Hardly any profit anymore

[Elizavella]

I used to get more sales and Its really irritating when Zazzle deep discounts everything all the time so you make hardly any money. Im seriously thinking of shutting this down and just printing my stuff myself. At least then I can insure the quality and keep all the profits!!!! Making a few pennies here and there just isnt worth it anymore!!!!

[ColsCreations]

When setting your royalties you should account for everything being at least 20% off.
15% "off" is pretty much the standard price on everything not being featured in a specific sale but there is that ever-present prompt offering 20 and sometimes 25% off for entering an email addy. Right now, everything on site not otherwise featured in a bigger sale is 25% off. If you're doing things that frequently are the focus of sales throughout the year, like invites, you've got to account for that when choosing your royalty or you'll never earn as much as you think you should. If it's something seasonal that you know gets deeply discounted every year at this time, like ornaments & stocking currently 40% off, you can raise your royalty on them before the "lock".

[Amanda23]

This morning I was thinking about making a video about this EXACT THING. lol (I feel like it's kind of a corollary to the question I answer in the video about which products are pretty regularly available for 40% off!)

[Jadendreamer13]

This is an excellent idea. I typically set my royalty at the same rate all year. But it makes sense to increase it during the holiday rush due to all the price reductions. 

[Connie]

I don't mind the discounts, if it incentivizes more customers to shop, and potentially buy my products, I'm grateful for every sale, no matter how minuscule! in today's economic climate, customers need all the discounts they can get!

[Amanda23]

I JUST released a video telling customers to shop the sales! lol I figure a sale is better than none, as you say! 😊

[Elizavella]

The problem is some customers are buying the items at discounts then turning around and selling them for profit. I read some people buy the postcards because it's a cheap way to buy small prints then they turn around and sell them for 5 or 6 bucks a piece. So zazzle made a money we make a few pennies and customers are buying our stuff then selling it for a profit. So no I'm not happy with a few crumbs. 

[ColsCreations]

If that's true then what's stopping you from buying your own prints and turning around and selling them for 5 or 6 bucks a piece? There used to be a designer here who bought her own stuff and had a booth at craft fairs and such to sell it.

[Elizavella]

First of all it is true and Why would I buy my own and pay to have them print them its rediculous. I print my own with my printer now cause I don't like making pennies when I make dollars printing my own out!!! I can only talk about what I've been experiencing here you don't have to agree with it!!!!

[xzendor7 · Accepted solution]

This is something people were discussing last year or so; and as ColsCreations stated you need to take into account the daily sales discounts that Zazzle is always offering to drive purchases.  For years now I have taken an average of Zazzles lowest discount and highest discount and set that as my commission; and depending on the product I will increase this. 

Though Zazzle will penalize you for setting your commission rate above 15%, if you want to see dollars and not pennies, when you generate a sale, then this is something you are going to have to do. 

Also take note that if you are making sales from others that are using the Zazzle affiliate system, this is also coming out of your pocket and you must incorporate that cost into your commission structure. 

Last thing, since your pricing will be much higher than other creators, make sure that you are offering the highest quality art or photography you can create. 

Make sure that your image dimensions are high - 4500x4500 at a minimum. This means you are creating at this dimension, not  upscaling to it.

I see too many people producing work at around 1024x1024 or 2048x2048 and the upscaling the image, 2 or 3, and sometime 4 times then uploading that pixelated blurry image for sale.

Since my target product and audience is posters. prints, tapestries and bedding I will generally create images at a minimum of 9000 pixels on the shortest side, with some being far larger; for products like area rugs, and largest tapestries and bedding products.

There are some applications that can upscale without distortion; but if you are not interested or can't afford to purchase such software, then you are going to have to create the largest images possible for the product lines you are seeking to target.