Useful note on products with backside printing subject to surcharge

[Fiorenzo]

Some products such as duvet covers, yoga mats, shirts, or ceramic ornaments offer backside printing for a surcharge. When designing these products, be aware that ANY design object placed on the backside will trigger the higher product price, no matter if that object is a real design element, a white background color, or a "blank"/empty template text field or placeholder image.

Always make sure, the backside is 100% free of anything, including background colors, before you publish your product, if you want to offer the less costly onesided-variant. This applies also to templates - empty "optional" text template fields and fully transparent "dummy" image placeholders count as content and trigger the higher price. If you want to offer your customers both variants, you need to publish them separately.

[Saints_Aplenty]

@Fiorenzo --  Hope this isn't considered highjacking your thread...  But...   What are your thoughts on how best to get this across to the customer?  Add a disclaimer at the top of our descriptions? 

I used to have 1-sided ceramic ornaments in my store and at some point decided to delete them all for lack of interest.  I doubt I'll be bringing them back.  Too many to do.  But, things like House and Garden Flags concern me.  I can see offering a one-sided garden flag and I'll probably introduce them for next season.  But, I have noticed one-sided House Flags in the Marketplace that may be garnering more attention than mine because of the substantial price differential for flags printed on both sides.  I'd hate losing that market but don't really like a blank backside on a pole-hung flag.

Some further suggestions on handling this matter would be useful to me as well as, I'm sure, designers of T-shirts, duvets, etc.  Your suggestions are always so spot-on!

[Wildart]

Hi there. How about adding some instrctions/info to your description panel as you publish the item. I do this sometimes to clarify how the look of the image can be changed(such as using filters to change the colors etc) You could add to your description that the details of side one can be copied to side 2 ,incurring an extra charge.

[Saints_Aplenty]

That's what I figure I'm going to have to do, I guess...  Republish all flags as one-siders with a note.  (I already do do what you do on some other products where I offer options.  I'm just not sure customers actually read our 'notes'.) 

I just hadn't thought about the necessity of posting one-sided and two-sided versions of things on a regular basis until this price hike.  I foresee the marketplace getting a huge influx of new--or, perhaps, I should say relisted--items unless they put some sort of checkboxes up where the price shows saying something along the lines of "[ ] Print front only at $ or [ ] Print front and back at $$.

Sigh.

[Fiorenzo]

[ ] Print front only at $ or [ ] Print front and back at $$.

This was an idea already suggested especially for shirts (and not only) on the old forum. Again, one of the many suggestions that have ended up enjoying a prolonged vacation on the white beaches of the Bermuda Triangle.

[Jessica_K]

This is a good tip about adding it in the description. I really have to look at my yoga mats in particular for this. I wonder how often people read into our descriptions, do you have any thoughts on that, based on your experience?

[Wildart]

FOR the item i was thinking that this applied to the instructions would be IMPERATIVE. It involves curved text which can be pretty tricky to get right, however they can use the free help in design tools and that designer would help them understand the intricacies I would think. I have not been contacted in any of these more complicated design personalisations, But I fugure if a customer wanted to do everything themselves, adding or altering, then the extra info cannot hurt, right? 🙂

[Fiorenzo]

Thanks for the compliments, I'm glad I can give some helpful insights every now and then. I got helped a lot, too, in these forums over the years, that's what distinguishes the Zazzle community from others.

No highjacking at all. I personally would create two versions and add a hint within the title, e.g. one-sided/two-sided where applicable and if it makes sense. Plus I add some info within the design description (e.g. "one-sided variant"). Well knowing that many don't read the description, I also have a "Get Started" section in all my never template forms. My "Get Started" section is nothing else than a dummy template text field that shows right on top when you open the personalize form. There I add useful info and tips regarding the design.

To create such a field, add a simple text field, edit just one space (you want it to be an "empty" field), format it at 4 or 6 pt font size, move the box in a corner, and put it underneath your "background" image (you must make sure nothing gets printed of this box). After that turn, it into a template field, enter all your information for the customer within the "label" field, and in the URL field enter a code that grants the field to be shown in the first place when all your template fields are listed in your form, alphabetically sorted by URL code. E.g. "01info" for your get started, then  02text, 03text... 99text for all your other text fields - remember, the fields are sorted alphabetically by URL. Note: unfortunately all the images are listed separately in the end (one more thing I'm complaining for years now). See my yoga mat example. No info in the title in this case, but check the get started section. Dang. Seems my title is messed up - issue still not fixed yet:

Tricolor Rough Collie Dog Portrait on Black - Yoga Yoga Mat
by PetsDreamlands

Regarding the ceramic ornaments, I would only create two-sided ones, the price difference is minimal and people most certainly prefer them printed on both sides. Duvet covers I would surely offer both one and two-sided (separately), Yoga mats only one-sided, and flags you may want to offer in both variants, depending on the use and the sort of design. I don't offer shirts, the used DTG technique isn't suited for my sort of designs and Zazzle unfortunately doesn't offer all-over-print shirts (I sell all-over shirts on my "complementary" POD).

Hope this helped to get an idea.

[Connie]

Wow, you’ve really put a lot of time and thought into workarounds to reduce customer confusion! Thank you for your tips!

[Saints_Aplenty]

Guess I know what I'll be doing all weekend!  Thanks, guys!  😉

[Fiorenzo]

YW & wishing a happy weekend, I'm on royalties myself 😉

[Barbara]

I wish Zazzle had something similar to sites where you can order, say, one pound, three pounds, five pounds, etc. They use very well-defined boxes for each size (or shape or whatever) that, when you click on them, the image might change, but in most cases, just the price changes. Translating this for what we do, we might create a two-sided design, and two click boxes would be prominently displayed, one for a single-sided print and one for a double-sided. The customer would see very clearly what the difference is and then choose which they prefer with full knowledge of what they'll be paying for.

[Fiorenzo]

This.