I just discovered that with the Instant Download (not my own) that I purchased from Zazzle over two years ago, that I can go in to the Design Tool to edit it and add any of the backgrounds provided by other Creators. And then I can re-download with that background in use.
I was extremely surprised by this. It is my understanding that the background designers get paid each time their background is added to a purchased product. In this case, a product is being purchased but I am able to go in after the fact and add their background, for which they then aren't getting paid for.
I found this page, Secondary Content FAQS, which says
How much does Digital Content cost?
Digital Content is free of charge for digital downloads.
If Digital Content is free, do Creators still earn a royalty for their work?
Creators don’t earn a royalty when their Digital Content is downloaded – but they do earn royalties when their Digital Content is added to physical products and purchased.
but it's all in reference to the Zazzle Create feature which pre-dates Instant Downloads by over 3 years. The Create feature launched in December 2019, Instant Downloads weren't launched until March 2023. So the above terminology doesn't address actual Instant Downloads which aren't a "physical" product, but are a product being purchased.
If one customizes a design to include a background and then purchases it as an Instant Download, the background creator would earn a royalty. But if one purchases it first and then adds the background, they won't. Is this right? That seems really weird. It doesn't matter to customers as it's a free element to them any way it shakes out, but to the background creator who would be earning a share of the royalty, and to the original creator whose royalty gets dinged if they do, this is an interesting situation.
