I, Maegan Farrell Smith, owner of Bitty's Boutique, did not write this blog nor am I affiliated with Link Bug; however, I feel this is a terrific rendition of what is happening!
So many rumors flying around!! It is sad that people do not take the time to verify their facts before making comments on their pages that are unverified and intend to scare people. It is of MY opinion that most of these rumors are done to get rid of the competition!!
Facebook has made a few changes lately but most of their rules and regulations have been in effect for some time now, but no one has ever bothered to read them. All of the information that I have gathered has been from these sources shuldl you choose to read them for yourself:
When posting pictures on a business page you are essentially placing an "ad" for a product that you have for sale.
You CAN post a price of said product. You CAN inform your customer of shipping charges.
You CANNOT ask your customer to post their paypa/paymentl information to your wall.
The regulations state that when posting an AD it should contain a direct link to the add.
You CAN use a shop now tab on your business page as it it an approved FB application.
You CAN use the google form (as posted in the Promotion and Contest note) (post link along with your product picture) to obtain information from your customer for the purpose of buying your product. ( i have made a sample google form
http://tiny.cc/avb14)
You CAN have all your products posted to an outside source (ie: web page, blog) and leave a link to purchase the product.
Comment games: There are no specific rules or regulations concerning having comment games. The only regulations that would pertain to these is you CANNOT ask a fan to post their paypal/payment information to your wall. Again you could use the google form to have these if you are unsure and dont want to risk breaking and of the FB regulations. Since google puts these in a spreadsheet numbering them as the responses are posted you could still say "comment #5 gets this deal" and find your winner/customer from the spreadsheet.
Auctions: There are no specific rules or regulations concerning having auctions. Again the only regulation that would pertain to these is you CANNOT ask a fan to post paypal/payment information to your wall.
Games: I have found no specific regulations to holding games on a business page. Except that you cannot notify a winner by posting on your wall or announce what they may have won (until they have been notified outside of facebook)
It is again my opinion but I feel it would be beneficial (not to mention more professional) to all shops to conduct all business transaction through email when discussing payments. (ie unpaid invoices) I also urge every page to make sure that somewhere in their page content to have YOUR rules and regulations regarding the purchase of your products posted somewhere for your own protection!
I have sent an email to Facebook to help further clarify all these issues and am still awaiting an answer (if i ever get one) and will post any updates whenever i receive one.
On a funnier note: I DID find in the AD regulations that "proper grammar, punctuation and Capitalization is required when placing an "AD" on facebook!
There are thousands of business pages on Facebook. I have a hard time believing that they have hired Facebook Police to monitor every page! I think the main issue that they have been facing and the reason for these changes is the high number of comments being made on particular posts. The probably feel that this is a form of spamming. And the words FREE, GIVEAWAY, FREEBIES have also contributed to these changes. Learn to use different wording. I now these changes are scary but they are managable! As long as you are trying to adhere to the regulations that Facebook has set then you should be okay!
I have also written the disclaimer (below) as an example of one that you should have posted somewhere again for your own protection!
DISCLAIMER: Facebook has not read, or contributed to this note in any way. This is only MY (Link Bug) opinion and interpretation of the rulles, regulations and guidelines published on Facebooks terms of service. Link bug is not responsible for any adverse reaction to you or your business page as a result of these interpretations.
