Sales down ?

[Peter222]

My sales have not been on par with what is the norm. They were down over Xmas for sure. Is anyone else seeing this ?

TY much Peter 222

[rebeccaheartsny]

Same. I've gone from a solid part-time income to incidental bonus money, if I'm lucky. I can no longer count on earning a steady X amount per month the way I previously could.

This holiday season was especially disappointing. I always looked forward to big payouts in December, January, and February. Those days are gone.

[chuamishael]

definitely economy, I been saying this since 2023. but let's hope things will get better this year, let the economy adjust. let's hope war stops.

[epicdesigns]

January sales have gone down a lot for me compared to last January. My November and December were better than last year's, so this has been a sudden drop. Not for lack of adding and promoting either.

[Marcia]

Unfortunately, same thing for me. Nov & Dec I was slightly behind last year but January has been horrendous! And I've been creating, promoting, optimizing, & all. I just don't get it. Although I am noticing shifts in the algorithm which aren't in my favor.

[Martin]

Hi Marcia

Same pattern here. Although I was very lazy for the last half of 2024 and ignored Zazzle, so I guessed it was a result of that. I have pruned back my distractions for this year, hence more attention to Zazzle. I am intrigued to see if I can get it pumping.😁

[Scott]

You're welcome to use this discussion to discuss sales on Zazzle, but we'd prefer to avoid hosting conversation about competing services.

[JocelynMB]

Every time I see a notification, it's 9 times out of 10 always a depressing "you have 1, 3, 10, products that may need optimising" ugh

[MissPaperFarm]

Zazzle still always turns out to be the best POD 🥹

[Perelandrian]

Perhaps a Discord server could be made for folks here to talk freely.

[ColsCreations]

Perhaps a Discord server could be made for folks here to talk freely.

See invite link in my sig. But I recognize your artwork, even have Liked some of it, so I feel like you are already a member by another name?

@Perelandrian 

[KayCordingly]

Did something happen on the 20th? I ask because that's the day sales died for me. Here. Everywhere else, sales are fine.

[Zainab_Baloch]

Same here. I was convincing myself that it’s normal until I saw my Google Analytics-all the stats are showing a downward trend since 20th. 

[Sara_H]

@KayCordingly  the 20th was when the President was sworn in (Inauguration day) so you could say something happened that day

[Boki]

Are your sales moving and how many sales do you have per day? 

[MissPaperFarm]

I usually have 0 sales a day and make a few sales throughout each month like 2 to 3. But, my last sale was 2 greeting cards at 25% off and I only made .22 cents 😱 That royalty rate is brutal. I remember in 2016 when I first started, I could mark my cards up to 50% royalty rate and make at least 2$ a card. Now I have to keep the base royalty rate because if I mark it up, I really don't think anyone is going to buy a regular greeting card for over $8.  

[chuamishael]

you can mark up your card to 50%? holy crap, but in any case I only do 10%, but sales feels so slow. and earnings feels so low... you probably can do that in 2016 maybe because competition is still low, and right now those crazy influencer scamming and encouraging people to do print on demand, even tho it's not easy to do business here. these youtuber have attracted significant high amount of people doing print on demand and may have attracted the wrong people too.

[MissPaperFarm]

Yes! but, that was back in 2016 when I would mark it up 50%, the base price would be around $2 and then I could sell them for $4. Now, that is not possible. The internet is definitely over flooded with products and it's hard to get the quality products to be seen. Most search engine results bring up untrustworthy items. I'm always trying to think of ways to get around all that, but haven't figured out anything quite yet ☹️

[Wildart]

sales moving now av 1 or 2 a day, but then skip one or two, this is actually MORE than average, but given that Jan and Dec were dsimal its hard to compare...

[mblue]

My sales have been constantly going down compared to the years before.   I made over 2,600 images for my products. It takes a lot of time and money to make these.  I made a few videos. So I couldn't make a lot of new things, as I did before.  I thought since I didn't make enough new things, I should try, so I made a lot of new things and sales remain the same. I've been posting on a few social media pages most days for several months now. I even ran, and still am running, some ads, but my sales remain much lower than before.  I do have some products that get shown on the first few pages on Zazzle too. But still, my sales have decreased by giant percentages compared to the years before.  I looked at the search amount from Google and it's still high for my category.  I'm lost now.  I'm not sure what to do to improve the sales. 

[mrdoodle]

$1 an egg in some places. That's why sales are down. If I had to make a choice between food and stickers... no brainer. My Zazzle sales are down by 50%. Funnily, all other PODs are holding steady.
January and February are slow months in the POD world.
On the bright side, some PODs are going bust. Be glad Zazzle is still alive.

[orientcourt]

"Eggs what are they mrdoodle?  Here in Aussie land we are experiencing the same, mainly due to a virus outbreak! Unfortunately we probably don't have many to export to the USA. Would not be worth it either due to hefty tariffs 🙄   

[Wildart]

blessed to have TWO egg farms here, so I can buy 20 eggs for $11, that would be 5.50 US . WE also have many market gardens so veges are spectacularly cheap too. 

Re sales, I just hid all my greetting cards, so no more cheap options for sale, with 0.23 cents royalty!!!

[Kelly-Marie]

Hi, I’ve not sold anything in almost 2 months too, they have just stopped dead, I was worried there may have been a recent update that could have changed visibility of shops ? 

[Boki]

Perhaps this link will help:

https://community.zazzle.com/t5/ask-a-question/sudden-drop-of-sales-after-1st-april/m-p/198815

[Kelly-Marie]

Thank you ☺️ 

[JocelynMB]

My sales have dwindled to practically nothing, since about last Summer. Here, on my oldest POD shop, and on the other 2 as well as on Etsy. Etsy I may close by Dec, the rest I'll allow to remain. I had a good 10+ years run.

[Barbara]

Perhaps what we're seeing isn't a result of how individual PODs run their businesses. Maybe, instead, it's an overall cultural change on the internet. I still see a lot of customers in brick-and-mortar stores, buying greeting cards, mugs, whatever. Has the glow of the internet begun to wear off? I don't actually know. Just speculating.

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[JocelynMB]

There's been a lot of changes made by many retail POD sites, to help sinking profits and sales, the last 3-4 years.
I think there's just a HUGE glut of new competition in POD the last 5+ years, especially with the AI usage availability and the huge push for it as an easy breezy business model in the last 3-4 years.
Online selling as well, as changed dramatically in the last few years, lots of policy changes from different countries and regions, etc.

[blushroses]

two sales today ...soooo bad

[Boki]

No sales for days... 😞
Sad.

[ameliacarrie]

A LITTLE RETIREMENT ADVICE. Since 2012 I worked really hard every day and got to the point where I was making enough to pay my bills and live good. When the sales started dwindling away in 2022, I was really looking forward to turning 62 and taking early retirement. Being mostly a stay at home mom for me, Social Security would be peanuts, but, with the extra Zazzle income, I figured all would be fine.  Then, I learned that not only would I get a decrease in SS, for the early retirement, but, they would deduct the money I get from Zazzle royalties. So, will have to wait till my full retirement age of 67. If your reading this, before starting on any career where your living off royalties, but, not paying into Social Security, be very cautious.  If the money decreases or ends, you may find that your SS is not enough to get by on.  

[Barbara]

Being somewhat in the same situation as you except for one thing--I didn't choose early retirement but waited until I was over 65--I'm now wondering at your statement about them deducting what you make on Zazzle. My total amount I receive is SS plus 84.7% of Zazzle earnings. The IRS continues to tax me at the standard rate of 15.3% of earnings.

The limit on outside earnings when retiring early in 2025 is $23,400 before they start reducing your S.S. by 50% of your outside earnings. So, in that case, and if you're earning that much on Zazzle, I'd suggest waiting.

The real problem is that of every woman who has been a stay-at-home mom. SS is definitely peanuts.

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[JocelynMB]

I experienced a similar situation to yours. I did pay into or Canada Pension Plan, which one can begin taking at age 60, but it's better to wait until 65 so it's more monthly. We sold our condo in 2022, moved up north, I quit my full time job and mainly we live off of my husband's fixed income and his 1 painting sale every 2 years or so (he's a gallery repped oil painter) and my sporadic art and handmade craft selling income. I had sort of taken for granted my POD income would continue to be pretty good monthly. But, in 2022, right after our move, my print on demand product selling income, which was increasing yearly, suddenly dwindled to about 1/5 of what it had been since about 2012-2021. I don't see a payout from Zazzle now for usually 3 months (once enough accumulates). I no longer can use it to pretty much pay our home insurance, car insurance, taxes and monthly utilities like I could before.
Yes, your advice about never contributing to the federal pension plan from a job will mean that your payouts in your retirement years will be very minimal. It happened to my aunt who was a hairdresser and most of her life she was paid "under the table" so no contributions to Can Pension Plan hence she receives a very small sum every month now (though she does still have clients so does ok). Old Age Security starts at 65 and she does receive that too.
Not sure what's happening but I do know that the POD business model is way way more flooded than it was, there's a lot more in the game, many are not really creatives or designers either. IN 2005-2012 there were way less of us.

[almdrs]

I think people are broke. I've seen videos on Youtube of people complaining about the price of food, rent, HOA, home insurance etc.
They are buying the cheapest products.
Royalties are bringing less than a dollar and in a few cases a couple dollars on each sale.

[RMorganSnapshot]

I don't buy that. I live in a rural area. Folks aren't millionaires by any means but every day you see people buying new trucks, cars, and recreational vehicles. And ain't none of them cost less than $30K! If they are doing this in a rural area where the median income is going to be nowhere near what it is in an urban area, I can't imagine they aren't doing the same everywhere else. 

[Westerngirl2]

I agree. I also live in a rural area. Folks here are optimistic about the economy for the first time in a long time. Gas prices affect rural communities drastically, and our gas prices have gone down. 

I don't think it's an explanation for our drastic reduction in profit here. I think it's due to the excessive "marketing fees" and the fact that nearly all sales now are third party sales. None of this is anything we can control, and that is extremely frustrating.

I no longer spend much time creating products on Zazzle. I don't see the point to do that anymore.

[whimsywhim]

Exactly.  It absolutely is the excess marketing fee.  I'm sure you are far from the only one who is decreasing or outright not putting out any designs.  There has to be a better way for Zazzle to recoup marketing / advertising costs.  I understand some percentage but the 40 - 50% and possibly more is simply untenable.  

[MissPaperFarm]

I do make a profit when I make a sale, but I only had one sale this month of July 😮 I'm still hoping sales pick up a bit in the fall for the holidays. We shall see. There is a number of factors I think. One is the economy another is the changing of the internet and social media. I think there has been a social media and internet burn out. I don't get much engagement at all on my social media posts and I came to discover that some of my followers just haven't been on those apps in ages. If buyers aren't frequenting the internet, then it's hard to promote to them even on major sites like Facebook and Pinterest. I'm not sure what people are doing these days 🤔 Are they sitting at coffee shops? Maybe just posting up a little flyer at a coffee shop may help haha. Also did anyone noticed there is a "Transaction Details" eyeball for each sale under Royalty History!? I am probably late to this discovery but, hooray! Now I won't be wondering where all the money disappears to 😅 

[Barbara]

Maybe it isn't the internet itself. Are people looking for something new? One thing I've noticed is the leap in YouTube where people can choose whatever suits their fancy. I have a Roku TV as do many others, and it's totally replaced regular TV. Some of the successful channels are now being sponsored by highly appropriate products and companies. For instance, chefs might be sponsored by Made In, a cookware company. For creative people it might be SkillShare. The YouTuber has to be a star or a rising one, an expert communicator, and the company has to do a lot of research. Does it cost as much as those nearly untargeted scattershot ads? Such a company has to pay the YouTuber, but do they also have to pay YouTube? What if Zazzle gave it a try? I don't know if there are any matching videos, but if there are, it might be a way to gain customers. (I purchased a product advertised by one such YouTuber and have been totally pleased with it. Would I ever buy something that interrupted a video I was watching? Nope.)

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