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. 

[Brownielocks]

When it first got announced, it didn't show up in my store.  After about 10 days it did show up in my Advanced Settings.  It had me checked and signed up.  But,  I opted out.  Now it doesn't even show up again.  So If I changed my mind lets say, there's nothing there to check.  Craziness!

[Scott]

I see it...it's the gold colored section. Maybe you were checking your Member settings rather than your Store settings? https://www.zazzle.com/store/brownielocks/settings/advanced

Let me know if it still doesn't show up for you.

[Wildart]

I emailed Creative Fabrica for clarification re digital downloads, and as long as they comply with their licenses and are flattened files(as Zazz will be doing with digital downloads) we can use their designs when they form part of a design. Here is the link to their licesensing detail:

https://www.creativefabrica.com/single-sales-license/#digital

[Marcia]

@Wildart thank you for contacting them and filling us in on their response! That's great to know.

[Scott]

Hi everyone, the announcement for this upcoming feature has clearly drawn a lot of interest from the Creator community. We love the enthusiasm and curiosity that we're seeing, and we'll continue to do our best to collect questions and provide answers as soon as possible.

Our major request from here is that we keep this conversation focused on questions, suggestions, and feedback for Zazzle. The conversation now contains nearly 350 posts, and that's a LOT to sort through for Creators that don't visit the forums on a regular basis. We're hoping that providing a FAQ can help with this, but it would be great to keep this conversation clear for folks that might still have questions that need answering.

When there's more information to share we'll certainly let you know!

(...and I'd like to add a quick reminder that the best way to thank someone for posting helpful content is to click the Kudos button. Same goes if someone asks a question that you find interesting or important.)

[CreativeLeahG]

@James

Regarding the price of a single download and our royalty cut by 50% in order to offer a lower price point.

On the competing site, you can buy a whole bundle of wedding items for less than the currently proposed full price for a single invitation, so we need to lower our price for a single invitation download to be competitive.

The issue here is the 50% royalty cut. WE keep the lion's share of the royalty on the competing site. What is our incentive as creators to sell this item here at this lower royalty when we can sell it at the same price on the competitor site (while also retaining greater control over our designs, no refunds, and improved anlaytics) and make more money? Your chart re royalty compared to competitor doesn't seem to reflect my own experience re designer cut.

My recommendation is that Zazzle reconsider the 50% reduction in our royalty in order to lower the price so that Zazzle can offer a competing product.

I see enormous potential in the digital download offering, combined with the ability to order paper / other print on demand items, as this distinguishes Zazzle as a unique selling point. However, for the customer, it will all come down to price, especially when comparing digital download offerings in specific markets on comparison sites. Please reconsider the royalty reduction, with the goal of being able to combine multiple product options and bundles in the future, as our leading competitor does.

My suggestion would be as follows:

When a customer order 100+ invitations (printed) as an example, they are offered a FLAT version of their printed item for a minimal price $3 as a download. This download design cannot be used for any other purpose, edited, downloaded multiple times etc. as it is identical to the printed item and cannot be altered. Download royalty at the highest rate 90%+.

If a Customer wants a Digital Download to edit and play with as proposed currently by Zazzle, WE the designer set the price point while retaining the 90%+ royalty.

[albamarie]

Love this.

[CrazyMermaid]

If my store is opted out, I sincerely hope I won't be forced to market cheap digital downloads, like I am forced to market "budget-priced" products. That competition shown below my full-priced market products forced me to enter another niche I had no interest in. 

[KC]

I wonder if it would work the opposite way:

Designers set a FIXED FLAT DOLLAR royalty, and Zazzle takes a cut of that (similar to competitor sites operate). 

The market could then figure out if certain customers want to pay whatever/if a particular design/item is worth it to them to pay the download fee? 

And then no major discounts on digital downloads, or the option to opt in or out for discount codes? 

[osea]

I am glad that the download for Zazzle Cards will be activated. So customers can also print with their local printers or their favorites online. It is also a well-deserved advantage for Zazzle. Furthermore, I will not have to look for other web services of this type to share personalized and customizable graphics.

[Cat]

Any updates on when this might go live? Just trying to sort out where to prioritize my efforts.

[CreativeLeahG]

I've been away since the 8th, any news or updates re Digital Downloads? Have I missed anything?

@James 

[andyodell]

Not sure if this has been asked. Do you think there will be a way in the future to integrate this with etsy like other template sites?

[James]

At the moment, you need to have a product published on Zazzle in order to purchase it. So you could advertise on Etsy and direct users to customize and purchase via Zazzle maybe? 😁 

[andyodell]

Was thinking how to make this work. Thought maybe have some products as private links, then when purchased through etsy a link can be emailed to the customer. But then they have to purchase again on Zazzle after customising which isn't great.

[James]

Hi everyone, 

Sorry for the delay. I think we're looking at after the Holidays to Beta Instant Downloads now. 

[Lindafbrown]

Is this available to Canadians

[CreativeLeahG]

One of my sites is getting a lot of hits for a company I mention that ONLY does digital invitations. I am currently not their affiliate, but I can't NOT discuss digital as an option on my site when it is something a significant proportion of the market is looking for. Any updates when we will be offering this?

Thanks

[albamarie]

I am also very interested in this. I hope we will hear from Zazzle soon.

[chefcateringbiz]

Impossible to find out if this has been suggested yet, but I would like to be able to design a "product" of "digital download" not attached to a current product. Set it up like a poster, where we can size it to the dimensions we want and customize, etc., and set our own markup on it based on your current "percentage", which seems to be reasonable starting at 50%. This would resolve some other issues that come up like call-outs to "editors picks" being deleted and replaced by "download", etc., and having to create a design on a less-optimal product because another one isn't available for download.

[albamarie]

I would also love it if we had more products to design on for digital downloads. I would like to create my 8.5x11 folded wedding programs as a digital download. There is a LOT of request for downloadable programs since they are usually done last minute.

[SJoy]

I would like to suggest making business cards downloadable as well.  I have had a few customers ask if they can just download them, even going as far as asking if I could do it outside of Zazzle  (which I am not comfortable with).  So being able to have customers have a download option on business cards would be nice.

[Mariholly]

Hi! I'm not sure if this has been discussed before, but are discounts allowed on digital downloads?

[Mariholly]

And can they cancel them?

 

[Marcia]

@Mariholly Unfortunately, I believe yes to both your questions.

[Mariholly]

@Marcia Thank you! This seems kind of incredible.... So maybe someone has gotten my design without paying a single cent? It seems crazy that it can take everything to hell and make everything disappear.... I am currently discouraged enough because after 5 years my sales have been reduced to 2020 levels, even being prosilver, this makes me sink into despair .... What's going on here??

[MargPhoto]

I have sold a few downloads and so far there have been no returns. I prefer the downloads as opposed to someone only ordering one invitation because they will photocopy more on their printer. At the end of the day it's more money in my pocket. I say give it a chance. If people want it for free, they will just screen shot the end result and not pay a cent. One invitation sold is literally a few cents for me so I welcome the downloads.

[Connie]

But it's not more money in your pocket when they do cancel the order! I think it's only a matter of time until the scammers figure that out. That being said, I decided to jump on the digital downloads bandwagon, just to see what happens. I think Zazzle favors those more anyway. But I've only gotten a very few sales of downloads.

[Mariholly]

@Connie I also decided to get on the download train although I was not totally convinced precisely for these reasons. Well, I choose little elaborate, simple designs and I also want to see what happens. I would love to know what Z does in these cases, and if the cancellation occurred before or after the download and if he has any control over this. I don't think it's good to be so permissive and have scammers think it's easy to trick us and steal our work.

[Marcia]

I agree with @MargPhoto. I just had a digital download this morning. And lately I've been getting a lot of 1 card sales, so I'm appreciating the option for digital sales, making more than the 23¢ or so. True, people can scam us & I'm sure that's been happening to me ever since I started designing cards for sale here, even before the digital option. Whenever a holiday nears & is especially too close to get printed cards on time, I notice on google analytics that I get a ton of views on my designs but barely any sales for the amount of views. Either bots, showing up on google search, or people going to my design, personalizing my card & then taking a screen snap (or all of the above). Regardless, no money for me. I've had a number of digital downloads since they've been enabled & am personally happy with this. I've even had sales where someone buys the digital invite along with printed versions. Although so far I've been lucky in terms of no digital returns, I wish people weren't allowed to do so. So not fair.

[AirTwin]

I'm a bit confused. I've searched this forum but there are too many results.

How do I get to products like phone wallpapers, desktop wallpapers, video backgrounds, or any truly digital downloadable product? I cannot find them or don't know what they are called here.

If anyone knows? Please post a link (or message me) to the area for digital products in 'create your own' section.

[Cat]

Zazzle doesn't offer those yet. The only products you can sell digitally are digital versions of invitations, greeting cards, holiday cards, save the date cards, and posters. If you're looking to download something for your own use, you can find those things in the Create Tool: Design Tool - Create Digital Designs & Templates | Zazzle Create

[AirTwin]

Thank you!

I've sold digitals online before, so when I saw digital downloads I wanted to make those.

I guess right now buyers cannot have the option of a matching wallpaper with their new phone case :'(   It really could be an awesome free perk with purchase of tech items.

[albamarie]

The day we can offer paper sheets as a download will be AMAZING. Hopefully coming soon.

[klstock]

How do you download the product view with the hand holding the phone? I don't see it in the options under "downloads". I know I could do a print screen but shouldn't this be available for designers to download for marketing purposes?