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Verified Merchant Rejection

studiojru
Just visiting

@PinterestGabby, I have seen your posts on this topic and I was hoping you may be able to shed some light on my issue? I had two issues after my first time applying. I went through and fixed everything I could think of. One of the "issues" went away, but I still get "Merchant's information is incomplete or plagiarized". I'm not sure what that can mean? I know it's not plagiarized. I don't know what is incomplete? Do you have to have a "live chat" option on your site to be approved? That was one possibility mentioned. I do not have that, nor will I. Thank you for your help!

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16 Replies
bodymindmood
Pinterest Pioneer
Pinterest Pioneer

@studiojru Hello - that's great! that you were able to find what you needed on Shopify, no worries on DMCA you now where you can go if you do need it. I have my fingers crossed for you re the Merchant Program and if it still needs more work maybe we can work on it together? Always love to help.

Youtube so here it is working on adding videos but I did the channel creation I am hoping to be able to help people with Pinterest and encourage people to participate here on the PBC - Let me know your thoughts and perhaps pass on some ideas of what you would like to see in terms of video help for Pinterest would love your input.

👉Link: Pinterest Chronicles...Geeking Out On All Things Pinterest & The PBC 

Lisa

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belmarjewelers
Just visiting

@bodymindmood Hello,  I'm sorry to be adding on to an old post but I have a similar issue and wondered if you might be able to help me or point me in the right direction.  When trying to open a Pinterest shop and become a verified merchant we received a resale merchant error and our catalog could not be ingested.  We sell vintage jewelry and I see other Pinterest stores (verified merchants) that sell vintage jewelry so I'm not sure why ours would not be approved.  I have gone through the Merchant Guidelines and nothing jumps out to me as missing or otherwise wrong.  We have quite a few products (over 1,000) so I decided to greatly reduce the number of products that we would include for Pinterest to see if that might help.  

I apologize but since this is new to me I don't know if Shopify will automatically submit this new (smaller) catalog or do I have to do something manually to submit it.  Since the first catalog was not ingested I don't see it in Pinterest and cannot seem to "reload" it there.  

I appreciate any insight you might have for me.  Thank you in advance.

Karen

 

 

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bodymindmood
Pinterest Pioneer
Pinterest Pioneer

@belmarjewelers @PinterestSusana 

Hi - Glad you made it to the PBC!

I read your post and I'm sorry your having difficulty with getting approval et al.

Please see the link I have added below and read through the Appeal Data Sources Unapproved there maybe so information there that can help you with respect to your catalog not being ingested:

Add Your Data Source 

Scroll down to Troubleshoot Data Source Error Messages and read through the list the error you are receiving maybe listed there.

If this is still not helping definitely submit a ticket to Support and keep the Ticket Number that they give you for reference.

I encourage you to do these things first as sometimes you can actually find the answer you are looking for in the Guidelines | Catalogs Information on Pinterest Help.

I speak to a lot of people on this issue and most of the time they are not approved due to what they are selling vs. Pinterest Verified Merchant Guidelines
Other times it's down to missing | lack of information that they have provided on their website or policies that they should have and don't have or the website is just generally not upto par. Usually, Pinterest does not approve Resale Items clothing and the like but you can check a more detailed list in the link above as it does list exactly items | shops that qualify and don't.

What I do know thus far about Pinterest and the Verified Merchant Program is that they want you to be successful but at the same time they want to ensure coverage for the purchaser and Pinterest so verification can be very detailed and I guess 'picky' but for the right reasons. What I can also tell you is that even if you shop is approved on one site ie Facebook that won't guarantee approval on Pinterest.

I have tagged a @PinterestSusana to see if perhaps she can assist further but I would definitely have a look at theTroubleshoot Data Source Error Messages and see if there is something that resonates with your situation.

I hope this will help you and I would love to know how you are making out, please come back and let me know.

Lisa

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belmarjewelers
Just visiting

@bodymindmood @PinterestSusana 

Lisa,  Thank you for your quick and thorough response.  I'm also copying @PinterestSusana since you copied her in on your response.

I do not see specific error codes but see only the messages I've copied below. 

Catalog needs attention

Your data source couldn't be ingested. Correct your Merchant Guidelines violations to continue.
View errors (then I click on View errors and see....)
 
Unfortunately, we can't approve your data source for Pin and product group creation for the reason(s) below:
List of catalogs
Reason
Recommendation
Merchant is a resale marketplace
Review our Merchant Guidelines for more detailed information on how you can get your products on Pinterest
 
I did have one item that was a vintage (collectible) silver coin that I removed since I thought they could be considering it to be money or a Financial Instrument.  I also noted that Facebook does not seem to be okay with vintage coral jewelry so I removed any pieces with coral.  When I say removed, I removed it on the Shopify side for the Pinterest channel.   I see several other jewelers who have vintage jewelry for sale in their shops and I couldn't locate anything saying exactly what Pinterest considers a resale marketplace to be.  I did submit a question to Support but it's been over a week and I haven't heard back.  
 
Our Shopify website is new and does include shop policies, privacy and terms of service as well as ways to contact us (we have a brick and mortar store, contact us page with a form, email address and phone number listed).  We have an about page and though our photos are not by a professional photographer I think they are okay.  I realize they are picky and that is good but it's difficult to fix not knowing what is wrong.    
 
If I decide to ask them to reconsider and submit an appeal will they be able to see the revisions that I made to the catalog in Shopify?  I'm not sure they will see them as it appears the catalog never came through.   Or do you think if the catalog is not there with error codes might that mean they will not accept vintage jewelry shops any longer so no need to proceed?
 
I truly appreciate your help. 
 
Thank you,
Karen  
1 Kudo
bodymindmood
Pinterest Pioneer
Pinterest Pioneer

@belmarjewelers 

Hi Karen:Pinterest won't approve me as a merchant because "Merchant is an affiliate or resale marketplace"

Thanks for writing back.

I have done some deep diving on the issues you are having please read over this post that I found that I believe will be helpful for you.

Pinterest Won't Approve Me

I think you will find some of the information helpful and I would not appeal until you have made some contact with Pinterest re differences on "Resale Sellers" it seems that there is confusion on this topic and what qualifies a Resale Seller to become a Verified Merchant there is obviously differences what exactly they are I don't know. I did a fair amount of reading on this and searched directly on Pinterest what I have noticed is that a lot of the resale items are coming from ebay | Etsy but I couldn't find anything from Shopify.

I do think any revisions you make to your site would be visible to Pinterest but I think dealing directly with Pinterest will help you to determine exactly what needs to be addressed....Please read the article.I would also make sure that if you have sent a request to Support that you keep your Reference Number that they provided to you handy so they can refer back to your original Support Request.

I am tagging in @PinterestDebora to see if perhaps they can advise you any further.

Please do keep writing and let me know how you are making out and we will keep trying.

Lisa

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belmarjewelers
Just visiting

@bodymindmood @PinterestDebora 

Hi, Lisa.  You are so kind to spend your time helping me.  Thank you!  I read the article that you linked.  It is interesting and does seem to point to much confusion on this subject.  I don't know if it matters but I do know of a shop that sells vintage jewelry that has both an Etsy and Shopify store and Pinterest shop.  They are Maejean Vintage.  The Shopify website catalog must be what is used for the Pinterest shop.  There's another shop that doesn't appear to have an Etsy shop but does have a Shopify website and Pinterest shop named Joy Mary Vintage.  Those are just two that I've come across but I'm sure there are others.

I opened a ticket on June 30th and after about a week I sent a follow up but haven't heard back yet.  I guess I'll just have to wait but it is disheartening not knowing how long it might take for them to respond.  Thank you again for all of your time and efforts on this.  It is wonderful to have someone respond and be so understanding and caring.  

Karen

    

 

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bodymindmood
Pinterest Pioneer
Pinterest Pioneer

@belmarjewelers 

Hey there no problem Karen its my pleasure I wish I could do more but for what its worth there is a lot going on at Pinterest right now and I suspect that the holdup on your response may be due to that. Its true that there is a lot of confusion on the matter but I'm confident that a lot of the confusion will get sorted.

Please keep coming back and let me know how you are making out but don't stop creating and building.

I followed you and I am rooting for you.

Lisa

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