Minimum age to start a Zazzle store in the UK

[franz]

Hello there!

I am not sure where to find the information, so I am asking you here, what do you think it's the minimum age for a UK resident to start a Zazzle shop? In some searches I found 18 and in some 13, and in the Zazzle FAQ I found nothing.

Many thanks!

[Windy · Accepted solution]

As no one is answering your question, not even the moderators, perhaps you can try to open an account just for the purpose of trying to get the answer.

During the account set-up process perhaps the program will accept or deny the creation of the account, based on the birthdate you enter. (I opened mine in 2005 so I don't remember if there was an age requirement or not, but if there is, this question should come up during account creation, yes? )

[franz]

Thanks Windy! I eventually got a reply and I think the best way forward now is to try to see what happens when I open the account! Very grateful for your help!

[Emma]

Hi @franz , 

Many thanks for reaching out. Per the User Agreement, site users must be at least 13 years of age (please see Section 11.1 of the User Agreement: https://www.zazzle.co.uk/mk/policy/user_agreement).

The limitations that arise here, would be age restrictions from the perspective of payment. For example, the age requirement for opening a PayPal account as set forth by PayPal, or the age requirement to cash a check with their financial institution. 

The age restriction of 18 years of age is relative to tagged media, which can be found in Section 7.4 of the User Agreement. 

I hope this helps! 

- Emma 🌻

[franz]

Many thanks! So does it mean that a 14 y.o. can open an account but if minors cannot use Paypal, they cannot be paid? Cheques from the USA cannot be used here. Bank transfers are and it is possible to open an account for a 14 y.o. over here in the UK.

I think I will start the account just to see what happens!
many thanks!

[Fiorenzo]

You must be 18 to open a Paypal account because you have to enter into a legal contract with Paypal, which is not possible by US laws if you're under 18. Doesn't matter if you reside in the UK. Bank accounts are a different story. I don't know if you can open a Paypal account with the permission of your parents, I think you can't, but you may contact Paypal and ask. In theory, you may try to trick them but this will only work for PP personal accounts, which have limitations. And if they find out one day, you may be permanently banned. So, don't. If your store starts working well, you may need a business Paypal account anyway in the future, to get rid of the limitations (e.g. max 3k $ earnings or so per year).

I fear, your only way is to let your parents open a Paypal account to use with Zazzle. Be aware, that it is mandatory that your Zazzle account data matches with your Paypal data, otherwise you may have issues with the payments. Being in the UK, you also have to fill out the W-8BEN form to get paid (and take advantage of tax treaties between the US and the UK). So in the end, IMO your best bet is to open also the Zazzle account under your parents name. If you have problems with your parents, you need to find a different solution. E.g. an uncle or godfather, or an adult friend you trust. When you're 18, you can then contact Zazzle to switch the account to your name.

[franz]

Grazie Fiorenzo, it's my daughter, I can open up a shop with a name she chooses, and then when she is 18 she can take over! Very grateful for your input. Sono italiana.

[Fiorenzo]

Always a pleasure to welcome new members, and always glad to help where I can. Also happy, your daughter has a loving and supportive family, sadly it's not always the case (I had to literally save my own godson's life, so I know more than I would want to).

So, yes, create the account under your name, add a matching PayPal account, and don't forget to fill out the W-8BEN form. This one is imperative to get paid and to take advantage of tax treaties between the US and the UK. Otherwise, Zazzle can not pay you and also has to keep 30% of your royalties for US tax purposes.

You can download the W-8BEN form directly from the IRS official site, here's the link: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw8ben.pdf .

And here's the link to the newest 2001 tax treaty document between the UK and the US, here you find the tax rates and paragraphs info for the form: https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/131/Treaty-UK-7-24-2001.pdf 

Checked for you, in your case, the part concerning Royalties is Article 12, Paragraph 1. In the section Part II/10 of the form fill in the fields as follows: Article/Paragraph: 12(1), Royalty Rate: 0, type of income: Royalties for the use of artistic work, and in the additional conditions/explanation field add something like this (worked for me, most struggle in this part): Creation of artistic works (designs) sold on Zazzle online webstores on a range of goods.

In regard to the stores, your daughter can open as many under the same account as she likes. Just keep in mind to choose the name wisely, you can't change it afterward. It's always debated what is better, one large single store or different themed ones. There are pros and cons to both variants - more stores can help differentiate your audience/themes, but it may be harder to manage, plus you cannot move items from one store to another. One single store may get overwhelming with time and depending on your content, some themes/styles may not be appropriate for some audiences.

When she turns 18 you can contact Zazzle support to transfer the account to her.

Hope this extra info helped to get an easier start and to avoid mistakes.

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask for help if you get stuck, we have a truly nice community here on Zazzle, both designers, and mods.

Greetings from Mt. Etna Volcano!

[franz]

Many thanks Fiorenzo, I will follow your suggestions and simply create a new shop with a different email address for now. We will see how it goes and we shall give it a name that will hopefully make sense in the future. There is much work to do: finding the niche, prepare the material, design a corporate image etc. So sorry to hear about the trouble your godson had!

I checked your designs and they are great! Well done.

[Fiorenzo]

Yup. Be prepared for a LOT of work and time and effort on Zazzle, if you want to do it right. And don't expect to succeed overnight. If you keep fighting, tho, you're definitely on the best POD platform in terms of assortment and designer tools. And probably its community, too. Best of luck!

Thanks for your thoughts about my godson. All's well that ends well - and it ended well. And thanks for the compliments, too. What I need now is to start filling, LOL.

[franz]

Thank you! Yes I need to fill my shop, too! I had hundreds of non related items and no specific audience. I must take time to work on my branding, message and who I serve. The problem with Zazzle is that there are hundreds of pages for any search and there is no proven way of making your own product appear in the first few pages. Thus I fear that many good designers pages are buried under the work of millions of competitors...not everyone can come up first in the search. Best sellers do come up first...

Have a great day!

[Fiorenzo]

One more very important thing: be careful when you choose your store name. Make it right from the beginning, you can't change it anymore once it is created. Good luck!