Discuss the Zazzle service and features. Please note: this is not an "official" Zazzle sponsored forum, it is a peer to peer community for current and future Zazzle members. Visit Zazzle.
Just like to know whether anyobody runs both CP and Zazzle stores.Which gives the best return?
Seems to me Zazzle are gaining ground fast on CP,what with new products like skateboards etc, and now they've introduced a bonus program to include marketplace sales!
Also,can you have several galleries or would a shop eventually be better? I reckon I'd have to wait 'til they introduce a system similar to CP's as I lack HTML and other web building skills before I venture down the shop path.
It's free, so how could it be "not" worth it to try it out?
Keep in mind, that Zazzle is just a "service". You control whether you're successful or not.
You could be successful at the smallest, no name company or unsuccessful at the biggest fulfillment company on the web. The constant is *you* and your marketing/advertising that will make you successful.
Yes, you may get some sales from the marketplace of those sites, but if you really want to take it to that next level, you won't rely on anybody else to get sales for you.
I have shops at both CP and Zazzle. Right now I'm concentrating on Zazzle due to the VB/Affiliate program, free shops, and auto customization features for my customers and doing well there. There are positives and negatives at both POD's and the only common demnominator of succes at either place is, ... how hard you're willing to work.
It seems you have to bring every customer to Zazzle yourself. I only loaded a couple of images there, so I might have had a different experience if I had put more in the shop. There are other sites which seem to have customers actually searching the site without you bringing them to your page. Zazzle does have a great widget though.
I've been using Zazzle for about 2 months now & I couldn't be happier w/the site. I've tried to use similar sites like cafepress & spreadshirt & found Zazzle to be the most user-friendly. I'm currently working on the marketing end & would welcome any suggestions, thanks!
I have both CP and Zazzle stores .. and without a doubt zazzle is the better one for me .. not only is it free .. the design tools are second to none .. you can create templates .. and add text from the design tool .. everything I've ordered from Zazzle has been excellent quality
The thing with any place like Zazzle or anywhere for that matter.. is you must be ready to market your products .. theres a great forum over on zazzle with advice on almost anything .. the promote your stuff section is invaluable .. and zazzle have some great tools to help promote your products including the zpanel ..
The contributors on Zazzle are amazing people ( myself included hehe ) and are willing to offer advice and support
Thanks for the feedback Ricaso! I'm going to check out your gallery. You are 100% correct, the Zazzle community is unbelievably friendly & helpful. Do you sell shirts beyond Zazzle & CP? I'm looking to branch out & was wondering what the best biz model would be. Thanks again!
I just signed up with Zazzle and created my page. I ordered a couple a shirts for myself to checkout the quality before marketing them.
The tools to create products are really easy to understand and they also give you a lot of room in building your e-store. They also have many options to market your products and ways to make even more money. Im very pleased with the experience so far.
Now i just need to get my stuff in the mail. Should be here in 3-4 days hopefully.
Awesome gallery, Hilo! You should do very well on Zazzle. I started in October & the more products I added, the better sales have become. It's starts off slow but then will really start to snowball as long as you keep your gallery fresh. Best of luck!
HEY ALDO, VERY NICE GALLERY! IF I MAY ASK.. HOW DID YOU GET SUCH A NICE GRAPHIC HEADER ON YOUR GALLERY?
i JUST BUILT MY GALLERY AND STUFFED SOME OFF THE CUFF IDEAS IN THERE AS FAR AS PRODUCT GOES. I AM WAITING TO HAVE MY GRAPHICS FINISHED AND THEN WILL LAUNCH A MORE PERSONAL PRODUCT LINE!
Last edited by Rodney; December 15th, 2008 at 03:34 PM.
Reason: removed link to website as per forum rules - feel free to add your URL to your forum signature or profile
I completely agree Rodney. I found Zazzle is a great way to get started in the business if you have designs that are desirable to a market and can find a way to talk them. Zazzle's online system is second to none. But the real limitation I found is the size of the area allowed for printing. They are much better than CP, but not even close to the capability of SS. We are starting to gain a little momentum after spending about 6 months experimenting with the system.
Word of mouth, Social Networking, learning to optimize Meta tags, buying advertising, and etc are all helpful, but in the end you have to have a desirable product for the people you are talking to. You can always change manufacturers when finances allow the investment for the next step. My advice, regardless of who you use, make a good product and make the path to your door easy to find or you will sell little to nothing. Don't rely on a manufacturer to sell it for you.
tshirtfreak
Pacific Oracle Designs
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rodney
It's free, so how could it be "not" worth it to try it out?
Keep in mind, that Zazzle is just a "service". You control whether you're successful or not.
You could be successful at the smallest, no name company or unsuccessful at the biggest fulfillment company on the web. The constant is *you* and your marketing/advertising that will make you successful.
Yes, you may get some sales from the marketplace of those sites, but if you really want to take it to that next level, you won't rely on anybody else to get sales for you.
I must be the only person here who finds Zazzle poorly designed -- maybe not from a feature set perspective, it is hands-down better than CafePress on that score.
But it's SO confusing. There are a ton of links and options and nothing seems intuitively laid out. I agree completely that there are great tools there for promotion and so on, but finding them is the problem. Do like the template listing, but unless I am dumber than a box of logs (always a possibility), once you have created the image, you are only able to alter the price markup, categories etc? No way to alter the actual product image?
I also find it really nasty that if you forget to log in, the links created do not have your RF code, even though you are greeted at the top of the page with your sign in name and a message saying (not you?) as if you WERE logged in. And, although I have not tested this, the ZPanel doesn't seem to add the RF code to the links. I emailed Z about this and got no response.
Love the idea of designing for shoes, skateboards and so on, but almost every aspect of Z is confusing. No option for bulk change/add description I could find. They could use a zen website designer to cut through the pages and pages of ****e and clear the clutter and make a new navigation that is simple and easy to understand.
Zazzle is it worth it? 
) and are willing to offer advice and support
Re: Zazzle is it worth it? 
