Question about Maniology brand jelly stampers

I’ve been using my best friend’s maniology (formerly named bundlemonster) clear jelly stampers for a few years, and when she got them, the designs wouldn’t stick to them. so, she roughed them up with a nail file and now designs stick really well. only downside is, now they’re cloudy from being roughed up so you can’t really align designs well.

fast forward, the roughed up jelly stampers started to split/crack, so i said “i’ll get us some replacements”. did some research, turns out you’re not supposed to rough them up and there are ways of making them stamp when still clear. so i said “okay we won’t do that this time”.

followed instructions (wash with dishsoap, bounce stamper on back of dry hand to rid of excess oils), and not only do they still not pick up consistently enough, they cracked on the first try.

so 2 questions: did maniology change manufacturers? it took years for the old ones to crack but these failed on the first time. and what am i doing wrong? why can’t i get things to stick?