How do I find sellers on LinkedIn as a Shopspotter?

In short

On LinkedIn, you reach sellers through your own profile: posts and articles about selling digital products, honest insights and helpful comments. You recommend Merchavio in your own posts, labelled as advertising right at the start. Connection requests with a sales pitch, direct messages without prior consent and comments with your link under other people’s posts are not allowed.

Who do you reach on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn has many people who work with their knowledge: coaches, consultants, trainers, agencies and specialists thinking about an online course, a workshop or a membership. When you write about selling digital products, that is exactly who reads you. How to recognise a good match is explained in which sellers suit Merchavio.

Step 1: Prepare your profile

Your profile shows who you are and what you help with. Your profile name and the name of any company page you run don’t contain “Merchavio” or a similar spelling. Nor does your profile give the impression that you are part of Merchavio or act on its behalf: “Merchavio Support” or “Merchavio Team” have no place there. A line about your own topic works well, such as “I help coaches sell their knowledge as an online course”.

If you show your Shopspotter link on your profile, put “Ad” right next to it, for example “Ad: see Merchavio”.

Step 2: Posts that start conversations

People follow you for your knowledge, not for ads. That’s why most of your posts contain no link. These formats work:

Expert post

A concrete question from your work, for example “Three things I’d sort out before selling my first course”. Knowledge only, no link.

Insight

What you learned on a project, for instance when a client moved shop, course and community into one system. Name clients only with their consent, and never use details from your Shopspotter area for this.

Article

A longer piece with a how-to, for example on building a paid community. Where it comes to the system, a labelled recommendation of Merchavio fits in.

Question to your network

For example “How do you sell your workshops today?”. Reply in the comments under your post and learn where others stand.

Step 3: Label the ad at the start

When you recommend Merchavio in a post, the label comes first, before the first sentence. That way everyone sees it on any device before reading on. It is in the language of the post: “Ad” in an English one, “Werbung” in a German one. An example opening:

“Ad: I’m a Shopspotter and receive a commission if you use Merchavio through my link. Today’s question: how do you sell a course and a community in one place?”

If you put the link in a comment under your own post, write “Ad” right next to it there as well. Articles that include a recommendation carry the label at the very top. Write the word out: an asterisk or “partner link” alone is not enough.

Comments and messages: where is the line?

Comments under other people’s posts are a good place to show what you know, but not a place for advertising or your link. The partner terms forbid emails, direct messages, comments and posts without the recipients’ prior consent.

Good: Under someone else’s post about course pricing, you explain how you set prices with your clients. No link, no advertising.
Good: Under your own post, someone asks what you work with. You answer honestly, say that you are a Shopspotter and put “Ad” right next to the link.
Not allowed: Comments with your link under other people’s posts, let alone the same sentence under many posts, by hand or with AI.
Not allowed: Connection requests with a sales pitch, and direct messages about Merchavio to people who haven’t consented beforehand.

If someone asks for your recommendation under another person’s post, your link still doesn’t belong there: the post belongs to someone else, who hasn’t agreed to advertising under it. You can invite them to message you instead. If someone contacts you on their own and wants your recommendation, reply, mention that you receive a commission and put “Ad” right next to the link.

Let conversations happen instead of pitching

Nobody picks a shop system in passing. Trust grows when people read you for a while and notice that you know your field. Three habits help:

Post regularly and write it yourself, on a clear topic, for example once a week about selling courses. Posts generated automatically or with AI in large numbers mainly to place links are forbidden.
Reply to comments under your posts and ask follow-up questions.
Invite conversation instead of selling. For example, at the end of a post: “What do you use to sell your offers today? Tell me in the comments.”

When someone shows interest under your post or in a message to you, explain honestly what Merchavio suits and quote prices only as they appear on merchavio.com. How such a conversation goes well is covered in how to recommend Merchavio well.

Your next step

Write your first post without a link: a question your clients often ask and your honest answer. If you prefer longer texts, read Shopspotting with a blog and SEO too.

Become a Shopspotter