Zazzle: Difference between revisions

Zazzle
Type of site	E-commerce
Available in	English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Portuguese, Swedish, Korean, Canadian French, Dutch
Owner	Zazzle Inc.
URL	zazzle.com
Launched	2005
Written in	C#/ASP.NET

Zazzle Inc.
Company type	Private
Industry	Internet, online retailing
Founded	2005; 19 years ago
Founders	Robert Beaver; Bobby Beaver; Jeff Beaver; ;
Headquarters	Redwood City, California, United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Robert Beaver (CEO)
Website	zazzle.com

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Zazzle is an American online marketplace that allows designers and customers to create their own products with independent manufacturers (clothing, posters, etc.), as well as use images from participating companies. Zazzle has partnered with many brands to amass a collection of digital images from companies like Disney, Warner Brothers and NCAA sports teams.^[2]^[3] Zazzle claims to have over 300 million unique products listed on the site. It now one of the most popular platforms for customizing^[4] apparel in the USA.

History[edit]

Zazzle was launched from their garage by Robert, Bobby, and Jeffrey Beaver, and went live in 2005.^[5] The company received an initial investment of US$16 million in July 2005 from Google investors John Doerr and Ram Shriram,^[3] and an additional investment of US$30 million in October 2007.^[6]

The site was recognized by TechCrunch as 2007's "best business model" in its first annual Crunchies awards,^[7] and has been noted by industry experts, such as B. Joseph Pine, for its easy-to-use technology.^[8] It is based in Redwood City, California.

Zazzle.com offers digital printing, and embroidered decoration on their retail apparel items, as well as other personalization techniques and items.

Custom stamp printing[edit]

Starting in 2005, Zazzle offered custom stamp printing in a partnership with the United States Post Office (USPS).^[9] However, on May 15, 2018, Zazzle stopped the custom stamp printing due to new regulations by the USPS.^[10]

Controversy[edit]

Pi trademark incident[edit]

In May 2014, Zazzle removed thousands of products containing the Greek letter pi (π) from being offered for sale on its website.^[11] This was done in response to a cease-and-desist letter sent on behalf of Brooklyn-based artist Paul Ingrisano, who holds the trademark (U.S. Reg. No. 4473631) for the symbol 'π.' (pi followed by a period).^[12] Zazzle's content management team initially defended its ban on Zazzle's user forums, despite complaints from Zazzle sellers that Ingrisano's specific trademark did not appear to apply to their designs.^[13] Following the backlash from users, however, Zazzle reversed course on May 30 and began restoring products featuring the letter pi that had been initially removed.^[11]

Font lawsuit[edit]

In August 2022, graphic designer Nicky Laatz sued Zazzle, saying that the company had secretly purchased a one-user license for her trademarked and copyright-protected fonts and then made them available to all of its hundreds of thousands of designers and tens of millions of users, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars of profits for Zazzle from products that incorporated her fonts.^[14] The lawsuit claims that Zazzle had recommended her font as their second most popular font, and that five of Zazzle's twelve most-popular business cards, as well as several of its most-popular wedding invitations used her fonts.^[14]

References[edit]

^ "zazzle.com Traffic Statistics". Alexa. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.
^ "About Us". zazzle.ca.
^ ^a ^b Olsen, Stefanie (2005-07-18). "Google investors find new project". ZDNet. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
^ "Top 10 Popular Platforms for Customizing Apparel and Accessories". Styled. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
^ Dishman, Lydia (2013-10-18). "How Two Companies Partnered To Turn Design-On-Demand Into High Growth Retail". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-12-25.
^ Michael, Arrington (2007-07-27). "Zazzle rumor: big hedge fund investment". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
^ "2007 Crunchies: The Winners". TechCrunch. 2008-01-19. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
^ Antonucci, Mike (2008-02-08). "Customize your Valentine's Day gifts". The Mercury News. Retrieved 2019-09-12.
^ "Zazzle It". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-06-13.
^ "What Happened to Zazzle Custom Postage?". WeddingStamps.US. Retrieved 2023-06-13.
^ ^a ^b Poulsen, Kevin (2014-05-31). "This Guy Trademarked the Symbol for Pi and Took Away Our Geeky T-Shirts". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on 2014-05-31. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
^ Wicksell, Dustin (2014-06-07). "Man Trademarks Pi, Internet Furious". The Inquisitr. Archived from the original on 2014-06-09. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
^ O'Neil, Lauren (2014-06-02). "Artist trademarks 'Pi' symbol, enrages the web". CBCNews. Archived from the original on 2014-06-03. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
^ ^a ^b Baron, Ethan (2022-08-25). "Redwood City e-commerce firm run by family of Stanford grads accused of making fortune off stolen fonts - Trickery made Zazzle hundreds of millions of dollars, lawsuit claims". San Jose Mercury News.

External links[edit]

Official website

[1] "zazzle.com Traffic Statistics". Alexa. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 15 December 2016.

[2] "About Us". zazzle.ca.

[zdnet-3] Olsen, Stefanie (2005-07-18). "Google investors find new project". ZDNet. Retrieved 2008-09-13.

[4] "Top 10 Popular Platforms for Customizing Apparel and Accessories". Styled. Retrieved 2024-01-26.

[5] Dishman, Lydia (2013-10-18). "How Two Companies Partnered To Turn Design-On-Demand Into High Growth Retail". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-12-25.

[6] Michael, Arrington (2007-07-27). "Zazzle rumor: big hedge fund investment". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2021-10-07.

[7] "2007 Crunchies: The Winners". TechCrunch. 2008-01-19. Retrieved 2019-09-12.

[8] Antonucci, Mike (2008-02-08). "Customize your Valentine's Day gifts". The Mercury News. Retrieved 2019-09-12.

[9] "Zazzle It". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-06-13.

[10] "What Happened to Zazzle Custom Postage?". WeddingStamps.US. Retrieved 2023-06-13.

[:0-11] Poulsen, Kevin (2014-05-31). "This Guy Trademarked the Symbol for Pi and Took Away Our Geeky T-Shirts". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on 2014-05-31. Retrieved 2024-03-21.

[12] Wicksell, Dustin (2014-06-07). "Man Trademarks Pi, Internet Furious". The Inquisitr. Archived from the original on 2014-06-09. Retrieved 2024-03-21.

[13] O'Neil, Lauren (2014-06-02). "Artist trademarks 'Pi' symbol, enrages the web". CBCNews. Archived from the original on 2014-06-03. Retrieved 2024-03-21.

[SJMN_2022-08-25-14] Baron, Ethan (2022-08-25). "Redwood City e-commerce firm run by family of Stanford grads accused of making fortune off stolen fonts - Trickery made Zazzle hundreds of millions of dollars, lawsuit claims". San Jose Mercury News.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|Marketplace In The U.S}}
-'''Zazzle''' is an online retailer that allows users to upload images and create their own merchandise (clothing, posters, etc), or buy merchandise created by other users, similar to [[CafePress.com]], as well as use images from participating companies such as [[The Walt Disney Company]].<ref name="zdnet">{{Citation|url=http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-143764.html|title=Google investors find new project|accessdate=2008-09-13}}</ref> Users are allowed to open their own shop for free and set the profit they wish to make on each item.
+{{refimprove|date=June 2015}}
+{{Infobox company
+| name = Zazzle Inc.
+| logo = Zazzle company logo.png
+| logo_size = 100px
+| type = [[Private company|Private]]
+| industry = [[Internet]], [[online retailing]]
+| founded = {{Start date and age|2005}}
+| founders = Robert Beaver<br>Bobby Beaver<br>Jeff Beaver<br /><br />
+| hq_location_city = [[Redwood City]], [[California]]
+| hq_location_country = United States
+| area_served = Worldwide
+| key_people = Robert Beaver (CEO)
+| website = {{URL|http://www.zazzle.com|zazzle.com}}
+}}
+{{Infobox website
+| name                 = Zazzle
+| url                  = {{URL|http://www.zazzle.com|zazzle.com}}
+| type                 = [[E-commerce]]<!--[[Web banner|Web banners]], [[video|videos]]-->
+| language             = English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Portuguese, Swedish, Korean, Canadian French, Dutch
+| programming_language = C#/ASP.NET
+| owner                = Zazzle Inc.
+| launch_date          = 2005
+| footnotes            = <ref>{{cite web|title=zazzle.com Traffic Statistics|url=http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/zazzle.com|website=Alexa|access-date=15 December 2016|archive-date=20 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220162029/http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/zazzle.com|url-status=dead}}</ref>
+}}
+'''Zazzle''' is an American online marketplace that allows designers and customers to create their own products with independent manufacturers (clothing, posters, etc.), as well as use images from participating companies. Zazzle has partnered with many brands to amass a collection of digital images from companies like [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]], Warner Brothers and NCAA sports teams.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zazzle.ca/about|title=About Us|work=zazzle.ca}}</ref><ref name="zdnet">{{Cite web|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-investors-find-new-project/|title=Google investors find new project|last=Olsen|first=Stefanie|date=2005-07-18|website=ZDNet|language=en|access-date=2008-09-13}}</ref> Zazzle claims to have over 300 million unique products listed on the site. It now one of the most popular platforms for customizing<ref>{{Cite web |title=Top 10 Popular Platforms for Customizing Apparel and Accessories |url=https://vocal.media/styled/top-10-popular-platforms-for-customizing-apparel-and-accessories |access-date=2024-01-26 |website=Styled |language=en}}</ref> apparel in the USA.
-Zazzle was founded in [[2003]] by Robert Beaver, and his sons Bobby and Jeff Beaver. In [[2005]], [[Google]] investors [[John Doerr]] and [[Ram Shriram]] invested [[US$]]16 million into the business.<ref name="zdnet" /><ref>{{Citation|url=http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jul2005/tc20050721_5428_tc057.htm|title=Why Zazzle Dazzles John Doerr|accessdate=2008-09-13}}</ref> The site was recognized by ''[[TechCrunch]]'' as 2007's "best business model" in its first annual "Crunchies" awards,<ref>[http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/01/18/2007-crunchies-the-winners/ 2007 Crunchies: The Winners<!-- Bot generated title -->].</ref> and has been noted by industry experts, such as [[B. Joseph Pine II|B. Joseph Pine]], for its easy-to-use technology.<!--<ref>Mike Antonucci, [http://origin.mercurynews.com/business/ci_8205033 "Customize your Valentine's gifts"], ''[[San Jose Mercury News]],'' February 8, 2008.</ref>/link rot. Bishzilla, August 28, 2008.-->
+== History ==
-Robert Beaver is a serial entrepreneur.  Bobby and Jeff Beaver graduated from Stanford Class of 2003.
+Zazzle was launched from their garage by Robert, Bobby, and Jeffrey Beaver, and went live in 2005.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/lydiadishman/2013/10/18/how-two-companies-partnered-to-turn-design-on-demand-into-high-growth-retail/|title=How Two Companies Partnered To Turn Design-On-Demand Into High Growth Retail|last=Dishman|first=Lydia|date=2013-10-18|website=Forbes|language=en|access-date=2016-12-25}}</ref> The company received an initial investment of [[US$]]16 million in July 2005 from [[Google]] investors [[John Doerr]] and [[Ram Shriram]],<ref name="zdnet" /> and an additional investment of [[US$]]30 million in October 2007.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Michael|first=Arrington|date=2007-07-27|title=Zazzle rumor: big hedge fund investment|work=[[TechCrunch]]|url=https://techcrunch.com/2007/07/27/zazzle-rumor-big-hedge-fund-investment/|access-date=2021-10-07}}</ref>
+The site was recognized by ''[[TechCrunch]]'' as 2007's "best business model" in its first annual [[Crunchies]] awards,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://social.techcrunch.com/2008/01/18/2007-crunchies-the-winners/|title=2007 Crunchies: The Winners|date=2008-01-19|website=TechCrunch|language=en-US|access-date=2019-09-12}}</ref> and has been noted by industry experts, such as [[B. Joseph Pine II|B. Joseph Pine]], for its easy-to-use technology.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2008/02/07/customize-your-valentine|title=Customize your Valentine's Day gifts|last=Antonucci|first=Mike|date=2008-02-08|work=[[The Mercury News]]|access-date=2019-09-12}}</ref> It is based in [[Redwood City, California]].
-==See also==
-* [[CafePress.com]], a similar retailer
+Zazzle.com offers [[digital printing]], and [[embroidered]] decoration on their retail apparel items, as well as other personalization techniques and items.
-==Notes and references==
-{{reflist}}
+== Custom stamp printing ==
-==External links==
+Starting in 2005, Zazzle offered custom stamp printing in a partnership with the [[United States Postal Service|United States Post Office]] (USPS).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Zazzle It |url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2006/0109/050.html |access-date=2023-06-13 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref> However, on May 15, 2018, Zazzle stopped the custom stamp printing due to new regulations by the USPS.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What Happened to Zazzle Custom Postage? |url=https://weddingstamps.us/zazzle-custom-postage-news |access-date=2023-06-13 |website=WeddingStamps.US |language=en-us}}</ref>
+==Controversy==
+=== Pi trademark incident ===
+In May 2014, Zazzle removed thousands of products containing the Greek letter [[Pi (letter)|pi]] (π) from being offered for sale on its website.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Poulsen |first=Kevin |date=2014-05-31 |title=This Guy Trademarked the Symbol for Pi and Took Away Our Geeky T-Shirts |url=https://www.wired.com/2014/05/pi-takedown/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140531164752/https://www.wired.com/2014/05/pi-takedown/ |archive-date=2014-05-31 |access-date=2024-03-21 |work=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028}}</ref> This was done in response to a cease-and-desist letter sent on behalf of Brooklyn-based artist [[Paul Ingrisano]], who holds the [[trademark]] (U.S. Reg. No. 4473631) for the symbol 'π.' (pi followed by a period).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wicksell |first=Dustin |date=2014-06-07 |title=Man Trademarks Pi, Internet Furious |url=https://www.inquisitr.com/1286981/man-trademarks-pi-internet-furious |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140609110956/http://www.inquisitr.com/1286981/man-trademarks-pi-internet-furious/ |archive-date=2014-06-09 |access-date=2024-03-21 |website=The Inquisitr |language=en}}</ref> Zazzle's content management team initially defended its ban on Zazzle's user forums, despite complaints from Zazzle sellers that Ingrisano's specific trademark did not appear to apply to their designs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Neil |first=Lauren |date=2014-06-02 |title=Artist trademarks 'Pi' symbol, enrages the web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/newsblogs/yourcommunity/2014/06/artist-trademarks-pi-symbol-enrages-the-web.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140603004506/https://www.cbc.ca/newsblogs/yourcommunity/2014/06/artist-trademarks-pi-symbol-enrages-the-web.html |archive-date=2014-06-03 |access-date=2024-03-21 |website=CBCNews}}</ref> Following the backlash from users, however, Zazzle reversed course on May 30 and began restoring products featuring the letter pi that had been initially removed.<ref name=":0" />
+=== Font lawsuit ===
+In August 2022, graphic designer Nicky Laatz sued Zazzle, saying that the company had secretly purchased a one-user license for her [[trademark]]ed and [[copyright]]-protected [[fonts]] and then made them available to all of its hundreds of thousands of designers and tens of millions of users, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars of profits for Zazzle from products that incorporated her fonts.{{ r | SJMN_2022-08-25 }} The lawsuit claims that Zazzle had recommended her font as their second most popular font, and that five of Zazzle's twelve most-popular business cards, as well as several of its most-popular wedding invitations used her fonts.<ref name=SJMN_2022-08-25 > {{ cite news | url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/08/25/redwood-city-e-commerce-firm-run-by-family-of-stanford-grads-accused-of-making-fortune-off-stolen-fonts/ | title=Redwood City e-commerce firm run by family of Stanford grads accused of making fortune off stolen fonts - Trickery made Zazzle hundreds of millions of dollars, lawsuit claims | last=Baron | first=Ethan | newspaper=[[San Jose Mercury News]] | date=2022-08-25 }} </ref>
+== References ==
+{{reflist|30em}}
+== External links==
+{{Commons category|Images from Zazzle}}
 <!-- Do not link to individual stores. They will almost certainly be treated as advertising and removed. -->
+* {{Official website}}
-* [http://www.zazzle.com Zazzle home]
-<!--*  Mike Antonucci, [http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_8205020 "Retail Ink: Customizing site promises more razzle-dazzle"], website review, ''[[San Jose Mercury News]],'' February 8, 2008/Link rot. Bishzilla, August 28, 2008.-->
+{{Self-publishing|state=expanded}}
-{{website-stub}}
+{{DEFAULTSORT:Zazzle}}
+[[Category:2005 establishments in California]]
+[[Category:American companies established in 2005]]
+[[Category:Companies based in Redwood City, California]]
+[[Category:Companies established in 2005]]
+[[Category:Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq]]
+[[Category:Online marketplaces of the United States]]
+[[Category:Internet properties established in 2005]]
+[[Category:Retail companies established in 2005]]
 [[Category:Self-publishing online stores]]