Looks like the Xmas rush...

[MadjackGG]

..is over.
At least, it appears so for me - no Zazzle sales now for three days.

How has it been for everyone?
On Zazzle I did about a third better than last year (although the month's not over of course), which is encouraging.  But if I factor in my earnings elsewhere (Amazon Merch and Redbubble), I did roughly the same, which is not so encouraging.

Still, hopeful for the coming year on Zazzle.

[LadyDawnMarie]

Steep drop off for me too about 3 days ago, like an abrupt halt in sales.  I'm up over last year so not complaining but it was odd the way everything just stopped.

[MadjackGG]

I wonder if shoppers may have gone as far as the check-out, but been told delivery by Xmas is not an option and so they don't complete the purchase.

[GoodEarthPhotos]

This holiday Season in general I did NOT do well. Primarily, or so I think, because Zazzle did not give the 50% off on folded cards.  I sell folded cards all year and if greeting cards do not get the 50 percent off on purchases, I feel there will be a steep decline in sales for me.

[KeegansCreation]

My sales did stop a few days ago but that's to be expected for late December. Somebody did buy a yoga mat though so that gives me hope for January New Year's resolution sales of yoga mats, water bottles and leggings. I also sold a couple calendars and those can be bought a bit past Christmas shopping time.

[Sara_H]

@MadjackGG I'm 50% down from last year but am looking forward to a fantastic 2024.😂🤣😂

See you all next year! 

[Cat]

Things have definitely slowed, but I'm still making sales, especially digital downloads. Woo Hoo!!

[LadyDawnMarie]

That's awesome!  I've been promoting my digital downloads pretty hard this month but haven't seen many sales yet.  This gives me hope!

[PenguinPower]

I can't complain.. Last year it seemed like I had a huge rush in November then almost nothing in December. This year it's been much more steady. I got a big self referral just yesterday that made me a very happy camper.

[TMKDesign]

November was slower than the last year, but December is about the same. I got some digital download sales for the first time before the holiday shopping season. It was surprising because I was not sure about that. Merry Christmas to everyone!

[Pixelan]

First time Christmas sales for me, it was ok. Not what I hoped for compared to all the work, time and money I put in. But hopefully another chance next year. Still it's really nice to see people buy things that I created, I hope it brings them and others a lot of joy. ✨

Also Merry Christmas everyone here on Zazzle: Mods, employees, creators, makers and customers! 🎄

See you next year (as this forum will be read-only).

[Lais]

No Christmas Rush for me. November and December were a disaster. 

[almdrs]

I didn't see any rush. Compared to last year this December had a decline in sales.

All the work to created collections didn't have any effect. I wonder if collections have anything to do with SEO.

[jackynet]

I have been on Zazzle for quite a few years now and always had nice sales, especially from late October through early December.  Not so, this year!  I can't remember it ever being so slow for holiday sales.  I just noticed it has been one week since my last sale and that hasn't happened in a long, long time.  Has it been like this for a lot of shop keepers or is it just a few of us?  It is so noticeable that I wonder if there is a bug or something else is wrong?  I will be watching to see if things pick up like they usually do after a bit of Christmas break.  I have been doing shop maintenance like removing discontinued items, etc. and keeping stuff in the public eye.  Or I wonder if consumers are just having a hard time now.  Hope that changes soon.

[GoodEarthPhotos]

I had the same problem--down sales. I've been with Zazzle for over 10 years, this was the worst holiday year in many years. They did not give a full 50% off on folded cards, so I think that was much of the problem. I sell all folded cards.  I spoke with customers about 2-sided cards, as I call them, but they are not interested. 😩

[ZBug]

My sales plummeted this year. In June, Zazzle had some glitch that dropped 90% of my products. It took six weeks to fix the issue. My sales have not recovered and seeing this month's royalties with a 47% drop from last year (years) really bums me out.

[Harmony]

November: slower by several hundred dollars

December: crickets

Wonder if the changes where pinterest no longer links to product pages has anything to do with it

[ColsCreations]

Wonder if the changes where pinterest no longer links to product pages has anything to do with it

I am not a big seller but I felt like even my sales were very disappointing this holiday season. However, I just compared Oct 1 - thru Xmas Eve for 2022 & 2023 and turns out, it was just my expectations of doing better that led to disappointment because statistically my sales were virtually no different between years. 

Looking at my Royalty History, if one customer purchased multiple items leading to multiple line-items on the report, I considered all of those items as 1 order. So basically I was looking at number of unique customers placing orders.

For the above noted 2023 holiday season I had ONE more order than same period in 2022, and the total I earned on those orders was $50 more than 2022. So statistically I actually did better this holiday season than last year even though in my head I was disappointed as I was hoping for better.

I also compared referrers. I do next-to-no promoting, rely primarily on organic sales, so had no Self referrals. Of my total orders, it was almost exactly a 50/50 split both years between 3rd Party and None sales. So no meaningful difference there either from one year to the next. There are a ton of variables so I'm not sure how one would judge if self-promotion on Pinterest leading to the "landing page" is hurting sales or not.