Customers Buy one Invite to Print Elsewhere

[Deb]

Twice in 2 weeks that I know of.. (not counting the  number of times others have purchased ONE invitation) - I'm sure this goes on Far more than we know..  I remember back in the day  Zazzle had a 10 invitation limit  and this sort of thing didn't happen - if someone wants a sample (what ever happened to those anyways?)  IMHO Zazzle should allow ONE invitation sales ONLY with the sample text - this way the customer can see what it looks like  but doesn't have it all filled out to print..   This top one was from just a few minutes ago.. I flat asked her if she planned on printing it locally and she said yes - 

AND... 

This was from 2 weeks ago.. same basic thing..  these are Only the ones I am aware of..  not good.. Please we need to do something in the way of one invitation sales that protects us.. like I said either  a minimum or  NON customizable text samples. 

[PenguinPower]

I hate to be a downer.... but those are just the one's you know about. The others just clip their screen preview and send it off to a cheap printer of their choice... Someone even found a TikTok video showing people exactly how to do it... (yes, it has been removed) https://community.zazzle.com/t5/general-zazzle-discussion/tiktok-video-showing-how-to-steal-zazzle-p...

There's little that would be able to stop this, other than keeping previews tiny and extremely low res or seriously disfiguring them with big ugly watermarks that would be too difficult to remove to be worthwhile... While I despise people who pirate, I don't think doing this would actually create any sales. People that brazen generally do know what they are doing and simply aren't willing to pay - they'd just go steal from somewhere else, not buy from you... 

[klstock]

It may not create a sale but at least it would make it more difficult for them to steal my work (or yours). It shouldn't be made so easy for these types to rip people off. There have been many threads on this topic and someone usually pops in and says "Hey at least it is a sale, and I've had customers who buy one invitation and they do return to buy more"..... Well a legit customer who just wants a sample to check print quality would not need to be able to customize it with their name, etc. Allowing customization on the sale of only one invitation is giving them a license to steal. Then, they go tell their friends and family how easy it was - "Hey all you have to do is go to Zazzle and buy just one invitation and then go have it printed at 'Cheapskate Printing' like I did..."  

[Windy]

This is very discouraging. There is a long thread about a TikTok video where a professional wedding photographer based in Utah was demonstrating how to steal our work through screenshots and then get it printed cheap at VistaPrint. I do not think Zazzle ever chimed in on that thread. I am not sure if the mods do not monitor all the threads or what. I would like to know the official Zazzle position on design theft.

[PacifierCity]

FYI - I contacted a mod outside of chat about that TikTok vid.  That may be why they did not respond in the forum.

PC

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[Deb]

The tiktok video is down but there is a youtube vid up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvRWEWwQT9s - I have messaged the owner of this  invitation and  given her the  url so she can contact youtube  to have it removed.. 

[PacifierCity]

@Mark @MarkM @Emma @Scott Please check out the vid posted in Deb's post.  It may needs Zazzles attention.

PC

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[Soraya_Shan]

I have reported the video and hope, that Youtube will remove it. 

[driveindustries]

It has been removed! My husband & I both reported it as you all suggested!

[Soraya_Shan]

Yes, finally it has gone, that's good news.

[KayeCee]

Everyone needs to down vote that video. 😡

[Malissa]

Unfortunately, down voting the video is just interaction- YouTube doesn't care if its an up vote or down vote it helps the video and channel, not hurts.  Reporting is the way to go.

[CatsEyeViewGift]

😞  This is still up

[Soraya_Shan]

I have reported the vid and yes, it is still online. I am so angry.  😠

[Leeze]

It's gone as of this morning, if you click Deb's link.

[Soraya_Shan]

Yes, finally YouTube removed the vid - I've got a mail as well. 

[369]

People power works.

Following Malissa's lead I also reported it (see below), as did someone else, and YouTube have now removed it with the following response:
"Hello,
Thank you for reporting videos you find inappropriate. The video that you reported to us on April 14, 2022 has been removed or restricted from YouTube.
Please note that Creators have the right to appeal YouTube's decision any time after their content is removed or restricted. You are able to check the status of the content you flagged at any time.
Sincerely,
The YouTube Team"

This just illustrates the true value of creators to Zazzle Inc. Not just in creating products, but in protecting the Zazzle business model. If we had not done this, Zazzle don't seem to be on top of such things, and would have just let it escalate. Given time, there would be more videos. If such things are not nipped in the bud, they can become irreversible. Zazzle management don't seem to appreciate that a single action by a few creators on this forum could potentially save the Zazzle corporation millions of dollars in lost revenue.

[Malissa]

If you click on the video link, it takes you to this page that says it was taken down due to a copyright claim by Zazzle, Inc.   I do believe they care, but don't have the man power to police the internet.  They obviously got involved to some degree.  I am sure that all the reporting we did helped too.  I got the same take down email.  The best we can probably do is continue to post threads and try to report report report.

[Windy]

I wish I could hear the audio on this. Also, no way to make a comment. Maybe that's because I don't have an account.

[PenguinPower]

You can comment if you are logged in. If you have a google login it will work at YouTube too. There's no category that fits to report it though..... to report it for copyright violation, it has to be the owner, so it'd have to be either Fancy Schmancy (the store owner's handle) or Zazzle (since it shows Z's web pages) that reaches out to them to get it removed. 

[Malissa]

I reported it by choosing "spam or misleading" and then "scam or fraud", and then in the next window you can type in more and I added that the video contains instructions on how to steal art/designs without paying.  I think that works.

[PenguinPower]

ooo - I just didn't look far enough. I was being too literal. I figured it wasn't exactly misleading.... they were telling the truth, even if they were telling people how to steal, but fraud fits it just fine. I also reported it, I figure the more reports the sooner someone will look at it. 

[369]

I have just reported it using the above method, with the added comment as follows:

"This video is blatantly instructing people on how to steal copyright images from Zazzle.com, by promoting a way in which people can download design images to print themselves. By allowing this video to remain, YouTube are indicating their support for copyright infringement and for the stealing of intellectual property."

[CatsEyeViewGift]

it's easy to get an account - when I went to comment it basically gave me an account. A pop up said "open an account" and I hit yes.

[CreativeLeahG]

I had no less than 7 sales yesterday where each customer ordered just 1 invite.

I don't usually count them up, but thought I would out of interest. My only consolation is those people probably would not have bought anything anyway.

Ideally invites sold as singles because they are 'samples' should have a watermark on them. 

[hellohello]

We’ve been asking Zazzle to do some kind of protection for 1 invite orders for over so many years and still has not offered any kind of solution

[Scott]

There isn't any clear question being asked here, so I'm moving this to General Discussion for better visibility.

If you enable watermarks in your store then the watermark will appear across the image when it's enlarged beyond ~500px in size. This option can be found in the Advanced section of your store settings.

I've sent a note to the team about this.

[Deb]

I thought it was suggested strongly not to use watermarks due to not showing up in searches in google and  not doing well on pinterest - has this changed? 

[Shakenbake]

It definitely still says that when you go to enable watermarks. I would love to know if that has changed. Because if you preview on any device bigger than a phone you can get a quality sized image and bypass printing here entirely if you are horrible enough to do so. 

[369]

The problem with watermarks enabled on the designs is that they won't get promoted by search engines or on Pinterest etc. Instead, there simply needs to be a single item sample option for the customer to purchase, which when printed has SAMPLE diagonally printed over the design so that it cannot be scanned and printed at a cheap printers by many people who are clearly taking advantage of the no minimum order on invites. Surely this is something that Zazzle could implement pretty easily. Then make the minimum order 10, with the sample option clearly explained in hover-over box.

[CrazyMermaid]

They did do a test program where they sent a free invitation that wasn't personalized. I remember seeing "sales" with zero revenue. I think reinstating that program and setting a minimum order size of 10 would cut down on some kinds of thievery. However, it does nothing for the screenshot thieves.  

[KittyValentine]

I'd love the idea of having a minimum order size of 10 AND being able to order a non-customized(!) sample so customers can see the paper and printed colors before they order a lot of invitations. I totally get that they want to see how the print and the colors turn out before spending a lot of money on paper goods.

I occasionally order single invitations from my own shop to post on social media and saw that you can order single invites etc. but not single RSVP cards so for some products there is a 10 items limit...

[LFL]

Just as there is a message that says that "gold" or "rhinestone" glitter is simulated, there should also be a message right inside the adjustment window and by the mockup that says "to make a copy without paying for it is a criminal offense including a screenshot. If you cannot afford to buy from Zazzle, then perhaps you should wait to come here until you can, as real people are not getting paid for their work when theft of this nature happens".

[SapphireDesigns]

I was actually planning on contacting Z regarding this very same issue.  I have many orders for one invitation and I can only imagine that they are either taking it locally to print OR copying it themselves on their home printer for next to nothing.  It's very frustrating because I do remember Zazzle offering free samples to customers (but with sample text only to see and feel the invite for quality before making a large order).  Has that gone away?  If so, why?  I think they need to re-implement  that policy ALONG with a 10 invite minimum purchase to prevent this from happening.  I mean, we're not the only ones losing money to this practice... Zazzle is obviously losing the sale as well.  It would be in everyone's best interest to put these protections in place. 

Best of luck to everyone with their sales.  Hoping this issue is fixed very soon!

[WHS_Designs]

I feel your pain, and it's not just the invites.

This morning I got a chat request from a visitor, wanting to know if one of my table card designs (the tent/folded 25-pack type) was instead available as a single. 

W.H.

[Shakenbake]

I also got invited recently to a baby shower with a digital invitation and they used a design they edited on zazzle, and then took a screen shot of the edit and used it in the app to send the digital invite. I recognized the design right away and knew it came from Zazzle. When I asked at the baby shower this weekend, she said that was exactly what she did because she didn't want to pay to print and "didn't think it mattered" to do it that way. They also edited the top of the screen shot to put on all the game sheets the self-printed. It was annoying to see. 

I get single sales of invites all the time, and I KNOW that a large majority of them are running copies themselves or sending them to a print shop. Honestly, if you preview the designs on a display large enough (ipad pro or computer) you can get a decent resolution now to print a fairly quality design and it makes me sad. They told us NOT to watermark our images, but then there is no protection otherwise. 

[Deb]

😞  what REALLY would have been rich is if ended up to be Your invite design - I really wish zazzle would take this more seriously.. instead of fluffing it off like it hardly ever happens.  And YES they did tell us not to watermark our  work years ago, because it would not show up in the google searches - 😞 sad

[Shakenbake]

Funny enough a friend of mine owns a print shop and I sometimes do design work for him when he's swamped and one time he sent me a screen shot of a design a customer wanted something "similar of" and it was one of my designs, that they screenshot from Zazzle. lol. That was a conversation... 

I mean I guess at least I got paid that day for MY own work because I did end up making them the design and charging my digital price from my old Etsy shop. But knowing how often that happens and we never find out about it is bad enough, but that was a screenshot from a mobile phone and resolution too low to just print. Now people are able to edit the details and print from the zazzle previews at a resolution decent enough to look good enough to pass the smell test. The only way to combat that for MOST people is watermarks. But what is the update on watermarking? Will it severely hurt us in rank and google and pinterest? 

[Marcia]

Yeah, around 1/2 hr. ago someone bought 1 of my Sweet 16 budget invites. I made 7¢. Love that when that happens. 😬

[Windy]

I have tried so hard to get my cousin the DOCTOR, (not only an MD but also a PhD) to understand that you do not own the art once you buy it, you only own the print. Same with photograph. I have forgotten in what context this came up, but she told me she had bought it so it MUST be legal and okay and above board for her to print copies. Years later, I think she still has that belief. I just could not convince this educated woman that the design or the photo itself has the legal protection of copyright. So I am not surprised your baby shower friend did not see the problem with stealing that design.