Grrrr....why have you decimated my stores?

[Artists4God]

GRRRR.... I looked at one of my Zazzle stores (Cute Critters With Heart) and noticed that "the powers that be" had decimated my store....where there had been over 40 products for each "cute critter" category, there are now only 1 or 2 for almost all of them. Some category/critters have 0 products and don't even show up. I had them all "optimized" before, but went over them again a few days ago and made sure nothing was "hidden" by Zazzle...but to no avail. WTH is going on!?  Just venting here....a complete waste of hours and hours creating those products originally.

One of my categories Dog With Dragonfly (https://www.zazzle.com/store/cutecrittersheart/products?cg=196504774737151648) has 115 products in the "back end" of the store....none of them are "hidden" or in need of "optimization" or "discontinued" in the back end....but only 1 products show in the store...a water bottle.  What customer is going to want to ever come back to a store with only 1 product available in each design? Only my "Buffalo" image has all (?) of the products in it.

[shoshannahscrib]

Perhaps you already figured this out but it looks like the problem is your settings for visitor viewing and the categories - the products appear to be there - at least I see a ton of them. At the top of the page above "search this store" I see PRODUCTS and if you click that you see many more options pop up when you click each category. I think it is the way you organized your categories and view preferences that is causing the issues. Go to your settings for the categories and mess with them and maybe also go to the settings to "customize home page". If the products show in your backend then it is a setting with your sorting that is probably causing the problem. (I'm no expert though)

[Artists4God]

Where do you see a ton of products? In the Cute Critters With Heart store, or my main Artists4God store? Thanks for replying, BTW!  Just curious where you are seeing a lot of products? I have about 6 different stores here on Zazzle.

[shoshannahscrib]

I clicked the link in your post, and then I followed the steps I mentioned in my comment above. I saw a link to "products" and then I can see a bunch of categories/items/images? If I click those I see products under each one. To me it looks very confusing but I see lots of products if I click around. I dont know how many you created so I cant say for sure what is happening. However, I dont know anything about this QPC stuff so maybe this is a whole different issue. Good luck.

[Artists4God]

Thanks for your input, but I have 3,311 products that are SUPPOSED to be visible in my store (all of them have been "optimized" and "made public" but only about 200 products are actually showing in my Cute Critters store...it may look like a lot, but it is less then 10% of what is supposed to be showing to the public.

[ColsCreations]

One of my categories Dog With Dragonfly (https://www.zazzle.com/store/cutecrittersheart/products?cg=196504774737151648) has 115 products in the "back end" of the store....none of them are "hidden" or in need of "optimization" or "discontinued" in the back end....but only 1 products show in the store...

Did you try the new QPC filter? Do they populate when you select that Publish Method filter?

You said on the 25th that

I had them all "optimized" before, but went over them again a few days ago and made sure nothing was "hidden"

Scott's reply about QPC's being hidden wasn't until the 28th but we don't know when that mechanism was actually activated. So it's possible you had the bad luck to "optimize" things just before the new QPC action went into effect, which hid them again. Have you tried optimizing & clicking to make public again since the 28th?

[Artists4God]

I just optimized them again several days ago. I don't know what you mean by "QPC filter"

[Scott]

In our continuous efforts to enhance the user experience and optimize the website’s performance, we adjusted the visibility of Quick Product Create (QPC) products in search results to improve the indexing speed and to help the visibility of non QPC products.

Despite these adjustments, if your QPC product has sold within the last 15 months (not purchased by yourself), it will still appear in onsite search results and within your Zazzle store. To assist you in identifying Quick Product Create (QPC) products, we’ve introduced a new set of filters to your Product Management page. These filters will allow you to easily locate Quick Product Create (QPC) products and optimize them if you wish to. Please let us know if you need any further assistance.

[Artists4God]

So, if something hasn't sold in the last 15 months it is automatically deleted from our stores?

[ColsCreations]

Marketplace Optimization

Scott's news seems to be saying that all products that were created with QC (Quick Create) that haven't actually SOLD in the last 15 months, are now being hidden for Optimization as well. They're not being deleted, they're being hidden from the public.

[Artists4God]

Which means they aren't in my store anymore.  Why are those of us who used Quick Create being "punished" when it was perfectly acceptable to create that way.  My stores look idiotic now with just a couple items in each category.  Maybe if they wouldn't keep hiding products they might sell.

[Artists4God]

I already "optimized" all the items in my Cute Critters store yet they are still not reappearing in my public storefront.

[ColsCreations]

After you "optimized" them,  did you manually re-set the view option back to Public from Hidden? You have to do that as it doesn't automatically reset.

[Artists4God]

Yep....I did that to all of them....to no avail...still not visible in my stores

[CreativeLeahG]

I feel there should be an announcement re this as it is a pretty major thing? What sort of optimization are you seeking for QC items?

[Artists4God]

Agreed! They give you 4 ideas but mine actually had good keywords/tags to begin with and even after I "optimized" them more they STILL don't show the products in my stores

[Badeesie]

How long ago did you optimize them?

[Sq]

Hi Scott, what do we need to do to optimise these products so that they show up on Zazzle both in search results and in our stores?  I have over 2500 of them. 😬

[Connie]

@Scott, so if they haven't sold in the last 15 months, are we supposed to assume that they are hidden, even though they are not marked with the little Optimization Needed hidden icon?

[MasterpieceCafe]

This feels like we're being punished for using QC years ago, even though we were encouraged to use it to build up Zazzle's site.

Many of us were responsible QC users, we were publishing many products at once but we were also making sure that images were properly placed on products too.

Are you saying that that even with editing titles/descriptions/tags that no matter what a QC product will always be downgraded in the MP? Are sold QC products also downgraded but still visible?

I am constantly editing/improving old products, but if those efforts are futile because I used QC to create them then I'm not sure why I'm here?

[cutencomfy]

Scott, regarding products made with QPC that HAVE SOLD within the last 15 months? Are they demoted in the marketplace and Zazzle promotions? Is it better to re-create/re-publish them or do they have the same weight in the MP as products not created with QPC?

...also, are they on a 15-month clock... so if they don't sell in 15 months, they are re-hidden?

...also a suggestion in order to make this process easier, could we have a "product visibility" filter for "visible in marketplace" so we can see which products are affected? Thank you!!

[mylittleeden]

Sorry I didn't do much Quick create in the past but seeing a massive drop in sales... How do we find out which items are no longer in the marketplace in general?

[CreativeLeahG]

Unless they've been removed completely, go to QC via backend filters and select 'hidden' as they may not appear the regular 'hidden or require optimization' filter. Also not all QC items are being hidden, unless it's taking a while to hide them.