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

[Barbara]

Thanks, Dba.

Sales are down all over the place because of the economy. A lot of retailers are tearing their hair out. Listen to people around you and you're likely to hear them talking about prices and cutting back on buying in general. One of the biggest trends is food preservation and growing your own. There's a reason for that. Zazzle is just one of the many being affected.

Colorwash's Home

[ievajen]

and "thrift wedding " trending on Pinterest
but other day were news that Biden will pass a new stimulus package - relief for the people

[Barbara]

Stimulus packages are smoke and mirrors. It won't help Zazzle, and therefore, it won't help us.

Colorwash's Home

[Westerngirl2]

Good grief! More inflation heading our way. They will never learn.

[whimsywhim]

Spending will only increase the pain.  It won't help anybody as it was the problem to begin with.

[onshidesigns]

No It is not.  I have around 35,000 products.  Should have at minnume more than one sale a day on average.  My only two sales in the last 7 days were referrals outside Zazzle.  The economy has not went into Depression in one week.       

[Barbara]

We aren't in a depression, not yet anyway, but the slowdown in sales has been going on longer than it has apparently affected you, so you've been lucky. The exact same thing has been slowly happening on my other POD.

Think about the cost of formal weddings--food/drink, venue, music, clothing, etc.-I bet there's a downward trend in such naturally high-cost events. At some point, Zazzle will have to raise prices. This creates a vicious cycle where not as many people buy, so prices are raised, and even more people don't buy.

Colorwash's Home

[ColsCreations]

At some point, Zazzle will have to raise prices

They already have. See this thread:
Did base prices go up without the royalty calculator also being updated to match?

@Barbara 

[Barbara]

I totally missed that thread.

We're supposed to forecast the future, not the past, which I've apparently done. LOL

Colorwash's Home

[Dba]

Wesha I liked your product - check if you get notification

[Wesha]

Hey @Dba yes, thanks dear ... I was like going crazy in this long dry phase ....

[Polenth]

I have pride designs and my sales are also down, so if what you're thinking is pride promotions are somehow reducing your sales... they're not. Sales are down for whatever they're promoting this month as well.

[MissPaperFarm]

I have another update!

First update, I made a sale yesterday, one postcard and the sale was out of the country! So that's interesting...

The other update is that thanks to @ColsCreations for reminding me to check into my earnings to see if possibly my earnings did make the $50 threshold, but in another currency. Well, I checked and turns out that I did have a few sales that were in other currencies, however I still did not make the $50 threshold and discovered it appears I was charged the $2.50 request fee as if I requested a payment to which I did not. I just emailed support about it. So it could be a technical error and maybe not that Zazzle is closing down 😅  

[VibesOfColor]

I did a little research on Sales going down For Print On Demand Sites They all seem to be dropping sales.

[Perelandrian]

The article I posted specifically acknowledges this.

[Barbara]

Didn't that article speak about retail only in a general sense? I don't remember any mention of PODs, which doesn't mean much, given that they're in retail.

In the meantime, my last sale was on May 12. I can't remember any time since the first six months of being here that I've had a week-long drought. Rather discouraging.

EDIT: I just checked my other POD and discovered I'd just sold a t-shirt. I've gone even longer without a sale there.

Colorwash's Home

[Dba]

I am starting to have hope that this is some technical error and sales are not updating or something like this. I promote and create 100 times more intensivelly than before and zero sales.

[MissPaperFarm]

I just noticed that the product previews for canvas prints look terrible all of a sudden 😧 The colors are all blown-out. I made a technical post about it https://community.zazzle.com/t5/technical-issues/colors-are-incorrect-on-the-canvas-print-product-pr... 

Does anyone else notice this on their screen? This could make a customer not want to buy! 

[Marcia]

@MissPaperFarm yep, same here – they're absolutely awful! Even my product mockup is lighter than it used to be then when I put it on.

[Wesha]

Hey is there any update ? Anyone seeing any improvement in sales ? 

For me the dry phase continues, and its seems to get terrible in May ... feeling so low that can't  even feeling creative like before ... just hoping that things would get better with time ...

[Barbara]

The general pattern for me over the years has been to do nicely in the fall, then have it do an interesting increase following Christmas. After that, it would slow down just a bit until July and August, when it was like slipping into a dead zone only to pick up again in September. In the last year, the pattern broke, seeming to coincide with both the economy and changes Zazzle made (covers, collections, and the strange landing page for links coming in from Pinterest). And now we're headed into summer, which is notorious for slow sales. I'm waiting to see what happens in September.

Colorwash's Home

[Westerngirl2]

My experience is similar to Barbara's.

This economy has folks suffering. When a family has to expend tens of thousands more annually for housing, gas, and food, plus rising insurance costs and other household fees...it's bound to have an effect on discretionary spending. I don't want to be negative, but I'm not expecting a big Holiday sales period like I've always had here. I'm realistic. Personal credit card debt is rising quickly, and that also will have an effect on how much folks are able to spend.

I'm trying to hang in there; our family is definitely affected too by this inflation, and it's a double whammy when sales here are reduced so drastically. Trying to focus designs on those products which might be more necessary and more affordable, too. Hard to know exactly which way to turn.

I've noticed that several fast food companies have recently announced smaller portions for lower cost. I'm trying to think along those lines. I wonder if Zazzle could come up with something that would appeal, and fill in some of the lack of sales for more expensive items. I know it's not an easy thing to do, what with planning & production...just a thought.

Hoping we can all hang in and continue until (1) voters make better choices going into the future, and (2) this economy improves.

[mrdoodle]

@WesternGirl... good to have company on the USS Downturn.
I started noticing my numbers slowing in February. Didn't think much of if because after 15 years in this business, I've grown used to the ebb and flow of the tide. However, this is the 4th month of slowdown and I was starting to freak out until I landed here and see it's not just me.

Good thing I realized many moons ago that the ONLY way to survive is to NOT put my eggs in one basket. So thank goodness I sell my exact catalog on 6 other PODs.

[MissPaperFarm]

Wow, 6 other PODs!? I admire the work ethic that takes. Have you noticed any POD in particular making good sales during this time or do they all appear to be rather slow? 

[blushroses]

pls share these 6 other PODs

[mrdoodle]

@MissPaperFarm... easy to have work ethic when you DEPEND on PODs for your livelihood. AND when you've been bitten by the "all your eggs in one basket" trap and have your family suffer because of it . All PODs seem to be holding steady except for Zazz - 50% down compare to same 4 months last year. By holding steady I mean the other PODs are fluctuating as per normal but within expected range. Oh... Society6 is dead. Has always been dead. By dead I mean a handful of sales per month.

@blushroses ...
1. Zazzle
2.Redbubble
3. Teepublic
4. Threadless
5. Spreadshirt
6. Society6
7. Merch By Amazon

Exact same catalog on every POD so managing them is not crazy because they're the same designs, same descriptions, tag etc... just different platforms.

[MissPaperFarm]

Thanks for sharing! That is interesting that Zazzle is slowest. I read that Zazzle was in a lawsuit for copyright infringement having to do with font. It came to conclusion in January 2024. I wonder if that lawsuit caused them money to maintain things properly because I also noticed that Zazzle employees use to engage here more on the forum. I haven't seen them doing so since I notice lower sales. Maybe some people got laid off? I'm just speculating...

Looking at the list of PODs; I use Spreadshirt! However, I don't sell in the marketplace. I only sell from my direct links and also I don't have much inventory on there. And I closed my society6 shop last year when they switched to payment plans, but I never had many sales from them ever, except  for one time, one of my prints was put inside a collaboration sale with Urban Outfitters. That was probably about 15 years ago! 

[mrdoodle]

No Zazzle is not the slowest. Zazzle is still ( and has always been )  my biggest earner,  but these past 4 months are 50% of what it was a year ago.

[Dba]

I just report that finally I got one sale! I know it is not much, but it was soooo long without any sale that I started to freak out.

[Dba]

As there is no way to delete message I update - my sale showed but with an hour delay.

[onshidesigns]

From 5/10 to 5/22 I've had 2 sales through the website.  Rest are 4 referral sales.  This is isn't down by 50% more like 90% down.  My niche is is anything vintage.  So many types of designs and always improving tags and descriptions.  Views are way down everyday.  Even when I'm doing better than ever at writing descriptions, tags and titles.  Google AI has made it much easier to do this work.  The slow down in the economy does not explain fully my bad sales.         

[Boki]

The sale is a disaster, it almost stopped,... 😞

[rebeccaheartsny]

I don't comment here very often, but came looking for this thread to see if others were sharing my experience. My sales are down so far from where they've been in past years. It looks like my next payment will be considerably less than the amount I've come to expect (depend on!) to pay my monthly bills. I've also been accustomed to making a reasonable number of sales per day; I've had a few days recently when I've had no sales at all. Really unusual.

I see others have discussed the economy, increased competition, etc. But as someone who also runs a blog, I have to wonder how much of this drop is due to the recent Google update, which now prioritises AI and discussions from Reddit/Quora over blogs or retail websites. If people aren't finding Zazzle products in search, then they're not buying them, either.

[Dba]

Now I am starting to think there is reporting which is not working properly. My friend bought my product from my referral. I got referral but no sale and no sale notification. Maybe we make sales but just dont see them? Zazzle is making money, so there must still be customers. Did you check if your sales are showing? I also have some products where I see digital downloads but I dont see any of them in sales reports.

[Dba]

And I replied in the wrong post - an update - sale showed but with delay

[Barbara]

I'm old enough to have lived through quite a few recessions, every single one of them based in government behavior. It's no different now. With recession comes inflation, and it doesn't affect just one tiny sector of the world such as PODs. Eventually, and as always, the governments either change or they get their heads on straight, and after a number of months, the economies improve--and it will now. In other words, no, it isn't something Zazzle is or isn't doing. They have no control over the economy.

Colorwash's Home

[Laura-LiseWong]

I usually never look through the marketplace... just keep my head down and keep designing away. For some reason something caught my eye underneath one of my designs that was an absolute blatant copy of my design. I went to that store to find numerous exact copies of my products with that theme. I reported them. Zazzle removed them and magically now that theme has been selling like crazy again. I do think the market is full of new people designing and copying what they see is popular. And in turn it waters down some of our designs. 

[MOM]

@Laura-LiseWong   Hmm, I wonder if they were exact copies of your designs if you couldn’t run a reverse image search maybe once a week (or month) to find those listings? Of course for that they first needed to be picked up by the search engines to get indexed.

I my self haven’t sold a single thing in May but that’s ok, that just shows me I still have a lot to learn.

On a site note today I have discovered a (new to me) site - https://contentcredentials.org. I’ll keep an eye on that one to see where it goes. 😉

[chuamishael]

they must be really good at designing if they could copy your design 😅

[savanamm]

I am also seeing a big drop in sales this month... something unusual is happening