As part of selling in BuyNatural stores, sellers communicate with buyers both directly and indirectly. BuyNatural requires that sellers follow the guidelines below for any communication with buyers. The communications guidelines policy is meant to protect buyers from fraud and abuse, and to protect you from unscrupulous actions from your competitors. Raising the bar for all communications to buyers benefits all our selling partners, resulting in a stronger marketplace.

Direct communication #

Order status messages

• Problem with order messages: You must communicate with buyers if the product ordered is not available to be shipped. Firstly, adjust the full order amount using either Manage orders in Seller Centre. You must use NoInventory or CouldNotShip as the reason codes for the adjustment, as necessary. Secondly, follow these directions and select Problem with order to communicate to the buyer about your inability to fulfil the order. The message must contain a confirmation that the order amount was adjusted with the appropriate reason for the unavailability of the products. If you think that you can fulfil the order but the shipment will be delayed beyond the advertised availability, you must notify the buyer about the delay. If the buyer decides to cancel the order, you should then start the refund process.
  Note: Do not contact the buyer and request that they submit a cancellation request when you are out of stock.
• Return-related messages: You must process refunds for the order amount (minus any charge) using either Manage orders in Seller Centre. You may communicate with the buyer about the return only when you need additional information to complete the return or you are offering a partial refund. Follow these directions and select Follow-up on return request.

Buyer-seller messages #

You may only send Permitted Messages to customers who have contacted you about purchasing a product or who have already purchased a product from you on the BuyNatural store. We define Permitted Messages as those communications necessary to complete an order or to respond to a customer service inquiry.

Proactive Permitted Messages are those messages that you initiate that are not responses to a buyer’s question. Proactive Permitted Messages can be sent via email, using BuyNatural’s Contact buyer or Request a review page in Seller Centre. You may send proactive Permitted Messages for the following reasons: resolving an issue with order fulfilment, requesting additional information required to complete the order, asking a return-related question, sending an invoice, requesting product review or seller feedback, or both, scheduling the delivery of a heavy or bulky item, scheduling a home services appointment, verifying a custom design, or any other reason where the contact is required for the buyer to receive their purchase. Proactive Permitted Messages must be sent within 30 days of order completion. All proactive Permitted Messages must include the order ID and be in the buyer’s language of preference.

Permitted Messages do not include any of the following message types (in many cases, we are already emailing customers with this information on your behalf):

• Order or shipment confirmations (refer to the Indirect communication section below)
• Messages that say only ‘Thank you’ or that you are here to help if buyers have any problem
• Marketing or promotional messaging, including vouchers
• Language that either incentivises or persuades the buyer to submit positive product reviews or seller feedback, including by offering compensation, money, gift cards, free or discounted products, refunds, rebates or reimbursements, or future benefits
• Language that requests removal or an update of an existing product review
• Language that requests a product review only if they have had a positive experience with the product
• A repeat request (per order) for a product review or seller feedback

Permitted Messages may not include any of the following:

• External links unless they are secure working links (https, not http) necessary for order completion or links to BuyNatural
• Attachments for those needed to resolve a buyer’s issue (for example, shipping labels, invoices, and custom designs)
• Logos, if they contain or display a link to your website
• Link to opt out of messaging
• Sensitive content in images or text (for example, bare skin, violence or gore, adult or offensive language)
• Tracking pixels or images
• Email addresses
• Telephone numbers except those related to warranties, shipping providers, or manufacturers
• Images of purchased products as BuyNatural includes those on your behalf
• Images that do not relate to your brand or company

Permitted Message styling may not contain any of the following:

• Accessibility issues from links without explanatory text (for example, Click here for warranty information) or images or graphics without alt-text
• Emojis, including emoticons
• Animated GIFs
• Message margins over 20% maximum width
• Image or graphic sizes larger than 80% maximum width
• Overrides of BuyNatural’s default line height, font family, or font colour
• Fonts in more than three sizes
• Message bodies that are centred or that otherwise override default text alignment settings
• More than two line breaks (spacing between paragraphs) in a row
• Unsecure images (http instead of https)
• Egregious spelling errors or grammar issues

If you have questions about our policies regarding communicating with buyers, contact Seller Support.

Indirect communication #

BuyNatural communicates order-related information to buyers through their Your account updates. These updates include information such as when an order has been shipped (with the tracking number) or when a refund has been processed. These updates are based on shipment confirmations and refunds initiated using Manage orders or the following feeds:

• Shipping Confirmation feed: This feed tells BuyNatural that you have shipped buyer orders and provides order tracking information for the buyers. Timely communication of order status is an important part of a high-quality shopping experience for BuyNatural buyers.
  Note: We require you to promptly confirm shipment of all orders, either by using Manage orders or by uploading a Shipping Confirmation feed. Once you have confirmed a shipment, BuyNatural will send a confirmation email to the buyer.
• Order Adjustments feed: This feed tells BuyNatural that you have issued buyer refunds. Buyers want to know their refund status after returning products. Therefore, it is critical that you process refunds promptly. You can also use Manage returns to issue a refund.

Failure to comply with these communication guidelines may result in BuyNatural limiting or a suspension of selling privileges in BuyNatural stores. BuyNatural has the authority to block any message at its discretion.