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I want to recap and itemize issues I am experiencing in my stores, and have been for months+ and years.
1) Grouping:
A. I have a blanket design in many colors. 2-3 of them are selling well. Those blankets are shown on the first few pages of marketplace searches. That's good. But, because Zazzle has grouped all the colors into one product listing, the other blankets are not seen. Now, those colors are being hidden by Zazzle because they haven't been seen in whatever the time limit is. Now I have to go in and "optimize them", even though the title, tags, and descriptions are fine. But, because there is also a glitch with updating titles, tags, and descriptions...those hidden blankets are once again hidden, needing optimization again and again. Several glitches at play here, but this line item is to focus on Grouping...which caused the problem in the first place.
B. I have a lot of apron designs, each design having many color options...per my training. These designs have each been grouped together. Now, when someone buys a gold apron, they get it with a hot pink strap...because grouping does not work right and all the straps (which are offered in standard and custom colors) are not matched up to the right apron. This has resulted in many many returns. Also, there are many many aprons being hidden by Zazzle because, being in a group, they are not being seen. They need to be optimized. I have been going back and forth with Zazzle and I am being told I have to change the titles and tags, so that the parameters are different enough that the auto grouping won't group them together. But, I can't, because the titles, tags, and descriptions won't update.
2) Titles, Tags and Descriptions Not Updating:
I have "optimized" over 500 products in the last 2 months. They are still being hidden and all optimizations are lost.
3) Promotions:
I am in the Promoter Program. I am building my Social Media sites and populating with my products. There are too many products to catch every one that might be hidden, so I am promoting products I later find out are hidden because they need to be "optimized". So I am going back and removing those products.
4) Featured Products Not Updating:
I have attempted to add more products to my featured products several times. This has not worked for me for 2 years.
5) Products Not Showing Up In The Marketplace:
I have had problems finding my products in the marketplace. Some kind fellow creators have looked and reported back they see them here and there, offering advice that maybe the tags are the problem. In several cases I would agree. Our stores are a work in progress, trial and error plays a big role in perfecting our titles, tags and descriptions...even with the best intel. However, I have continued to monitor this issue... in particular towels I made, for the towel sale a few days ago. Those towels weren't found, then surfaced for a few hours, and are again gone. I just searched under only 1 term- towels-. I went through 13 pages of only the "Newest" towels. No other search terms. Page 10 started with a towel Product ID: 256119408499598231 Created on: 3/25/2022, 12:44 AM, 2:25 AM. Page 11 ended with a towel Product ID: 217167951086258276 Created on: 3/24/2022, 6:44 PM. My latest towel, Product ID: 256589761887520488 Created on: 3/24/2022, 8:00 PM was not there between those 2 products. It should have been. The same thing has happened a lot in the past. Where they aren't seen, then they are seen, then they aren't seen again. Something is going on. I have provided product numbers, but it's like taking your car in because it's making a funny noise. The problems are not able to be reconstructed.
In summary, I am not posting this to whine or complain. I am not trying to harp on things that have already been reported. I am itemizing several of these issues in one post, so "the powers that be" can see what we are facing as we get up and into our store every day.
I am at a point where I am so frustrated I don't know what to do first. The only thing I CAN control is creating new products.
Meanwhile, my Zrank has plummeted, I'm sure because 1) there are so many products needing optimization, 2) my sales are way down due to either a) hidden products not being seen in the marketplace, b) products that are clicked on that don't go anywhere because the product is hidden.
I apologize if this reads like a rant, I do not mean it to. I just needed to itemize everything so maybe Zazzle will read this and realize the collective impact these "glitches" are having on its creators.
I appreciate it very much when a Zazzle rep says they are sorry for the issues and they are sorry the fixes are taking so long. But, if I am to survive, I need these items fixed. All the new bells and whistles in the world are not worth it if the nuts and bolts don't work.
I pray, I really really pray, that this post finds its way to upper management, not just stopping at the front line. This year is moving into the second quarter already. Please please please hire the talent needed to fix these system errors that your current talent cannot get a handle on. Please help your "creators" or soon we will be called "ex Creators".
