Feature Request - Allow download for Mockup

[Mistica]

Hi,
I am just starting grapple to how I can do mockups without spending tons of money and time.
It would be really great if Zazzle had a download button available for NOT published work.
So...before you click "Sell it"..you  download it instead. 
The goal is to create a mockup using my uploaded images.
EX: I created a round image  ( a round rug) so it is a png meaning has transparency where a wood plank background looked good. It was quick and free to do. Looked nice too.
To download it ...I need to "sell it" , grab the download which will serve as a mockup, and then delete it.
It would make it a whole lot quicker to create a mockup this way...which is always appreciated.
Is it something that Zazzle might be willing to do in the near future?
My graphics design software skills are just so so. 
** Update: An easier solution is to have the designer/creator build the mockup right there with the design tool and simply have a designation that it is a mockup and the system would identify it as such. 
Much easier and more diversity...otherwise, in time, all the mockups will all look like Etsy mockups and Canva mockups. 

BTW: My 12K products are now less desirable as per the mockup algorithm so my ranking has been lost.
Not sure how to fix it so that my work will be visible again. My income is down 50%.

[Barbara]

When I started here (2014), we were able to download a PNG of the product, but at some point--can't remember when--Zazzle took away the ability. When this happened, all I could figure was that they were taking away the easy ability of thieves to steal our work, though theft has continued regardless. I, too, would appreciate that old ability as would, I'm sure, nearly every other designer.

At this point, I've stopped making mockups because they require way too much work for way too little return.

As for your income being down 50%, it probably hasn't much to do with mockups. All kinds of people are experiencing the same thing, whether they're making mockups or not.

Colorwash's Home

[Mistica]

Thanks Barbara. I also noticed that if you try to use a published design as template for something similar... the mockup prevents that from happening so you need to start from scratch.
I think it would be so easy for Z to simply allow an image not to be bought... in other words the mockup made right with the design tool. It would produce a much varied look and make it easy to do. I just joined Canva Pro. It does have mock ups...but again...soooo much time in doing this thing. I was hurt badly when I noticed that for a search string where I was heavily on page 1, 2 and others I am now lost. Only the mockups fill those key spots. I am lost now. I understand there is a penalty for no mockup.  Oh well...stuck between a rock and a hard place. 
I do understand about what things are happening out in the world that would impact purchases.

[ColsCreations]

To download it ...I need to "sell it" , grab the download which will serve as a mockup, and then delete it.

I've gone down that route before in trying to download preview images for something I've edited so I can make a collage showing the same product with different color or text customizations. But since the Media Manager option to download product previews only works for the version you published the product as you have to get creative on how to grab those images yourself.
I've settled on the easiest way being to use @HightonRidley 's Nifty bookmarklet that opens all the preview images in their own tab with just one click. From there you can right-click and download whichever one(s) you want to save. The tool works on both Saved Designs and existing published designs you are editing (as well of course on published designs in their default state).

You can find the bookmarklet here and it's super easy to use. Just drag the link to your browser's toolbar and that's it. Then from any product page you just click on it from your toolbar and poof! - you get all the preview images in different tabs.

If you want the image you get from using "download artwork" instead, I haven't ever hit on a suitable alternative for getting that except from the Media Manage option available only on published design versions. I'm not sure but I think this is the download you are actually referring to so that you can create your cover photos right in the Design Tool and download just the overall design without it being on any product? If so, you could use a large square poster blank for creating your mockups. Then use the Nifty bookmarklet tool to download the first product preview which is just a big square of your design. You'd need to crop off the square gray border but that's a quick fix. 

You could create a hidden category called "mockup templates" or whatever and for whatever mockup templates you want to reuse, publish them as hidden products to that category. Then you can re-edit them (and download the results) as often as you want without ever overwriting the original which is what would happen if you tried doing it just from Saved Designs instead of published.

Just running with your idea here, but yeah, it would certainly be much easier if Zazzle could enable the Media Manager download options for edits that haven't been published.

[Mistica]

UPDATE: HOLD ON on this (stuff below). I tried it on product with a mockup from a different way of generation.

Thank you for all that great info! 
Just got up and have lawn guy coming so will study this at great length when I can.
Lets presume you do have a mockup on a published product.
Normally, to create big or small variations of designs (make with pink bow to replace blue bow or etc,) I just use a published product as the "seed". I even do that with verbiage that is close enough to my next design run. IF the product has a mockup... you can't do it!
I did that with a wall art one. Only the frame was left..
So..anything that has a mockup can no longer be used the "seed" for a new generation/variation of a design. 
Darn...It just occurred to me that a customer who wants to play with the element location use etc of a design (it happens often) no longer will be able to do much at all using the design tool.
I will have to experiment as this just popped into my head.

I know people even dig into leftovers (old images and elements). It is like a cracker jack box to them. They love when I leave decorative elements from the previous life of that file. I am talking png etc elements not just font playing.
If I can't do it...how can they? I am rethinking this whole mockup thing. I wonder if a video would cripple the whole re-invent it thing too? 

[ColsCreations]

I'm completely lost on what you're wanting to do and what you mean by "So..anything that has a mockup can no longer be used the "seed" for a new generation/variation of a design." 🤔

[Mistica]

Ok, Let's say I have a wall art design with a mockup from canva.
Let's say I want to remake the wall art by swapping out with another image.
I would click "Edit design". Swap out my image, and publish as a new product.
I will try it again today...but what happened every time yesterday was that Zazzle gave me the mockup picture frame only. I was unable to swap any art.  
I can't remember which source of mockup I had used nor which browser...if that matters. I do know I could not make a variation (new item).

[Barbara]

If I understand what you're saying--and I may not be--you're trying to use an already-published product as if it were a template for a new product with a new mockup. You can't create a new mockup that way. It has to be done as an image in imaging software that you then upload as is. This is because the design tool isn't for mockup creation but for product creation.

I'm not saying you're foolish for trying this. It would be lovely if we could do it.

Colorwash's Home

[Mistica]

Col gave me the solution. (read above) . I have to still figure out the steps..but basically I would love to use the design tool to build my mockup. 

[Barbara]

---

@Mistica wrote:

I will try it again today...but what happened every time yesterday was that Zazzle gave me the mockup picture frame only. I was unable to swap any art.  

---

 What you said above makes me think you didn't have a PNG of the frame, but rather, a PNG that included the image with a frame around it. Is that what happened?

Yes, Col's method looks like a really good one.

I avoid any of the complicated products, opting for simple, flat paper products--except for coffee mugs where I spent hours using Photoshop to cut out the mug to create a template with overlaid shadows, etc. as separate layers. I will never do that again. Way too much work without any compensatory rewards whatsoever and maybe even fewer, given that I haven't sold a mug since.

Colorwash's Home

[Mistica]

I have spent days trying to figure out the best way ...time wise ..to create a mockup.
I have all these experiments going. I even signed up for Canva...$$$. I believe that it was their mockup that blocked me from repurposing a product.  Will try again.
The reality is that I have way too many products to now add mockups. (12k ..yes I know..I should have done small niche stores). I lost 50% of my income and now I know it wasn't the economy.
My ranking for various search strings has proven that fact. All the page 1 , 2 , 3 etc products for my test search string have mockups. I am gone form those pages where as before I was the page 2 queen with a good number of results on page one as well.
I think at this point I had better redirect my energy to promotion as adding mockups won't make much of a dent to my income. Too much time for little,  if any,  reward.  If it is the algorithm...(mockuped products get further) I would hope Zazzle would be kinder to the pre-mock days up oldies. 
I do love their additions of new mockups. To much time to go back and change those however I will take advantage of their lovely built in mockups.

[Barbara]

It just now occurred to me:  Postcards were, up until adding my own mockups, one of my better-selling products. What if I switched them back to the plain Zazzle image? It could be proof one way or the other--if I start selling them again or if sales remain in a slump and thus it has nothing to do with the mockup.

Imagining myself shopping for such a thing as postcards, I'd want to compare apples with apples, seeing card after card in the exact same layout. "Do I like this giraffe or that giraffe, this hot air balloon or that one?" How can I easily choose when each card is placed in a different environment? Way too much extraneous detail. It reminds me of some of the clothing ads I see on YouTube where everyone is moving, doing so in different settings. My eye gets caught up by the activity and the setting and I end up not knowing who is advertising what.

Colorwash's Home

[Mistica]

It would be interesting how it works out. So, just to be clear in my head..you are removing the mockup so see if there is an effect up or down?
I don't have mockups for my business card string that I use to test the waters. Like I said...I have turned into a ghost. Not to brag...but I was dominating page 2...and had enough on page one to feel good. Now... 😞 . 

[Barbara]

No, not remove the mockup but, instead, change the display option in "Product Merchandising." Before doing a whole bunch of them, I'll first test one or two to see if my new choice sticks. I wouldn't want to go through all of them only to discover that our mockups are automatically moved to the top.

Colorwash's Home

[Mistica]

I will stay tuned 🙂

[Barbara]

I just now switched my bestselling class reunion postcard back to Zazzle's original display image. I tested it in a private browser and my new choice seems to have stuck. It'll have to be a wait-and-see issue.

Colorwash's Home

[Connie]

Maybe you have a glitch? I regularly use existing products with mockups, to create a new variation, and post that as a new design. For example, I take an existing wedding invitation, keep the text the same, but change out the graphics, and then I can post that new invitation for sale. Of course, the MOCKUP image doesn't change as you are editing the product, but when you post it for sale, that old mockup is gone, and you can replace it with a new one.

[Mistica]

Thank you Connie. It must have been. I wish i could remember which platform I tested...and failed.
I was going wild trying to figure out the easiest way to use my years or purchased clipart that I had uploaded to Zazzle library. So much quicker than my menagerie of external drives to create suitable backgrounds for products.
I signed up for canva. I hope that wasn't the one that broke.

[Barbara]

I'd forgotten all about this thread and just now took a look at my postcards. Conclusion: Mockups in no way seem to have affected sales at all. There's a mix of sales, mockup vs. standard, and there's no difference. If the customer likes the design, it sells, and if not, it doesn't sell. On the other hand, it dawns on me that, if Zazzle is boosting those with mockups, I'm likely to see fewer sales due to the more attractive cards without mockups not showing as readily.

Colorwash's Home

[Mistica]

Thanks for the update. Like I said... a certain search string of business cards products fell from grace (Pg1 some, pg2 almost the whole page ...etc etc etc.
Coincidence? Those that did show up using the same search string were all mock ups.
After spending $ for platforms that take even more time... I just gave up. 
I have a website "in progress" for about 8 years. I will try to get it done. Not sure if that will help my bottom line. I clicked a random product on my site and it did not show up as viewed itme..but then again....views are another story and thread.
I will go the website route and cross my fingers it will compensate for the 75% reduction in my sales.

[Barbara]

Building and maintaining a web site takes stamina and SEO. In better days, I ran a successful site in another arena, selling products directly to customers. Trying to build a web site for Zazzle, I was lost and eventually gave up. Maybe I should have focused on giving visitors related, useful information. Or maybe it was a lack of the stamina I mentioned. Here's wishing you lots of stamina and even more success.

Colorwash's Home

[Mistica]

Yeah. Stamina matters. I choose to not be such a perfectionist any more. Let's see if I can follow through. Thanks. The best to you as well.