general frustration thread

[TRW]

I don't know abt everyone else, but tbh, after 18 years on Zazzle, attaining Pro Silver, etc... I am at a point where the constant changes, not least the most recent royalty rate and affiliate changes, and the number and frequency of major glitches, has driven me to the verge of leaving the site permanently in the near future unless by some miracle things return to "normal" REALLY soon.
I have not made a NON-3rd party sale from any of my shops since the royalty rate changes. I absolutely cannot stay on a site that offers me pennies for a product they sell for large profit. I have jumped through so many hoops for Zazzle in the past decade! I never fully recovered from the search changes in 2012. I used to make a few hundred a month, over 1k during holidays. Now I struggle to make $100 in ANY month, and in fact have had a few months with no payout the past 1-2 years. 
I add new listings regularly, have no hidden designs to update, I delete all non-sellers older than 2 yrs as instructed, and have updated every listing on every product with views but no sales... and still coming up empty handed.
Now my understanding is that because I refuse to list at 10% royalty and accept earnings that wouldn't even support me in Mexico or India (and I have lived in both, so I would know), that my shops and designs are hidden from the MP?!?! 
What does it take, Zazzle? 
What can Zazzle do to make it worth my staying? (and I am NOT by far the only one pondering this).
Because if this does NOT change, I will have no choice but to look elsewhere. And I really do not want to have to do that after nearly two decades here!

[MOM]

@TRW  Oh my gosh, you are raising points here I was totally unaware of. Can this be true? 🤯

I‘m only around since mid November of 2023 but my spirit has also been crushed a bit on April first. I had no clue I‘m supposed to delete all unsold items after two years. And I have raised my royalties to 25%. On what date will those items be hidden in the market place?

I guess I better go and read the new fine print now!! 🤦🏻‍♀️

[Windy]

I am not familiar with the idea that we should delete unsold items after two years, so I'm wondering where this is being seen. As for the royalties, that's something any of us can easily check. I will look a little bit tomorrow, maybe.  It's pretty late on the East Coast.

[TRW]

the concept of deleting the non sellers with no views is because in the past Zazzle said that they want new "fresh" content that represents current design styles etc
if something has been in the mp for over a year with low view and zero sales, it is not likely to start selling ... you can go through all your listings that zazzle says need optimized and try that first, but after two years even with new seo ad it still hasnt sold...there is just no reason to keep it, Zazzle isn't going to show it in the mp (if you have a customer base of your own from a website or successful social media page who buy, you could still sell it there through Zazzle, but otherwise it is just dead weight so to speak) 

[jophb]

If you have promoted the item somewhere like Pinterest, you are potentially losing out on future sales though.  I had an item posted 5+ years ago, never sold once. Suddenly in March 2024, that item not only sold a big quantity, but also was a referral. I ended up making like $500 from that one sale.

[TRW]

yes, you must also delete all dead link pins on pinterest, which I understand "rewards" you for doing so by making your fresh posts more visible... but I am obviously not a marketer and do not understand how all these algorithms etc work so who knows I could be dead wrong

[Susang6]

this is new to me, what I have seen from old pins that I had deleted, the links are rerouted to Zazzle marketplace.  I don't think my old pins from (deleted products) is hurting Zazzle.

[CreativeLeahG]

It not appearing in marketplace doesn't mean it won't sell if it's visible in your shop and promoted?

[ColsCreations]

if something has been in the mp for over a year with low view and zero sales, it is not likely to start selling ... you can go through all your listings that zazzle says need optimized and try that first, but after two years even with new seo ad it still hasnt sold...there is just no reason to keep it, Zazzle isn't going to show it in the mp

 I have an odd product that sat for 4 years & 4 months, never sold, few views, never modified/"optimized". And then quite unexpectedly it sold twice in 5 days back in December. It sold again in April. And it still shows only 95 views.

Despite its age and lack of sales or views it was obviously showing in the MP or the first buyer in Dec wouldn't have been able to find it. And then once something sells it gets a little bit of a leg-up in the MP and is more likely to sell again. 

With only one main keyword +  product type, this product comes up as #20 of 220 results, and is one of the pictures for other suggested keywords at top of page. And that's with only 3 sales and 95 views in almost 5 years now. So I think that whether you are seen or not in the MP is all about what people are searching for and how much competition they'd have to scroll through to find your product. If it's a really popular market you might not even make it into the 13 or so pages one can scroll through. 

So I don't believe Zazzle is not showing products just because they are old and/or have little activity. (There's the hidden for Optimization after 15 months of no views, but I don't think that's what you meant with "Zazzle isn't going to show it in the mp". )

There is no one-size-fits-all re deleting products. It's a personal judgement call for each designer - do I want to keep or delete this? But there is no rule that says you have to. 

[Susang6]

I don't know about this either. I had a  product that I created in 2009.  It was pretty so I kept  tweaking the title tags and description..did that for a few years..about 6 months ago that product sold and honestly I forgot I had it...wondered where the customer found it.  Since they I don't delete anything...because eventually somebody might find it and like it. 

[Bellissima]

And you think it's a good idea to increase your royalties to 25%? Do you think you'll have more sales? I'm just wondering...

[Susang6]

Just wondering how are your sales at 25%.  I found when I raised my royalty to 22.3 that my sales stopped.  I was working so hard to get sales, but that only occurred when I lowered my royalty.  My products are priced from 10 to 22.3 and I am selling.  In fact I had a few repeat customers this month..  

[LMGildersleeve]

Your products higher than 10% are found in the MP. I know mine and many others whose products are found in the MP with higher than 10% royalty.

"I delete all non-sellers older than 2 yrs as instructed"
Tammy, where did you hear about this two year deleting advice?

[Fizzy]

While I understand your frustrations (we all suffer, believe me!), I think we must come to terms with the fact that the PoD landscape has changed drastically since you started this journey. There are a gazillion more players in the game now (thanks to YouTube, etc.), and competition is fierce! Zazzle has to compete with Amazon and Etsy; not to mention Temu et al who flood the market with cheap products! To stay competitive, they have to make changes to their operational setup which is to the detriment of PoD creators. Add to that the current worldwide political turmoil, and in many countries, economic recessions, customers are a lot less willing to splurge on non-essential items. 

[TRW]

while I agree with some of your points, I have to say that somehow the gold platinum and diamond sellers do not seem to be taking much of a hit... so how do they continue to be seen in the mp? it seems to be that they are being chosen to show up much more than a designer who may have a similar product but not the sales history...
I also know that having the mp flooded with spam tags and products which zazzle claims it disallows is hurting legit designers like myself and many in the facebook groups I belong to.
also, why would Zazzle WANT designers to fail? they should be removing the crap content, tag spammers, design spammers and low quality stuff so that legit designers can be found and make money (benefits them as well as the designers) 

[Jadendreamer13]

According to what I’ve seen/heard in my Zazzle coaching course, even the gold, platinum, and diamond Zazzle designer’s sales have taken a hit. So, it’s a Zazzle- or market-wide decrease in sales.

It makes financial sense for Zazzle to feature its best-selling products and best-selling designers on the top of their feeds.

[TRW]

So how did those designers get there? if they too were hidden before they were best sellers? 
There has to be opportunity for everyone who creates quality material, not just for those who lucked into it in the early years. 

[DancingPelican]

I can honestly say, I would not have gotten to where I am on Zazzle today were it not for taking advantage of good coaching and training programs available to learn the proper essentials for being successful on Zazzle. These new changes with the Ambassador Program have affected my monthly income, but not to the point of despair. It just causes me to learn a new approach - namely, better self promotion.

[TRW]

I would love to do that, were it not for 2 things 
1) I am not making enough on Zazzle to pay for a Zazzle coaching program
2) every bit of advice I have EVER been given from a "pro" or high earner on Zazzle has NOT WORKED for me...in fact I can count 3 distinct times when they had the opposite effect, whether the person telling me that held that intention or not 

[DancingPelican]

I was simply responding to your question: "So how did those designers get there?". I will bow out now. I wish you the best of luck!

[Bellissima]

There's no magic tricks in these POD coaching program. And most of their income comes from selling the course, not from what they sell on Zazzle. Everything they teach can be found in the tutorials provided by Zazzle or for free on YouTube. 

[Susang6]

Yes when I started in 2009 Zazzle offered the Tutorials at you-tube. They Z tutorials  have been updated , but still have excellent information, everything you need to know to be successful.   I agree with you "no magic tricks in the POD coaching program"  

[flowersbymo]

Thank you for giving the newbies hope that it is possible to make it work using available free resources.

[flowersbymo]

What coaching are you refering to?

[DancingPelican]

I have taken various coaching and training from Elke and Jen Clarke. They offer free and paid training, have a YouTube channel and are widely known by many Zazzle creators.

[CrazyMermaid]

Everyone starts at zero and we all earn our place in the marketplace. I really don't believe that Zazzle hides any Zazzler. it is just a very competitive market. I agree with DancingPelican. Training and coaching have also been a critical part of my success. You say no tips from "pro or high earner" ever helped. Well I have the same coach as Dancing Pelican and one of the things I was taught was never delete any product ever. I have had many first sales on items after several years. So that is one point of coaching that might have helped you. I am not aware of any Zazzle requirement that we delete items. 

[TRW]

that's really strange that you mention not deleting things when Zazzle has specifically told me to delete anything never viewed or never sold in order to keep listings "fresh" and in current styles for the market... sadly I do not save all correspondence once I have read it, but that instruction was clear and straightforward  

[Connie]

I'm not a top earner, but definitely the same coaching has helped me. Zazzle has never told us to delete unsold items, they just want us to optimize them.

[kashmier]

,......

[Susang6]

Yes, it makes financial sense for Zazzle.  But it doesn’t make creative sense, and it sure doesn’t make sense for anyone trying to build something from scratch.  I’m not saying every product should get equal airtime. I’m saying if the same handful of sellers are always on page one because they’ve always been on page one, then the rest of us are just background noise. We’re working constantly creating quality products, promoting, updating and still not getting anywhere near the top. You can be a phenomenal artist with solid, original work and still be invisible. Your tags title and descriptions could be right, you could promote 8 hours a day but you still cannot compete with the top designers at MP..due to their algorithm history .

And no, I can’t compete with someone who’s permanently embedded in the algorithm. That’s not a fair fight. Customers can’t buy what they can’t see. And if visibility is locked behind past sales and views, then new work no matter how good never gets a fair shot.  So, is it the best? Or is it just what the algorithm keeps showing it as the best?  

my products may be in the MP BUT do customers even search past page five for what they’re looking for? I don’t think most do. So, is it the best? Or is it just what the system keeps showing?

[Susang6]

the gold platinum and diamond are taking a hit, just like the rest of us.  they still have living expense and bills to pay.  They depend on their zazzle earnings, many of them are not working another job, nor do they have another source of income.  The fees affect everyone...they hurt all of us..  Even the designers that are embedded on the first 5 pages at the marketplace, they may get sales but many of them have a 10% royalty and are getting hit with marketing fees.    All of us are taking a hit and are earning less.

[Goldie]

In my opinion, if Zazzle wanted to compete in this fierce market, it wouldn't add a 50% marketing fee to gross royalties, which would significantly increase its profits but have a major negative impact on the product price. Charging a marketing fee only when the product is sold through a direct link or paid advertising is the correct approach. Fast, profit-driven solutions are not the key in this complex, competitive market.

[Susang6]

Zazzle is not Amazon, and it’s not Etsy. And as for Temu it’s the bottom of the barrel. It scrapes data, steals creators’ designs, and floods the market with cheap knockoffs. Sure, it’s cheap. But it’s not quality. None of those platforms compare to Zazzle.

I shop at Etsy for handmade artisan work. It’s not cheap but it’s not Zazzle. It’s a different customer entirely. The Zazzle customer isn’t chasing the lowest price. Many of our products are higher quality and price than what you’ll find on most POD sites. And yes, there may be a gazillion more creators now but that doesn’t mean their work won’t sell. Art is in the eye of the beholder.

“Staying competitive” doesn’t mean Zazzle is in a race to the bottom. It’s not competing with Temu, Amazon, or Etsy. Zazzle is unique. It’s been around a long time, and clearly doing something right.

And as for the idea that “nobody is spending” because of recession or political turmoil I don’t agree. People are still shopping. They’re just shopping smarter. Zazzle customers aren’t looking for throwaway products.  they’re choosing designs that speak to them. That’s not recession behavior. That’s intentional buying. And it’s exactly why quality creators still thrive here.

[Connie]

Perfectly stated!

[Boki]

The situation is catastrophic, I haven't had any sales for days. So many links shared on Pinterest too, and no sales on either side. It is strange that there are no sales either from my stores or through sharing any links. They gave us opportunities, but I don't know why there is no realization of earnings? I keep hoping for that improvement. 🤔

[dbvisualarts]

wondering why I received less than half the normal royalty on a digital download.  I checked it was not showing as a reduction in any way.  They also ordered 20 paper announcements for 48.00 and I earned 2.15 cents total for those.  sigh.......... yes i have put my royalty back down to 10% after a month of no sales, but this is a cut from what i should have earned even at 10%.

[dbvisualarts]

I am not sure I was clear, that was a full month or more with no sales, not just no sales in a month.

[Connie]

The royalties for digital downloads are capped at 50% max (depending on department) for self-referrals, and I think third party referrals, too. Could that be why you are getting less than half your normal royalty?

[dbvisualarts]

could be i suppose.  but it only happened this last time, before i got nearly twice the royalty for the same 3rd party sale.

[BevStuff]

The glitch 3 weeks ago with view listings as 1025 and 4 months ago on tons of creator's products had a bunch of other glitches along with that: one of them being products thrown into the hidden file that didn't show the red optimization markers, so you have no idea why they are there. That happened to me.. I found a older product in Hidden (a throw pillow) that I didn't know why it was in Hidden, but the dop down menu ,had no option to "Make public." So I finally clicked "Make Hidden" which was on the drop down, and at that point, a red optimization triangle and red type suddenly alerted me it was genuinely hidden for optimization reasons, but a glitch caused the red triangle and text NOT to show. So it's possible that has happened to you with products nearing the 2 year mark put in Hidden but are lacking red triangle indicator. I'd check the dropdown menu's in everything you've got in hidden and see if "make public" is listed; if not, click "make hidden" and see if the red optimization triangle shows up. If so, you can optimize and click make public again and it will go back into the market place. That might resolve the issue for you. If not, take a screen shot and report in technical forum for IT to look at because Zazzle really has no other policy for hiding products except optimization, except if a glitch has occurred. Hopefully you'll find that is what happened to you, too.