Yes, it’s possible to make money on Zazzle without having to create your own designs.
The easiest way to do this is by joining the Zazzle’s Ambassador Program (formerly known as the Associates program), for which you’ll need an existing account (you don’t need a store or products, though).
How Does Zazzle Ambassador Work?
Unlike selling your designs, which earns you a royalty that you can control the percentage of, affiliate earnings are set as a 15% flat commission.
Members of the programme are assigned a unique tracking link, which can be added to the end of product links when they are shared.
How Long Does the Cookie Stay Active?
Zazzle says that the cookie when someone clicks on one of your referral links can last 45 days. This is quite generous compared to many affiliate schemes (Amazon Associates infamously features a 24 hour affiliate window).
This means that, provided the person doesn’t clear their browser cookies, you should make a commission on any products that they buy within this time period.
Where Can I Share Zazzle Affiliate Links?
You are allowed to share affiliate links on social media, and Zazzle has integrated tools that allow you to do this with a click of a button.
The easiest place to do this is Pinterest, which does allow you to share links with your tracking ID automatically. This automatic pin set up is quite hard to edit, so you may want to create a pin manually just to be on the safe side when it comes to adding written affiliate disclosures.
However, in my experience, Pinterest isn’t the most lucrative place to share Zazzle links. You may get some click throughs and commissions, but they are likely to be less popular than schemes such as Amazon Influencers or the Etsy affiliate programme.
Your Own Site
The safest (and potentially most lucrative, if relevant) place to share your Zazzle Ambassadors link is probably your own website.
This gives you full control of the affiliate experience, provided that you provide a disclosure to your audience to inform them that you receive a commission from purchases, at no extra cost to them.
Is It Worth Trying Zazzle Without Creating Designs?
You do not have to create your own designs to benefit from the Zazzle marketplace; if you have a website or allowed social media account that is a good fit for Zazzle products, you can absolutely monetise your content by referring people to items created by other designers.