Hey there!
As I noticed there are a lot of questions regarding Verified Merchant Program, I would like to share some of my experiences.
What is VMP ?
The Verified Merchant Program helps people on Pinterest discover and buy from vetted brands. As a verified merchant, your Pins may appear organically to people who are searching for products and shopping on Pinterest.
Who Can Apply?
The VMP Program is open to businesses located in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, the UK or the US.
To become a verified merchant, you need to have an active catalog, a functioning tag, and meet Pinterest's Merchant guidelines.
Application Process
So you should:
Connect your product catalog to create Pinterest Product Pins
Install the Pinterest tag on your website to get analytics
Pass the merchant review to receive your blue checkmark
See the guidelines : https://policy.pinterest.com/en-gb/merchant-guidelines
What to Do if You Are Not Approved
The most common reasons for being denied is usually due to issues with your landing page.
It's better to check the following before applying:
-Grammatical errors, spelling errors, or excessive typos
-Forcing users to visit another page that is not yours
-Fuzzy, pixellated, or non-high quality images
-Multiple ads or popups you can’t close
-Unoriginal content in page sections or product descriptions
-Stock images
-Out of date/ out of season content (example: Christmas sales in February)
-Out of stock products
-Your shipping policy, return policy, and terms and conditions are not prominently displayed
I was rejected for the first time and I was asked to update return policy in my website www.americanocrystals.com . I received my blue mark only after I updated my my return policy.
I also advice you to check for the following:
-If your business name and social media name are consistent
-Social media posts are just memes or quotes
-Social media accounts haven’t had new content posted in the last 30 days
-Your Pinterest account isn’t at least three months old
-If your website domain matches the verified site on your Pinterest profile
If you have any questions, I would love to help. Feel free to comment below or send me a private message.
@starphase_streetwear Out-of-stock items aren't necessarily a deal breaker for becoming Verified. It is something Pinterest will consider during the process of vetting you along with the above-mentioned items. However, I'm a one-of-a-kind jewelry designer with sold-out items still listed on my site, and I was vetted to become a Verified Merchant.
The bottom line is that Pinterest wants to ensure its partnered merchants are high-quality original brands, not generic drop-shippers from overseas.
I hope this helps! 🤓📌
I appreciate your clear response. I understand you are a one-of-a-kind jewelry designer. And I have another question: why hasn't the support team responded to emails for months? Is there a reason they kept responding with the same automated messages? I checked the TrustPilot reviews, and people are not pleased. What are your thoughts on the subject? How will Pinterest address this issue? @PinterestJoan
Thanks.
Kind regards
@starphase_streetwear I think it's common practice for large companies to use scripts when it comes to support inquiries. I understand this can be frustrating, especially when you have an account issue that needs resolving. However, if you have a ticket with support that you needs to be escalated on your behalf, please reach out to any of the Pioneers here in the PBC. We'll get eyes on it for you faster.
I hope this helps. 🤓📌
Thank you very much for your help. It'd be fantastic if we could recruit the help of a Pinterest Pioneer to expedite the evaluation process. I've just created another ticket. I'm hoping I don't get another auto response.
@PinterestJazmin Can we help escalate this support ticket from @starphase_streetwear ? Thank you so much! 🤓📌
Hi @starphase_streetwear we are experiencing a higher than normal response time for merchant support tickets but rest assured your ticket is in the queue and our support team will respond as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience!
Excellent news! That response made me feel a lot better. Thanks!
"The bottom line is that Pinterest wants to ensure its partnered merchants are high-quality original brands, not generic drop-shippers from overseas."
While we appreciate your enthusiasm and faith that Pinterest acts in the best interests of legitimate businesses, this is unfortunately not the case.
Check it out, @RitajShop became a Verified Merchant within a few weeks with one monthly view, 0 followers, and with no created pins!
@jewelrysShop became a Verified Merchant with this absolute gem of an About Us page:
"Welcome to jewelry, your number one source for all things product. We're dedicated to giving you the very best of products, with a focus on quality products."
Did you notice that they are an over-seas dropshipping site? Pinterest sure has a love for "Group yilzo Ltd" since they are getting Verified Merchant within days on multiple websites.
How about @Viottoandco? They have an interesting address, don't they? Did the VM team miss it?
@Viottoandco loves taking images and product names directly from Pottery Barn. Oddly, but unsurprisingly 🤔, the Pinterest VM team missed it:
What about @decormote? Isn't having original content a VM requirement? How did the VM team miss that decormote.com's entire About Us page is copy and pasted from preciosalighting.com?
What about @MavayaDecor? How'd the VM team verify this website considering they do not have a Return Policy or Shipping Policy?