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VMP status being revoked

pearlredmoon
Just visiting

How many others have experienced having their Verified Merchant accounts being cancelled due to unspecified complaints? Pinterest have advised that my VMP status is being revoked at the end of this month, February 2023, due to "excessive complaints" that cannot be clarified. I have been in business on Etsy and Shopify for 8 years and never had any significant level of complaints about my product or service so I am completely dumbfounded to be advised that my VMP status after only 2 years on Pinterest is so terrible that I have to be removed. I am not allowed to know what are the specific reported problems with my product or service. 

Have others experienced this treatment from Pinterest?

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8 Replies
bodymindmood
Pinterest Pioneer
Pinterest Pioneer

@pearlredmoon 

Hi, Welcome to the PBC!

I read your post, and I am sorry you are having difficulty.

I checked out reviews et al. on your shop - I have not been able to find any issues, not even on Pinterest.

I suggest you file a ticket with support and ask them to review this issue.

Pinterest Support + File Ticket

I hope this helps.

Lisa

@PinterestSupport 

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pearlredmoon
Just visiting

Hi Lisa, I really appreciate you taking a moment to try to help me out. Before posting this comment I had already talked to support asking them to let me know what the problem was so I could fix it. That was when I received the answer that Pinterest wasn't going to tell me what the complaint was and that my shop is going to be revoked VMP status at the end of this month.

This seems so arbitrary and unfair I was shocked and so that is why I reached out here wondering if this happens to other merchants.

I am looking into what other higher up people in Pinterest management I can turn to to try to find out what the problem is.

1 Kudo
bodymindmood
Pinterest Pioneer
Pinterest Pioneer

@pearlredmoon 

Hi

No worries - I think you will find there not be much help as Pinterest cannot assist you with this. They are not able to help Merchants determine issues + fixes.

Lisa

1 Kudo
pearlredmoon
Just visiting
Thats bizarre! You say Pinterest can't explain what the complaint is about my shop or allow me to fix it! Does that mean if there is any complaint about anybodys store they just arbitrarily withdraw VMP status? Because that would contradict their public policy what the process is...
 
When I checked the policy is that the merchant is advised if there have been complaints and given the opportunity to fix things. The policy also states that the merchant gets advised by email if there is a problem and no email has been sent to me. It is only because I saw the warning in my business account that I followed up trying to find out how I was not in "compliance'.
 
Overall, taking into account what happened a few years ago, Pinterest has treated me with appalling disregard. In 2019 Pinterest gave a China based mass manufacturing clothing company VMP status on their platform (the Guangdong business is registered as ChicV International, but they use 100s of other popup shop front names to obscure their illegal activities). This company had infringed my copyright by appropriating FOURTEEN images of my work that I had published on social media. They put my images in their online shops and pretended it was a product they were selling. Pictures of my garments were being shown all over Pinterest for 2 years and I was unable to stop it. I made numerous complaints, none of which were acknowledged, other than by auto generated responses. I am only a solitary artisan with 3 online shops, the income of which combined averages around Aus$400 a month so I was in no position to get legal representation to uphold my copyright. I probably would have been able to do so if I was an American citizen but as I'm Australian the situation was too complex.
 
The appropriation and mass manufacture of hideous fakes of my work, and my inability to stop the exploitation caused me enormous distress. My doctor put me on high doses of anti depressants to help me cope with the anxiety. I was actually tracked down and abused by a number of the unfortunate people who had bought the scam products who thought I was responsible!
 
So you can understand why I have a very poor opinion of how Pinterest has treated me. They ignored me for years to enable an illegal activity and now in 2023 dismiss me arbitrarily without recourse to a fair process.
1 Kudo
bodymindmood
Pinterest Pioneer
Pinterest Pioneer

@pearlredmoon 

I read your post, and I understand why you have a poor opinion of Pinterest.

I would encourage you to File A Copyright Complaint 

I have had to do this with some of my content, also. 

Pinterest can notify you of a problem with your account, but to my knowledge; their policy is they will not help you 'fix' the issue; that is all on the merchant. Example: Merchant does not meet merchant guidelines - from there, it is up to you the merchant, to determine + fix any issues - Pinterest will not assist you with 'fixing' the issue. Note Pinterest ingests | syncs every 24 hours so if you fix an issue it's possible that your status will come back but only if the issue is resolved.

Under Merchant Guidelines

"We reserve the right to remove product Pins for violating these guidelines and to shut down feed access from any merchant based on poor third-party ratings or on platform signals such as a record of complaints. We may remove anything for any reason, including Pins, boards or your access to Pinterest."

I assume the above also means removing VMP Status.

I do think it's worth filing a Copyright Complaint with Pinterest especially if this issue has been ongoing.

Lisa

 

2 Kudos
pearlredmoon
Just visiting

uh-uhhh, so that policy defines they can act like complete assholes if they so choose. I am getting it that once again they have no more regard for my rights or a fair process than if I were a maggot.

Looks like I'll just have to cop it sweet and roll with the punch. I would go elsewhere if there was a rival. I value the images and tutorials I've collected over 10 years of being on Pinterest and don't want to lose the archive. The only slight bit of gratification I'll get is when they shut down my VMP I'll make 100% of my boards "secret" so I don't gain any more followers and request that all images of mine that have been pinned get removed...

Haha, I suppose this little bit of retaliation will get my account entirely removed anyway so I better work out how I can save elsewhere the lnks and images I want to keep.

1 Kudo
bodymindmood
Pinterest Pioneer
Pinterest Pioneer

@pearlredmoon 

I read your post response.

I don't think Pinterest thinks of its users in that way.

I have been on Pinterest since 2008, and I have never seen Pinterest mistreat anyone. I always try to remind people that Pinterest is a Business - there is no promise of anything to anyone. If Pinterest chooses not to assist merchants in determining whether they qualify for VMP, it is entirely up to them.

I volunteer my time here in the PBC and do so willingly - I don't have expectations from Pinterest or anyone. The time and help I give others is strictly my choice.

That said, I understand your frustration, but as a business owner, I have to say that if you want things to change, you have to make it happen .... Full Stop.

If there are legitimate copyright issues with your product, I would encourage you to file a copyright complaint with Pinterest using the link I shared to file a complaint.

If there are problems with your merchant status, I would suggest reviewing the guidelines (be critical) against your site and trying to determine the issues; sometimes, looking at the guidelines more critically can help you see the issues.

The last thing I would suggest to you is not to take anything personally - Pinterest is not launching a full scale on anyone; they are doing what they do based on how they run their business, I am not defending, but I am sharing how things are, at my age I have learned a thing or two about acceptance. Whether we like something or not, sometimes we have to accept things as they are. 

I hope you will continue to participate on Pinterest and be part of the PBC - you are important and appreciated here in the PBC.

Lisa

 

1 Kudo
pearlredmoon
Just visiting

Thanks once again Lisa for taking your time to care about my situation and give me advice, you are kind and I do appreciate it.

However I wonder if you understand the irony of giving me a link to the same process for filing a copyright complaint that already failed me? Following that process 3 years ago resulted in nothing more than automated replies and despite subsequent efforts I was unable to find a way to contact a real person who deals with copyright issues within Pinterest. It paralells the way I'm currently unable to communicate with anybody other than low level employees who are restricted to responding by only pointing to (bs) policy statements. ChicV International is an accomplished criminal enterprise. I think if you were an employee of Pinterest and were privy to the complaints about this company you would find they have an extensive record. It is their business model, developed over a decade, to appropriate pictures of garments created by small artisans and use them in their online shops pretending it is their product. I am only one of 100s, perhaps 1000s of victims. ChicV knew how to circumvent weak Pinterest detection methods by colour shifting and elongating my original photograph.

I have decided not to pursue trying to deal with shifty Pinterest. It is already taking up too much time and escalating anxiety levels. What happened years ago broke me and my mental health is too fragile these days. I plan to try to make a dignified exit and will just shut my account down, though it will be deeply distressing to lose the images I've collected over a decade. I refer to them frequently for inspiration in my art making.

Over the years I have contributed a lot of images of my art and in the last 2 years crossposted videos from my YouTube channel. I want all the material I've contributed removed from Pinterest. How do I go about instigating that process?

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