This page What Royalty Rate Do You Recommend I Use? suggests a royalty of 5-10% which is pathetically low, but if you read the whole entry and between the lines, it's clear that 1) it's not mandatory, you can set your royalty to whatever you want 2) lower royalties = lower overall prices = Zazzle looks more affordable to shoppers 3) using that low 5-10% benefits the customer not you There's a common theory that higher royalties might keep one down in search results. So i just wanted to do a random search to see what royalty percents were in the top results. That by itself proved interesting and then it spiraled into a deeper dive looking at the other factors that most likely weigh in to where something "places" in results.  I searched (on the US domain) for three keywords + product type. I.E. [keyword1 keyword2 keyword3 product_type] NO QUOTES, and then used the "Refine by Category" filter to narrow results down to just that actual product type. That gave me just over 200 results, a number easy to manage for comparison purposes.  I then noted the details for the top 20 results. In the four days I've been compiling the stats on the results, the search results fortunately remained exactly the same. And then I was given the idea to do the same search on other domains. So I did UK and Canada and noted where items placed there compared to searching on the US domain.  Of the top 20 results, I was only able to obtain all the stats for 7 of them. That's 35%. Not enough to draw any "scientific" conclusions, but still super interesting and able to provide some insight.  The first thing to jump out is that in most cases there is an astounding difference in placement depending on domain!  Designers of all Pro levels were included in the top 20. There were two with a generic Pro badge which means they could be anywhere from Basic to Diamond. None of the results were from Designers without at least the basic Pro badge. Does that mean anything? I honestly have no idea.  Royalties ranged from 10 to 25%. Views ranged from 11 to 347. Creation dates ranged from 2014 to 2024. Looking at the meta data: * All of the results have all three of my search keywords somewhere in the meta data. * One of the top 20 (#16) has all three keywords in the title, in the same order I typed them in search * Five of the top 20 have two of the three keywords I searched for in their title, in the same order I typed them in * Ten of the top 20 have none of my keywords in their title, they only appeared in the tags This list is missing 65% of the data but is still interesting and my own personal conclusions, right or wrong, are, in no particular order:: * number of views alone doesn't seem to be a heavily weighted factor * even number sold won't by itself put you at top of results * likewise, Pro level or zRank alone won't put you at the top * having a personal cover image is still relevant/important * royalty % by itself is not keeping items down in search * last sold date might be an extra-weighted factor with more recently sold items placing better * where your strongest keywords appear and in what order compared to what a shopper types in is important So that's it. My conclusions here are just my own opinions based on the limited data of this search, you all may draw your own different conclusions.  ... View more

I hope this post inspires and helps some of you who are either at the edge or feeling the full impact of burnout whether from being a busy entrepreneur on Zazzle or something else.  ----   Burnout isn’t just “being tired.” It’s when your body, brain, and spirit all hit a wall at the same time. For me, months of poor health, chronic pain, and overwork left me running on fumes. I was foggy, exhausted, and honestly scared. The medications I was on made it worse—memory lapses, confusion, even dementia-like symptoms. And yet, like so many entrepreneurs, I kept pushing. Until I couldn’t anymore. The Breaking Point One day, I realized I was done. I was mentally and physically exhausted to the point I couldn't do it anymore. So I did something deeply unpopular in the hustle-driven, “always on” world of entrepreneurship: I put everything down. I stopped grinding. I gave up ... which isn't very glamorous! In an ideal world you stop grinding or rest before you reach this point. I didn't .. I pushed myself way too far. And compounded with chronic health issues my body said " enough !" I decided to lean on faith—the belief that the universe had my back, even when I couldn’t show up at 100%. I've done this before as I've had an 'eventful life' and it didn't let me down so why I didn't just keep my faith I don't know ... we all falter and it's worth remembering that sometimes it's not only good but vital to trust in the power of those forces we do not understand! What Happened Next I expected my print-on-demand business to crumble without me. But it didn’t. Sales stayed steady ( ish). They'd have been steadier if not for the overnight changes Zazzle introduced every now and then! Fee hike being the latest. Orders kept coming in. My passive all be it declining income carried me while I focused on healing. It wasn’t “luck.” Along with faith it was the quiet power of systems, designs, and products I had built when I was well. And it reminded me of something else beyond faith that's important: this is why we create businesses that work for us, not the other way around. My Recovery Wasn’t Glamorous Healing wasn’t linear or neat. It looked like: Doing brain games to sharpen my mind again Fighting for better sleep with a new routine Coming off medications that were making things worse Exploring natural alternatives and lifestyle changes Watching my diet like my life depended on it Drinking more water than ever before Moving my body as much as my back would allow Some days, “progress” was just making it out of bed. Honestly it was dire and chronic depression wasn't helping.  But slowly ( very slowly) I started to feel a shift. My mind felt clearer. Ideas began to flow again. Creativity returned. This is a recent change! So it's been slow ... but recovery when your body needs rest shouldn't be rushed! If it is a relapse is imminent so I'm taking it easy! What I Learned Rest is a strategy, not a weakness. Stepping back doesn’t mean you’ve failed—it means you’re protecting your ability to keep going. Passive income is a lifeline. My Zazzle and print-on-demand shops supported me when I couldn’t show up. Build systems that don’t collapse when you take a step back. Faith matters. Whether you call it luck, the universe, or divine timing—sometimes you have to trust that when you care for yourself, life will carry the rest. Your business needs you at your best. Entrepreneurship requires clarity, energy, and spark. You can’t build anything lasting if you’re constantly running on empty. The Comeback I still live with chronic pain. I still have health struggles. But I’m fighting back. I’m prioritizing hydration, healthier choices, and sustainable routines. And most importantly: my zest for entrepreneurship is alive again. And that feels like a miracle. Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to step back. Don’t be afraid to rest. The unpopular path might just be the one that saves both you and your business. Give yourself permission to rest and trust it will be ok!! Forgive me if this post seems indulgent and I suppose in some way it is but one thing  I have also realised this past year is trying to appear tough and untouchable , built of steel when the reality is the polar opposite isn't helpful because eventually the cracks appear. So that's another take away ... keep it real and ask for help when you need it! Heres to good mental health!  x ... View more

Hi Creators, Here's a dedicated thread to leave us feedback about the new feature we just launched, frames! Check out our recent article to learn all about it: https://community.zazzle.com/t5/creator-news/new-feature-alert-frames/ba-p/206434 Thank you! Team Creator  ... View more

Made a request last week to have the approval of creating foil napkins as well. So my question would be for those who requested this, if you can remember, how long did it take to receive an answer. As per the automatic e-mail: 'as soon as possible' 🙃 ... View more

I recently unchecked "Do not allow my products to be sold on other websites" under Marketing and Promotions. I have two recent sales now - one from "shindigz" another from "spoke" as the seller . The royalty is much lower on the shindigz sale. Wondering if I should recheck the box to not allow sales on other sites since royalty is lower. Does selling elsewhere drive away from my Zazzle store? Also I looked up Shindigz and found information it ceased operations a couple of years ago. ... View more

Hello everyone! So recently I found out that I need to verify my number (if legitimate) to get my sales on hand. I'm from the Philippines and don't know where to verify my account/store, since it needed the email of Zazzle to message you to manually verify your account. How to verify? Thank you in advance! ... View more

Normally, whenever I upload a new product to my store, I receive an email notification to my registered Zazzle email address as soon as the product is published. Today, I've noticed that I haven't received these emails, so I'm unsure if my products have been published or not. Is this a normal occurrence? ... View more

When clicking on any product in the "Other designs you may like," section, the price of each products increases.  I think that may turn customers away from buying the product. ... View more

So how about this solution… Could Zazzle request private feedback from customers about any issues before allowing them to leave a public review? This way, customers are given the opportunity to resolve any lingering issues before they leave mostly unfair public reviews for designers. Most bad reviews are related to poor quality issues, missing items, shipping issues, and other problems that should be resolved by Zazzle Customer Support and are not the fault of the designers. Customers leave a one star review to get attention when they can’t get customer service. I understand it gets busy and some customers may be impatient, but asking for a public review before ensuring their issues have been addressed is just asking for an angry review from unsatisfied customers. If Zazzle is addressing these issues after seeing the bad reviews, it doesn’t do the designers any good since the reviews remain and reduce our store rating. Zazzle is not like Etsy or Amazon where the store owner has a lot of control over what the customer gets so the review request process should be different. Zazzle needs to do more to make it clear that the designers are NOT fulfilling the orders. In a one star review caused by not receiving her order, a customer went as far as to say that she believes this issue is more the individual and not Zazzle because she doesn’t know that the individual store owners have nothing to do with fulfilling her orders and that it’s 100% Zazzle’s responsibility. Obviously this review blaming me for not receiving her order is completely misguided and unfair but the review still appears in public attached to me with no option to clear things up with the customer which Zazzle should have done. It’s been disheartening to see one bad review after another because of Zazzle issues (which I understand may be disheartening for Zazzle because of some makers who seem to have zero quality control which make me upset too). 2024-2025 have been the worst for bad reviews which indicates it’s getting worse. Most issues could have been addressed by Zazzle if the customers were given the opportunity to get them resolved before being given the opportunity to leave bad reviews that hurt designers more than anything when it’s not our fault at all. ... View more