Step 1: Setup your account on Zazzle.com
Step 2: Creating product templates
Step 3: Generating the Create-a-Product Linkover URL
Step 3a: Creating a Template Link
Step 3b: Creating a Templates Buffet
You're Done: Referrals and Reporting


Sign Up and become an Associate to earn with the API

Placeholders allow for dynamic images and text via API links

In the end a simple, powerful link to your customized product

Step 1: Setup your account on Zazzle.com

In order to create products via the Zazzle Create-a-Product API, you will need to set up your account:

1. Create a Zazzle user account. Go here and register for an account.

2. Set up your “Associate” account on Zazzle. Go to here and create your associate account. This will give you a Zazzle “Associate ID” which you will use for referral tracking.

3. Create “product templates”. Product templates define the design that you will complete with dynamic images and text passed in through the API. See Step 2 “Creating product templates” for more information.

4. Submit all domain names where images will be downloaded by Zazzle for your use of the API.
Images can only be downloaded from authorized domains that you specify.

Step 2: Creating product templates

A product template is a special kind of product that contains images and text designed by you, the API user, as well as “placeholders” for images and text that get dynamically replaced through the API. Images that you pass via the API will be downloaded from the URL you specify. With your template, you specify the layout of the design as well as the style and color of the product. Once a template has been processed by the API, the user can still customize their product further including modifying the design and choosing different styles, colors, and sizes.

Your template may contain:

  • A border or frame or any design on the product. Borders and frames can be added using transparent PNGs.

  • Placeholders for dynamic images which get passed via the API - dynamic images are automatically sized to fill the area occupied by the placeholder images

  • Placeholders for dynamic text which get passed via the API - font, color, and size are all specified as part of the template. Dynamic text is positioned so that its center falls on the center of the original placeholder text.

  • Any additional images, logos, and text which complete the design

For example, if you run a pet photo site, you can create a t-shirt with your company's logo on the back of the shirt, and a placeholder for the user's pet image on the front with a border. When the user clicks through the “Create-a-product API”, they will have a t-shirt with their photo on the front within a border, and your logo on the back.

Alternatively, you can create a link to an entire category of products, which would allow your users to see their photo or design on as many products as you wish. Continuing the above pet photo example, the create-a-category link API would allow the customer to see their pet's photo on several different shirts, mugs, hats, bags, etc. with just a single link to Zazzle.

Templates can be made for any Zazzle products including t-shirts, mugs, cards, and postage (posters and prints coming soon).

Creating a product template

Designing a product template is just as easy as designing a product on Zazzle using the Zazzle Design Tools. Click here to create a template.

When you create a product template, you will be designing a full product on Zazzle and will create and “tag” the placeholders for images and text that will be dynamically replaced via the API when linking over.

If you are going to create a link to a whole category of products, be sure to use the same tags on your placeholder text and placeholder images across all the template products you create in that category.

Your Zazzle team will gladly help you set up your first templates. Please contact devsupport@zazzle.com or click here for step by step instructions.

Step 3: Generating the Create-a-Product Linkover URL

Once you have set up your account and created one or more product template, you are ready to go!

You can create a Template Link to link to one specific product or you can create a Templates Buffet and link to a set of products that can be generated automatically.

Step 3a: Creating a Template Link

To create a Template Link, go to the Templates API page in MyZazzle.

1. First enter the ID of the product to which you are creating a link and click the "Go" button. Your template ID can be found on the Product page for your product template.

2. Enter placeholder values for the fields of your product template and specify whether the link you are creating will go to a Product page or the Design tool. The placeholder values are what users will see on the product before they perform any personalization. The Product page allows users to enter their own values for the template fields and select product options. The Design tool allows users to add or remove text and images to the product.

3. Click the "Generate Link" button. The generated link will appear in the text area.

Step 3a: Creating a Templates Buffet

To create a Templates Buffet, go to the Templates API page in MyZazzle and select the "Create a Templates Buffet" tab.

1. Create product lines and add products to them in the Products section of MyZazzle.

2. (Optional) Select a default product line for users to see when they click on your Templates Buffet link and specify default placeholder values for your product template fields.

3. Choose whether to show a product line browser, display short descriptions of products, and/or allow personalization of products in a dialog or inline. If you have specified a default product line, you can choose whether to show all product lines or only your default product line in the product line browser.

Specify the URL and text for the "Go back" link that will appear on your Templates Buffet page and whether the links to products in your Templates Buffet will go to a Product page or the Design tool.

You may also preview your Templates Buffet by clicking the "Preview in new window..." button.

4. The link to your Templates Buffet will appear in the text field.

You're Done: Referrals and Reporting

For each sale generated by the Create-a-Product API, you will receive your selected product royalty plus the 7% associate referral fee received for every qualified sale (10% royalty fee plus 7% referral fee). "Net revenues" for postage products exclude the face value of the postage. Additionally, if a customer purchases any other product on Zazzle within 45 days after being referred through the API you will receive 7% of those sales. Please note that these rates may be subject to change in the future.

You will be able to track the number of linkovers and the number of sales of each product template using Zazzle's robust reporting tools.

You can track the number of links by day here.

This will show you the number of links you received each day, and You can track the number of times each of your product templates is used and purchased here.

To track your total earnings, go here.