Selling Policies and Seller Code of Conduct

All sellers are expected to adhere to the following policies when listing products on Verylocals. Seller offenses and prohibited content can result in suspension of your Verylocals Global Account.

Seller code of conduct

This policy requires that sellers act fairly and honestly on Verylocals to ensure a safe buying and selling experience. All sellers must:

• Provide accurate information to Verylocals and our customers at all times
• Act fairly and not misuse Verylocals’s features or services
• Not attempt to damage or abuse another Seller, their listings or ratings
• Not attempt to influence customers’ ratings, feedback, and reviews
• Not send unsolicited or inappropriate communications
• Not contact customers except through Buyer-Seller Messaging
• Not attempt to circumvent the Verylocals sales process
• Not operate more than one selling account on Verylocals without a legitimate business need

Violating the Code of Conduct or any other Verylocals policies may result in actions against your account, such as cancellation of listings, suspension or forfeiture of payments, and removal of selling privileges. More details about these policies are below.

Accurate Information

You must provide accurate information to Verylocals and our customers, and update the information if it changes. For example, this means that you must use a business name that accurately identifies your business and list your products in the correct category.

Acting Fairly

You must act fairly and lawfully and may not misuse any service provided by Verylocals. Examples of unfair activities include:

• Providing misleading or inappropriate information to Verylocals or our customers, such as by creating multiple detail pages for the same product or posting offensive product images
• Manipulating sales rank (such as by accepting fake orders or orders that you have paid for) or making claims about sales rank in product titles or descriptions
• Attempting to increase the price of a product after an order is confirmed
• Artificially inflating web traffic (using bots or paying for clicks, for example)
• Attempting to damage another Seller, their listings or ratings
• Allowing other people to act on your behalf in a way that violates Verylocals’s policies or your agreement with Verylocals

Ratings, Feedback, and Reviews

You may not attempt to influence or inflate customers’ ratings, feedback, and reviews. You may request feedback and reviews from your own customers in a neutral manner, but may not:

• Pay for or offer an incentive (such as coupons or free products) in exchange for providing or removing feedback or reviews
• Ask customers to write only positive reviews or ask them to remove or change a review
• Solicit reviews only from customers who had a positive experience
• Review your own products or a competitors’ products

Communications

You may not send unsolicited or inappropriate messages. All communications to customers must be sent through Buyer-Seller Messaging and be necessary for fulfilling the order or providing customer services. Marketing communications are prohibited.

Customer Information

If you receive customer information such as addresses or phone numbers to fulfill orders, you may use that information only to fulfill orders and must delete it after the order has been processed. You may not use customer information to contact customers (except through Buyer-Seller Messaging) or share it with any third-party.

Circumventing the Sales Process

You may not attempt to circumvent the Verylocals sales process or divert Verylocals customers to another website. This means that you may not provide links or messages that prompt users to visit any external website or complete a transaction elsewhere.

Multiple Selling Accounts on Verylocals

You may only maintain one Verylocals Store account for each region in which you sell unless you have a legitimate business need to open a second account and all of your accounts are in good standing. If any of your accounts are not in good standing, we may deactivate all of your selling accounts until all accounts are in good standing.

Examples of a legitimate business justification include:

• You own multiple brands and maintain separate businesses for each
• You manufacture products for two distinct and separate companies
• You are recruited for an Verylocals program that requires separate accounts

Filing Infringement Notices as an Agent or Brand Protection Agency

Verylocals understands that many brands may choose to have brand protection agencies or agents report intellectual property infringement on their behalf and accepts submissions from authorized agents. However, Verylocals does not permit individuals with active selling accounts to file infringement notices as an agent of a brand when the filing of those notices could benefit their own selling account (through removing competing listings, for example). Any sellers filing notices as an agent to benefit their own status as a seller may have their selling account terminated.

Selling Policies and Seller Code of Conduct

• Keeping Your Account Information Secure
• Identifying false (spoofed) e-mails
• Supported browsers and operating systems
• Why do I have to complete a PIN verification process?
• Why isn’t the system recognizing my PIN when I enter it?
• Can I put a link on my website to my products listed on Verylocals?
• Can I transfer my seller account?
• Do I have to have a landline to complete this process, or can I use a cell phone?
• Why didn’t I receive a phone call?
• I closed my browser; how do I get to the next step of the verification process?
• Why can’t I view some pages on Verylocals Store?
• How can I verify that my bank account information has been changed?
• What can I do if my bank account information is rejected?

Keeping Your Account Information Secure

The security of your account is important to us because it is central to your business. We recommend the following best practices to reinforce the security of your Verylocals account:

Verylocals Store – Security best practices

1. Set up Two-Step Verification for all of your Verylocals accounts. You can reinforce your password security in this way as you are required to enter an additional code from your phones when signing in to your account. This can greatly reduce the risk of unauthorized access if the password is compromised.
2. Pick strong passwords that are different for each of your accounts and change your password
   • Choosing the same password for each of your online accounts is like using the same key to lock your home, car, and office – if a criminal gains access to one, all of them are compromised.
   • Use a long password made up of numbers, letters, and symbols.
   • Avoid using publicly-available information (For example: your phone number) in your passwords.
3. Make sure that the email address or the mobile number that you use to sign-in to your account is up-to-date. For more information on how to change your email address or password, see Change Login Settings.
4. If your business has multiple users, then have each user set up their own account and then link your accounts. Ensure that you regularly review secondary users who have access to your account and revoke access to users who no longer need access.
5. Review your Notification Settings and ensure that you have the required setup to receive notifications of important actions being taken on your account. Beware of phishing. Verylocals never asks you to verify sensitive information via email. Submit such information only when completing an order on our website, registering to sell on Verylocals, or updating account information in Verylocals Store.

If you are ever in doubt about the authenticity of an email, visit our site directly by typing the address into your browser bar, rather than clicking any links.

To find out more about Verylocals’s efforts to combat fraudulent email, refer to the Identifying false (spoofed) e-mails help page.

If your account has been compromised

If you believe your Verylocals account has been compromised, follow the steps below:

1. Change your Verylocals Store login password. If you are not able to login to your account, contact Seller Support.
2. Review the following information in your account to determine if any changes have been made:
   1. Email address preferences
   2. Payment information
   3. User permissions
   4. Verylocals storefront details
   5. Listing and condition notes
3. Your email account might have been compromised as well. Consider changing the email address associated with your account and use a different password for your email account.
4. If you receive emails or links that you suspect are phishing attempts, report them to stop-spoofing@verylocals.com. For more information, contact us
5. Contact Seller Support to report that your account has been compromised.

Identifying false (spoofed) e-mails

You might receive emails from Verylocals, such as Sold, Ship Now emails or Technical Notification emails. However, sometimes you might receive emails that are not really from Verylocals, even if at first glance they may appear to be. Instead, such emails are falsified and attempt to convince you to reveal sensitive account information.

These false emails, also called “spoofed” emails or “phishing,” look similar to legitimate emails from Verylocals. Often these emails direct you to a false website that looks similar to an Verylocals website, where you might be asked to give account information, such as your email address and password combination.

Unfortunately, these false websites can steal your sensitive information, which can then be used without your knowledge to commit fraud.

To protect yourself from responding to these emails, you can follow some simple rules:

• Know what Verylocals won’t ask in email: Verylocals will not ask you for the following information in an email communication:
  • Your bank account information, credit card number, PIN number, or credit card security code (including “updates” to any of the above)
  • Your mother’s maiden name or other information to identify you, such as your birth city or your favorite pet’s name
  • Your Verylocals or Verylocals Store account password
• Review the email for grammatical or typographical errors: Watch for poor grammar or typographical errors. Many phishing emails are translated from other languages or are sent without being proof-read.
• Check the return address: Genuine emails from verylocals always will come from an address ending in “@verylocals.com.” Check the email’s header information. If the “received from,” “reply to,” or “return path” for the email does not come from “@verylocals.com,” it is not from Verylocals. Most email programs let you examine the source of the email. The method you use to check the header information varies depending upon the email program you use. The following are some examples of fraudulent return addresses:
  • seller-performance@payments-Verylocals.com
  • Verylocals-security@hotmail.com
  • Verylocals-payments@msn.com
• Check the website address: Some phishers set up spoofed websites that contain the word “Verylocals” somewhere in the URL. Genuine Verylocals websites always end with “.Verylocals.com”, “Verylocalssellerservices.com” or “sellercentral.Verylocals.com.” We will never use a combination such as “security-Verylocals.com” or “Verylocals.com.biz.”
• When in doubt, go directly to Verylocals or the Verylocals Store website: Some phishing emails include a link that looks as though it will take you to your Verylocals account, but it is really a shortened link to a completely different website. If you hover over the link with your mouse when viewing the message in your email client, you often can see the underlying false website address, either as a pop-up or as information in the browser status bar.

Note: The hover technique can be fooled. If you do click on a link, always look at the URL in your browser when the page opens.

The best way to ensure that you do not respond to a phishing email is to always go directly to your seller account to review or make any changes to the account. When in doubt, do not click on a link in an email.

• Do not unsubscribe: Never follow instructions contained in a forged email that claim to provide a method for unsubscribing. Many spammers use these unsubscribe processes to create a list of valid, working email addresses.
• Use the features in Verylocals Store to track your orders: The Sold, Ship Now email notification is a useful tool. However, you can find the most accurate and up-to-date information for your orders using the Manage Orders feature in your seller account.
• If an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is: Sometimes phisher emails will offer you deals, such as a discount or a free item, in return for completing a simple task, (for example, signing in to your seller account). We recommend that you never sign in to your seller account by clicking on a link embedded in email.  

Help stop phishers and spoofers

You can make a difference. Verylocals has filed several lawsuits against phishers and spoofers. These lawsuits began with sellers alerting Verylocals to suspicious emails. As part of our ongoing commitment to stop spoofing, you can help us investigate spoofed emails. Send us the original spoofed email, with the complete header information.

To locate the header information, configure your email program to show All Headers. (This varies, depending on the email program you use.) The headers we need are well labeled and will look similar to this example:

X-Sender: someone@domain.com

X-Sender-IP: [10.1.2.3]

X-Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2003 21:02:08 +0000 (UTC)

X-Recipient: you@domain.com

X-OUID: 1

Supported browsers and operating systems

Supported browsers:

To ensure you are using a supported browser, install the latest version from the browser’s website listed below:

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Apple Safari
• Microsoft Edge

Supported desktop browsers:

• Mozilla Firefox: Latest version
• Google Chrome: Latest version
• Apple Safari: Latest version
• Edge: Latest version

Supported mobile device browsers:

• Chrome Mobile: Latest version
• Safari Mobile: Latest version

Supported operating systems:

• Windows: Latest 2 versions
• Mac OS X: Latest 2 versions

Why do I have to complete a PIN verification process?

The PIN verification process is part of our account verification system. When you reach the PIN verification point of the registration process, we will contact you at the phone number provided in your application. We will then ask you to verify your PIN using our automated system.

Why isn’t the system recognizing my PIN when I enter it?

If you are saying the PIN rather than entering the PIN using your touchtone keypad, be sure to speak slowly and clearly. Also, try entering the PIN using the keypad on your phone. If you’re still having trouble entering your PIN, please Contact us.

Can I put a link on my website to my products listed on Verylocals?

Yes, you can place a link on your website to the products you have listed on Verylocals. However, you cannot provide a link from the Verylocals website to your own website.

Can I transfer my seller account?

Seller accounts generally are not transferable. Seller accounts provide access to the tools and resources that sellers use to list their products and manage their orders. Seller accounts also include account activity history and buyer feedback. Every seller on Verylocals must have a seller account and an agreement with Verylocals that establishes the terms under which the seller lists and sells their products.

If the ownership of a business changes for any reason, the new owner needs to establish a new seller account.

If the ownership of a business isn’t changing, but the individuals responsible for managing the seller account have changed, you can add users to the account.

Do I have to have a landline to complete this process, or can I use a cell phone?

We Recommend the use of Mobile Phone as its Accessible at all the times.

Why didn’t I receive a phone call?

If you didn’t receive a phone call, your phone line may have been busy or congested. If you are using a dial-up Internet connection, make sure your connection to the Internet is closed and try the PIN verification point of the registration process again.

Check the phone number that was entered during the registration process for errors, and make sure it is error-free and includes a country code and no extra 0s. Go back to the registration process to verify the correct phone number has been entered.

I closed my browser; how do I get to the next step of the verification process?

Click the link in your email invitation to sign back into the registration process. Once you log in, you’ll be able to pick up where you left off in the registration system.

Why can’t I view some pages on Verylocals Store?

The rights and permissions associated with your account determine which pages you can view on Verylocals Store. Rights and permissions for your account change based on things like if you have an  selling plan or if you use Verylocals services such as Fulfillment by Verylocals (FBV).

By default, the user who registers a new Verylocals Store account has access to every page and feature. This user, the primary account administrator, can use the User Permissions feature in Verylocals Store to grant other users access to their Verylocals Store account and control which features they can see.

Currently, only Professional and FBV sellers have access to the User Permissions feature. Individual sellers without FBV will not have access to User Permissions.

If you are unable to access a Verylocals Store feature or help topic because you do not have the necessary rights and permissions, ask your primary account administrator to give you access.

Some help topics are also visible without a login. To browse these pages, go to Selling on Verylocals.com.

For more information about assigning and modifying user rights and permissions, account administrators can refer to the Set User Permissions help topic in Verylocals Store.

How can I verify that my bank account information has been changed?

To confirm that your bank account information has been updated, please view the Deposit Methods page in Verylocals Store. It may take as many as 2 business days for information to be updated.

For detailed help on updating bank account information, please see the Bank Account Information topic.

What can I do if my bank account information is rejected?

Perform these steps to verify your bank account information in order to validate the account information associated with your seller account:

1. Go to Settings and click on Account Info.
2. On the Seller Account Information page, under Payment Information, click Bank Account Information.
3. You can verify your account through the Deposit method page, click on Manage Deposit Methods, and click Verify account to start the verification.
4. On the Verify Deposit Method page, upload your bank documents using the Upload a copy
5. Verify the following:
   • The name on the document matches the name you entered in Verylocals Store.
   • Bank logo, account number, and account holder’s name are clearly displayed.
   • The date on the documents is less than 180 days old.
   • The document is not a screenshot.
   • Upload full document and black out transaction details you do not want to share.
6. Verify the information on your document is accurate by selecting the four check boxes. Click Submit for verification. Click Continue on the pop-up screen. The success message ‘Your document has been successfully submitted’ is displayed.

Note: The document verification can take up to four business days.

Reasons for bank account rejection

Following are some common reasons for a bank account rejection:

• The information entered for the Deposit Method Information does not match the bank account information. You entered information for a US checking account, but the bank’s 9-digit routing number, your bank account number, or the numbers from the bottom of the check were mistyped. Confirm and re-enter the information.
• Your bank is not located in a country supported by Verylocals Currency Converter.
• You entered the numbers from the bottom of a deposit slip instead of a check. Although these are often the same, in some cases they might not be. Re-enter the numbers using a check.
• Your new bank account validation fails. This happens when details of new bank account added is not correct and you need to enter another valid bank account for the same.

To add new back information or to update existing bank account information to your seller account, refer to Add, view, and update your bank account information.

Common issues encountered while adding a new bank account information

• If the country you want to select is not listed in the Bank Account drop-down, set your Business Address correctly and then try to update your bank account.
• If you are unable to access the bank account page or see a forbidden message, ensure either you are the primary user of the account or ask the primary user to grant you the appropriate permissions to use this page. If you are the primary user, click here to grant access to other user