Here to plead to the Whine Fairy! 😂 Pretty please with sugar on top?
More like a running joke. But yes, a made up pretend thing.
So, say I post an item on Pinterest and include my affiliate link, and someone clicks on it and goes to Zazzle, the Rakuten extension will flash, and if they click on it, I just lost my affiliate royalty.
That didn't make any sense to me because our referral cookies are set by Zazzle and recognized by their server and there are complicated rules on timing but if someone first clicks your affiliate link, then the Rakuten button, they've got YOUR ref cookie, Rakuten's can't override it for some set period of time. How could a third party get in there and override how Zazzle's cookies work? But I know nothing about Rakuten other than what was written here so I Googled 'does rakuten steal affiliate links', and go figure, the third result was a thread in this very forum from Feb 2022. Turns out I even posted to that thread, LOL, but the name wasn't ringing any bells. Anyway, in that thread, Mark (Mod) said
If a customer clicks on a creator’s link then clicks on a Rakuten link, the creator will still get the credit, provided the Rakuten click occurred within 7 days.
So there we go. Rakuten is not taking over our referrals.
It's not my opinion, it's fact as confirmed by a Zazzle Mod 2 & 1/2 years ago when you first posted about this.
This is basically explaining that the Rakuten extension is intercepting BEFORE you actually get to the Zazzle domain. That makes sense to me as it's totally possible technically. So you click on a link to go to something on Zazzle but before letting your browser follow that link, the extension determines it's a domain they cover so it flashes their prompt to access via Rakuten instead, which if clicked re-directs you through their own affiliate link. I'm a very literal person and the way it was previously described was that the Rakuten extension doesn't "flash" until after you've landed on the Zazzle page. In which case a third-party site couldn't go in and change the cookies already set with Z.
The caveat here is that this info comes from asking AI, and AI only compiles what it finds out there so isn't necessarily right about anything it returns. But the snippets here about intercepting and re-directing before the browser follows the original link makes sense. So either the Mod was wrong, or they were right back in 2022 but wrong now with advances in how it works. Or they were right. If you search this list https://www.rakuten.com/stores/all Zazzle isn't even on the list of sites Rakuten works with.
I'm usually the first person to test for myself things I can actually test for myself rather than taking anyone else's word. But this time I chose to go with what was already written here re Rak & Z specifically and a Mod's confirmation. So dang it, now Im going to have to go test it myself to see what happens. Will report back ...
Or they were right. If you search this list https://www.rakuten.com/stores/all Zazzle isn't even on the list of sites Rakuten works with.
I used the Search at the bottom of the page, right above the "All Stores" horizontal menu. But if instead using the general search box at the very top of the page, Zazzle does come up.
So dang it, now I'm going to have to go test it myself to see what happens. Will report back ....
Test results are in and Rakuten did NOT steal my referral.
First, I installed the Rakuten extension to Chrome which is a browser I never use, it only exists on my machine for testing & trouble shooting purposes.
Second, I signed into/upfor Rakuten using my Google credentials.
Third, I made this link to one of my postcards. Note the 'RakutenTest' tracking code I added.
https://www.zazzle.com/wild_rabbit_cute_bunny_in_garden_any_occasion_postcard-239621254779441456?rf=238499276722080691&tc=RakutenTest
I then pasted that link into Chrome and got this:
I got the "landing page" and the little pop-up in the upper right corner to activate Rakuten. Note the URL shown in the address bar is the same one I created and clicked on.
Next, I clicked the "Activate 4% cashback" button and got this:
It automatically took me to the full product details page w/ Rakuten activated. Note the URL now shown in the address bar. You can see what Rakuten has appended to it.
Then I used Personalize to delete my placeholder text, added to cart, and when prompted, I signed into my Zazzle account to complete the purchase.
And here's the proof that despite Rakuten, I still got my referral.
So, Rakuten may be earning something themselves but that's between them and Zazzle, it's not affecting me, I got my 15% referral regardless.
This holds-up to my first thoughts on this. If I am already on the Z domain via a referral link, a third-party can't override Z's cookie rules. And as evidenced here I was already on the Z domain (the "landing page" for my product) via a referral link before getting the option to activate Rakuten. Once I activated Rakuten, they added their own stuff to the URL but it's too late - Zazzle's already assigned me the referral, which takes precedent. So they're not re-directing you before you actually hit the Z domain.
If someone ends up on Zazzle with no cookies and clicks to activate Rakuten, then I'd say yeah, they probably get the 15% third-party referral because there were no other cookies ahead of them when the URL switched. If you're in the Promote Program and sharing "clean" links, no idea how this plays out, someone else will have to test that, but my guess is that just like here, you'd still get the referral.
* NOT an expert on anything. Just reporting what I can see with my own eyes and applying my own logic.
I believe shipping is def a factor. I too pay for Zazzle Black (er, Zazzle Plus/Premium now) so don't see shipping costs. BUT, if I go to one of my products as an anon user, not signed in to any Zazzle account, there still aren't any shipping costs shown. There's a note under the product title that says "Order today and get it by x-x". If you click that, still no shipping costs, just dates and a link to sign up for Zazzle Plus shipping. If you add the item to your cart and then go to cart, still no shipping costs shown. You get the Select a Payment Method block and under that a note that "*Shipping and Taxes calculated at checkout". If you choose a payment method and then click "Proceed to Checkout" you are required to create an account or log-in to an existing one to continue. So you're stuck there, no shipping costs provided. A random visitor clicking on your link somewhere, are they going to register an account just to find out what shipping cost will be for the item? I doubt it and for me personally, it's a huge deal breaker. If a site is not going to be transparent about shipping costs, I absolutely will not create an account with them just to find out. I won't even use sites that make you add an item to your cart and go to checkout page before showing you shipping options costs. It feels shady to me, like a trick, and I instinctually distrust the site for it.
If someone does jump through the hoops to create an account just to find out shipping costs, it appears that they're pretty high and that they also show you the most expensive shipping option as default so it takes more work clicking around to find that there might be less costly options.
As a Designer here who also has been a customer many times, I KNOW Zazzle is not a shady company so it distresses me that they're so not-transparent about shipping and that it's rather high if you don't succumb to the push to sign-up for Zazzle Plus.
I didn't know you HAD to have an account in order to purchase from Zazzle. Most websites have a guest checkout.
I think it was explained once before it's because of the user-customization which makes Z so unique. Without an account, where/how would a customer's edits & end result be saved? They'd have to do everything in one session or lose their progress.
