Teething troubles

Hey @gretablue,

Hope you are doing well and thanks for your feedback!

Like others in this forum, I found myself disapproved for shopping on Pinterest twice

Was this caused by our plugin? Does the Pinterest Support give you what was causing your account disapproval?

Before risking my third and final appeal, I spent ages filling out all the Google fields (which were already filled out on my Facebook and Google sections of Woo settings, but unhelpfully couldn’t be shared). There’s no way I could do this on an ongoing basis – it’s totally impractical.

We are working to find a good solution for this. Also, remember that Google category and condition are not reasons for suspending your Pinterest account. They are just warnings.

Then, the latest problem is that the plugin duplicates – and overrides – my open graph meta fields that I write within my RankMath SEO plugin. That last one was the killer for me – I’ve deactivated the Pinterest for Woo plugin until they fix all the issues and design something that will be more reliable and practical.

The temporary solution is given here: https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/plugin-conflict-with-rankmath/
We are also working to detect meta tags already created by other plugins. In the meanwhile, just deactivating the options “Add Rich Pins for Products” and “Add Rich Pins for Posts” should work perfectly.

Waiting for your response to my first question, it’s important for us to solve that problem if it was related to our plugin.

Best,
Christian

Thanks for your reply. On your first question, the answer is ‘I don’t know’ – but I’ve noticed lots of other people on the forums stating that they’ve had Pinterest accounts for years which have suddenly become disabled after trying the plugin and being rejected by Pinterest.

However – here’s where I think there may be a link to the plugin, and it’s all to do with those pesky categories. Pinterest’s reason for rejecting me: “Merchant’s product descriptions and categories do not meet requirements” – “…we recommend ensuring that product descriptions are authentic and match the product for sale, and that categories are available on the website.” Well, after rejection number one, I checked through all my product descriptions – which I wrote myself – and they’re all correct. I also spent ages, as mentioned, updating and checking that all my Google categories under the Google, Facebook and Pinterest sections of each product were matching and narrowed to at least 3 levels of description (the latter was a tip from Pinterest and Woo themselves on a video I watched when they launched the plugin). Rejected again, for the same reasons. Would be great if the Plugin required only one single input of categories as this would help avoid any mismatches.

I contacted Pinterest support for advice and asked what ‘categories being available on my website’ actually meant. No reply.

Temporary solution to the plugin conflict – thanks for that, I have implemented it and looks good so far – I’ll keep an eye on my future new posts and make sure it’s working. Although frankly, it’s academic if I can’t get approved for Pinterest shopping as I’ll end up uninstalling the plugin anyway.

Hey @gretablue,

If it’s ok for you I can check your XML feed file for you (Got to Marketing > Pinterest > Catalog tab > “feed file”, copy this link). And also contact the Pinterest development team to help us.

As I mention later, the Google category and Condition are optional on Pinterest, and should not be a reason for rejecting the merchant.

Let me know.
Best,
Christian

Hi Christian

If category is optional on Pinterest I wonder why they are including it in their reasons for rejecting me as a merchant?

Anyway – many thanks for your help. My xml file is located at https://coconutlands.com/wp-content/uploads/pinterest-for-woocommerce-0dtl5M.xml

I’ve approached Pinterest support again and will see if I get a response about the product descriptions and categories – and what exactly I’m doing wrong with them. Cheers.

Hey @gretablue

I just checked your feed and seems to cover all the requirements. I’m contacting directly the Pinterest development team to check your case as soon as possible.

Just to discard, did you check your Tag health status? Screenshot of where to check

Hope everything it’s ok.

Best,
Christian

Hi there, no I haven’t checked this – wasn’t aware of it! Just did so and it says the tag is ‘unhealthy’. Yet when I ran some test events and used the Chrome extension helper, all looked fine. Went back to the tag health page afterwards and it still says it’s unhealthy and that there are no events. Even though I’d just created a whole load of events myself. Hmmm.

Hey @gretablue

The good part is we are isolating the issue. Sometimes there are plugins/themes that change the standard way to trigger the WooCommerce events (most common issues are on “Add to Cart” and “Checkout” events).

try to check the following link conflict test on a Staging site, if you think is to much for you, we can do it, but please contact us at WooCommerce.com > My Account > Support. You may need to create an account before you can access that page. Please include a link to this forum thread, so that we can keep track of what’s already been done. We will be able to help you further there.

Best,
Christian

PS: I contact the Pinterest development team and they derivate your case to the Merchant verification team. Let’s see what they say.

Hey @gretablue,

Pinterest Merchant verification team answer back and they said:

…the merchant’s product descriptions can be found in other websites. Please instruct the merchant to ensure all product descriptions are unique and original.

I have to ask even if it sounds obvious:
– Is there another site selling similar products?
– Do you have other Pinterest accounts selling the same products?

Doing some research this site https://www.etsy.com/ is selling similar products with similar descriptions, and they are registered on Pinterest, for example:
– https://coconutlands.com/product/hand-carved-bound-matau-pendant/
– https://www.etsy.com/listing/705008890/hand-made-bound-maori-matau-fish-hook

This might be frustrating, but maybe changing some way the description could be the solution.

The plugin seems to be working ok and our customer reviews are very important to us, and we hope that you will be willing to revise your review based on your further experiences. Also to say that is not in our hands how Pinterest approves/rejects merchants, we only connect the store with the Pinterest account.

For the Tag health we can still help you if you contact us at WooCommerce.com > My Account > Support. We can do full testing of the plugin on your staging so we avoid other issues.

Best,
Christian

Hi Christian

To answer your first question: in the case of my NZ jewellery, the answer is yes there will be others selling it. For instance, the store you found on Etsy is my supplier! I have tried to use different wording from their descriptions, but for a piece like the bound fish hook pendant for instance, it will be tricky as all the specifications – and the symbolism of the carving – will be the same. Is Pinterest saying that it’s not OK to sell the same product as another store? Or do we simply have to have a minimum % different wording, and what would that be?

No I don’t have another Pinterest account. I do have an Etsy store but completely unrelated to Coconut Lands.

Tag health: thanks for the offer but I would have to pay my host a couple of hundred dollars for a staging site, not something I feel inclined to do.

I understand that you’re not working for Pinterest and I sincerely appreciate all the help and trouble you’re going to on my behalf.

Hey @gretablue ,

To answer your first question: in the case of my NZ jewellery, the answer is yes there will be others selling it. For instance, the store you found on Etsy is my supplier! I have tried to use different wording from their descriptions, but for a piece like the bound fish hook pendant for instance, it will be tricky as all the specifications – and the symbolism of the carving – will be the same. Is Pinterest saying that it’s not OK to sell the same product as another store? Or do we simply have to have a minimum % different wording, and what would that be?

No I don’t have another Pinterest account. I do have an Etsy store but completely unrelated to Coconut Lands.

Checking with them again. But I don’t know if they let resale stores.

Tag health: thanks for the offer but I would have to pay my host a couple of hundred dollars for a staging site, not something I feel inclined to do.

You can use a plugin called WP STAGING – Backup Duplicator & Migration You only need to check your free space on your hosting.

I will let you know when I have some news.
Best,
Christian

Hi Christian

By ‘resale’ does that mean that anyone who doesn’t make or manufacture their own products can’t be included on the Pinterest channel? If that’s true, then I don’t have a hope. All my products are supplied. Apart from the NZ jewellery, my other products are print on demand – the vanilla versions are supplied and I put my own unique designs on them. Even Etsy, a ‘handmade’ marketplace, allows that!

So it all depends on what Pinterest means by ‘resale’. If they’re going to take the absolutist view, then there’s no point in my going any further. So I’ll hold off until I hear any more news from you.

Thanks again for all your advice.

Hi Christian

I chased Pinterest support yesterday and finally received a reply from them today. Much to my amazement they have relented, and approved me as a merchant. No reasons or explanations given. I did not expect that!

So, I have edited my original review and will now turn to trying to sort out my ‘unhealthy’ tag.

Happy to hear @gretablue! And thanks for editing the original review.

for the unhealthy tag: https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/checking-tag-health/

Keep in mind that some plugins or themes modify the way they trigger those events.
– For “Add to Cart” the hook involved is woocommerce_add_to_cart
– For “Checkout” the hook involved is woocommerce_before_thankyou
these should be always triggered so the events are detected by the plugin.

If you have any problems, let us know. We can detect which plugin/theme is in conflict.

Best,
Christian

Thanks Christian. The events all work fine, as previously stated, on the Chrome extension. They even work when I launch the test events on Pinterest. But for some reason when I check the tag health status it still shows ‘unhealthy’ – with some blurb about product IDs and currency.

Hey @gretablue,

please contact us at WooCommerce.com > My Account > Support. You may need to create an account before you can access that page.
Please include a link to this forum thread, so that we can keep track of what’s already been done.

We will be able to help you further there.

Best,
Christian