Selling your art on POD websites – Zazzle vs Redbubble

zazzle vs redbubble for selling art online

Today I will be comparing Zazzle vs Redbubble for selling art online. Zazzle and Redbubble are two popular Print on Demand marketplaces where artists can upload their designs for sale on a variety of products.

They may seem like pretty much the same thing, however there are actually some pretty major differences between these 2 platforms which you should know before opening a shop.

I have been selling my designs on both Redbubble and Zazzle for many years now. Read on for my overview and comparison to help you decide where to sell your artwork online.

Zazzle vs Redbubble

Audience

Zazzle’s audience is mostly women aged 25+, in the United States but also worldwide. They cater to people looking for unique gifts, brides-to-be, and customize-able paper products like invitations, greeting cards, and business cards. They also have a wide range of unique items from home décor and accessories to edible brownies!

Redbubble’s audience is younger than Zazzle and more hip, with humorous t-shirt designs, trendy patterns and quotes being the norm. Stickers are extremely popular with teenagers and young adults. They also focus on selling unique gifts including apparel, accessories and home décor. Redbubble’s headquarters is actually in Australia but they have a worldwide presence.

betta fish sticker from redbubble
A sticker from Redbubble

Store Front

Zazzle vs Redbubble’s store fronts are quite different.

Redbubble’s storefront displays a randomly generated selection of products featuring your most popular designs, based on their algorithm. All you need to do is add your logo, header and bio to set it up. It’s much more beginner friendly than Zazzle’s.

However, your Zazzle store front is much more customize-able. The layout is left completely up to you. You’ll need to go into the store’s Settings tab under Advanced Settings to add the available sections to your home page including Categories, Featured Collections and Recently Created Products. I recommend taking this step to set it up properly.

flip flops on zazzle
You can put your art on flip flops on Zazzle!

Uploading Designs

Redbubble is much quicker to upload designs to, and you can upload to all of their products in one go. You can also add a custom background colour and create patterns in the tool. However, there is no option to add customize-able text like Zazzle has.

On Zazzle it is best to upload each product one by one. This does take an extremely long time but it’s quality over quantity here. You can start with just a small range of products so as not to get overwhelmed.

Zazzle’s design tool is more like a mini Photoshop where you can add layers, text, templates etc. and create customize-able products. I made this video with some tips about using Zazzle’s design tool which you may find helpful.

Products

I’ve ordered products from both Zazzle and Society6, and everything has been pretty good.

I slightly prefer Redbubble just due to the types of products I got, like apparel, but Zazzle has a much wider range of items available.

Here is a video I made reviewing a whole bunch of the products I’ve bought from Redbubble. I don’t have as many from Zazzle so I haven’t made a video on those yet but might show them in future. I’ve also shared photos of products I received on my Instagram.

Earnings

Royalty margins are higher on Redbubble, and I’ve personally made more money there.

However, I know others who do extremely well on Zazzle, especially making cards, invitations, stationary and designing for the wedding market.

Zazzle also has a new Promoter Program where you can get 35% for referral sales of your own products, and 15% on other people’s products. There is also the potential to get bulk orders if you designs things like wedding invitations and stationary, which is actually a huge market on Zazzle.

Zazzle pays you on the 15th of the month after you reach $50 in cleared earnings. Redbubble has a payment threshold of $20, also paid on or around the 15th of every month.

Summary of Zazzle vs Redbubble

In sum, Redbubble is a much easier and faster marketplace to upload your designs, especially for beginners or artists who create more graphic and/or pattern designs. However, Zazzle has a huge potential for customize-able products, greeting cards, invitations and stationary. So which one is best for you will depend on your art style and business goals.

I hope the above information has been helpful for you. If you’d like to receive more Print on Demand education, and keep up with my latest designs and projects, consider subscribing to my e-mail list!


Further reading:

Cheers,

julie signing off

8 thoughts on “Selling your art on POD websites – Zazzle vs Redbubble

  1. I’ve enjoyed your article, Julie ~ thanks for sharing this information & have a wonderful Wednesday, my friend :)

    1. I’m so glad you liked it Phil! Cheers.

  2. I’m discovering so much useful info and tips, Julie, thank you! The possibility of enabling personalization of some of my work, particularly my writings for sports, education, medical and such is very tempting! My wife and I sold on the spot personalized copies of our writings all through the 90s and into the early 2000s, but got too hard carrying printer & paper and inventory to the mall shows etc that were real popular then. Thanks again! ?

    1. I’m so glad to hear that you’re seeing the many possibilities of Print on Demand and especially the custom products on Zazzle. It is really a great business model if you don’t want the hassle of carrying inventory, that is one of the main reasons I use it.

  3. SherrysDigiScraps says:

    I would buy commercial use designs at Creative Fabrica & use in my creations. Never had an issue at Redbubble but the folks at Zazzle would yank my product and accuse me of copy right infringement. I even took a screen shot showing to permission to use the designs. I finally just closed all of my shops at Zazzle. I consider them a B rated company while Redbubble an A. Besides, I have made more money at Redbubble than I ever did on Zazzle.

    1. Yes, Zazzle is very tough on copyright infringement and I agree that not allowing purchased designs is a bit of an over-reach. However for artists I see this as a good thing, considering Redbubble allows all sorts of copycats and infringers on their site. Companies like Disney and Marvel actually have stores on Zazzle so they have to lock things down to keep those brand happy. I would only put original artwork on Zazzle. I wouldn’t consider Zazzle B rated at all, just different.

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