New Store Ranking Stuck at -1?

[jennifer22]

I currently have four Zazzle stores. If I recall correctly, the first three stores obtained rankings of at least 4 very soon after I completed most of the store completion steps (to a minimum of 95% completion). My newest store is still at -1 and I believe it's been 5 days since hitting that milestone. Any thoughts? (New store is https://www.zazzle.com/store/aicomputerart/)

[KeegansCreation]

I have no theories on the holdup so hopefully a mod can answer. I just wanted to say I love how you went all in with AI. Many fun designs. The dinosaur businessman is especially delightful.😎

[jennifer22]

aww, thanks 🙂. I thought I'd give it a shot. Sometimes it took quite a bit of trial-and-error using DALL-E to get something useful. The dinosaur businessman is pretty funny!

[JB]

This concept is so cool and kind of SCARY! The things AI can do these days... AWESOME AND TERRIFYING lol. I do really like your dinosaur businessman too! lol.

[Artsiren]

Lol. I like the tango cat and dog design. It kind of validates, a little, that it's not just me who pondered creating the cat and dog cutesy products. Although my cats and dogs are lazy - lounging on the lawn sunning themselves instead of dancing energetically.

Definitely takes a lot of patience getting things looking good with the AI models. I've tried out a few on my new store (https://www.zazzle.com/store/ArtyCyborg) and found myself here on Jennifer's thread because of exactly the same problem, being stuck at zRank -1. (Bit of a slow-burner project for me, as I'm frantically creating Christmas products over on my other account!)

Really nice to see what other designers are doing with the AI tools though; pretty creative stuff!!

[jennifer22]

I especially love your animal ones! I like the squirrel with a pearl earring, the kitten and puppy, and the bear eating ice cream 😍

[Lais]

the dinosaur is scary!! 😱 definitely not my style.
but the futuristic land is super cute 😍

[JB]

Maybe it has something to do with all the stats not updating too. Idk. I have a store stuck at 3 with several sales and a few hundred items, and 100% of the list done, and its been weeks.

I have another store with less than 100 items, maybe 65% of the list done, occasional sales, and its at a 7.

SO WHO KNOWS!? lol

[DBCartoons]

Same here :   zRank: -1     STORE COMPLETION 100%

Additionally:  My banner is not updating.  There is a banner there now that doesn't belong to me.  I tried to add mine several times but nothing changes.

[DBCartoons]

My banner finally updated but the zRank is still at -1.

[kennethwfd]

Same here, profile 100%, store completion 100% zrank -1

Contacted Zazzle unhelpful centre, who have replied to ask which store does this question relate to

[Mark]

Hi all,

Our team have confirmed that this is a technical issue. We do not have an ETA on a fix but if I hear anything I will update as soon as possible.

[kennethwfd]

Another day, another Zazzle technical issue.

Tell me the old, old story

[kennethwfd]

Zazzle help centre have advised me to read the article on zRank in the help centre

[Mark]

Hey @kennethwfd,

The team are aware of the issue but we do not have an estimate on a fix. Sorry about that. Myself or one of the other moderators will update the thread when possible.

[kennethwfd]

My concern is that with Christmas just around the corner, only a couple of weeks left.

In addition, there is a delay of up to a week for products posted directly to the marketplace, not sure with QC, but took advice from someone else not to use it

[JB]

QC is taking even longer than individual products, so I wouldn't use that if you are trying to get some holiday stuff in queue. A lot of us are going to miss out on a new holiday sales this year because of indexing and getting a late start (really should be getting xmas items up in the middle of the year, like July, I tell myself every year lol) if we are just starting on them now, but you can still maybe capture some, if you do individual products and they get in with the indexing pushes every week or so. Not the most encouraging but its where it's at right now.

I'd say to also start thinking ahead to holidays and seasons in the coming months now in addition and start getting those items in ASAP so they will definitely be indexed and ready to go come the  new year. Best of luck!

[kennethwfd]

QC and templates were two reasons why I gave up on Zazzle, persuaded to try again by being introduced to the "Transfer your design" option under "actions" in the product page as detailed at this site - https://www.lyfepyle.com › make-money-with-zazzle - For a PC user, keep the Ctrl key depressed, every time you click on a product, a new tab will open. Then go through each tab, make the necessary adjustments, and post for sale. If things are running smoothly, I reckon I will  achieve my goal of 100 new listings a day in under 2 hours - well under

I also stop posting for an event two months before the date, so Christmas at the end of the month, November concentrate on Valentine's. January for Easter, and St Patrick's, for example

[Happy_People_Pr]

Hi Mark,

I also started a new store which is stuck at -1. Can you please tell me if this affecting my chance of sales, or do I better put my efforts in my old stores till the problem with the zrank is fixed? I also want a new store for the upcoming digital downloads, but only if it makes sense now the z-rank is broken.  Hope you can tell me what to do!

[Mark]

Hi @Happy_People_Pr,

Unfortunately, we don't have any update or new info on this yet. I will follow up and see if there is anything new now.

[Chrissi]

That would be great, Mark! Thank you!

I guess I'm late in the game and just opened my first store, but really wish I'd have an "old" store to fall back on. *sigh* Patience is a virtue, right? 😄 

[Chrissi]

Hey Mark! I assume you haven't found out anything new yet?

[MintedMemorials]

I also have a recently created store which is stuck on -1.

https://www.zazzle.com/store/mintedmemorials

[kennethwfd]

A quote from the article in the Zazzle Help Centre 

zRank allows you to see at a glance how well your store and its products are optimised for the Zazzle platform. Your zRank is a number between 1 and 10 — the closer to 10, the better!

The article then goes on to say that your zRank needs to be at least 4 to have the following eabled

• Your store will appear, and have preference, as a suggested search result when searching.
• Your store will appear, and have preference, in the Creator Store search Filter - the links which appear in the left-hand navigation bar for narrowing results in marketplace search.

[Chrissi]

I'm trying not to lose hope..sigh. I guess I just don't understand what suddenly went wrong and that it takes this long to figure it out. Not saying it's an easy fix, but weeks? Ugh..

[Chrissi]

The -1 rank is killing me softly...sigh. I hope they'll get this figured out in the next few days in order to have some chance this holiday season.

[kennethwfd]

I sympathise and have the same opinion that there is only a week left to get new products on the marketplace to have a chance of being sold during what is usually the most profitable time for retailers. I am surprised that for the past 2 years, I have made a sale on the 9th of December

[Chrissi]

I think especially this year everyone is trying to shop sooner considering what is going on with inflation and all. I just don't understand how they can't find a fix for this. Seems like it has been a problem for a few weeks now. What did they do before zrank? Maybe it needs to be disabled until the problem is fixed...?!

[JB]

There was no z rank for many years, so none of us were driven crazy by it and wondering what it means when it fluctuates! LOL 

My best store was at a 9 for a long time, but I've never gotten to 10 I dont believe. lol. It goes up and down now by a point here and there and I try not to think about it too much, but just a little. I have long term plans and sometimes some of the things I do will drop my z-rank for a little while, but it recovered after a while. It hasn't from the last loss of a point yet, but I am assuming either I am still doing a lot of something it doesn't like, and will be for a while because I am only one person, so I only have so much time or hands to get things done haha, or that it's because it's broken right now.

I wouldn't fret currently. Just keep building your shop. That whole change what you can, accept what you cannot, and know the difference thing. Just keep building and creating and it will resolve. Promote your products on outside sources (like Pinterest) etc. And anticipate that in a little while you will have a really full store and when the ranks fix, you will see a reward for the effort. To be encouraging, even with my rank going down some lately due to my uploading schedule (I think a lot uploading a lot of similar products knocks me down, but I have long term plans and will round things out soon...) I have made more sales this year than any I believe, so all hope is not lost based on that ranking! Just keep working your plan and don't stress the things you have no control over currently.

[SkullPilot]

I think part of the zRank calculates ratios, possibly. I had a similar thing to you on my other account. I can't remember the numbers, but I had a zRank, then added a bunch of new products and the rank dropped. So I figured the zRanking algorithm is looking for every product to pull its weight. A total sales/total products ratio or something like that. My rank went back up after a few more sales. (And of course, it might be nothing of the sort. Lol. I just wondered why I got penalized for working harder and adding more inventory, and decided Zazzle might actually want me to sell some of that new stuff too!)

[NigelSutherland]

I also have a recently created store which is stuck on -1.

https://www.zazzle.com/store/benjamin_klaus

[Fiona]

Hey @jennifer22 ,

The team are aware of this issue but we do not have an estimate on a fix as of yet. We are sorry for any in-convenience caused. We will update this thread as soon as there's an update for you all! 

Fiona🌻

[CrazyMermaid]

If we are stuck at -1  Zrank, will our products in that store be penalized. I spent all weekend creating a new store for digital downloads and now I realize I may have wasted that time. If this isn't going to get fixed any time soon and there is a penalty, you should warn people this isn't the best time to invest in this exercise. 

[kennethwfd]

I believe this is indeed the case, which is why I have stopped work on my stores until the situation has been resolved.

Rather than expand into a new market, would it not be better to concentrate on existing problems?

[Chrissi]

So true! I've noticed several people creating a new store for the digital products, yet they can't use it. Maybe now that more and more people run into this issue they fix it faster because this is a big problem. When you guys talk about penalties.. What penalties are we talking here? I've been plugging away at my stuff just to fill my store. Was that a bad idea and total waste of time? 

[CrazyMermaid]

Somewhere I read that you need a Z Rank of 4 to be included in Zazzle promotions. That was a long time ago and things often change on Zazzle. So I don't know if that is still the case. No one except Zazzle employees really know how Z Rank is used. So I just thought I would ask. 

[DBCartoons]

My new store has zRank -1, but the emails I get after I created a product read: 
The following products have been published and should appear in the Zazzle Marketplace and in your store within 24 hours!  This would suggest that all products get published and appear in the Zazzle Marketplace, even if your store hasn't reached zRank 4.  Why are we told that our store has to reach zRank 4 in order for our product to appear in the Zazzle Marketplace then?

[LadyDawnMarie]

I tend to agree with you.  I opened my first store a couple of months ago and it's stuck at a Z-Rank or 3, I opened another store a month ago that's stuck at a Z-Rank of 1.  Both stores have items that have been selected by Zazzle as Editor's Picks and have items that appear on the first page when doing a search so I'm guessing our actual Z-Rank is in effective but just not reflected in the number on the store (if that makes sense).  I will be happy when they get this fixed though, so I know for sure that I'm on a level playing field.

[kennethwfd]

Any product created on Zazzle will be in the marketplace...but where?

I understand that zRank is a bit like SEO (search engine optimisation on Google)

Improve it, and your chances of your products being found on Zazzle's marketplace will improve likewise

[LadyDawnMarie]

I would love for the Z-Rank issue to be fixed.  I don't know if my store is being suppressed and I hate to think I'm missing out on valuable sales.  Having said that, I've been fortunate enough to have many items picked by Zazzle to be featured as Editor's Picks and other items that appear on the first page in a search when there are thousands of contenders, so I'm guessing if I'm being suppressed it's not a total suppression.  Still, I'm looking forward to the tech team resolving this as we have no idea how our shops are being affected.