Hello,
Welcome to the 2nd posting on the Zazzle Seller Blog! There have been a lot of questions on the Zazzle forums, and other websites and blogs about the new Zazzle Seller Incentive Program. This blog post will attempt to answer most of those questions and give an easy-to-understand overview of the new program.
Q. Please explain in simple-terms, the New Volume Bonus Program.
A. Sellers still make money on Zazzle in the same two ways – through royalties on sales of their products and through sales that they affiliate / refer. The changes we’ve made with the incentive program just reward these two activities even more. The Zazzle Volume Bonus Program is a system set up to pay contributors and associates extra money as they increase their sales. The more sales they make, the higher their bonus. There are four bonus levels based on sales amount, and bonuses start adding up as soon as $100 in sales are made in a month.
Volume bonus pays out a bonus based on amount of sales per month. The amount of each product price that counts toward your volume bonus is the base price, NOT the listed price. Here’s how it works:
As a contributor, the only sales that do not count towards your volume bonus are sales referred by a third-party; for all other sales, no matter if they are from the marketplace or your shop, the base price (see below) counts towards your VB.
As an associate, the base price of any sale you refer counts toward your volume bonus.
Sellers are encouraged to sell their own products and the products of others – this allows you to maximize your volume bonus and reach the higher levels more easily.
More information, including the bonus levels and amount of base price sales needed to reach each level is well-documented here, under Standard Volume Bonus Levels.
http://www.zazzle.com/sell/incentive/volumebonus
Q. Please explain in simple-terms, the Associate Referral Changes.
A. The changes to this program are easier to explain:
- The associate referral fee has been increased to 15% of total sales
- Contributors will pay 20% of their royalty toward this referral fee for any referred sale. Zazzle will pay the rest of the referral fee.
The referral fee is calculated on the total price of the product, not including tax, shipping, and price of postage (in the case of stamps).
More information can be found here: http://www.zazzle.com/sell/incentive/associate
Q. How did Zazzle come up with 20% for the referral program fee?
A. While the base associate fee is 15%, volume bonus on referrals and affiliate program fees are typically much higher. 20% does not fully cover the cost of maintaining the referral programs (which are designed to help you sell your products), but we believe this is a fair number that simplifies the program for contributors. Please note that Zazzle is paying for the referred sale, we are simply asking contributors to share this burden on the chosen royalty amount over and above the base price.
Q. How do I calculate the base price of a product?
A. The base price is 90% of the Standard Price of a product. The Standard Price is the price of a product if you do NOT add anything above the standard 10% royalty. Note that the standard prices for different styles of t-shirts varies by quite a bit (from $12.95 to $36.95) so all t-shirt sales do not earn you the same dollar amount. Volume discounts for the purchaser buying more than one item will also reduce the standard and base prices. Also note that certain things, like the price of the postage, is subtracted from the base price before royalty is calculated.
Shipping is not counted toward base price (it is an additional cost to the buyer) and it is NOT part of the volume bonus program, nor is it part of the Seller Referral program. Tax is also excluded.
Q. How do I combine all of my galleries together so that all count towards my volume bonus?
A. Go to MyZazzle and login as the account you wish to be your “master account”. Then click on the Earnings tab, and select Volume Bonus on the left side. You’ll see a box at the top left says “Have more than one account”. Simply enter the username and password and click Add for each account you wish to combine.
Q. Will my normal product royalties then be paid to this master account?
A. No. Your normal product royalties will continue to be paid to each individual account. We are looking into implementing this feature in the not-too-distant future. Referral fees are also paid to individual accounts.
I hope this helps and please let me know if you have any more questions or comments and I, or someone else from Zazzle, will respond soon.
Regards,
Mike Talvensaari
Director, Product Management
