Where is my 4th category?

[KayCordingly]

I added a 4th main category a few days ago to my new shop (a couple weeks old), and it only appears in the "store management" section on the side bar; it doesn’t appear on the public storefront at all, so customers can’t see it. Why is this happening? What can I do to make it visible?

[Sara_H]

@KayCordingly 

I found creating a new category takes at least a week for it to appear on the store front and if indexing is running slow, it probably will take some time for it to appear

A few things to check:

Has it got a category thumbnail assigned to it?

Makes sure the Category Visibility box is unchecked.

Have you added products to it? (again - if indexing is running slow, new products will take time to appear in a new category in a new store)

A new shop takes extra time to set up. Nothing is immediate and lots of patience is needed.

If you've done all the above - check it again in about a week.

[KayCordingly]

Thank you for the response. I do have a thumbnail assigned to it, and products (although Zazzle tells me the category is empty). A week, huh? I wonder why it takes so long? On other POD sites it's almost instantaneous. I may have chosen the wrong site to build my business with. I'm promoting my shop on social media when half of my shop isn't even visible.

But thank you though, I appreciate being given realistic expectations. I just wish I would have known beforehand.

[Sara_H]

@KayCordingly 

You'll come to learn that Zazzle isn't like other POD sites and nothing is instantaneous.

Patience is key when you're a zazzler.

Keeping creating products, promoting the links (as soon as you create a product - promote that rather than your store as it does take time to reach your store front but that product is available for sale instantaneously with the link) and let the site do it's thing.

Keep zazzling!

ps - Don't put all your eggs in one basket - spread yourself out and use other POD sites too - you never know which one will be more successful for you. There's no rules that you can't put all your designs everywhere!

[KayCordingly]

That’s true, I do have designs on 3 main other sites, and have dabbled in more. I’ve actually been doing this for over 15 years, but I’ve had the same shops here for almost as long and just recently created a new one for the first time in forever. I never noticed that Zazzle has a delay because I’ve always depended on the marketplace for sales. This is the first time I’ve put real effort into creating a shop and promoting it outside of Zazzle.

Every site has things that I don’t like about them, but I figured that at least with Zazzle I can present a proper “shop” to present to the general public. So that’s why I’m putting so much emphasis on this new shop. Although ironically I’ve made sales from these new designs on other sites, just not here yet. But at least I know that it’s not the designs that are the problem, if they are selling elsewhere.

[KayCordingly]

Well it's been over 2 weeks now and still no appearance of this category in my public store (plus two other main categories that I've made since then).