Zazzle Traffic - 3351.8% lower than their leading Competitor - how might traffic be increased?

[CreativeLeahG]

Note sure how accurate these results are!

But according the site linked:

Zazzle stats

https://www.similarweb.com/website/zazzle.com/#overview

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Leading Competitor

https://www.similarweb.com/website/etsy.com/#overview

Etsy

Total Visits

479.5M

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Etsy's site traffic is approximately 3351.8% greater than Zazzle's site traffic.

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As an affiliate, I've been sending thousands of customers to Zazzle each week, but I've recently started deleting my Zazzle links because of the landing page redirect issue as such the traffic to Zazzle will decline - it is inevitable. Is driving away successful affiliates from Zazzle a wise decision?

If I can send thousands of customers to Zazzle weekly I am more than capable of sending them somewhere else. Which is sad but there appears to be no value with the current situation in me sending them here. 

If Zazzle can suggest a solution to the dilemma I and other affiliates face, that would be helpful, but it appears they almost want to encourage creators like me to leave the platform.

[HeatherM]

Oh, I see. I had to go back to your Legal Department thread re-read it a few times. Since I have seen people concerned about a reduction in their Referral commission that are not in the P2 program concerned, I assumed the redirect concern was that the links resulting in sales were not being accounted for.

(That's been one of my concerns after spending money on Pinterest, seeing the product sale, yet receiving no referral commissions during that same time period. Since we do not have any information about our traffic, I decided to stop spending money.)

So, with the P2 program you receive a higher commission on your own sales, but nothing for other shop's sales. That agreement was okay when you were competing against 25 competitors vs the 66 competitors now. 

Now I am so curious as to how many sales Zazzle gets from this type of advertising since above the fold is the prime real estate. Honestly, I didn't even know those other listing existed until I re-read your legal post. (I typically do not scroll down since I am only making sure my link is working.)

I also wonder if sales that come about from P2 sales are marked as a "3rd Party" referral or as "None" for the non P2 participant? Since Zazzle is not experiencing any advertising costs, are they taking 20% of the referral amount? Hmmm...

As a rather newbie, this forum honestly scares me sometimes. I start thinking that no one trust Zazzle and I start wondering why people are still on the platform and if I am making the right decision selling here. So far, I love it and it brings me a ton of joy and do not plan on leaving.

[Photocrazy6]

I've been thinking of changing all of my clean links back to referral ones. But it looks like most don't get proper credit for those either. So my plan is to delete anything not mine and add my referral code back to my products. Going to be a lot of work which stinks because I was attempting to do cover photos.

I am just honestly shocked at the lack of response from Zazzle because all of the years I have been with them they have been transparent. It would be nice to know if we would get a referral sale (not promoter sale) if someone buys one of the many products they show below. Can anyone from Zazzle answer that please?

[Connie]

Typically, when you are in the P2 program, if someone goes through your link to your product, but buys another person's design, you'll get an email with $0 royalty from that. So I think if you start getting a lot of those emails, you can guess that those were the products that were shown below your product.

[Photocrazy6]

I have never gotten a $0 email but I do look at the app on my husband's iPhone and see the $0 earnings. My main question is: if I go back and add my referral link to my own products (basically dumping the p2 program idea) would I still earn the 15% even if the customer buys one of the many EP items down below? Or would I also lose the referral for those as well? Because I also have a lot of linkovers in my associates but rarely see a referral for those. 

So if I need to formally drop out of the p2 program I can but I assumed by adding a referral link it wouldn't be necessary? But I am curious if I refer someone, using my referral code and not a clean link, would I earn a referral if they start scrolling down and click on a different product vs. The view product details button on the original product I refer them to? I feel like I should but I also don't see any information stating this or how those 'landing pages' are working. I would love an answer before I just delete my affiliate links but I don't think I will get one.

I'm not trying to be down on Zazzle. I enjoy using it, I just don't want to spend any time on the referring side if it doesn't payout the way I would think it would. 

[Malissa]

@Photocrazy6   If someone comes in on your regular referral link, yes, you DO earn 15% referral payment on the sale on anything they purchase even if it is several other stores as well as off of your own products where you will get the 15% self referral and your royalty.  In my opinion, referrals are so hard to get because so many people block cookies and it seems to be more and more so in the last two or three years. 
 Editing to add that you are correct that if you just start using your referral link again you don’t have to drop out of the promoter program, but if you do drop outyou should be able to go back to sharing links from the Z share buttons without having to manually add them. 

[Photocrazy6]

Ok, I just wondered if they scrolled down and clicked a different link if that changed things. I know it was that you could refer to any page but wondered if that was now being treated differently if they don't click on the product you sent them to. The whole 'landing page' thing has definitely changed my mind on the p2 program but since there is no official word on how associate referrals are treated I am going to just delete a lot of older stuff. I was hoping I could just edit them to include my referral link but there isn't a definitive answer from Zazzle.

[ColsCreations]

There are some answers here.
Information on the "Landing Page" (interim 'View Product Details' page) & Referral / Affiliate Links 

They are not official Zazzle answers but they are real-world results that show that the "landing page" does not change how referral links works.

[HeatherM]

@Connie thanks for the information. I am glad that Zazzle provides that transparency. Do you know if the designer that made the sale earned a referral royalty or their set royalty?

Sorry for the green question, I have just really been working on getting a better understanding the sales commission structure. I was so grateful for this forum as I was unable to find the 20% rule in the Zazzle help.

[Malissa]

@HeatherM  I am not Connie, but I can answer your question.  The designer that made the sale will only get their set royalty rate and no referral.

Referrals are based off of the amount of the sale and a designers royalty rate does not factor in at all. 

You can never get a referral off of someone else's referral link and you can never get a royalty off of any one else's product ONLY a 15% referral and only if it is a link with your affiliate number and not a clean pp2 link. 

I hope that helps and I didn't confuse things adding extra info to my answer!

[HeatherM]

Thank you for your reply @Malissa - I understand a referral will not be earned for the designer making the sale, my question will it be at their set royalty or with the 20% discount on their royalty due to someone entering the site using a referral link.

ie - my royalty is set at 14.9%. If the sale comes a referral market as a "3rd Party" my royalty earned is reduced to 11.23%.

I am just curios if the sale is still marked "3rd Party" as Zazzle technically has not paid any additional advertising associated with the sale.

Sorry for not making my question clearer. Sometimes there are so many variables it is hard to know how to ask. 

[Malissa]

Doh! Sorry. I misunderstood you. But Cols I think may have understood in her reply. 

[ColsCreations]

Connie:
Typically, when you are in the P2 program, if someone goes through your link to your product, but buys another person's design, you'll get an email with $0 royalty from that.

HeatherM:
Do you know if the designer that made the sale earned a referral royalty or their set royalty?

I took that question to mean, for the designer whose product was sold, will it be dinged as a 3rd-Party sale meaning the 20% carve-out is applied to the royalty earned, or will it be a referrer=None sale. Very good question and one I realized I had an exact-case sale in my very recent history to look at and see.

Earlier this month @Fiorenzo and I did some testing and posted about it here:
Information on the "Landing Page" (interim 'View Product Details' page) & Referral / Affiliate Links... 

In one scenario, I used a promoter link to one of his products where he would have earned 35% had I bought that product. Instead, I veered off, browsed around a bit, and purchased one of my own products. On his end, he got a $0 referral. His total number of referrals went up, but his $ total did not. So the system recognized that I came in on his link even though he didn't earn anything for it since it wasn't his product. On MY end, that order shows as a 3rd-Party sale so the 20% carve-out applied.

So there's a real-life answer. If a customer comes in on a PP2 link and buys something from another designer, for that designer it's treated as a 3rd-Party sale.

@HeatherM 

[Fiorenzo]

On my seller-end, @ColsCreations own product purchase through my promoter link got me 0% referral, the referral counts up in my referral summary (+1 referral, no earnings) but does NOT show up in my referral history (not even as 0% referral). So, basically, when you get a referral "sale" showing up in the summary but not in the history, it's a 0% referral. Not optimal, but at least you have an idea of how many 0% referrals you get.

[HeatherM]

Thank you so much @Fiorenzo! I come from an accounting background and understanding the numbers is so empowering. I truly appreciate you sharing your experience!

[Malissa]

So what it seems is the carveout defaults to Zazzle? I don’t think the designer should pay a carveout in this instance, but the system seems to get complicated the more one dives in. It seemed so simple when I signed up😂

[HeatherM]

I know @Malissa - - - I had never heard of a carve-when I was exploring what Zazzle has to offer prior to signing up. Zazzle's payout system is complicated, but so much more profitable then all the other major platforms I have tried - - - plus it is super fun!

[Malissa]

Yes! I love Zazzle and the opportunities that it gives/has given me. This has been my best year here so, even though it’s not perfect and it’s a slow climb for me, it is the only place I sell and advertise that I am exclusively on Zazzle. 

[HeatherM]

@ColsCreations you are fantastic! I love the fact that you have tested out this scenario. The 3rd Party royalties really thru me off when I started and I actually think I saw a post of yours that explains the  20% carve-out.

Thank you so much all your help @ColsCreations - - - the time spent testing then sharing your experience is invaluable! 

[Connie]

Etsy also has their hands in a bunch of different pies. Zazzle has ONE pie. so of course, spread out among all those different pies, Etsy will have a lot more traffic.

[chefcateringbiz]

Zazzle is never very... responsive to designer issues during the holiday season, but a complete lack of response to ALL these kinds of similar posts is somewhat troubling. I don't really like exposing our dirty laundry in the forums like this, no matter what. That, to me, is even more troubling. Is there no response to these issues via the proseller (or whatever they call it now) email/channels at all?

[CreativeLeahG]

Nothing .... and yes it is troubling. 

[HeatherM]

I hate the exposing of dirty laundry too! I do not think that it is good for moral or anyone's wellbeing.

I believe it is due to the legalities involved in responding to these comments and addressing legalities in a forum. Actions like that would be catastrophic for the company. One response from Zazzle personnel would open the floodgates to additional questions which I am sure they know can lead to potential lawsuits. 

I read in another thread that Zazzle's legal team has the complaint. I know that from my professional experience, anytime attorney's get involved things take time as their job is to ensure the company is compliant and protected.

[chefcateringbiz]

I'm really getting a 2009 Cafepress vibe out of it all.