Do you have questions about our service? We hope that you can find answers here, but if you still need to know more, please use the Contact Us page.
Why should I do this?
Every time a Pinterest user sees one of your pin images, clicks on it and arrives at a spam site, that is a page view you have lost out on. Potentially it’s damaging to your brand. If a user sees a pin with your brand or domain name and ends up at a bad site they may be less likely to save or click on your pins in future. Reporting ‘bad actors’ makes the Pinterest experience better for everyone.
Can you summarize how it works?
Of course.
1. You join one of our monthly membership plans.
2. Each month you complete a form listing the URLs of the pins you want us to review that month.
3. We search Pinterest for pins using that same image which link to the wrong URL and check that content to see if it is appropriate.
4. Any images being used to link to inappropriate content are reported to Pinterest, and a copy of the report is sent to you.
5. Pinterest reviews and removes the stolen pins, usually in a few days.
Can I submit any type of pin?
Of course, although we have found pins that are primarily text or largely text overlaid on a stock photo are very hard to track down. The Pinterest visual image search usually doesn’t show any matching results because there are just too many pins of this format.
Do you offer a free trial?
We don’t offer a free monthly subscription level, but yes we do offer a one-off pin review for you to trial our service. We will review one pin of your choice, find any fake or stolen pins, report them to Pinterest and confirm back to you which inappropriate pins will be removed on your behalf. You can sign up for the free trial here.
How many stolen pins will you find?
It all depends. Sometimes we have only found a single instance, but other times easily more than a dozen fake pins all using the same image. The more popular the original pin, the more times it has been genuinely repinned and the longer it has been on Pinterest, the more likely it is to have been stolen by fake accounts.
Is there a limit to how many fake pins you will report?
We don’t set a limit and will report all of the fake or stolen pins that we find. However, during our search, Pinterest may not show us all of these pins that are in existence across the whole of Pinterest at any one time. For this reason, we recommend reviewing very popular pins a second time at a later date.
What about roundups?
Sometimes your image may be linking to a URL other than to your own site, but may still be legitimate. Each URL is checked and if we find that your image has been pinned by a user from what appears to be a legitimate ’round up’ or a review which links back to your site, we will leave that pin in place to protect your traffic.
Will my own pins, or repins be affected?
Not at all. We act carefully to make sure ONLY the fake pins we identify are removed, leaving your own genuine pins and any repins, or pins saved by your readers completely in place.
Can I carry over my monthly allowance?
Each month you will have the opportunity to request review of a fixed number of pins according to your membership level. Only one request can be submitted each month and you cannot carry over any unused allowance from a previous month.
Can you guarantee my traffic will go up?
Ah, we wish we could. Although we will remove pins with your image that link to URLs other than your own site, we cannot make any guarantee that this will result in more users saving your genuine pins, or in more traffic coming to your site.
What about the fake accounts?
Oh yes, they don’t escape us. Any account we find that has deliberately used one of your pin images to send traffic to their spammy website is reported to Pinterest. We cannot guarantee that these accounts will be immediately removed as this is completely at the discretion of Pinterest, however the more copyright complaints we file against an account, the more likely that account will eventually be suspended or removed.
Do you need access to my Pinterest account?
No, we don’t need access to your Pinterest account or anything else. You simply give us authority to act as your agent solely for the reporting and removal of stolen images on Pinterest.
Can I pay for a one-off review of pins?
The issue of stolen pins is an ongoing one, with new fakes potentially appearing every day. Therefore we prefer to offer our services on an ongoing and regular basis. This also helps us to keep our workload even and predictable. However, from time to time there may be room in our schedule for a one-off review of a number of pins. The charge for this will be $5 per pin reviewed, with a minimum of $100. If you would be interested, please enquire using the Contact Us page.
How do my pins get stolen?
There are a number of automated systems where a spammer can set up a search for pin keywords, find appropriate pins, take the image and repin it to their own board with a link to their spam site. It can be set up in minutes and just run automatically forever adding more and more stolen images to their boards. Typically a spammer will set up a number of boards and use different urls, all redirecting to their site to earn ad income from a handful of unrelated and poor quality articles. I won’t link to it here, but you can find a typical example at pinflux.in. It even boasts ” Build your traffic with other people’s content”