Zazzlers, Please Help

I so much prefer the Wizzley community/forum...it's warm and cozy here - especially when I'm feeling like I'm about to post a really dumb question (be gentle, please). So I'm posting this here instead of on Zazzle's forum.

I have played with Zazzle these past few months and did niche stores (many to promote my "band" - a few blogs...nothing fancy).

However...once in a while I think of a really niche product, quote or something and think "I want to make a tshirt with that on it."

So that's what I did tonight...but it forces me to choose one of my stores to put it in!

Do I really need to have a store available for anything I make?

If so, then what do you guys do for miscellaneous things...make one big "Robin's Plethora Of Weird Stuff" -

I'm hoping (obviously) that there is a way to make products once in awhile that just go directly into the Zazzle marketplace, not yet ANOTHER store.

Make sense, I hope?

Please let me know what I am missing...if you don't have to have a store available for every item you make, then please baby step me on how I do it from the dashboard, etc. I tried many different ways before humiliating myself with this question.

Thanks Everyone!

Truth is, I've been wondering about some of your points, too, Robin. Let the experts speak!

I don't know where you'd put your stuff if you didn't have a store. I get really confused about what to do after than though. I have three stores now and I have trouble finding my own stuff! I started with one big one, and branched out but it's worse than trying to find the right category on Wizzley (just kidding....)

I could use help here too!

Seems we have no experts for this question!

I have not found a way to post products without having them placed in a store (but I do not profess to be anything near an expert on anything to do with Zazzle). Even finding the right structure (which I haven't) for my stores has proven that.

Ripe for an e-book: "The Mystery of Zazzle, dude!" - but then that may be doomed to be unfinished!

Hi Everyone!

I do not consider myself a Zazzle expert, but I do know quite a bit after selling there for over 5 years now.

This is what I have gleaned.

Titles, tags and descriptions do your products the most good at being found.  Not the particular store they are found in.  Personally, I am sorry I have so many stores (10).  Although my niche wedding stores are helpful for keeping everything easy for the couples to find, I wish I had just kept all other things within categories of one store only!  I would NOT open a new store for every single variety of product - instead, link them to each other, or name them like similar items you make so they will all show up on the page (down beneath where you see 2 rows of products.  Then, when you create new products - for that one store - you are updating the store as well. 

Maybe I need to do a Wizzley about this, but I don't have the time right now. 

I guess my point is that your storefront may never be seen when the customer comes to buy something.  They don't care which store it is, just that they find the item and that you offer matching things they might want.

Have to go, hope this helps.

Pam is being modest. She's the expert. I would follow her advice. However, Zazzle tells us to build niche stores.

BrendaReeves: 11/28/2012 - 07:42 AM

---

Pam is being modest. She's the expert. I would follow her advice. However, Zazzle tells us to build niche stores.

You have to do what works for you.  If you sell original artwork and something other than that, it would be a good idea to have 2 stores.  But, having tons of stores for each separate thing does not make sense to me as it takes more time to update and add products to each one and I believe that updating is what keeps them active.

I find that when I begin to work on any particular store the sales will pick up, but if I ignore a store it gets few if any sales.  That is why I say one or two stores to update is a good idea.

I could be completely wrong.  Zazzle gives out general advice to give all shop-owners help with selling, but each person has to decide which way to go.

Thanks Everyone!

I posted the question before shutting down the laptop for the night...I was so surprised to see how many were wondering the same thing!

So, because my niche stores are up and I don't plan on opening more of them, I'm thinking I will just have a "catch all" store for all of those little ideas I come up with along the way.

There are quite a few times when I think of (or discover) an untapped niche area/product and I think "oh, I need to make one of those things" - maybe that will be the store name..."One Of Those Things"

Anyway...thanks everyone. Wish there was a simpler way, but I guess once I create the catch all store, I won't have to worry about it in the future...

I would choose a better keyword for the store name, even if it's a general term or your online ID in combination with "store".

I'm not an expert - I have two zazzle stores and have sold several products in both of them.

I mainly use the categories to separate different kinds of products. You can make up your own categories as well and have different file folders for each. The file folders can have an image that would represent the particular niches. That makes it easy to organize and also to keep track without being overwhelming, going back and forth among several stores.

Then, also, if you make your own quick create custom templates you can use the same one template for any of your own separate categories. Each store, on the other hand, must have its own custom template and that can get rather tiresome to create.