Guidelines for Barkmall.com Pet Lovers’ Community participation.
Barkmall.com wants to hear your opinion because everything you say matters!
The Barkmall Pet Lovers’ Community provides various features for engaging other users and sharing authentic feedback about products and services - positive or negative. These Pet Lovers’ Community Guidelines help you use Pet Lovers’ Community features, including Customer Reviews, Customer Questions & Answers, Seller Reviews and more. We continue to develop the features and tools that enable you to make a positive impact and help us improve your shopping experience.
Note: These Guidelines do not apply to content included within products or services sold on Barkmall, which are subject to separate policies.
We take the integrity of the Pet Lovers’ Community seriously. Any attempt to manipulate Pet Lovers’ Community content or features, including by contributing false, misleading, or inauthentic content, is strictly prohibited. If you violate our Guidelines, we may restrict your ability to use Pet Lovers’ Community features, remove content, delist related products, or suspend or terminate your account. If we determine that an Barkmall account has been used to engage in any form of misconduct, remittances and payments may be withheld or permanently forfeited. Misconduct may also violate applicable laws, and can lead to legal action and civil and criminal penalties.
We encourage anyone who suspects that content manipulation is taking place or that our Guidelines are being violated in any way to notify us. We investigate concerns thoroughly and take any appropriate actions.
By accessing or using our Pet Lovers’ Community features, you agree to our Conditions of Use and to abide by these Guidelines as modified from time to time. These Guidelines apply to any content (including text, images, video, and links) you submit to Barkmall and actions you take (such as voting on helpfulness or smiling at a post) when using Pet Lovers’ Community features. These Guidelines also apply to your interactions with other members of the Pet Lovers’ Community.
Note: Additional guidelines apply to Customer Reviews.
Eligibility
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To contribute to Customer features (for example, Customer Reviews, Customer Questions, Customer Answers, Idea Lists) or to follow other contributors, you must have spent at least HKD $50 on Barkmall.com using a valid credit or debit card in the past 12 months. Promotional discounts don't qualify towards the HKD $50 minimum. You do not need to meet this requirement to read content posted by other contributors, or create or modify Profile pages, Shopping Lists or Wish Lists.
Be Helpful and Relevant
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The Pet Lovers’ Community is intended to provide helpful, relevant content to other pet lovers who are our customers, most of which are pet-parents. Content you submit should be relevant and based on your own honest opinions and experience.
- For Pet Lovers’ Community features focused on a specific topic, you should only submit content related to that topic.
- Customer Reviews and Questions and Answers should be about the product. Feedback about the seller, can be shared through our Customer Service section.
- Comments on a product's value and sentiment for the manufacturer or price are allowed in Customer Reviews or Questions and Answers. Example: "My Golden Retriever absolutely loves playing with his new rope toy. This was a well spent $20.00, which exceeded my expectations."
Respect Others
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Barkmall values diverse opinions, so you may disagree with some content that you come across. Keep in mind that something that may be disagreeable to you may not violate our Guidelines. In order to maintain a happy, harmonious, and welcoming environment for all users, your participation in the Pet Lovers’ Community must always be respectful of others. In particular:
- Don't post content that is libellous, defamatory, harassing, threatening, or inflammatory. For example, don't use obscenities or profanity, and don't express hatred or intolerance for people on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender or gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, age, or disability, including by promoting organisations with such views.
- Don't post content that is obscene, pornographic, or lewd, or that contains nudity or sexually explicit images.
- Don't post content that invades others' privacy. For example, don't post other people's phone numbers, email addresses, mailing addresses, or other personal information, and don't post links to phishing or other malware sites.
- Don't impersonate other people or organisations or pretend to be someone or something you're not.
- Don't repeatedly send messages or requests to other people.
- Don't attempt to drown out other people's opinions, including by posting from multiple accounts or coordinating with others.
- Don't engage in name-calling or attack people based on whether you agree with them.
- You may question the beliefs and expertise of others as long as it is relevant and done in a respectful and non-threatening manner.
Promotions and Commercial Solicitations
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In order to preserve the integrity of Pet Lovers’ Community content, content and activities consisting of advertising, promotion, or solicitation (whether direct or indirect) is not allowed, including:
- Creating, modifying, or posting content regarding your (or your relative's, close friend's, business associate's, or employer's) products or services.
- Creating, modifying, or posting content regarding your competitors' products or services.
- Creating, modifying, or posting content in exchange for compensation of any kind (including free or discounted products, refunds, or reimbursements) or on behalf of anyone else.
- Offering compensation or requesting compensation (including free or discounted products) in exchange for creating, modifying, or posting content.
- Posting advertisements or solicitations, including URLs with referrer tags or affiliate codes.
The only exceptions are:
- You may post content requested by Barkmall (such as Customer Reviews of products you purchased on Barkmall or received through the Vine program, and answers requested through Questions and Answers). In those cases, your content must comply with any additional guidelines specified by Barkmall.
- You may post an answer to a question asked through the Questions and Answers feature (but not a question itself) regarding products or services for which you have a financial or close personal connection to the brand, seller, author, or artist, but only if you clearly and conspicuously disclose the connection.
- You may post content other than Customer Reviews and Questions and Answers regarding products or services for which you have a financial or close personal connection to the brand, seller, author, or artist, but only if you clearly and conspicuously disclose the connection (e.g., "I was paid for this post."). However, no brand or business may participate in the Pet Lovers’ Community in a way (including by advertising, special offers, or any other "call to action") that diverts Barkmall customers to another non-Barkmall website, service, application, or channel for the purpose of conducting marketing or sales transactions. Content posted through brand, seller, author, or artist accounts regarding their own products or services does not require additional labelling.
Infringing Content
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Don't post content or interact with other members of the Pet Lovers’ Community in a way that infringes the intellectual property or other proprietary rights of others. Only post your own content or content that you have permission to use.
Illegal Activity
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Don't post content that encourages or supports behaviour that is illegal, including violence, fraud, illegal drug use, underage drinking, or child or animal abuse. Examples of prohibited content include:
- Content advocating, threatening, or joking about physical or financial harm to yourself or others, including terrorism.
- Content offering fraudulent goods, services, schemes, or promotions (e.g., make-money-fast schemes, pyramid schemes).
- Content posted intentionally as sarcasm as it relates to self-harm or harm to others.
- Content that encourages or supports the dangerous misuse of a product.
Additional Guidelines for Customer Reviews
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The following guidelines apply to Customer Reviews in addition to the other guidelines given above:
- If your review is removed or rejected because it does not comply with our guidelines concerning promotional content, you may not resubmit a review on the same product, even if the resubmitted review includes different content.
- Reviews may only include URLs or links to other products sold on Barkmall.
- We may restrict the ability to submit a review when we detect unusual reviewing behaviour, or to maintain the best possible shopping experience.
- You may not manipulate the Barkmall Verified Purchase badge, such as by offering special pricing to reviewers or reimbursing reviewers.
Reporting Abuse
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For some types of content, including Customer Reviews and Customer Answers, you can report possible violations of these Guidelines by contacting us through the Customer Service section and entering the reason you believe it violates these Guidelines. If no contacting us link is available, you may email help@barkmall.com, specifying the location of the content and the reason you believe it violates these Guidelines. If you receive an offer for compensation of any kind (including free or discounted products, refunds, or reimbursements) in exchange for creating, modifying, or posting content in violation of these Guidelines, forward the offer, including contact information and Barkmall listing, to help@barkmall.com