Zazzle is getting too overwhelming for Creators

[wheresthekarma]

I know nobody likes to hear negative things, BUT I think this needs to be said.

I don't think I am alone in this feeling. It is becoming a full-time job keeping up with Zazzle's changes and all the things they want us to do to create a product.
1. The new collections, they are so hard to understand, and Zazzle said they were putting out videos to help us understand but hasn't. Nobody that I talk to gets the meaning behind the different choices like cross sell is obvious but then the rest of the choices sound pretty much the same.
2, All the different covers for everything is overwhelming.  Multiple cover photos, cover videos, collection media photos, banners and cover photos. OMG seriously, it's overwhelming, can anyone keep up? Then to tell us to do it then send us emails telling us we did it wrong and Zazzle will go in and just delete photos it doesn't like. What a waste of time for us. What about us old-timers who have been with Zazzle for over a decade who have hundreds of collections already? We can't be grandfathered in? We are going to be punished for sticking with Zazzle for so long?
3. Only cover photos on the first couple pages of Zazzle. So creators who have been on Zazzle for years helping YOU GUYS  make money, are being punished now because they have created hundreds or thousands of products that now you expect them to go back and make photo covers for. While new creators who happened to join at the time and learn they had to do this will take forefront. So this means our popular products that we worked hard on and have been selling, will no longer be featured and won't sell anymore. 
4. The Chat box for creators at the top of the page. There should not be this. This is not most people's full-time jobs and nobody leaves Zazzle on to see when they get a message 24 hours a day. There should be an "email" option, so it doesn't appear that we are on live chat 24 hours a day to answer customer's questions. Not to mention almost every question is about shipping and manufacturing, which is not our gig to begin with. Another time waster. And customers get mad when they don't get an answer right away and just get sent from one place to another to ask questions. 
I have a youtube channel where all I do is promote Zazzle and give tutorials. I have loved Zazzle for many many years, way over a decade but it's becoming so consuming. I get hammered with so many questions every day because nobody understands anything Zazzle is doing and there are just so many steps to making a product, a collection, category and all of it. Just so overwhelming. So confusing and so time consuming, only to be constantly told we are doing it wrong.

I can go on, but honestly it doesn't feel like anyone cares anymore. 

This is the first time I have thought about just walking away from it all. I have loved creating on Zazzle for years, but it has just become so frustrating like you guys are constantly knocking down us creators in one way or the other, it's become impossible to stay positive about it all.

[Mariholly]

Completely agree! I'm not as experienced; I've been here for "only" 6 years, but I feel exactly the same, on the verge of giving up. Days without sales after spending entire days creating covers, descriptions, and tags for my older designs – they don't get noticed, no sales, no views. Entire days creating new designs, new covers, descriptions, tags... and those don't get visibility either.

[CreativeLeahG]

I burnt myself out and became quite unwell trying to keep up, so now I don't. 

I do micro niches, micro niche's don't need covers, collections, videos because there is no to low competition, so regardless of who else is doing what there is nothing to push you down in the marketplace.

But where does that leave the vast majority of our products, stores, collections, which as you rightly note are being pushed further to the back because they lack the required updates. 

I do know we have said all this before and yet once more, a Friday bombshell, so we can all sweat without answers till Monday.

[wheresthekarma]

I totally agree, I have been trying to niche down too in new stores. But man, all the work on my other stores for years.. it's just so disheartening.

I saw your answer in the collections thread and knew you were feeling similarly. 

I too did not get an email so now I'm on eggshells. What does that mean because I do not have cover photos with collages of products, are all my cover photos going to be removed? It's just frustrating. I guess I was never one to rely on Zazzle to get my products out there, I blog, make youtube channels, post on social media and lately have been niching down. So I'm hoping this will still keep me making sales. 

[Lais]

Sorry, will cover photos without collages of products be removed? I've been out of Zazzle for a while now. Where can I read about it?

[Lais]

Oh, I saw now it's in the e-mail. But given the examples they showed I think it won't take too much effort. I think I'll create some templates and share them with you guys. Also, I believe the images they will remove are the collections' covers, but not the single products' covers - at least, that's what I understood.

[Colorflow]

HI, is something changing with the use of cover photos? Sorry, i am trying to keep up with the changes but I am not aware of this one. 

[CrazyMermaid]

Monday is a US holiday, so figure maybe Tuesday before they tell us they are reading comments and will be responding in a few days.

[CreativeLeahG]

James has replied, he's working through comments

[Marcia]

@wheresthekarma I have not been on Zazzle nearly as long as you but long enough to have to have been dealing with all these new changes/fixes/requirements of the past few years. I could not have said this better!

[DM]

Every time I did what Zazzle wanted us to do, my sales went down. Eventually, I stopped doing what they thought was a good idea and did my own thing. Just because Zazzle says to do something today doesn't mean they will still want that in a year. Or a month. In other words: if it is causing you stress, don't do it. It's not worth it.

[kashmier]

I thought the same thing but sales are still going down every day. Today zero which is why I stopped over here to see what others were experiencing. This is already August and it just gets more and more complicated. It is unfortunate that I have been here over 10 years and worked through everything only to have my work overpowered because of people just starting out or with the money to pay techs to put stuff together,  Anyone remember when they had us making out own shop html?  I think I got my fill after doing that for all my shops and seeing all  my work done for nothing because they changed formats. 

[Jadendreamer13]

You can always take a “wait-and-see” approach to see how these changes pan out for others before taking the leap yourself. I’ve done this twice now, and both times it was a good business decision for me. Your mileage may vary.

[Perelandrian]

Does Zazzle prioritize collections that have cover photos in the searches, as they do with the individual products with cover photos?

[GraphicAllusion]

Thank you so much for your post. I feel EXACTLY the same way. Overwhelmed, overworked, overstressed trying to keep up with it all....you name it. 🙁

[shoshannahscrib]

I feel you. I have been on here for many years too. It's gotten very frustrating! Sales and views are in the toilet and seem to get worse the more effort I make! 😞
An alternate perspective about cover photos... In my experience, my products with mockups don't necessarily sell better than ones that don't have a cover. Perhaps the reason you are seeing the first few pages filled with cover photos might not be because Zazzle really favors them but because the creators made cover photos for their best selling items.

Here's what I have done since Zazzle first started this mockup thing. I check the views and sales and each time there is a view or sale I add that product to my mockup to-do list. It is a lot easier than just randomly adding mockups to ALL  old products. Plus it seems like I sell (old) designs that I really don't like myself and would never bother to add a mockup to it on my own. 
Just my 2 cents about covers/mockups in case it helps someone feel less overwhelmed!

[Marcia]

@shoshannahscrib I do the same thing deciding what mockup photos to create! I have a certain criteria for when a product gets a mockup: when it gets a sale, when it hits a certain number of views, or when it gets a like. Occasionally I'll make ones for new products I really want to sell, time permitting lol. After months & months & months of this I think a big chunk of my regularly viewed/popular products now have covers & I'm sort of catching up. Does it work? Who knows? But I do see sales on things that had never sold that I had put a cover photo on not that long before...

[shoshannahscrib]

Hi! Yes I do exactly the same. Does it work? Indeed who knows. 🙂 But it keeps me from feeling too overwhelmed adding mockups to 30K products hahaha. I like making mockups actually but I can see it being extremely annoying if you don't know where to start with old products especially. ❤️

[Artists4God]

I just heard of "cover photos" a couple of days ago.  Where can I find out what they are and where they go? I am so confused. Thanks in advance for help.  Do any of you have a link to where you have a cover photo and what they look like?

[Wildart]

Hi there,

A cover photo is like the images that zazzle uses to display your finished product for sale. They want us to replace one of these photos with our own, so we go into the product view(click on your product) and the bar above shows "downloads" you then select which image you want to use to make your own cover image, downlaod it and then place it in your own background/mock up scene. the easiest to start with are squares or rectangles you can easiy crop(to avoid having to remove the background), use your own way of doing this(for example you can use power point ,or canva online. [Search for free photo editing software or sites]. you can add any plain or patterned background for the simplest editing. Once you are done, upload it to your images then go into the product again, and add Media. If it is the only cover image you add in to that product, it will show first.

Message me or reply here for further questions

Gill

[Artists4God]

Thanks. Not sure I understand all that....I'll have to read it again.

[wheresthekarma]

Hey Artists4God,
I was going to link to some of Zazzle's pages on photo covers and collection covers but there are just so many random articles. So, I would suggest go here to their newsletters and scroll down because there are several articles for you to read Creator News | Zazzle Community
Also here is some videos I made on how to make photo covers for both products and collection if it's easier to "see" then to "read".  How to make a Mock Up Cover Photo on Kittl for your Zazzle Products (youtube.com)
I hope both these links help. I know it's overwhelming. ❤️

[Mariholly]

I do the same but with products that are sold and don't have a cover. I was thinking of doing it with products that receive likes. Good idea to do it with the new views!

[wheresthekarma]

Thank you Shoshanna, it's funny you say that, That is exactly what I have been doing lately. As I go through my sales I just add mockups to whatever just sold. ❤️ It's helpful to hear the experiences of others, so thank you for sharing.

[Wesha]

Thanks a lot @shoshannahscrib, for sharing this ... very practical and useful tip to sort out and work on cover pics.

[Wildart]

I too have so much to deal with in RL I am considering closing it all, or at the very most  only making one product a month max for quite a while to come. Too stressful, even when I have no intention of making videos at this point.

[OrchardBerry]

Yes, yes, yes…I totally agree with everything that’s been said! Zazzle is asking way too much of us and I’ve just started ignoring all the newest things they’ve been asking us to do. I’ve been on Zazzle for almost 15 years.

[wheresthekarma]

I'm right behind you, I think 14 years now! I think I'm going to do the same. Just ignore everything that stresses me out or feels overwhelming and just keep on doing what I was doing. My sales have been great the last couple days, and most doesn't even have a cover photo or in a "newer store" that I put a lot of work in, so I'm going to continue to do things the way I was before. I'm a little embarrassed I got so stressed out by it all and thought about deleting this post, but maybe it's good Zazzle gets a feel to how everyone feels with all the "new things." It's almost like being micromanaged on here now.

[Angelandspot]

Good idea.  The cover images really stressed me out.  I made a few but most of those products didn't sell.  I'm just going to keep adding new products and not worry about you must now make a video, you must now do this, you must now do that and keep going with what works best for me because I was feeling so burnt out from working so many hours every day on all the various platforms I sell my stuff on.

[Wildart]

I did resolve this at first, but I got carried awaywith doing covers, but now feeling overwhelmed again, and puling back, doing what I love and taking my time. I have a new strategy that is lowering my stress, if I want to start  new collection (wedding for example) I make the products and collection private till it is complete. I am concentrating on making a collection that I would want to buy, if it takes 6 months it takes 6 months, I have other things that are selling, Plus I am only on one platform,(though I did have another, which I didn't care for). Imagine how stressed someone like you could be, on multiple platforms, I empathise.

[shoshannahscrib]

I'm really glad you made this post. ❤️

[JulieV]

I'm so glad you posted about this and judging from the replies others are too! It's nice to know we are not alone in feeling overwhelmed and overworked with Zazzle's changes in recent times. Also, woohoo, so glad to hear you have been able to work out a way forward that is less stressful and have also been making some good sales without having to jump through a thousand hoops! Onward and upward! 😁

[Lola2]

I am a new creator and I’m at my wits end already. I have spent several months, creating different products and collections and even though I’m constantly posting to Pinterest, I’ve only had a couple sales and that was from family members. I have very low views, and it seems that I’m being hidden from the search results. I’ve gone back-and-forth with customer service for wants to no avail. They just from time to time after I keep grinding them. Tell me that they have no answers for me as of yet. I have even contacted corporate and have been ignored. The worst part is I’m Not searchable on Google, which is a major problem and I do not have the manpower to fix this myself obviously. I wanted to make a full-time career out of this and have made myself sick over it.

[Barbara]

You probably shouldn't compare yourself to how you believe everyone else is doing here. Sales have had a drastic dip, and we're all hoping they'll go back up again.

I seriously doubt you're being hidden. It's just that you're just one of a mountain of designers. In searching for your own products, have you changed the listing from "Popular" to "Newest"?

Customer service is essentially for the customers, so you're unlikely to get help from them. I've found the forums are often the best place.

Zazzle is far from a get-rich-quick place. It can take years of work before finding your own sweet spot. Some never do. I'm not trying to discourage you. What I'm suggesting is that you come back down to earth. Keep working at it, keep creating different designs and give it, at the very least, a year before you decide this is or isn't for you. Even after a year, you probably won't have sales like those of the Platinum sellers.

Colorwash's Home

[Wildart]

been here 17 years and feel the same!

[TShirtfort]

Also they don't explain in a straightforward way what we are supposed to do. Just optimize your hidden stuff. Optimize how? I spend all my time unhiding things and doing what I think optimizes them only to have them rehidden. Or work on your z-rank but you don't get to know what that means. I want to design funny art and put it on products. I don't understand SEO, I'm not a programmer, I don't have a youtube with 23 million subscribers, I tried making a mock up but it looked terrible so I gave up on it. I like straightforward things. Like do this, or these are the keywords that work to sell funny products that have nothing to do with weddings, or he we revamped our categories so you don't have to put fun and laughs for 90000 products. 

[JulieV]

Love your post. Zazzle...are you listening...many of your creators are just like Tshirtfort...I know I am. 😊

[wheresthekarma]

Couldn't have said it better!

[OpusPosh]

My sales have dropped by 80% approximately. May be because there are so many changes! I don't understand most of what Zazzle wants us to do ...And making covers for 25,000+ items is all but impossible. 😞

[Lais]

I think it's not only a problem we on Zazzle are facing... I'm on a Facebook group of people who work on other platforms and since last year their sales have been super down too. 😔