Product listing policy

We have a few important requirements when it comes to listing products on the Yumbles marketplace, to ensure that the marketplace functions successfully for customers and sellers alike.

At our own discretion we may refuse to publish any listings not meeting this policy, but we'll always let you know why and help you get a listing corrected.

 

1. WHAT CAN BE LISTED:

• Food, drinks, kitchenware only. We can only accept listings for items are food and drink related:  food, drinks, edible gifts, food hampers, kitchenware.
• No CBD. We cannot currently accept products containing CBD due to restrictions on such items by services that we rely on.
• Free of artificial ingredients wherever possible. Exceptions made for nitrates in charcuterie and giftable items with artificial colours in icing, but we do encourage makers to seek natural alternatives to these wherever possible).  Refer to this article for more information on this policy.
• Items under £5 in unit value and with reasonably high frequency consumption (or a long shelf life) should be listed for sale in quantity. For example snack bars and chocolate bars. Buyer behaviour in an online marketplace is different to offline (where shipping charges and delivery wait time doesn't apply and more spontaneous buying occurs) and also different to behaviour on your own website (where customers will be there to solely explore and discover your range).  Each listing on Yumbles must make sense (including the economics) as a purchase.  

Also note: items must be high in quality, original, not widely available, and produced either by hand or in small batches.

 

2. PRODUCT LISTING TITLES:

• Descriptive. Do make sure it is clear from the title what the product is. 
• No Brand Names. Don't include your brand name in the title unless it is an inherent part of the product name e.g. The Doisy & Dam Chocolate Collection.  Remember your seller/ brand name is always shown alongside the product name already.
• No Promotional Text. Don't include promotional content in the title e.g. "20 % off" or "Free Shipping" or "Free Gift Wrapping"
• No ALL CAPS. Don't use all capital letters in your listing title. It is a poor user experience, making titles hard to read which will result in low click throughs to view your products.

We also strongly recommend that you:

• Include the most important keyword(s) in the title. Keywords are the searchable terms that customers would use to look for a product like yours.
• State quantity or size information in the title depending on the nature of your listing and if relevant e.g. Box of 6, if you are selling your product in quantity
• Front load the key information - primary keyword and key descriptive info of what the product is. E.g. Vegan Doughnuts. Typically it is the first 50 to 75 characters (with spaces) are what most customers will see when seeing your products on the category pages on the site and in search results (especially on mobile devices) so you should put the most important info that will match what they are looking for first. Then you can follow with the product detail information (e.g. Box of 6 or 70ml) and added useful keywords.
• Use hyphens to break up the listing title to make it easy to read if you have a long title (avoid brackets and other special characters that external search engines like Google don't favour well).

 

3. PRICING:

As the seller you set your prices however we do require that you ahere to our Fair Pricing Policy.

If we deem your pricing to be so inflated that it harms the customer experience and marketplace reputation we reserve the right to reject your listing.

 

4. CATEGORISATION:

• Directly relevant. When categorising your products choose the category that best describes what your product is.
• Choose the lowest category branch. Always choose the lowest level category in a particular category "tree" using the expand (+).  It will then be seen in all levels above that. For example, don't categorise a listing in Snacks, use the + expander to drill down to the type of snack.

Yumbles will review categorisation and reseve the right to change the main category. Yumbles will also consider your product listings for inclusion in additional categories.

 

5. DESCRIPTIONS:

• Complete description. Include all key information about your product, things buyers will need to know, not least clarity on exactly what they would be buying (size etc). For all perishable items, always include the minimum shelf life on dispatch.
• Accurate. Make sure that all information entered is an accurate representation of the item you are selling.
• No Unauthorised Health Claims. Any medical or therapeutic benefits indicated by the consumption of your product must be legally compliant. Consult legal advice before stating any such claims in your descriptions. If in doubt leave them out.
• No Unauthorised & Unsubstantiated Nutrition Claims. Nutrition claims like low fat or high fibre can only be made if the product meets the official compositional criteria set by UK regulations.  You must add your nutritional information to your listing if you are making any nutrition claim.

We also recommend that you have descriptions that are:

• Succinct. Let customers know what they need to know about your product and ordering information as easily and quickly as you can. Some personality in your copy can be very effective to sell your product well, but avoid very long descriptions and big blocks of text.  
• Well Structured and Scannable. Use paragraphs and use formatting like bolded text for distinct sub-sections and use bullet points for lists so that the information is easy to read.

See our tips for effective product descriptions.

 

 

6. MAIN IMAGE 

The main image on your listings must comply with the following essential standards:

• A clear and accurate representation of what is being sold. The main listing image should be a photo clearly showing the specific product that you are selling. (This includes the quantity of that product you are selling e.g. a box of 6 doughnuts should show 6 doughnuts). If other items are included in the main image as accessories it should be clear in the description that these are not part of the sale price. The item being sold should be the majority of the photo.
• Show the full product within the frame (not cropped). Images on Yumbles are square so make sure your photo is cropped to the right dimensions but still showing the complete product.
• Visually appealing, a good standard. The images should be of a high quality with attractive compositions showing off your produce to their best effect.  Yumbles reserves the right to disapprove listings that have main product photos that don't meet the visual standards on the marketplace.
• No all black or very dark backgrounds
• Product photos NOT artwork, label images, nor a collage of images.
• No text or image overlays. There should not be any graphics or text or award badges etc overlaid on the main product photo (you can have these as additional images on your listing). 
• No special effects, tinting or filters. The main image should be a natural product photo and not have any special effects added.
• High resolution. At least 1000 pixels

We also strongly recommend:

• Natural lighting
• Product is on a simple light background.  Not a cut out image on a plain white background (or any cutout on any block colour background).
• That you add additional images to your listing. Listings with multiple images see higher sales conversion.

See our Product Photography Guide for more.  

 

Technical requirements:

• Upload your product images in square dimensions - otherwise our system will automatically crop them to fit and it may not crop them in the best composition.
• Maximum image size is 2MB.

 

7. INGREDIENTS & DIETARY INFORMATION

Ensure that you are fully compliant with EU directives that require full disclosure of ingredients using the fields provided.

• All food additives must be clearly labelled along with their E number.
• Indicate any allergens present in your product using the field for Allergy Advice provided.
• If your product makes any nutritional or health claims also complete the Nutritional Information field.

 

8. VALUES

• Select all Values that apply to your produce accurately and correctly.  This is key data that will limit the exposure of your products if not completed.
• Allergen free values must ONLY be selected if you are self certifying that your production space is free of that contaminant.

Refer to the Values Glossary for definitions.