see a consistent significant percentage dip in sales.  Remember: if affiliates are marketing your products and their sales have also not skipped a beat since the price change, you are risking having them "ditch you" if they foresee a dip in profits they are making on your designs.

Just a heads up for you

I would rather monkey around with my pricing to get the desired result. Sometimes that means increasing my % and sometimes that means decreasing my percent. I work with whatever strategy works for me and my stores. I'm happy if people want to affiliate my products, but if they want to drop me because of a price change then that's their business choice as well.

I've been doing this for over 14 years, I'm comfortable with the path I've taken.

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Barbara
Esteemed Contributor

Because my own sales started falling off both here and elsewhere prior to any price changes, I'm going to wait a while to see what happens before I change any royalties. Of course the problem is that summertime is always an iffy sales period, so trying to figure out if it's summer or price hikes will be a challenge.

DaveG
New Contributor II

Yes ! I've had no sales at all for over a week, whereas I used to get several each day regularly.

CatsEyeViewGift
Contributor III

Considering this is the slow time of year - with July usually being my worst, I think I'll wait until the end of August to see how sales are going before changing my royalty.  I know quite a few designers have stated in the past that they have 24.9% royalty on their items, and mine is much lower than that to start with.  So hopefully I don't have to go that horrible, tedious task of repricing everything. 

savanamm
New Contributor III

I see a huge drop in sales too...

igiftcenter
Valued Contributor

It looks as though I opened my mouth and spoke too soon. While my sales the day in question was ok, today my sales took a huge dive. Why? I have no idea. But I'm sure it's just a blip in the month.

I wish you all continued success

MTGUNVEILED
New Contributor

My sales have completely stopped aside from a ten cent postcard ugh!!!  I put so much work into developing my stores and didn’t know why sales dropped completely until now. 

J32Design
Contributor III

My sales have slowed as well. However, it looks like the usual summer slump so far.

NPL
Contributor III

Yes! I have been staedily selling and growing for the last few years, and although summer months are usaully somewhat slower, this month i have seen a drop of 50% in sales compared to last year...

CatsEyeViewGift
Contributor III

by my records, July is always my worst month - so I wouldn't monkey around with royalties until after that for sure.  But to be honest, my sales aren't really suffering.  To add to that, for perspective, I don't have that great of sales anyway.  I'm not great at promoting, so sales have always been low.  I'm happy for every sale I get.  (And thank you to any Affiliates that promote for me! - much appreciated)

 

KristinRavelle
Contributor

So that's why my sales suddenly stopped at both my stores.  I attributed it to inflation which is starting to rise quickly and that people are spending only on absolute necessities, which I think is part of it.  Sales have now started trickling in but I'm not expecting much going forward.  I actually wonder if Zazzle themselves will get wiped out in what I see coming which is a collapse of businesses (even big ones), banks, etc.  They should be lowering prices as I feel that even their previous levels were too high.

 

orientcourt
Contributor III

Just reading this thread from mid 2O22 ModernvVintage ! Interested to know if your and other folks sales are still experiencing a down hill trend! Granted certain times of the year Christmas,Easter ect usually result in an upturn! Not so for myself last year especially for the Christmas season! Over all sales have plummeted why?                                                               1. Too much competition                                                                                                                                                             2.price hikes                                                                                                                                                                               3.niche run its course                                                                                                                                                                 4.Economy Downturn                                                                                                                                                                 5.Lack of self advertising                                                                                                                                                           6.Poor choice of created products                                                                                                                        and of course many more reasons why our stores are not performing as well as before! Jillian 

                   

orientcourt
Contributor III

Crikey! Sorry about the page hiccup🙄

 

garth777
New Contributor

My sales are down by more than 50% this year. I did really good last your with my wedding stuff. I added a bunch of new designs late fall last year in the hope of doing even better this year. That didn't work out to well. Thankfully I have a couple shops on Etsy.