Instant Download: Questions, Suggestions and Feedback!

[James]

Hi Creators, 

We're so excited to introduce Instant Downloads to Zazzle. If you haven't checked out the announcement and dedicated Landing page including FAQ's and How it works, please do so.

We're sure you might have some questions about this and some thoughts, so please feel free to share them here. 

Thank you,

The Creator Team. 

[James]

Yes, you can be rest-assured our world-class customer care team will be ready to help answer customer’s questions regarding this new offering.

[Doodles]

I can't find where you turn off migration can anyone help me please

[Sara_H]

store - settings - advance settings - design migration - manage participation -'If you wish to opt-out of the migration to digital products, please uncheck the box below before October 31, 2022:'

[Doodles]

Thanks for the quick response

[Aesthete]

I'm sorry - on my desktop, I don't see how to get to 'stores - settings'  there is no option for settings on any of the stores or anywhere on the stores page.  Are you doing this though a phone app perhaps?

[Lais]

 

 

[Sara_H]

go to your zazzle store @Aesthete and there is a tab for settings
click that then advance settings

then scroll down to find Design Migration

This is on desktop - I don't have the phone app.

[malibuitalian]

Thank you for posting this!

Lori

[Nadja]

I use stock photos that I am allowed to use for the product preview only. All these photos are set to force the customer to replace with their own. Will this still be the case for digital downloads? Can I be sure they will not be able to download the product with the stock photos? 

[CrazyMermaid]

Nevermind.

[James]

Hi @Nadja ,

Yes! Customers interact with Instant Downloads the same way as your existing printable versions. We honor the force replace and enforce this before a purchase is made. 

Thank you. 

[klstock]

"...Christmas cards, birthday invites, or family portraits to friends and family via email, text, IG, or whatever online method you choose..."

My question about that part of the introduction is - if they are sending it digitally, or printing it themselves at home or elsewhere, where does the artist's logo or name go? With physical cards bought through Zazzle, a logo can be added to the card for those wanting to. I do it for cards. 

Say someone buys a digital download, uses it to make some Christmas cards and sends it to 100 people. Some of those people receive it and like the artwork - where would it say who originally created the artwork?

[Lea]

Customers can turn off the attribution on the printed cards too. And up until last year there wasn't any Zazzle branding on the cards.

[klstock]

I have my logo set to the permanent/always visible/can't be removed setting. The way I understand it is the attribution is the one Zazzle adds.

In any case, that doesn't answer my question as to how that works on digital sales.

[James]

Hi @klstock 

the Attribution model works the same for Instant Downloads. Customers receive all sides as a flat image(for multiple sides products), but can also interact with this option in the same way as existing printable products, and turn off, or leave it. 

Thank you.

[Wildart]

WEll so much to digest. another question is: how will zazzle know that if the customer decides to re sell an edited design as their own,(zazz or elsewhere) is there xif data info on jpg or png flies that cannot be deleted, naming the owner of the design?. Also .pdf files are the same as an .ai file for all intents and purposes, so in my experience using Inkscape, a .pdf file is fully adjustable and vector able. It is not a FLAT file, and can be made larger and higher resolution using at least Inkscape and probably many other programs.  feedback will bevery interesting. Of course I am assuming some wally out there MAY try to do this... 🙂

[PenguinPower]

PDF files are not automatically vectors. If you take a raster image and save it as a pdf it does not magically become a vector or gain any ability to be resized without degrading. Only a file that is originally a vector image will have those qualities. So far as I know all of the files Z uses to print are proprietary and not your original (and thus why you can delete an image and not affect your products). I’ll admit it’s an assumption but it is an assumption based on knowledge of printing, and I do assume that file is likely a raster image. 

[Cat]

My understanding is that if you save something as a pdf that contains raster images, those images get embedded in the file as raster images - but the rest of the file is vectorized - I think. Anyhow, I once tried to re-create a seating chart for a customer who was in a jam because she'd received 2 damaged foam core boards from Zazzle and the wedding was in a few days. But in order for it to be print quality it had to be huge. I ended up having to make the thing HUGE - like 8000 x 8000 pixels or something in order to get print quality, and then when the pdf embedded the watercolor art as raster images it ended up being over 50MB. Maybe there are ways to do it differently that I'm too ignorant to know, but that was my experience. 

[PenguinPower]

Well…not exactly…. saving something as a pdf doesn’t change anything to a vector… if the element is a vector it stays that way, if it’s a raster image, it stays that way. So say you combine a raster image with some vector text (which pretty much all fonts are these days). If you increase the physical size the image will degrade, but the text will be fine. 

[KC]

I'd have an issue with our SVG and AI and PDF files that are able to be used in the Zazzle Design Tool being downloaded as vector in a PDF download, if it works similar to how many other programs usually export PDFs by default (as you mentioned above).

We'd need files to be converted to raster/pixel art in the downloads for the digital file purchasers, please. So basically everything EXCEPT text should be converted to raster/pixel in whatever download file is given to the customers. 

[SuzyLeeLo]

I agree. I use many vector images that I create and do not want them out in the wild as a vector images. I would rather have them to be purchased on this platform and downloaded as a raster image.

[idraw]

Penguin power wrote ….all of the files Z uses to print are proprietary and not your original (and thus why you can delete an image and not affect your products).

pp is correct, zazzle ‘converts’ the files so that they are in a proprietary format. It was mentioned years ago when asked about in the old forum.

Unless z has changed their methods, that is.

[Wildart]

yes, I hear what you say, but Inkscape can take any image,rasterised or other, and using the trace image function, make a vector out of it, with certain inages it will as good as the image,but in vector form. limitations will be some colors and gradients. This is what I do with some of my photos already, or some jpgs that are too small, so I can make them vector. often the colors can be fixed, or still acceptable. gradients are tricker, for sure, so they may be safe.  My point is that depending on the images,it is STILL possible to alter them satisfactorilly. (hm is that the right spelling?) 🙂 🙂 

[PenguinPower]

So.... that doesn't really have anything to do with PDF's or downloads.. you can do a live trace from any image, even a screen shot, so I don't see this as changing anything in that respect... And a live trace isn't exactly like just converting a raster to a vector image. It can do fine with simple things - line drawings, silhouettes, woodcuts... but it doesn't do fine details, so it's not going to turn complex artwork, photos, watercolors, etc. into vector images.. 

[James]

There are several pieces to call out in this comment, so we will attempt to address them all, here:

1. We have checks and systems, internally at Zazzle, that flags when someone attempts to sell a design that is owned by another Zazzle Creator. In fact, we disable the post for sale UI when this is detected.

2. We do not have control if an unsavory person violates our user agreement and decides to post a downloaded design onto another marketplace. Unfortunately, this is a risk of being a content owner doing business on the internet. As a platform, we care passionately about protecting our Zazzle Creator Community, and we will be providing resources on how to protect yourself and your IP, soon.

3. One way we are combating theft is that we are providing some level of traceability with each downloaded file. Without getting into much detail, all files that are downloaded from Zazzle (even in the current stand alone design tool), are encoded with Zazzle-specific metadata to trace the original Content Creator, Licensee, and other details.

4. All PDF files that a customer may download from Zazzle will be rasterized and flattened. 

[buxmontweb]

I want to make sure I understand this correctly - hoping @James or another moderator will chime in to clarify.

If I choose not to check "Migrate my eligible products to be sold as a digital download", will I still be able to select individual existing products to sell as digital downloads after November 1st?

And if I select a product to offer as a digital download and then change my mind, will I be able to turn that off in the future for an individual product without having to delete and recreate the product?

[Lais]

I might be wrong but what I understood from the FAQ is:

1. If you opt-in, all your designs will automatically be available to be bought as digital downloads on Nov 1st.
2. If you opt-out, none of your designs will be available to be bought as digital downloads on Nov 1st.
3. But, if you'd like to make any design available to be bought as a digital download, it will be possible, but you'll have to do it manually, going to that design, selecting "edit details" and so on.
4. You'll also have the option to select any design and disable the digital download option. 

[buxmontweb]

Thanks Lais - that's how I interpreted the info provided too - and I would feel better with confirmation from a mod that I understand correctly.

[James]

Hi @buxmontweb ,

The Instant Download offering is completely up to you. If you opt-in before Nov 1st, all eligible products will be automatically migrated, and you can manually remove ones you do not want to be offered. So, if you want to manually choose a product, you should opt-out until after Nov 1st, and select your offering. You will be able to use bulk actions up to 204 products (one page) to opt-in at a time. 

Thank you.

[buxmontweb]

Thanks @James  - that clarified it for me. 

[Claire]

How large is a high-resolution file in pixels? Particularly for prints/posters. How big would it allow a customer to print it?

What prevents them from re-selling downloads aside from a license they probably won't read?

[Scott]

Hey everyone, thanks for taking the time to read about this upcoming feature! We're in the process of collecting questions and feedback from this conversation (and from other channels), and we hope to have responses very soon.

[MargPhoto]

@Scott will the one price include unlimited downloads and changes to the text? I hope there is a limit to this. Im not sure if I should opt in or not. I already have a lot of stolen images that are on amazon. Way too time consuming to keep reporting it. My question is will there be more piracy with the bonus of a high resolution digital image to boot? I'm thinking it would make sense if there would be options of higher and lower resolution with a price adjustment. The bigger the file the more they pay. And paying for so many changes as well. I spend hours creating original artwork for my store, if there is potential of people reselling them, I want big bucks for it

[RG]

Exactly. As artists, we already have to deal with stolen art.  It takes hours out of a week to report all these stolen images, and my designs aren't even available for just digital download.

[James]

Hi @MargPhoto ,

As a creative platform, we are optimistic and have faith in our customers. It is important to note the risks of doing business on the internet, including bad actors who have intent to steal designs, screenshot without paying for it, as well as reselling designs on different marketplaces outside of Zazzle. Instant Downloads serves as a vehicle to allow customers and Creators to ‘do the right thing’ to purchase the design and support the Independent Creator who made it. Additionally, we at Zazzle are continuing to do our best to protect Creators from bad actors:

• We have a Content Management team who reviews each and every order to ensure content is not misappropriated or stolen
  
• We offer features to flag and report designs that are suspected as being stole
  
• We have proprietary, AI-based technology to detect infringing content before products are posted to the marketplace
  
• We take action against accounts who violate our terms of service who attempt to resell designs or possess stolen IP – including termination of their Zazzle account
  

We offer Creators ways to enable watermarks on designs within their store when viewed at high resolutions
Thank you.

[Nuthatch]

I want to understand how they can use the design tool and how many times can they download?  I layer sometimes 40 or 60 cartoons in an image, and if they can completely resize and redownload they could get quite a number of images and play with them at home and make endless things.  Equally if they do one download and use photoshop.  Especially if they are getting poster sized quality images.  And all of my images are high quality pngs.  I have 6 shops or 7 and cannot go through 'again' individually to choose whats okay or whats not, or reflatten layers and reupload photos not quite so digitally large,  if you get what I mean...  I know Spoonflower began repurposing images on Etsy and amazon and ebay, but they monitor endlessly and found many for a while that were pirated images and contacted me and others and helped us contact Amazon and others to officially get them removed.  This was a very busy 3 week process for me with their fantastic help.   I certainly don't want to be paranoid about about what others may do with their 'personal use license and can share unlimited? times and formats?  Thats almost like putting images out into public domain for very low pricing for artists?    I'm confused ... like am I supposed to share images for downloads I don't care about?  And if the logo gets deleted in their editing the product template, again that takes more away from the artist.  I love that Zazzle is always expanding and looking for ways to repurpose and create more avenues of income for win win, ... and I know most of my royalties that were lucrative were volume buying of cards, or items... multiples, which even tho the royalty is higher in your chart, then you take 50% off for your sale that you show, and then it is ONE product, they will not buy multiples of a download, they will multiply it themselves thru printing sharing.  So even if it is a 99% royalty....  I am just not sure, and really want to love this idea and feel that oh boy excitement on this... Any help on your positive seeing of how this will pan out...?  would be appreciated!!  Thank you!

[James]

Hi @Nuthatch ,

Customer can interacti with Instant Download in the same way they can with your current offerings. So as a Creative, you need to decide how accessable you want those details to be with the options available to you within our Design tool. IE, "Make object(s) permanent and always visible".

Thank you.

[SwissVillage]

Please allow us to opt in to cards and invitations, but to opt OUT of Posters.   This is my big concern.  The beta test is focusing on four product lines and it looks like you have to join either ALL of them or none of them. 

I would like to opt out of Posters.   I don't really understand why Posters are included in this mix - this is going to allow very large digital downloads of the type that can be easily copied and applied to products on this other platforms.

Please allow us to opt in by category of product.

[MasterpieceCafe]

Exactly my concern as well. I want to definitely opt out of posters being available for download. I thought the purpose of download was to allow customers to email invites, etc.? Downloading a poster is a completely different beast.

[alissag]

I agree with this 100 percent. I believe the reasoning behind the posters is for things like wedding seating charts, which I understand from frantic messages I've received from customers via Zazzle chat is something that brides seem to often do at the last minute, but it should be a separate category from the cards and invites, especially since the designs you would need a digital download for to print on a poster would almost certainly be different than the designs you would print on a card or invitation.