I reached out to customer service over a week ago about why the earnings percentages weren't calculating correctly. I was first given a response about how Zazzle takes a percentage of the earnings when it was promoted via 3rd Party.I already new this but the math still doesn't make sense why I would be paid a few cents over a few dollars for this sale. Then they gave me a generic example that had nothing to do with an actual sale. I asked them to look again at my example and please explain the math for this actual product.
No one would respond unless I kept reaching out. Each time I am told thank you for my patience and they are busy with the holidays. I have also seen a noticeable reduction in sales since I notified them of this. Wondering if anyone else has experienced similar problems? I would appreciate any insight or if anyone could explain the math for the above sale and/or information on who we can actually go to that will address issues for not distributing earnings properly?
While this instance would involve only a few dollars lost, lack of transparency and general apathy about not paying out proper earning percentages is very concerning. I am looking for anyone who has betting insight on this or who can direct me to someone that can help solve the issue. Thank You.
This is the exact same situation another user asked about back in July and there's never been a follow up.
Read that thread here.
Here's the sales each of you posted:
Yours is cut-off but you said in your post that is was transferred from something else to a value phone case, and that it was third party. So the same unusual situation. Note that both then and now, the value cases are/were 20% off. They have a list price of 22.95, but are 18.36 with the discount.
@UlyssePixel never confirmed if 14.9 is their default royalty and you haven't said either but I am going to assume it is for both of you and that's where that percentage shown is coming from since with design transfers, you earn your default royalty, not the one for either product A or product B. Except, value phone cases are an unusual product in that they have a set royalty of 5% that you can't change. So the question is, as said in the other referenced thread, which policy is Zazzle using in this situation?
If they are honoring your default royalty (assumed to be 14.9% here), the net earnings would be $2.19. If they are instead holding to the 5% max they've set on this product, the net earnings would be $0.73. (See screenshot in other thread.)
However, some other inexplicable formula is being used in this situation. I couldn't quite figure it out then but I've got it now. What the two line-items posted show is that the full list price of the value case ($22.95) is for some reason being treated as User Option. User Option royalties are 5% x the full $ amount of the User Option. Then the full $ amount of the User Option is subtracted from the total paid by the customer and the remaining balance is what you earn your set royalty on. Then those two royalties are added together to make your gross royalty from which any fees are subtracted.
So it goes like this:
$22.95 (User Option) x 5% = $1.15 royalty
$18.36 (total customer paid) - $22.95 (User Option) = -$4.59 (yes that's a negative number)
-$4.59 x 14.9% = -$0.68 royalty
-$0.68 + $1.15 = $0.47 gross royalty
$0.47 x 20% = $0.094 referrer fee for it being a third party sale
$0.47 - $0.09 = $0.38 net royalty --> exactly what you both were paid
The math here is correct, it follows the standard formula they apply in calculating royalties with User Options. So now we know HOW they are arriving at only $0.38. The big question that only Zazzle can answer is WHY? Why on earth are they treating the list price of the value phone case as a User Option when someone transfers a design from another product to it?
