How do I recommend Merchavio in communities?
In communities, you find sellers by helping, not by handing out links. Read the group’s rules first and recommend Merchavio only where recommendations are allowed. If someone asks specifically about a shop system, answer honestly, say that you are a Shopspotter and label the link as an ad.
Step 1: Read the community’s rules
Every group, forum and server has its own rules. Some ban links or recommendations entirely, others allow them only in a particular channel or on certain days. Read the rules before you post and stick to them. If something is unclear, ask the moderators. For Shopspotting, this means you recommend Merchavio only where the community’s rules allow recommendations. The partner terms forbid promotional posts and comments without the recipients’ prior consent.
Step 2: Help first, recommend later
In a community, you are a member first. Answer questions in your field: how to structure a course, how to price a membership, how to record a workshop and sell it again. Most of your posts contain no link. That way people get to know you, and when you do recommend something later, they know who is talking.
Step 3: Answer specific questions honestly
If someone asks “What do you use to sell your courses?” or “I’m looking for one system for a course and a community, what do you use?”, you may recommend Merchavio, provided the group’s rules allow it. A good answer works like this:
- Respond to the question: what does the person need, what did they write?
- Disclose your interest right at the start, in the community’s language: “Ad: I’m a Shopspotter and receive a commission if you use Merchavio through my link.”
- Explain why it suits this case, and say what it is made for: selling digital products.
- Post the link only once, labelled.
Good and bad posts compared
| Situation | Good | Bad |
|---|---|---|
| Someone is looking for a system for their online course. | You ask what they sell, explain what Merchavio offers for it, say that you’re a Shopspotter and label the link as an ad. | Just “Use Merchavio” plus the link, without a label. |
| Someone asks how to price a course. | You answer from your own experience, without a link. | One sentence and your Shopspotter link. |
| New members introduce themselves. | You welcome them if you like, without a recommendation. | You send every newcomer a direct message with your link. |
| The group has a channel for recommendations. | You introduce Merchavio there once, labelled and with an honest assessment. | You post the same text every week in every channel. |
Copying the same comment with a link into many groups is link spam. Comments generated automatically or with AI in large numbers to place links are explicitly forbidden by the partner terms. Write each answer yourself, for the person who asked.
Direct messages only on request
Don’t message members with advertising on your own initiative, not even if they showed interest in a post. The partner terms forbid direct messages without prior consent. If someone explicitly asks you to send them more by message, that’s fine; then stick to what they asked about and put “Ad” right next to the link. This leaves the choice to the other person: “If you’d like, send me a message and I’ll show you how I would set it up.”
Your own community as a channel
If you run a community yourself, for example for coaches or course creators, you set the rules. Say openly how you handle recommendations, for instance in the group rules: “I occasionally recommend tools here, including ones I receive a commission for. I label those posts as ads.” The same applies here: label every such post and don’t send members advertising messages they didn’t ask for. If you run your community with Merchavio yourself, you can share real experience from it, marked as your own.
Your next step
Pick one or two communities where your future sellers spend time, read the rules and start answering questions. How to put a recommendation into words is covered in how to recommend Merchavio well. For visibility on your own profile, read Shopspotting on LinkedIn.
Know people who sell online?
Then create your free Shopspotter account with Merchavio and share your link. You receive 25% of everything your sellers pay, every month.