How to sell on Zazzle

All the essential info you need to know to start making money selling on Zazzle.

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Tim Falk
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Zazzle is an online marketplace where artists and designers can create and sell their own customisable products. It’s free to sign up and start creating products on the platform, and Zazzle takes care of manufacturing and shipping your products to customers. You’ll then receive a royalty percentage from each sale.

If you’re a creative type and you’d like to start selling on Zazzle, keep reading to find out how.

How do I decide what to sell on Zazzle?

You can create customised designs on Zazzle for a wide range of products, including the following:

  • Cards and invitations
  • Clothing and accessories
  • Mugs
  • Clocks
  • Blankets
  • Playing cards
  • Doormats
  • Home furnishings
  • Posters
  • Canvas prints
  • Wrapping paper
  • Business cards
  • Calendars
  • Phone cases
  • Golf balls

To create your unique product, simply choose the item you want to customise on Zazzle and then upload your image or design.

Zazzle also sells a selection of officially licensed custom products from brands like Harry Potter, Warner Bros and Marvel.

How much does it cost to sell on Zazzle?

It’s free to create a Zazzle account and start creating custom products.

You also don’t have to worry about manufacturing, storage and shipping costs – Zazzle takes care of these, but that also means that the platform usually takes the lion’s share of the sale price when someone buys one of your products.

When you set up a Zazzle store, you’ll need to set your royalty percentage. This is the percentage of the sale price that you will receive:

  • The default royalty rate is 5%.
  • The maximum royalty rate is 99%.
  • Zazzle recommends a royalty rate of between 10% and 15%, with an average of around 12%.
  • If you set a royalty rate above 15%, a 5% transaction fee applies.

The final price of the item is calculated by adding your royalty rate to Zazzle’s base price.

Next, you’ll need to be aware of the referral fee. If another Zazzle user refers your product to someone who then buys it, the referrer gets 15% of the sale price.

Finally, if you earn royalties in a foreign currency, Zazzle will charge a foreign currency conversion fee when it converts your earnings back into GBP. Unfortunately, the fee amount isn’t readily available on the Zazzle website.

Let’s crunch the numbers

For example, let’s take a look at what your Zazzle fees would look like if you sold a throw cushion for £50:

  • If your royalty rate is set at the default level of 5%, you would receive £2.50 from the sale.
  • If your royalty rate is set at 12%, you would receive £6 from the sale.

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Is selling on Zazzle worth it?

Zazzle is a unique marketplace that provides a lot of potential for you to boost your income by selling to 30 million customers worldwide.

However, just like selling on any other ecommerce platform, selling on Zazzle does come with risks. With fierce competition among designers on the platform and only a small chunk of the revenue from each sale ending up in your pocket, there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to turn your Zazzle store into a viable venture.

However, the good news is that there are a few simple things you can do to maximise your chances of success:

  • Don’t get too greedy. The prospect of setting a huge royalty percentage can be attractive, but you’ll need to be very wary of the potential to drive shoppers away because your prices are too high.
  • Make use of keywords. Take time when creating your listings to make sure you’ve used accurate keywords and tags that will make it easier for shoppers to find your product.
  • Build a bigger store. It’s free to create products on Zazzle, so why not add some more items to your store? The more items you have, the greater your chances of making a sale.
  • Promote other products. If you refer someone else’s product to a buyer as part of Zazzle’s Associate Programme, you can earn 15% of the sale price.

Zazzle’s Designer & Associate Handbook also contains plenty of advice on how to successfully create and promote your store.

How do I start selling on Zazzle?

You can create a Zazzle store and start selling products by completing these simple steps.

How to set your royalty rate

There are a couple of factors to consider when pricing items on Zazzle:

  • Your work. Consider the time taken to create a product as well as the value you place on your designs.
  • How much customers are willing to pay. What price are similar products listed for on Zazzle? How much would you be happy to pay to buy the item you’ve designed? You can also try out some different royalty rates to see how they affect your sales.

While you can set your royalty percentage as high as 99%, Zazzle says its prices are set so that with a royalty rate of up to 15%, the final price remains within the limits of what most customers are willing to pay.

What types of payment does Zazzle accept?

Shoppers can buy your products on Zazzle UK using the following:

  • Credit card
  • PayPal
  • Bank transfers

Zazzle issues earnings payments to sellers on a monthly basis:

  • If your primary account currency is GBP or any currency other than USD, payment is via PayPal.
  • If USD is your primary currency, you can choose to be paid either by cheque or PayPal.

How to get paid by international buyers

Table: sorted by promoted deals first

If GBP is your selected payment currency and you earn royalties in a foreign currency, Zazzle will convert your earnings to GBP and charge a foreign currency conversion fee. However, the size of this fee isn’t listed on the Zazzle website.

You can find more details of the exchange rates, fees and features of several online seller accounts in the table below.

Data updated regularly
Name Product Filter Values Fastest Transfer Speed Fees (Pay by Bank Transfer) Learn More
CurrencyTransfer for online sellers
CurrencyTransfer for online sellers
24 hours
£0
Go to site

View details
CurrencyTransfer lets you shop around for the best exchange rate on its online marketplace.
Wise (TransferWise) for online sellers
Wise (TransferWise) for online sellers
Within an hour
From £3.75
Go to site

View details
Wise uses the mid-market rate and transparent fees to help you send money in 45+ currencies.
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How to organise shipping

You don’t need to organise shipping – Zazzle arranges this on your behalf.

Shoppers have three shipping options to choose from: Slow, Standard and Expedited. Here’s how each option looks for products shipped to the UK:

OptionTrackingDelivery estimate
Slow10-18 business days after manufacturing
Standard5-8 business days after manufacturing
Expedited2-4 business days after manufacturing

How do I market my Zazzle products?

The Zazzle Associate Programme allows platform users to earn 15% of the sale price when they share Zazzle products on websites, blogs, emails and social media. It’s free to sign up for this programme and you can promote your own products or those of other users.

Zazzle also offers a range of free promotional tools to sellers, including the following:

  • Linking tools to make it easy to share your store and individual products via websites, blogs, email and social media.
  • Pre-designed banner ads to help you earn more referrals.
  • Zazzle RSS feeds to send your products to applications or feature them on websites.

What to watch out for when selling on Zazzle

There are a few potential problems you should be aware of when selling on Zazzle:

  • Setting your royalty rate too high. Make sure the royalty rate you set doesn’t price potential buyers out of the market.
  • Pricing structure. Your earnings potential is limited by the base price of the product you choose to add your design to. For example, if you design a product with a base price of £20 and set a maximum royalty rate of 99%, the most you can make from each sale of the item is £19.80.
  • Referral fee. The 15% referral fee that applies when someone buys a referred product can eat into your royalties.
  • Getting noticed. With thousands of other designers selling on Zazzle, it can be difficult to make your designs stand out from the crowd.
  • Limited customisation. There aren’t all that many options that allow you to customise your store to suit your brand or personal tastes.

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