Sales Being Marked as “3rd Party Referral” Instead of Self-Promotion — Not Receiving Any Royalties

[Jessica2]

Hi everyone,
I’m hoping someone here can help clarify an issue I’ve been struggling with regarding self-promotion links, ambassador IDs, and royalty attribution. At the moment, none of the sales I generate from my own shared links are paying out any referral royalties, and they are being misclassified in a way that makes no sense.

The Issue

Whenever I share my own product links—using the Share button on the product page or the Copy Link option—the resulting sales are showing up as:

“Referred by a 3rd party”

instead of

self-promotion / creator referral

As a result, I am receiving no referral royalties at all, even though the sale record shows a 50% marketing royalty applied.

What’s Actually Happening

Here is the exact sequence of events:

1. When I shared links with my Ambassador ID:

   • I received 15%, not 50%.

   • Support told me this happened because including the Ambassador ID automatically categorizes the sale as cross-promotion, not self-promotion.

2. I was then advised by support to stop using the Ambassador ID and to use the Share button instead for self-promotion.

3. When I switched to using the Share button (no Ambassador ID):

   • I started receiving zero referral royalties.

   • Every sale I drove was labeled as “referred by a 3rd party.”

   • This is incorrect, because these were links I personally shared.

4. Zee (the virtual assistant) then told me the opposite — that I should include my Ambassador ID to earn the higher self-promotion rate (up to 50%).

5. When I followed up again, support reversed the guidance again, saying I should not include my Ambassador ID because it will always be treated as cross-promotion (15%).

So I have now received directly conflicting instructions from Zazzle on both sides, and meanwhile, my self-promotion sales are being misclassified and generating no referral royalties whatsoever.

What I Need Clarified

To resolve this, I’m hoping to get clear answers from moderators or other experienced creators:

• Why are self-promotion links being labeled as “referred by a 3rd party”?

• What precisely qualifies as a self-promotion link?

• Should creators include their Ambassador ID or not when promoting their own products?

• When a sale displays a 50% marketing royalty, should a referral royalty also appear?

• Is something in the system misattributing these links or overriding referral credit?

• And most importantly: What is the correct, official method for sharing our own products so we reliably receive our self-promotion royalties?

Any insight, especially from moderators, would be incredibly appreciated. I just want to ensure the sales I generate are being attributed correctly and that I’m being paid the royalties I’m supposed to.

Thank you,

Jessica

[Cat]

Short answer:
Ambassador ID Link = cross promotion link. 15% referral valid on both your products and products created by others.
Clean Link = self promotion link. Higher percentage but valid only on sales of your own products.

The catch:
All referrals, including those where Zazzle credits itself with the referral are non-overwritable for a period 14 days. Since Zazzle's own promotions are ubiquitous: emails, ads, etc., and since they use technologies other than simple browser cookies to record them (think tracking pixels which don't require a click to pick up) anyone who already has a Zazzle account, or who has a search history that would result in them being shown a Zazzle ad is very likely to have a constantly revolving referral for Zazzle itself credited to their account. This makes it extremely unlikely that you will secure a referral of either the self-promotion or cross-promotion variety, because the person would have to click on your link during a window of time when the referral wasn't already locked up by Zazzle.

My conclusion:
Promotions of your own products are still worth it doing, because they do result in sales, but being credited with a referral is mostly a matter of luck. So if you're in the business of sending customers here for the sake of purchasing a specific product (like if you're using Zazzle for fulfillment on products you're selling to your own customers) you need to assume that you won't get a referral and either set your royalty percentage high enough to be satisfied with the royalty alone (or, more accurately, the portion of the royalty that you will receive after Zazzle deducts its marketing fee) or you need to find a different platform to use for fulfillment.

[Jessica2]

Thanks, Cat!

I was using my Ambassador ID and made a sale, and the referral was recorded correctly as self-promotion — but paid me only 15%.

The Ambassador Program guide is… well, a bit of a head-scratcher. Early on, it says that sharing your Ambassador ID counts as self-promotion for your own products and cross-promotion for others, but later it states that promoting your own product with your ID will still only result in 15%. Once I see one answer on page 1, I don’t expect it to contradict itself on page 6. Now I’ve started sharing using the Clean Link and still am not getting the referral/royalties I should. So, even when doing everything “by the book,” it feels like creators can only earn a fraction of what seems reasonable.

It feels like the system is set up in a way that makes it nearly impossible to get full credit when promoting our own products. Hoping Zazzle can clarify and make this more straightforward, right now it’s definitely confusing for creators trying to play by the rules!

[Cat]

"It feels like the system is set up in a way that makes it nearly impossible to get full credit when promoting our own products." - Bingo!

[Jessica2]

I did put some products on Etsy — not the same ones I have on Zazzle. Out of curiosity, have you tried other platforms that feel more fair in terms of payment? No worries if that’s not something you want to share!

[MOM]

@Jessica2 I have sold on eBay and Etsy for years but I have left both platforms (although my accounts still exist and are in „good standings“ meaning I have not been kicked off their sites)  and I never looked back after leaving. Especially on eBay I had made thousands of sales and maintained a 100% positive feedback for many, many years in a row.

I will not return as a seller to eBay nor Etsy - period.

[Jessica2]

Thanks! 

[Jadendreamer13]

I’m curious about your experience on Etsy. I understand that’s it’s not appropriate to share on a Zazzle forum, but I’d love to get your input via a PM, if you care to elaborate. Thanks!

[MOM]

Dear Jessica,

I see you already have received great input from very knowledgeable people. 👌🏽

I‘m not a moderator, I‘m just a fellow creator on Zazzle. I believe Zazzle’s system is working because my own numbers support this statement. Coincidentally just two days ago I looked at my own numbers and I will post here how it breaks down for me.

Here’s what my royalty history file shows from April 1, 2025 through two days ago (Dec 2, 2025):

Self referrals: 19 

3rd Party referrals: 33

“Others” (no referrer / None): 7

In percentage terms (of 59 total items in that period):

Self: ~32%

3rd Party: ~56%

Others (None): ~12%

So since April 1st, about one-third of my referrals are Self, with 3rd Party making up a bit over half, and the remaining ~12% having no referral/“other.”

My store is small (less than 500 active listings) and I use intentionally both kind of links - the clean, straight link usually when I email or text links to my designs and the cross-promotion type (including my Ambassador ID) more so when I place links on my own website (usually). I do that because to me receiving a 15% referral fee is better than getting none and my store is still small so chances are great that a customer will choose a design created by someone else on Zazzle’s waste sea of designs available.

There are also reasons why a referral cookie of yours may not stick. The customer could be rejecting cookies or use a web browser who doesn’t store Zazzle’s cookies (I believe Brave would be such a browser). But the most common reason (I believe) is that your potential customer just has picked up a Zazzle cookie already somewhere else before receiving your link.

I‘m sure others will be joining the conversation (although it has been plenty already discussed on the boards here) and it’s perhaps not wasted time to read through previous posts here (especially at the Ambassador Program board).

I wish you much success!! Don’t give up yet.

[Jessica2]

Thanks for your input! Yes, I thought about just adding my Ambassador ID when sharing on social media etc. 15% is better than nothing. And it seems the only way to be considered self promotion is if your ambassador ID is attached to the link (or at least that has been my experience). Good luck to you as well!

[VivianD117]

that might be because you didn't look under referrals to see the other part of the payment.  Under "royalties" you will only see a portion of your payment; the other portion, if it was "self" should be sitting under "referrals".  What did you see there for that date and that product?

[Jessica2]

Hi VivianD117, thanks for your input. There isn't anything other royalties for the 3rd party sales. I do see the other part of the payment, as you described, for the sales that were promoted by me. However, I used the Ambassador ID and only recieved 15% eventhough Zazzle acknowledged it as "self". 

[jophb]

If you use the Ambassador ID it will only ever be 15%. It's only if you use a clean link will it be between 35-50% I believe is the range (and only on your own items).  

[ColsCreations]

There are five different ways earnings on a sale of your own products can be calculated:

1) None = there was no Referrer, so no one is earning a referral commission on it, not even Zazzle
2) Cross-Promo = you used an RF# link so earned a flat 15% as Referrer in addition to your Royalty
3) Self-Promo = you used a "clean" link so earned a total of 35-50% of the order total
4) 3rd Party - Other = the sale was Referred but you were not the Referrer
5) 3rd Party - Zazzle = the sale was Referred but you were not the Referrer

#4 and #5 show the same on your royalty report - as a 3rd Party referred sale - and your earnings would be exactly the same. The difference is on Zazzle's end where they earn more on a #5 as they aren't paying anything out to a referrer. 

A #1 None sale is the only type where you are not going to see the Marketing Royalty Fee being deducted. The MRF is deducted from all referred sales even if you were your own referrer. 

If you use Zazzle's share button to share your own product, the link will not include your RF#. If someone follows the link, doesn't already have someone else's cookie active, and purchases your product(s),  it would be #3 - a Self-Promotion "clean" link. If they already have an active cookie from Zazzle when they follow your link, it would be #4 or #5, a 3rd Party sale, and there is no way to really tell whether it was Other or Zazzle. If the visitor has cookies/tracking blocked somehow, it would be a rare #1 - None sale. With this type of link you only have the potential to earn a referral on your own products. You will not get a referral commission on anything they buy that isn't yours. 

If you use Zazzle's share button to share someone else's product, the link will include your RF# (#2) and you have the potential to earn 15% on anything they buy, your product or not. A #2 type sale. Same "cookie" rules as above apply here, too.

Regardless of which type link you use it can still always end up a 3rd Party sale. 

[Jadendreamer13]

The purpose of the Ambassador Program — as I understand it — is to encourage designers and other folks to promote Zazzle’s products to increase Zazzle’s sales, and thus designers’ sales as well.

Sounds good in theory, but we all know from experience that the AP is working in Zazzle’s favor and not designers’ favor.

If a designer sends a potential customer a direct link to one of their products and it gets purchased, then the designer deserves the extra referral income — the 14-day click rule should no longer apply. The AP seems to have been designed to route all the money back to Zazzle. As it currently stands, the Ambassador Program is unfair and a no-win situation for designers.

Also, I think you’re confusing the 50% marketing fee for a royalty. It is a fee Zazzle charges designers that is subtracted from their earnings.

[Jessica2]

Thanks! I was confused about the marketing fee, but I understand it’s a fee applied to all referred products, including your own referrals. However, in my case, the fee was 50%, which matches the royalty I set. Here’s a screenshot for reference: