What's on your Verified Merchant Program Wishlist?

[bodymindmood]

Please Comment With Your Wishlist Ideas + Thoughts

A topic that has always been front and center here on the PBC is the VMP or Verified Merchant Program. While posts, comments, and threads have not always been the kindest they certainly have been consistent and in some cases educational and intriguing? for everyone who reads them.

• Selling your products on Pinterest + Shopify started in 2015 and it has really grown -
  Read the Shopify Blog Post Announcement June 2nd 2015

A lot has changed since 2015  including the number of people buying and selling online.  I should know I participated in the Shopify + Pinterest Program with a business I started in 2014 and I did for a short time sell my products on Pinterest unfortunately I was a little early when it came to owning | operating | selling online and Pinterest was not at that time the right platform for my business so I moved my products to a different platform which was more appropriate and my business is still growing today.

The Verified Merchant Program has become something that everyone wants to participate in but overtime the VMP Guidelines and requirements have become harder for businesses to meet making it harder to become Verified on Pinterest. As a PBC Member who responds to posts about the Verified Merchant Program I have considered things that could be changed or added to make the VMP Guidelines + Verification Process easier for businesses who are looking to get verified.

What's on your Verified Merchant Program Wishlist? 

I would love to hear your what you would add to your VMP Wishlist 🛍

Please Comment Below See What I Have Added 👇

[wildrootmarketing]

@thehalcyonhive yes, they are manual catalogs. I used the Google Drive technique that you mentioned a while back and it worked fine but then recently stopped working and gave the 103 error code that the column headers were missing something. But none of the required headers are missing... 

[thehalcyonhive]

@wildrootmarketing I've since switched mine to my website host (Showit).  So I'd recommend moving the csv on the clients website and grabbing the link from there.  That should work then!

[NotABondGirl]

@bodymindmood Very insightful! This can be a blog/article if it isn't already😁 

[macabria_jewelry]

Please add a detailed requirements for website and catalog as now they are very vague and provide at least one particular reason for rejection e.g. "your site is missing shipping policy / this product has low quality picture etc.", otherwise I see no way to find what's wrong. E.g. I am getting rejected with following reasoning "Merchant's product descriptions and categories do not meet requirements" but guidelines ( https://policy.pinterest.com/en/merchant-guidelines ) do not have a sole word about categories. How on Earth I am supposed to know what's wrong with them? Both google_product_category and product_type are listed as optional here - https://help.pinterest.com/en/business/article/before-you-get-started-with-catalogs by the way.

[DomesticPlatypus]

Others above have all pretty clearly illustrated some top frustrations with the program. There's a serious lack of clarity and transparency in help pages and guidelines for the VM approval process, catalog issues, etc.

However, I think the overarching issue is that Support from Pinterest seems essentially non-existant. Submit a ticket, receive one of a handful of preexisting responses pointing you back to help pages, guidelines, etc. rather than an actual response. This has been a consistent, repeated experience for many of us.

One would imagine that Pinterest would also better serve its own interests - attracting, onboarding and retaining merchants - by solving this problem. I imagine support gets a lot of pretty pointless, basic inquiries from general users which can effectively be solved by pointing to basic help pages. However, business users typically read and understand this documentation and more often engage support when there are further questions or assistance required.

[bodymindmood]

@DomesticPlatypus 

Hi, welcome to the PBC!

First, thank you for taking the time to respond and share your thoughts | and views on the VMP.

I know the Verified Merchant Team is working hard to get to everyone.

I help a lot of Merchants where I can in relation to getting verified and regaining their status. I would say that many merchants I encounter here on the PBC and off the PBC often don't have a solid understanding of the Merchant Guidelines and often need help applying the guidelines to their business websites + products or, for example, have missed a crucial step in updating their catalog et al.

Your thoughts and suggestions are appreciated - while I don't work for Pinterest, there are Pinterest employees here in the PBC who do read and are listening to what community members think and share.

I hope that you will keep coming back and sharing more.

Lisa

[bodymindmood]

@wildrootmarketing 

Yes, you absolutely can link to this article.

Lisa

[huntercreekcrafts]

Not changing the domain age requirement without grandfathering accounts that previously met the requirement and had VMP status.

[bodymindmood]

@huntercreekcrafts 

Hi, Welcome to the PBC!

This is a problematic issue for merchants, no doubt.

It's my understanding, though, that if you file a ticket, it may be possible to be reinstated as a VMP. I think it depends on the circumstances of each merchant.

Lisa

[huntercreekcrafts]

I have filed a support ticket. They are not grandfathering any accounts. This is just one of several replies where they say Sorry, but tough sh*t.

I apologize that these changes have impacted your Verified Merchant status. It suggested waiting for sometime so that your domain becomes 13 months old. Once it hits the milestone we will reinstate your Verified Merchant status.