Volume Bonus Credit for Referrals Without Correlating Referred Sales

[YesItsRoy]

Volume Bonus page (https://www.zazzle.com/my/earnings/volumebonus) is showing an uptick in Referral sales dollars April 1 through April 30 without correlating Referrals in Referral History (https://www.zazzle.com/my/earnings/referralhistory).

I had $149.81 in verified Referral sales.  The VB page says I had $293.89 in Referral Sales.  That's a $144.08 difference.  How am I being credited with Referred sales without getting the associated Referrals??

I know we're not getting paid for Volume Bonus anymore, and VB itself isn't the reason I'm here.  I'm here because it would appear that we may not be getting our Referral Earnings.  I kind of thought I might be losing my mind or inputting into my workbook incorrectly, and then this happened:

A client I've been working with for many years made purchases today -- both sales are showing as Third Party.  Her last 10+ sales have been None sales, as she blocks cookies.  She clicks links I provided her for custom designs and makes her purchases.  It's possible she clicked someone else's link, but I'm skeptical because she has been consistent for years.

- If she clicked one of my links, it had my RF ID in it; if the cookie stuck, it should've been 15% to ME

- Both sales were Third Party to someone else; I won't know if that was Zazzle until I get the sales email

- Today's sales are 169-67266977-6690558 and 169-12686358-0821994

- Her prior 10 sales neither Third Party- or Self-Referred:

169-46659475-4508012

169-28668320-5932039

169-96555768-3846927

169-14026550-0685865

169-17471121-0767316

169-83073682-1105877

169-78490171-6776833

169-17028918-4948451

169-52175373-7193063

169-57643573-3547421

As Zazzle can see the Products purchases, my RF ID/Member Account is knowable to anyone looking into the issue, but if I need to ID myself via email to Support, happy to do so.

Let me know, if you need any more information.

[YesItsRoy]

Thank you, LaruaLee.  You're correct -- the first $100 doesn't count. 😊

The problem is that VB total only INCREASES when a Referral sale occurs, and if a Referral sale occurred, then Referral Earnings should be recorded and earned. 

[LauraLee]

Well, in looking for the Volume Bonus program on the Zazzle help pages, looks like they took it all away.  And, they did what they said, it's been retired as of April 1st, 2025.  

And if that's the case, would they just drop it into your payout and have nowhere else to show it? Unless they released it into the new earnings reports, I'm thinking.  

[YesItsRoy]

The VB program is discontinued and no VB will be paid, but the totals credited to VB still add up.

The problem is that sales are happening and those sales are being credited to me for the purpose of increasing my VB amount, but no Referrals are being paid to me for those sales.  It's like they're saying "hey, you made a Referral sale, but we're not going to pay you for it."  

[Sea-Change]

I hope you find out more details about the discrepancy. I, too, am seeing a huge mismatch between the amount listed on the Volume Bonus page and my actual earnings. 

While I understand the VB program is discontinued, I'm puzzled why my VB sales amount is 3X higher than my May actual combined royalties and referrals. I'm not sure if the VB page is showing what my sales would/should normally have been - before all the MFs and other carve-outs - or if the VB page is simply broken and displaying random numbers? 

Another oddity is that my earnings page shows a small pending volume bonus, which surprises me since my monthly earnings haven't recently exceeded the monthly threshold. A message on the VB page says that bonuses will be awarded for sales before April 1, which I guess applies if someone has carried-over eaarnings. It seems like this shouldn't apply in my case since I didn't reach the monthly threshold with my stated earnings, unless it's somehow earnings before all the carve-outs or earnings that otherwise weren't credited? Very confusing!  

[YesItsRoy]

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@Sea-Change wrote:

While I understand the VB program is discontinued, I'm puzzled why my VB sales amount is 3X higher than my May actual combined royalties and referrals. I'm not sure if the VB page is showing what my sales would/should normally have been - before all the MFs and other carve-outs - or if the VB page is simply broken and displaying random numbers? 

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Exactly.  I don't believe it's random.  The tech would require it to be tied to our Referrals to show up there

It's all confusing, but more so because we can't get any information.  I'm honestly saddened that it's come to this place where I feel the trust has been broken and value of us as contributors has been greatly reduced.

[OakAndPine]

Can someone explain this to me please in simple terms please. I was looking into my volume bonus after reading this post and saw these figures. Not able to understand them at all. Any help would be appreciated 

 

[YesItsRoy]

For the month of May, $307.48 in VB eligible Referred Sales were attributed to you.  That means someone clicked your links (Clean Links or RF ID links) and purchased a Product.  Could be your Product or someone else's.  If they were still paying Volume Bonus or if you were eligible to receive a VB (i.e., not in the Promoter Program), you would earn 1% on the amount over $100, so 1% of $207.48. 

Whether or not you received an actual Referral Commission would depend on whether they were Clean Links or RF ID links in conjunction with whether or not the customer bought your or someone else's Products.  That part is over complicated now. 

[OakAndPine]

• Thank you for the explanation. Could you also let me know the difference between clean links and RF ID links? Also I always thought that irrespective of whether the customer bought my product or someone else's products, I should have got a referral commission. Or an I wrong?  The percentage would have differed, Appreciate if you could help me to understand this also.

[YesItsRoy]

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Could you also let me know the difference between clean links and RF ID links? 

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Of course! 

Clean Link doesn't include your RF ID number, so zazzle.com/cute-bananas-25612531235842335000

RF ID link does include your RF ID number, so zazzle.com/cute-bananas-25612531235842335000?rf=238000000000000

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Also I always thought that irrespective of whether the customer bought my product or someone else's products, I should have got a referral commission. Or an I wrong?  

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If today were March 31, you would be right! 🙂

Prior to April 1, yes, the regular Associates Program worked that way -- your link, any Product, earn Referral Commision (because that's easy and makes sense, right? 😊).  

After April 1, no. 

- If the customer clicks your Clean Link and then purchases your Product, you earn Referral Commission.  If the customer purchases someone else's Product, you do not earn a Referral Commission. 

- If the customer clicks your RF ID Link and then purchases any Product, you earn the Referral Commission. 

The "After April 1" scenarios are, for all intents and purposes and to my knowledge, the same as the prior pre-April 1 Promoter Program.

All scenarios assume the moon and stars align just right and you're credited for the sale -- that has been wonky since a very long time, especially with Zazzle "affiliating" for itself. 

[OakAndPine]

That was very helpful. Thank you for explaining it so clearly. 

[YesItsRoy]

Still happening in May.  $114.19 in Referral Commissions and VB page says $138.91 in qualified sales, as of today, May 27, 2025.