ZStore Helper WordPress Plugin For Zazzle Store Builder

March 23, 2009 / WordPress Plugins / by Paul Robinson / 688 Comments

This post was published back on March 23, 2009 and may be outdated. Please use caution when following older tutorials or using older code. After reading be sure to check for newer procedures or updates to code.

Updated: 20th June 2016

Unfortunately this plugin no longer works with the Zazzle feed anymore… Well it does, but not in certain situations. You should be able to use it as long as you only use keywords or a product line. If you try to use Product Types it will either not return any results or it will return default results. This is due to a major change in the Zazzle Feed, they no longer allow the parameter used to query Product Types.

The short version is that there is nothing I can do to fix it as the core issue is within the Zazzle Store Builder files and they have not been updated to fix the problem. I am currently working on a new plugin that will no longer need the Zazzle Store Builder to work, but I am having to fit development in around work. I will have it released as soon as possible. It will be donation based meaning you can download it free but donations will be highly encouraged. This post will be archived and a new post will be made for the new plugin, it will also have a dedicated documentation hosted on github pages so it will always be available even if my site is down.

If you’d like to stay up-to-date on the progress of the plugin please follow me on Twitter and/or Instagram (both @PaulBRobinson) where I post totally random life stuff, Degus and coding updates.

So a few members of Zazzle.com asked me to make a plugin for WordPress to make it easier to install the Zazzle Store Builder into WordPress. Usually it is quite easy, but for a novice coder placing it into WordPress can be a pain since it requires some special workarounds to be done. So to make it easy for people using WordPress I’ve made a plugin. I have asked the permission of Zazzle to release it and have now gotten permission, the only requirement is that you have download the Zazzle Store Builder from their website as you have to be a member & accept their terms & conditions to use it.

How Do I Install It?

Right here we go, the instuctions are as follows:

Download the plugin (can be found at the bottom of this post.)
Download the Zazzle Store Builder from here.
Unzip the contents of the plugin (zstore-helper.zip) to the wp-content/plugins folder in your WP installation.
Go to wp-content/plugins/zstore-helper/zstore which should be empty. Open the Zazzle Store Builder zip file. Go into the folder you can see & drag out the includes & css folders into the zstore folder. See figure 1 for what your directory should look like.
Make sure that you have fancy permalinks enabled. So your URLs don’t have ?p=34 in them, the plugin will not work without this due to Zazzle’s store bulder code.
Now go into your WordPress admin. Head to the plugins section & turn on the Zstore Helper plugin. Next head to the Zstore Helper options page that will appear under Settings & set some global options. These are the options that will always be run, unless you over ride them (more on that later).
Once you’ve set the global options all you need to do is make a page or post & put [zstore] into it. Publish & your store will appear. 🙂

Options

Here is a list of the options available on the options page & detailed instructions on what they do:

Contributor Handle: The store name (generally shown in the URL of your store’s homepage) of the store you wish to show products from.
Associate ID: An ID used for referrals. Found under the associates center, which can be found in the gallery tab of MyZazzle.
Product Line ID: Allows you to display a specific product line. Leave blank to show all products from a gallery. The product line ID can be found by clicking on a product line in a gallery. The URL will look something like http://www.zazzle.com/coatsofarms/products/cg-196595220567583981. The string or numbers on the end is the product line ID.
Product Type: Exactly what it says. Restrict which type of product is shown from the gallery.
Keywords: Also exactly what it says. Restrict products returned from the gallery by a keyword. Comma seperated. Eg. Cat, star, cow. You get the idea.
Grid Width: How wide, in pixels, should the complete product grid be. Although this is in pixels you do not need the px on the end, just the number.
Grid Cell Size: The size of each grid cell. Just pick a size from the list.
Grid Cell Spacing: The space, again in pixels, between each grid cell. As before although the value is in pixels only the number is needed & not px.
Grid Cell Background Color: The color used for each grid cells background color. In HEX but without the hash(#). Eg. FFFFFF is white. For a list of HEX colors try this link. You want the 6 char string under the column ‘Hex’.
Use Google Analytics: If you want to use Google Analytics then set this to true & then fill in Google Analytics Number with your UA number from your Google Analytics account. If you already have a Google Analytics plugin running on WordPress you probably won’t need this.
Google Analytics Number (ID): If you set the last option to true then this is where you put your Google Analytics Number. It looks like this: UA-xxxxxxx-x. If you already have a Google Analytics plugin running on WordPress you probably won’t need this.
Show How Many Products: How many products do you want to show per page, or if you have pagination turned off, how many do you want to show in total. Default is 20. It is generally not a good idea to set this above 100 or 150 as it could crash older computers while trying to load all the images.
Starting Page: What page of results do you want to start on.
Show Pagination: Do you want to show a pagination. A pagination is the list of numbers that represent links to other pages if there are too many products to show on the first page.
Show Sorting: Do you want to show the sorting options. This allows visitors to sort by the Date Created or Popularity if set to true.
Default Sorting: What you want the products to be sorted by, Date Created or Popularity. Applies even if Show Sorting is set to false.
Show ‘By’ Line: Do you want to show the products ‘By’ line. This is the line that says ‘by zazzlestore’. In other words do you want to show which store created the product.
Show Product Title: Pretty obvious. Do you want to show the products’ title.
Show Product Price: Again obvious. Do you want to show the products’ price.
Enable Caching: Do you want to enable caching. This helps reduce server load for both you and Zazzle since it saves the images it uses so it doesn’t have to contact Zazzle everytime. Handy if you get a lot of visitors.
Cache Lifetime: How long before the cache is deleted & a new set of images is retrieved from Zazzle. This is in seconds. (3600 seconds = 1 hour)

Shortcode Over-rides

Here is a list, with examples, of the attributes used for over-rides. They are similar to HTML attributes so HTML users should feel right at home. Their uses match the options above so refer to the list above for any explanations.

contributorhandle: Example: [zstore contributorhandle="ZazzleStore"]
associateid: Example: [zstore associateid="THEASSOCIATEID"]
productlineid: Example: [zstore productlineid="THEPRODUCTLINEID"]
producttype: Example: [zstore producttype="cards"]. You may use the three digit code or the name of a product from this list.
keywords: Example: [zstore keywords="cats"]. A list of keywords if more than one is used they must be comma(,) seperated.
gridwidth: Example: [zstore gridwidth="400"]
gridcellsize: Example: [zstore gridcellsize="medium"]. This must match either tiny, small, medium, large or huge.
gridcellspacing: Example: [zstore gridcellspacing="5"]
gridcellbgcolor: Example: [zstore gridcellbgcolor="FFFFFF"]
useanalytics: Example: [zstore useanalytics="false"]. Options are true or false.
analyticsid: Example: [zstore analyticsid="UA-xxxxxxx-x"]
showhowmany: Example: [zstore showhowmany="20"]
startpage: Example: [zstore startpage="1"]
showpagination: Example: [zstore showpagination="true"]. Options are true or false.
showsorting: Example: [zstore showsorting="true"]. Options are true or false
defaultsort: Example: [zstore defaultsort="date_created"]. Options are date_created or popularity.
showproductdescription: Example: [zstore showproductdescription="true"]. Options are true or false.
showbyline: Example: [zstore showbyline="ZazzleStore"]. Options are true or false.
showproducttitle: Example: [zstore showproducttitle="true"]. Options are true or false.
showproductprice: Example: [zstore showproductprice="true"]. Options are true or false.
usecaching: Example: [zstore usecaching="false"]. Options are true or false
cachelifetime: Example: [zstore cachelifetime="3600"]. Length in seconds.

You can use any of these in combination like this: [zstore contributorhandle="ZazzleStore" producttype="Mugs" keywords="cats, dogs"].

Product Type List

This is the list of product types for use with the producttype Shortcode attribute. The name on the left is the name to use in the shortcode. The name on the right is just to use as reference.

zazzle_apron – Aprons
bagettes_bag – Bagettes Bags
zazzle_bag – Bags
zazzle_binder – Binders
zazzle_bumpersticker – Bumper Stickers
zazzle_button – Buttons
zazzle_calendar – Calendars
zazzle_card – Cards
zazzle_candyjar – Candy Jar
caseable_case – Caseable Cases
casemate_case – Casemate Cases
zazzle_coaster – Coasters
fuji_coaster – Cork Coasters
musicskins_skin – Custom Skins
zazzle_doodle – Doodle Speaker
fuji_electronicsbag – Electronics Bags
zazzle_embroideredbag – Embroidered Bags
zazzle_embroideredhat – Embroidered Hats
zazzle_embroideredshirt – Embroidered Shirts
zazzle_envelope – Envelopes
zazzle_flyer – Flyers
fuji_mousepad – Gel Mousepads
zazzle_giftbox – Gift Boxes
zazzle_hat – Hats
zazzle_invitation – Invitations
zazzle_speckcase – iPad/iPhone Cases
zazzle_keychain – Keychains
mojo_kitchentowel – Kitchen Towels
zazzle_label – Labels
zazzle_letterhead – Letterhead
zazzle_magnet – Magnets
zazzle_mousepad – Mousepads
zazzle_mug – Mugs
mojo_napkin – Napkins
zazzle_necklace – Necklaces
fuji_notebook – Notebooks
fuji_notepad – Notepads
zazzle_ornament – Ornaments
zazzle_petshirt – Pet Apparel
zazzle_petbowl – Pet Bowl
zazzle_photocard – Photo Cards
zazzle_photoenlargement – Photo Enlargement
fuji_plaque – Photo Plaques
zazzle_photoprint – Photo Prints
zazzle_photosculpture – Photo Sculptures
zazzle_pitcher – Pitcher
mojo_placemat – Placemats
fuji_plate” – Plates
zazzle_stamp – Postage
zazzle_postcard – Postcards
zazzle_print – Poster Prints
planetjill_giftbox – Premium Gift Boxes
fuji_fleximagnet – Premium Magnets
zazzle_profilecard – Profile Cards
fuji_puzzle – Puzzles
zazzle_rackcard – Rackcards
rickshaw_flapsleeve – Rickshaw Flap Sleeves
rickshaw_folio – Rickshaw Folio
rickshaw_messengerbag – Rickshaw Messenger Bag
rickshaw_sleeve – Rickshaw Sleeve
zazzle_skateboard – Skateboards
zazzle_specialitymug – Speciality Mugs
zazzle_stationery – Stationary
zazzle_sticker – Stickers
zazzle_teapot – Teapots
zazzle_tie – Ties
zazzle_tile – Tiles
mojo_throwpillow – Throw Pillows
zazzle_shirt – T-Shirts
libertybottle_bottle – Water Bottles
zazzle_wrappedcanvas – Wrapped Canvas

Where Can I Download This Marvelous Invention?

Right here. Just click here to download the zip. Then jump back up to the top and follow the instructions carefully.

What About A Premium Version?

The premium version is no longer available. I have no idea what happened to Bill or if he is still around. I have had no contact with him in quite a while and have no idea how to contact him. As far as I am concerned there is no longer a paid version of this plugin and you should not pay for it.

What About WordPress MU?

Well after a little bit of adjustments it will work in WPMU. You can download that version here. This version is only a mu-plugin if you want to use it as a normal plugin in WPMU then download the version above & place it in your plugins folder.

Store Builder Wordpress Zazzle

Paul Robinson

WordPress plugin & theme developer, user of Laravel and learner of React.js. Can usually be found listening to Japanese, and Korean Pop or Vocaloid music while developing.

688 Comments

Morning, Paul.

It’s me again. I have question regarding the paginated product pages/posts. I noticed that Google has started to index my posts with the zazzle products in it now. However, it seems to be indexing every paginated page.

For example, if I have a post where I add a description of the products above where I added the Z products with your plugin, the products may cover 4 or 5 pages in pagination.

I noticed that Google is indexing that same post multiple times because of the pagination. From what I understand, that may be considered “duplicate content” in the eyes of Google.

Is there something I can do or modify in the plugin code so that those same posts with pagination are not indexed multiple times? Or is this something that I shouldn’t really worry about?

Thanks again,
Chris

author

Hi,

Duplicate content can cause a few problems with Google, although you normally get a penalty for duplicating content available on other websites.

The zstore shortcode is inside the post content so there isn’t really any way you can remove it like that. The only way around it is to have a template used only for your Zazzle posts/pages with a conditional check for the gridPage URL variable. How you do that all depends on how you have your site set up (categories etc).

Currently, I have my products placed in posts inside categories, and I also plan to make pages with just the Zazzle Search box (I suppose pagination may be a problem there too?)

I have a plugin called Single Post Template installed. From what I understand, I can create my own template and put it in my themes folder. I was thinking about copying and pasting a single.php and then adding conditional check for the gridpage url there….

Am I on the right track?

Would this be the right gridpage url? I’m not sure that I know what a conditional check is:

Sorry, I am not tech/code savvy at all, but I’m trying to figure it out.

Thanks again for your time and patience.

Oops…that didn’t post:

Hmm…let me try again without the php’s…..

if ( is_paged() ) { ?>

author

It’s difficult because everybody’s template is generally different. A conditional though is just an if…else statement. It would be something like:

if(!isset($_GET['gridPage']))
{
    the_content();
}
echo do_shortcode('[zstore]');

if(!isset($_GET['gridPage']))

{

the_content();

}

echo do_shortcode('[zstore]');

that would echo the content of the post should you not be on a pagenated ZSB page and then output the Zazzle products underneath.

Are you familiar with the wordpress heatmaptheme? I chatted with the creator of that theme, and he advised me to:

either set a no-index using is_paged() and the conditional check for the gridPage URL variable in header.php
or
just create a page template that doesnt show the duplicate content when is_paged() and the gridPage URL variable is set.

The problem is that I don’t have the php knowledge to do it or know exactly what conditional code to use or even where to place it if I did have php code knowledge or skills.

Do you possibly have the time to help me insert the code into the theme that I use? I am lost.

I understand that time is money, and I’m sure you’re still playing catch up after your back up install, but if you have time, I’d love to pay you for helping me to set that up. Or if you know someone that you trust to do that for me (I’d pay them too, of course), I would be so grateful for the referral.

author

I’m not familiar with that theme, but it shouldn’t be a problem.

I’m nearly all done getting everything back to normal so I’d be happy to try and help you out. If you send me an email to admin [at] return-true [dot] com we’ll get it sorted for you. 😉

Hi Paul,

I am loving your plug-in but have a question – that may or may not be related to the plug-in.

On my site on certain pages – I have the plug-in pulling some of my products ( for instance http://noteableexpressions.net/home/baby-showers/ ). If you look you will notice there is a huge gap between the intro and the product grid. If I look at the html from the edit post page, there is nothing there that should be causing returns – so I’m confused… any ideas or tweeks I might try?

author

I honestly have no idea why that is happening. Best guess is something in your theme is conflicting with one of the CSS rules Zazzle provide with the Store Builder. So you’re right not really the plugin but it is related, lol.

It seems to be caused by Zazzle adding in a display: block rule to the clearfix class. The only thing I can think you can do to fix it, as I have no idea what in your theme is causing it not to work correctly, is to comment out the section of CSS.

Apparently it is line 104 in the zstore.css file (you’ll probably have to download it via cpanel or FTP). You can comment it out just by doing this:

/*
.clearfix {
    display: block;
}
*/

.clearfix {

display: block;

}

I’m hoping that will fix it once you’ve reuploaded it to the server etc.

Let me know how it goes & I’ll help you out however I can, if you need it.

Hi Paul,

Sorry to be obtuse – but do you mean that I should get rid of the info just above and below?

/* Hides from IE-mac \*/
* html .clearfix {height: 1%;}
.clearfix {display: block;}
/* End hide from IE-mac */

This is what I have in my CSS file – with the 3rd line shown here being line 104…

author

No worries. Yes those are the right lines but you only want to comment out the second line that sets display to block. The first one is needed.

hmm… that didn’t seem to make a difference? (well except that I now have the outlines back?) lol

Nique,

I’ve experienced what you’re talking about and there is a pretty simple fix. Don’t add paragraphs, and don’t space down if you have tables or lists. Experiment with these:

Welcome to my website!
[zstore]

Welcome to my website![zstore]

Welcome to my website!(TABLE)(TR)(TD)some text(/TD)(/TR)(/TABLE)[zstore]

Welcome to my website!(UL)(LI)point one(/LI)(LI)point 2(/UL)[zstore]

If you then need to add spacing, add one at a time and experiment.

Thanks for the tip Shari but unfort. that didn’t change anything either, lol….

oh well… we’ll keep trying 🙂

author

Hmmm. I can’t see any other reason for the problem. 🙁

There doesn’t seem to be any elements or anything causing the gap.

Dang 🙁

Oh well, next stop – the theme designers – maybe they can get back to me in a day or two and let me know if they can figure it out! LoL

Still and yet – I just want to give you mucho kudos Paul – you are always so helpful and on top of everything here you are a God send to work with! Thanks again!

author

No problem. I’m just a little miffed I can’t see what’s wrong with it, lol.

I’ll keep looking and let you know if I find anything.

author

The only thing I can find wrong is that the Store Builder output is inside your descriptions paragraph tag (according to the source code).

Try opening the post in WP and use the HTML view and open & close the &lt:p> tag around your text and make sure the zstore shortcode is outside of them.

I’m not sure if that is the cause, but it’s the only thing I can find wrong. 🙁

Thanks for catching that Paul – I’ll go in and fix it (probably messed with it when I was trying to make sure there were no ‘hidden’ returns I wasn’t catching)

On the plus side – believe it or not, I’ve already gotten a response from the theme dev. (the fastest reply ever!) – your last response and his came at the same time. It prob is a conflicting CSS style (has to do with the clear command) between the two. Actually, Colin sent a vid response to me to explain it: http://screencast.com/t/qi8Evm6Yezv

I went with his suggestion of converting those pages to single column and it works beautifully now!

author

Ahh. Great. I’ll take a look at the screencast too. Might explain what it was that was causing the problem, lol.

Glad you’ve gotten it sorted anyway. 🙂

author

Just to let you know, I understand what was wrong now & yes other than majorly alter the theme the only way to fix it was to switch to a single column.

hehe glad I went with the quick fix then 😉

It’s really not that big of a deal since the home button is still prominent at the top plus I have the links across the bottom…

at least that’s what I’m hoping! rofl

author

Well best guess is that the theme would need major alterations, but yes. Glad it’s all sorted though. It should be enough. 😉

This plugin works nicely, but I’m not sure how to (or if I can at all) sort/organize the products like I can sort on Zazzle. (I’m kinda new at wordpress as well.)

I don’t think that I can override zstore.php either (checked permissions already).

Please check out my site, any help appreciated.

author

Hi poshinks,

Other than the two options (date and popularity) Zazzle don’t provide the ability to order by other things through their feed (which is what runs the store builder). Sorry.

Something I would like to see as an option for the plugin is product pages. Now you have the thumbnail pages and when you click on a thumbnail you get to the Zazzle.com product page.

Is it possible to integrate an option that allows a click on a thumbnail which leads you to a product page on the website and not to zazzle? I mean a page where title, image, description, price etc. for a single product can be viewed.

I know this is probably a lot to ask for, but if it is possible and of course you feel up to it, I think it would be a great addition to the plugin.

author

Unfortunately that isn’t really possible yet. ZStore is just a wrapper that enables Zazzle’s Store Builder code to work within WordPress without causing problems.

It may be possible soon though as I’ve heard that the feature you mentioned is part of the Zazzle Store Builder 1.5 and I’ll hopefully be able to update the plugin to work with it as soon as it’s released by Zazzle.

It’s good to know there will be an update to the Zazzle Store Builder. I think it is a long time over due. Thanks for the info Paul!

Hi,
Apart from a couple of freebie reply form
scripts , I am clueless on PHP and wordpress.

I have been doing battle with Zstore (4 days or about 40 hours) and Pauls plugin.
I seem stalled on the “fancy links” mentioned in the tutorial. I can find “pretty links” !

Assuming they are both the same…. I am still confused as to what I do.add or whatever to “turn them on”..

Any tips and advice wil be gratefully received with thanks.

author

They are known as Permalinks now. Enabled just means you must have visited the page, picked an option you like and hit save. WordPress should do the rest for you.

Yeah, must agree. I clicked on someones product page link, sent me to zazzle site. After adding to cart, pressed continue shopping link and totally left the original sellers site behind and sent me to some page with a featured seller shop link. Wow, what a way to kill your business 🙁

Really needs a cart plug-in, so to pile it into the cart from the wordpress site, continue shopping there, and then speedily taken to zazzle page for finishing customization options (if enabled) once checkout is selected. The way it works now, I may just use some other service (haven’t used zazzle yet), even if I need to do the shipping if it comes to that.

@Lurker That would be a great plugin! Are there any takers for creating it?

author

I’m not sure how to explain this properly.

You cannot (to my knowledge) create a plugin like that as the public feed that the Zazzle Store Builder uses to grab it’s information from does not supply the information required to do it.

There are rumors that the new ZSB 1.5 does have a feature like that, but until it’s released only the beta testers know.

aka lurker

Yes, quite understand, actually. I have a little web dev exp and wordpress is my longtime friend, though the expertise level to do it is probably a little beyond my experience. But yes, it would need to have the ability on their end to process a cart of some sort from my end. I could easily manage the product customizations/multiple selection styles, but to send multiple item requests is something they need to be set-up for to receive. BTW it would probably be a jest to handle payments, shipping and legality myself, that’s too full-time business wise while I have my time on my primary project.

But if I use zazzle, and I do like their selection at least on appeal, I’ll use this plug-in, this looks pretty solid, good work. I’m still researching my options, and I did find a nice sellers site that used tabs in wordpress to handle multiple product site services, seemed to work very nicely one being for zazzle and then another I’ll be kind and not mention here.

How the other site service handled it was with the ability to customize the cart page on their end, so it still looked like your site. Then when ready to shop more, it sent you back to your site, nicely integrated. They don’t have the apprehensive apparel selection as zazzle does, but they had a nice selection for cards, posters and framed prints which is probably my strong point as a 3D and graphics artist. With zazzle, it’s more set up so that you refer people to other seller pages. That’s good for zazzle, and good for some sellers that want to get paid on referrals, but I want more -my merchandise only- exclusivity.

I’ve read some of the rumors for 1.5, I’ll certainly be following the progress of that. I still have another month or two to decide on what services I want to sign-up for and use. Thanks 🙂

author

I understand what you mean, but giving access to most of what you (and quite a few other people) are looking for would mean having a comprhensive API. That can make people nervous though as although I’m sure it would be secure, you do have the obvious problem of people not trusting that it is secure with everyone having access to the API code. Obviously that’s not true & it would be secure as it is now, but that is the impression the general public have told me they get because of APIs.

I personally never quite understood that. Everyone gives Twitter their info and they have a extensive API, but I guess it’s still not quite credit card info, is it.

Zazzle do have an API, but it’s tricky to set up & as of yet I haven’t been able to integrate it into WP. It’s has too much coding that requires it to be standalone.

I think it would be a good idea for Zazzle to do some sort of system to allow cart integration on your server, but I think one of the most problematic things is secure transport between your server & their server. You’d require an SSL (HTTPS) connection, and that costs a fair amount of money each year to own the SSL certificate.

About $400USD a year, which isn’t too bad if you are moving a lot of products. However I was thinking along the lines of our domains collecting multiple item selections from the customer, and then final processing happening on the zazzle site. As far as I see currently, each item selected takes the customer off site to the zazzle checkout page, and with no real return link to keep shopping. Not a problem if I’m selling expensive items that most often the customer may only make a single purchase at the time(high-end print), but cheaper items like greeting cards could be a problem where as a customer may make multiple selections on the norm. Or such as a birthday card, shirt and coffee cup for example.

I’ve seen this done by another POD system though(but less merchandising selection), where at the point the customer selects the add to cart link, it adds the item to the POD’s website basket at their site, and then automatically returns to the sellers site with hardly even time to realize they ever left the site. Then when the customer is ready to check out, the checkout link takes them to the POD site for the final information processing on the orders. And of course view cart takes them to the POD’s site and with a return link.

I know this has been an issue for some time though, as searching forums brings results about this covering a few years. I understand their thinking of why they do that, they think they will sell more items if the customer is shown the POD site selections, But I’d disagree with that thinking… for reasons I wont mention here as it’s not the topic. What would be ok in that respect though? So after checkout then the customer is presented with other shops to browse through, not every time they add something to the cart. That means the customer may be compelled to make additional purchases, not just alternative purchases to our selections.

Anyway, thanks. I’ve decided to open an account with zazzle, download the tools, get your plug-in, install a fresh coat of wordpress on my development site, and see what I can make of it. I just gotta make a quick call to Igor 😉

author

I think the problem really is that Zazzle themselves aren’t yet prepared to do that. Whether it’s because they don’t want to, or because they don’t know how to. Whatever the reason, all I know is it isn’t yet possible to go much further with the ZSB until 1.5 is released.

I’d love to make a plugin for the API but so far no luck. 🙁

The whole checkout process is very “shopkeeper-unfriendly”…but this has to do until they come up w/something better.
Thanks for the plugin btw Paul!

hello =)

thank you for creating such an awesome plugin!
i believe that i installed everything correctly, and the plugin shows up under the ‘settings’ tab in my dashboard, but when i click on it..i get the message “You do not have sufficient permissions to access this page.” i tried to change the permissions but it didn’t do anything. also, i just upgraded to the newest version of wordpress..so idk if that has anything to do with it.

any idea how to resolve that? i’m kind of a beginner, so sorry if this questions is dumb. lol. thanks in advance! 🙂

author

Hi Abra,

No problem, glad you like it.

I’m not sure what is causing the problem. I’m not having trouble accessing it from my test server running 3.1.2 and I’ve asked a few other people running it to check, they are also reporting no problems.

From experience there is only one thing I know that causes that, but it would probably lock you out of the entire WP admin. I know a few people have had a problem when upgrading to 3.1.2 where WP will lock them out of one specific (but random) admin page and it will take a few hours (my guess is for the WP Cron job to run) to allow you access again. You could wait (if it hasn’t been long since you upgraded) and hope that is the problem.

Sorry if that hasn’t been much help. It’s just a problem I’ve never really come across before. 🙁

Hi Paul,

Thank you so much for getting back to me & for checking with others to see if their works. It must be the upgrade like you said..I think I’ll wait & see if it comes back to me.

I appreciate you taking the time to answer me so quick : ) I will let you know if it finally works in case others in the future encounter the same problem.

Thank you! ^_^

author

No problem.

Like I said let me know if the problem continues & I’ll see if I can find anything to help you out. 😉

Hi Paul,

So I deleted all the files & re-installed everything from scratch multiple times…& this last time it finally WORKED. 😀 IDK why tho, lol.

I just want to say thank you so much for creating this plug-in & for being so helpful to the people using it. You seriously rock ;D

Thanks again for your help!!

author

Hi,

Ahh good news. I’d love to know what was causing the problem, but I guess we’ll never know. I’m just glad that everything is working now.

Thank you. I’m just sorry you’ve had problems getting it working.

ah no worries =) i’m just sooo glad it’s working! i wish i knew too so that i could write something to help others in the future if they encounter the permissions message! perseverance & following your instructions is all i can say XD

thanks again, take care ^_^

author

No problem. I think it might have just been one of those little quirks that happens sometimes. Really glad it’s all up and running now though. 😉

I’m having a bit of trouble getting the plugin to function. I’ve been able to upload the plugin and to set the variables. I’ve not been able to upload the files from the ZazzleStoreBuilder.zip. I’m new to wordpress so maybe i’ve just not found the menu option. I’m using a web based interface so i don’t know if that is something different what the directions are written for. I’m not sure what version of WP i’m running with (i’m a secondary user – and not the person who set up the site.), but i do notice that i have a request to update to ver 3.1.2. Any ideas?

author

Hi Cale,

I’m not sure what you mean by ‘set the variables’. Do you mean in the admin options page?

Without the ZSB files the plugin will fail as they are required, but I’m unable to distribute them with the plugin because of the development agreement I have with Zazzle. You have to upload them however your server allows. That could be FTP/SFTP, CPanel or maybe a webFTP service. There is no way built into WordPress to do it.

It’s a good idea to update to 3.1.2 as soon as possible as it was a security update.

hello again :3

i’m sorry to trouble you again..everything is awesome with the plugin & it works amazing! i’m just wondering you knew how to add margins or padding so that the title of each product can be read? :3 it kinda gets cut off vertically because the cells show up so close on my page.

thanks in advance for any help ^_^

take care

author

I don’t know the name of the class, but to alter the margin & padding you have to edit the zstore.css file that comes with the Zazzle Store Builder files you uploaded with the plugin.

Gotcha; will do! Thanks again for your help ^_^

author

No problem.

Hi Paul – I’m having issues with my plugin.

I’m getting an error message on my store which says: Error: Products temporarily unavailable.

Can you help?

Charles

author

Hi Charles,

I can see the error on your site, but I’m not sure why it’s happening. That error is generally supplied by Zazzle rather than the plugin. It could really be anything.

Normally it means Zazzle are having trouble with the feed the ZSB uses, but I’ve just tested it out and all seems okay. I’m really not sure what to suggest. 🙁

Some users have noticed having Google Analytics enabled can cause problems. Do you have it turned on?

Charles,
Hi.. wondering if you are still seeing the issue “Error: Feed temporarily unavailable” – I seem to be getting that same error. Hoping you may be able to shed some light on it.

thanks,

author

Vipul,

That error can be caused by a number of things but Ii’s normally caused by one of 2 things.

First Zazzle are having a problem. You can normally tell if it is this as it tends to go away quickly.

Second is normally the options you are sending to Zazzle. The error is actually returned by the Store Builder, not the ZStore Plugin, it generally means that the options you sent provided no results or they conflicted.

The best thing is to clear your options page & try the [zstore] shortcode with no options, and see if you get any products showing.

There are a number of other problems it could be, but all are related to your server. Unfortunately the Zazzle Store Builder is sometimes picky about where it runs. I’ve had to fix quite a few odd problems with it (completely unrelated to the Zstore Plugin) because of strange server setups with REGEX or cURL on hosts like GoDaddy or HostGator.

Hi, has WordPress.org changed since you wrote these instructions? I don’t see “wp-content/plugins/zstore-helper/zstore” nor the “wp-content/plugins”.

I downloaded both zip files. Then I did the following:

1. Went to my WordPress.org account
2. Plugins
3. Add new
4. Uploaded the helper zip file and activated it

I am totally lost. lol Sorry to bother you, but thanks!

author

Hi Percilla,

because Zazzle asked me not to provide the Zazzle Store Builder files with my plugin you must install them separately. You must do that via FTP either using a program like Filezilla or via CPanel if that is how your host provides access.

Just place the includes & css folders inside the Zazzle Store Builder zip into the zstore folder at “wp-content/plugins/zstore-helper”.

I do offer to install it for those who are having trouble, but I do have to charge. If you have any more troubles of you would like me to install it for you please just drop me an email via the contact us page (in the footer of the site).

Thank you Mr. Robinson, I got it.

author

No problem Percilla. 😉

Hello Paul,

Looks like a great plug-in, thanks for building t his. Just one question, where’s the option to open links in “new window” from each item? Can i change the PHP files to set target=”_blank” myself?

Best regards…

author

Hi Doug,

Due to license restrictions I can’t make a built in option to do that, but you can follow the instructions in this post which explains how to open Zazzle Store Builder links in a new window.

Haven’t tried it yet, but will this plugin work for products that are based on search RSS feeds? i.e. search for Obama Tee Shirts and I get all the Obama Shirts to show up in the store- regardless who created the designs?

author

Hi Vipul,

I’m not sure what you mean? If you mean can you search for something and display products regardless of who created them, then yes you can using the keyword parameter.

Mr Robinson you are my hero! :))

Used the plugin to add ZSB to my new site and it works like a dream, thanks so much for creating this.

Is your Amazon wishlist up to date? 😉

author

Hi Angie,

No problem. I’m glad it’s been helpful to you. Just to let you know, there may be an update in the next few days as Zazzle have just released iPod Touch 4th Generation cases.

I’ve just updated my Wishlist now. I haven’t had time to go through adding things, but I’ve removed those that I’ve already gotten as it was my Birthday last month.

I’m having a problem that may be a Zazzle problem. I’m not sure. I have a Page with this code.
[zstore productlineid=”196072230522166764″]
Logically that should bring up the products on this page (right?)
http://www.zazzle.com/alrioart/gifts?cg=196072230522166764
But it doesn’t. Only a few of the items on that page show up. See here:
http://veryeasy2remember.com/shopping/broncos-by-al-rio/
I’m sure it’s happening with Bumper Stickers too. Can you offer any insight?

I changed it to put contributor id in there and it works. Sorry.
[zstore contributorhandle=”alrioart” productlineid=”196072230522166764″]

author

No problem Terry. Glad you got it working. 😉

Had question regarding the Associate ID if you fill in your ID in the “Global Options” do you need to include it if you also use the “short-codes?” I’ve tried both ways, should I be seeing my associate ID in the page URL? How do I know it’s calculating correctly. Thanks so much for providing.

author

Hi Vipul,

No you don’t have to, although you can provide a different one in the shortcode if you would like to override your Associate ID with another one.

No, you shouldn’t see it in the page URL. It is handed to the Zazzle Store Builder behind the scenes. You may be able to tell if it is using it by looking at the URL a product generated by the Store Builder links to & see if your Associate ID is in the URL.

Hi Paul!
I don’t suppose you’d be able to give me a little more detail with regards to step 7 please? This is my first experience with WordPress and I’m just now realizing I picked a very difficult task to start with, with the Zazzle Store Builder…whoops.
I’m looking forward to using your plugin–I’ve been trying to figure ZSB out for months and just found you! I’m closer than I’ve ever been but my severe lack of knowledge of the basics is seriously holding me back.
I know how to make a page in WP, but the ‘put zstore on it’ part eludes me. I tried to copy and paste it into a post as if it were HTML but that doesn’t work, so I can’t figure out what other options there are…unless it’s messing with the files in FTP (in which case I definitely need detailed instructions).
I’d appreciate any help, thanks SO much!

Jessica

author

Hi Jessica,

Well step 7 is literally just put [zstore] into the post. If you like I can help you out a bit more, but it might require a few emails back & forth so feel free to drop me an email via the contact form & I’m very happy to help you out. 😉

Hi, I get the error: Feed temporarily unavailable. After following what others said, I cleared all options and it gets the plugin working, but the error seems to be when I put in my Zazzle screename! I’m certain my screename is: thirdpotato, but when I put that in the blank, I get the Error again! What can I do?

Resolved it: It’s not actually the Zazzle username; rather the name of the store you want displayed >,< Thanks though!

author

Ahh, yes. Sorry I haven’t changed that yet. I’d forgotten that it has changed since Zazzle merged all stores owned by the same user together.

I’ll get the post changed now.

Good Morning! I feel like I have seen the answer to this question in the past, but I can’t find it now. I am now creating a site that displays the products from my six zazzle stores so I can have it all in one place. So far I have only used the Zstore builder to display a specific store. Am I able to do this? If so, how, please. Thank you somuch!

author

Hi Tamkia,

It isn’t really possible if you want it to show all the products from 6 stores in one ZSB.

You have two options to get around it. One is to have 6 separate ZSB’s each showing a different store, or you can add a tag into your products that no one else is likely to use & search for it using the keyword parameter.

Hey boss, ive got the plugin running on a few sites, but occasionally once up and running if you click a link for next page, or even a product it either takes you to a page not found or returns you to the blogs main page. Ive uninstalled and reinstalled to no avail. This is on sites using wp3.2

Tks
Bill

author

Hi Bill,

I’m not sure why that is happening. I would have said something is interfering with the pagination, but if it happens when clicking a product too then I’m definitely confused as product links are generated by Zazzle not the Z Store plugin…

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Updated: 20th June 2016

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