Only Old Products Sell

[TeeMonkeys]

I've been selling products on Zazzle since 2007.

For over 10 years I've been selling elsewhere and running other businesses.

2 years ago I started posting products for sale on Zazzle again, yet it seems nothing I create now sells. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Yet the old legacy items still sell every few days.

Any ideas?

[Anne · Accepted solution]

Yep. I have practically sold nothing created this entire year. My new Christmas products? Nowhere to be found. I blame it on a broken search function. Sales may be down all over due to economic factors and other reasons, but it is odd that products created 10 years or more are selling (though sparsely) and not new products.

[TeeMonkeys]

I remember years ago when Zazzle changed their marketing strategy completely; requiring us to jump through hoops - creating collections, posting on social media etc. all to get an invisible 'credit score' - which seems to be tied in with the search algorithm (along with any number of other factors). This seriously affects where your products appear in Zazzle's search results. It also seems to affect how Google searches are directed to products as well. But with Zazzle the internal score card is the main battle; not doing the requested tasks seems to be the main culprit for being sent to the back of the class to sit in the naught corner 🤕

[Van]

I noticed views and sales seemed to fall off after we were asked to create mockups, market our own products more etc. and then with the April 1st changes they fell even more. I don't know if it's Google or Z, but once upon a time I could type in my store name and a lot of products would show up - not anymore. I had one product that rated on the first row of search results and sold quite a few of  - then I created the requested mockup and it's now pages down.  Coincidence I suppose but it made me wonder if spending the time and effort to make those nice backgrounds was worth the bother.  And now that I have a chunk of my royalty clawed back in the name of marketing I don't see the point of jumping through all those hoops anymore.  

[Anne]

That's an interesting perception, @Van 
I've never linked the downturn to cover images. For me it was the collection downgrade that killed my sales (to begin with). The April Fool's disaster added to the drama.
I do see my products show up when I type my stores name, so I wonder what is up with that?

[Van]

Anne, I don't think it's "just" the cover images or any one thing for that matter but maybe a combination of a lot of changes, within Z and outside search engines themselves. The example I used, searching the first two pages of Z results, ONE has a mockup. Searching Google for the title does turn it up on the first page of results, though in spite of non-Z results.  I think as time permits I'll focus on revising my store instead of jumping through all the hoops and just hope for the best.

[TeeMonkeys]

On Google search, everyone sees different results, based on search history, location, device, browser, and even Google's own constant split-testing or new search result ideas. There is no constant.

[TeeMonkeys]

Jus'sayin... over on Redbubble and Amazon Merch (yes, I'm there too - and others) the 'jump thru hoops' are there too. Completely different obstacle course, but they are there. Most of it doesn't add up to common sense - they're deliberate roadblocks to impede your success with a ball-and-chain, and push bring in new players, or favor a few 'preferred' vendors.

[Jadendreamer13]

I haven’t seen your store or any of your products, so I am just speaking generally — not directly to you. Unless Zazzle designers have professional graphic training, a large number of mock-ups on the Zazzle platform are poorly produced. So, for those folks it’s better for them to use Zazzle’s simple auto-generated mock-ups than to create mock-ups that distract from their products.

When it comes to graphic design, a lot of folks are under the impression that more equals more — more colors, more fonts, more special effects, even more background elements. But adding all these elements in an attempt to elevate their designs actually distracts from the most important feature — their product. It should always be the star of the show.

For Zazzle creators, it’s important to develop a discriminating eye and to learn the art of restraint.

How can folks do this? By taking courses to improve their skills, like Nelda spoke about above. Some of the courses are more expensive (and comprehensive) than others. So, choose a course or two that you can afford and start there.

Famous fashion designer, Coco Channel, used to say, “get dressed and then remove 2-3 items.” The keep-it-simple rule is the golden rule for fashion design, graphic design, and interior design.

In order to succeed on this platform and shine in an incredibly competitive environment, Zazzle creators need to focus on their strengths, and learn how to improve their weaknesses from trained professionals.

[MaggieRossDogs]

Agreed, Jadendreamer13, improving design skills and creativity within the design should be what we seek - AS DESIGNERS, as "Content Providers".  Without the CONTENT that we provide, there would be no POD sites. 

If Zazzle wants an improved Marketing Department, they've come to the WRONG PERSON in asking me to not only design the artwork, but to spoon-feed it to a purchasing public who have no idea why they came to this website without me showing them a picture of pretend AI people wearing items of attire, or using household goods with my design as embellishment, insinuating that the buyer will be Missing Out by not having products embellished with my artwork.

After retiring from a career with an international Airline, I enlarged on my art hobby to MAKE my own products: tee shirts imprinted with my designs, notebooks and umbrellas imprinted with my designs, on and on, product after product - anything I found the ability to fit into my heat-press.  I offered those products for bid on the then-new platform of eBay.  Each week, as the auctions ended, came the task of wrapping sold items and schlepping that huge pile to the local Post Office.  There was an audible groan from the next available postal clerk each time I appeared, as I was quite successful.

One day in the very early 2000s I discovered that a fellow-eBay-seller had left our little group to offer her designs through the time's most popular POD - and so I checked it out, and opened a Shop there.

Suddenly, I was FREE !!!  No more heat-press!  No more scouting for new and unique products to embellish!  NO MORE TRIPS TO THE POST OFFICE !!!  All I had to do was continue to Create and Design - and UPLOAD!

That is why, 25 years later, I am still offering my artwork through POD sites here at Zazzle (and a couple of other PODs) - I am NOT a sales person, I am very happily a "content provider".    

As to the potential buying public:  the way I look at it, if you want the item, buy it; if you don't want it, step aside and let somebody else take a look. 

I could earn more money if I got up on the World Stage and touted my designs like some sort of Carnival Shill.  But I would rather enjoy Life. 

Ann K., artist at Maggie Ross Dogs, etc. (and 83 years old)     

[TeeMonkeys]

It's 95% about search results and marketing. If they can't see you or find you, it's game over - just a hobby, not even a side hustle.