Newbie Questions - Best way to process large number of designs

[Geobop]

I'm going to be uploading hundreds of images to Zazzle and am trying to figure out the most efficient way of doing things.

1. Is there a way to assign each image I download and/or each product I create a name, ID number, or URL, so I can keep track of it and tell other people about it?

2.  When I create a new product, I see an option "Make Object Permanent and Always Visible." As I understand it, that allows customers to resize or reposition the image, but they can't remove it. Do you recommend that I choose that option?

3. Another option: "Make this a template object." What does that mean? If I create a T-shirt with a picture of a giraffe and make it a template, does that make it somehow easier to put the picture of the giraffe on another type of clothing or accessory?

4. It's going to take me a hundred years to match Image #147 with a white men's T-shirt, a black women's dress, an iPad case and on and on. Is there some way to just upload an image, give instructions to place the image on EVERYTHING, then edit the image on particular items as needed?

Thank you.

[Windy · Accepted solution]

Question Three. If you upload a picture of a giraffe, and make that a template, this allows the shopper to replace your giraffe image with any other image.

[Geobop]

Interesting. I suppose that could be seen as bad, since they could replace your design with someone else's design, right? On the other hand, it does seem like the considerate thing to do.

[KeegansCreation]

In your giraffe example, they can't replace it with someone else's design. They can only replace it with one of their own. The images that customers own will be either their own photos or a logo if they are a business. 

[Barbara]

If a customer was attracted to your giraffe design, why would they then want to replace it with a different design? In the oddest case of the customer replacing your giraffe, you'd still get the royalty for the sale.

For the time being, you'll be best off if you focus on creating designs and products. The act of doing is also the act of learning. All of us have tales of when we first started and made some great things but also made total trash. My biggest error was not creating text templates.

Colorwash's Home

[Windy]

There is a feature called Quick Create here, which is disabled for the time being until the holiday period has passed. Many people in the forum say they do not use Quick Create because while it does allow you to put your image on hundreds of products, your image will not look nice on many of those because the image is not the right shape or size for the product. This creates a very junky looking store.

It's better to create one product, make sure it looks good on that product and then use the TRANSFER DESIGN TO A PRODUCT feature. Then you can transfer one by one and make sure all your products look good and have tags and descriptions which are tailored to that product and image. No one wants to look at a shop full of products where the image does not look good.

[KeegansCreation]

1. Is there a way to assign each image I download and/or each product I create a name, ID number, or URL, so I can keep track of it and tell other people about it?  This is auto generated by Zazzle through the act of publishing the product. After you publish the product, click on "see this product" at the bottom of the publishing page. That takes you to the product's unique page which also has its' own URL. But you don't have to take note of that URL to share it with others. There's a Share icon in the upper left corner of that page and clicking it gives you various methods to share it (facebook, etc.).

2.  When I create a new product, I see an option "Make Object Permanent and Always Visible." As I understand it, that allows customers to resize or reposition the image, but they can't remove it. Do you recommend that I choose that option? You don't need to. It's so that customers going into the design tool can't hide individual elements of your design. You can ignore it. 

3. Another option: "Make this a template object." What does that mean? If I create a T-shirt with a picture of a giraffe and make it a template, does that make it somehow easier to put the picture of the giraffe on another type of clothing or accessory? No. Here's what it does and why it's important to you:  When you make an image or bit of text into a template, that means the customer can swap in their own image or bit of text on the product page without having to go into the design tool. Designers put in template photo on, for example, a Christmas card and customers swap in their own photo. If you put in text, they can replace it with their own text. Why is this important to you? Because it's Zazzle's biggest selling point and makes it nearly unique among PODs.  If you put that picture of a giraffe on a mug and then type in a name and make it a template, they can change that name to one of their own. This drastically increases the odds of it being sold. People love putting their name on things. Look through the pages of Zazzle and you'll see just how many top products feature names or initials. Click on a random product and you'll see a handy place to type in your own name or initials. That sells! The ability for a customer to put that giraffe on a different product is called Design Transfer and it is automatically enabled unless you choose to disable it by turning off Make This Design Customizable on the publishing page.

4. It's going to take me a hundred years to match Image #147 with a white men's T-shirt, a black women's dress, an iPad case and on and on. Is there some way to just upload an image, give instructions to place the image on EVERYTHING, then edit the image on particular items as needed? Yes, there is and it has been turned off until the holidays are over because it requires a Zazzle employee to review all the products thus generated and that just isn't possible this time of year. It is called Quick Create and it is the absolutely worst thing that any newcomer could use since it requires human intervention before the designs appear in Zazzle's marketplace (called MP) which is a delay of many days to weeks and also it generates many ill fitting designs which you will delete later. A better option (and currently the only option) is to simply use Design Transfer yourself which lets you create designs one after another (rather than simultaneously) which then appear in the MP far sooner.

Thank you.

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