It's hard from me to take this company seriously.

[addaminsane]

Why do you all take away earnings from people's accounts?  There is no noble reason you can come up with.  Even though my account doesn't sell much, primarily because i don't actively promote ... you have been receiving free advertising from me for years without even being worth much. You want to charge me for associating with you? What real value does Zazzle even have? (Rhetorical Question)  The fact that you take away earnings from people that bring you attention is pure evil.  despicable.  Your site is so hard to take seriously as it is from a promoting standpoint.  

[PenguinPower]

Are you talking about the $2 fee for inactivity? It’s pretty easy to avoid.. you just need to make  one item or get one referral every 15 months… 

[RobC]

Do you even realize how many inactive and unattended shops there are? The site is flooded with people who create but a few items and let them sit. They need to be removed. I think the better the shop you have the higher in the rankings you should be. Sucks when somebody who has hardly any items and zero categories show up on the first page of a search and someone with a well thought out shop ends up on page 12.

[PenguinPower]

Talk to Zazzle, not me…. I can’t fix that for you. 

[James]

Hi @addaminsane ,

We're saddened to hear that you don't feel Zazzle can work for you and your creative needs. Assuming you might be referring to the non-contribution fee here, please let me provide you with some further information.

Zazzle is at its best when you and the rest of our community are engaged and involved.

As such, we emailed all of our Creator community regarding changes to our policies in April 2019, to encourage engagement and involvement of our creator community.

An account will be deemed a "Non-Contributing Account" if either a public Product has not been published, or there has been no Referral Sale attributed to the account in the previous 15 month period. Non-Contributing Accounts will be subject to a monthly "Non-Contributing Account Fee". In order to avoid incurring this fee in the future, we would recommend uploading a new design to your Zazzle store.

If in fact, you are referring to something else, please do let us know and we will be happy to help you navigate this frustration.

Thank you.  

[addaminsane]

Your soul less explanation/ excuse for absorbing money that you never earned is not comforting.  There is no reason for anyone to feel any sympathy towards this company if it ceases to exist.  The operators are predatory to those who promote them in so many ways.  Zazzle is worth far less than the.space it occupies in any search query.

[PenguinPower]

Money they never earned? They are, at a minimum, providing you with server space and a money repository that has no minimum balance... They don't charge you a thing for these privileges if you at least do the really, really minor task of putting something new in your store every year and one quarter.. 

Personally I keep in mind that for nothing more than the outlay of my time I can have a store here that generates actual $$... You can, but don't actually have to spend a dime to have a store here. Zazzle takes all the risks of having to have facilities, employees, equipment, stock.. they take care of the financials and all of the business details. They do all of that for a tiny time commitment from you... you could meet the minimum requirement for about 5-10 min of effort every 15 months. Unreasonable? not really.

I'm under no illusions that they don't need us designers too - it's definitely not an entirely one way relationship and they get a lot of value from our time and creative efforts, but what other legitimate business lets you do this - a store with nearly zero initial investment? Nothing I can think of.. 

I can totally understand why they want and need to not have thousands of abandoned accounts with small amounts of money in them, not worth paying out, because it costs more to actually cut and mail a check than is in them.

[kennethwfd]

I wish someone would help regarding the W8BEN team!

On the verge of giving up regarding Zazzle, this time permanently

nothing but hassle

[kennethwfd]

And if I give up, Zazzle will not pay outstanding royalties, or they will be absorbed by "below the £30 threshold" or the IRS tax rates, so yes, selling on Zazzle is a con

[Deweycat]

Honestly, the $2 inactivity fee was a boot in the ass that I needed - I had a couple of shops that I'd opened 10+ years ago, and pretty much ignored. They made a sale now and then, but I didn't do anything. I got off my ass and started adding product and fixing old product that needed new graphics, etc., and my sales have reflected it. I pay Google $2 a month to host my files for digital downloads, so I don't find $2 a month exorbitant, since Zazzle is not only hosting files, but providing an almost carefree venue for selling. If you don't like it, you are obviously free to close up shop and try one of the many other venues, most of which have tiered systems that, wait for it, also charge monthly fees... or Café Press, where you can't set your royalty level, and are lucky to make $.50 per transaction... 

[kennethwfd]

Oh, to receive £0.50 per transaction on Zazzle. My 2022 sales amounted to $1.50 for 13 sales. I am  not complaining about sales volume, but the amount received per sale, for ten items $0.15 per sale.

Yes, I have shut up shop on Zazzle, now selling photographic prints on eBay, a £2.99 6x4 print means about £1 profit for me. No waiting to be paid either, the money comes immediately to my bank account less the eBay fee. Why does Zazzle only offer this clunky one payment a month by Paypal and subect to a minimum amount unless you pay a handling fee?

[Deweycat]

I think you're comparing apples with oranges, to compare Zazzle and eBay. Ebay is a vendor platform - they offer vendors a mechanism to process payments, whereas Zazzle offers artists a platform for selling their graphics, on Zazzle's products - Zazzle takes all the risks, so to speak. But, if you're not happy with what they offer, closing up shop seems to be the answer. I don't offer many prints, and I don't want to be a POD seller/shipper (way too much work for my comfort zone). I have a relatively huge royalty rate set here, on Redbubble, and Society6, so I'm not complaining about that. I've been debating closing the Cafe Press store, because the rate of payment is pretty much a slap in the face. Also, I'm selling some of the same graphics through my Merch by Amazon account, and Cafe Press also sells the same graphics on Amazon, and I make way more selling as an individual. 

[addaminsane]

You are not defending zazzle with any common sense at all.  Zazzle is predatory to all who promote it.  There is no real positive info about zazzle on the web that isn't incentivized.  Zazzle has no inherent value because it is ran by crooks.  I tried and found no good reason for a person with any talent to use zazzle as a promotional platform. 

[igiftcenter]

Be careful about making slanderous statements. I'm sure you are a talented artist and wish you continued success wherever you take your creative talents.

[PenguinPower]

Okie dokie... that's some serious bitterness over $2... 

[RobC]

Keep in mind that sales will not generate themselves by simply creating and leaving your store sit. It's really up to the shop owner to go out and "market" their store. Too many Zazzlers eventually give up on that part because of frustration I am a victim of that myself at times. But anything worth having takes time and effort. And it's even harder if you have a very small "niche" which you are catering to. If it was easy everyone on here would be making money but the competition is big so you have to come up with ways to set yourself apart. Zazzle cannot "sell" for you that is something that all designers have to do themselves.

[DM]

It is now up to the shop owner to go out and market their store. That wasn't always the case. When I started, Zazzle did its own advertising. They sold at Amazon and ebay. Then one day, they decided to stop doing that and put the weight of bringing people into our shops on our shoulders. Without any warning, and more importantly without any guidance. They expected, and expect, artists to become skilled promoters overnight.

Zazzle used to sell for us, and in fact they could still do so if they wanted to. They made the decision to not do it any longer, for whatever rea$on.

[kennethwfd]

Every other POD manufacturer I have looked at has the feature to integrate your store with a commercial platform like eBay, and eBay is one of my success stories, selling photographic prints, having invested in a decent printer. Instant payment direct to my bank account, 33% profit. Appreciate need for 30 day wait in case of a refund, and obliged to complete W8BEN, but success to me means money in my bank account, and I'm not getting anything from Zazzle

[chefcateringbiz]

If you don't want fees for essentially dead stores, then make them active or close your stores. Taking things or people seriously is a 2-way street. Overvaluing your contribution to Zazzle's success isn't going to make you money here.