Guidelines
Seller Guidelines
Last updated: 4 June 2026
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These guidelines describe what is and isn't allowed on ChatKatalog. Every seller agrees to them at signup. Reports from buyers, sweeps by our team, or threshold flags can trigger a review. Confirmed violations escalate through warning → restriction → suspension → removal. The full enforcement ladder lives in our Terms section 11.
At a glance
- Sell legitimate goods you have the right to sell.
- Keep your listings honest — real photos, accurate prices, real stock.
- Don't try to manipulate Google or buyers with spam.
- Respect privacy, copyright, and human dignity.
Violation categories
These are the eight categories our triage team uses when reviewing a report. The examples are illustrative, not exhaustive. If something is borderline, message us via the contact section on / before listing.
1. Illegal products
Goods whose sale is prohibited or restricted under Sri Lankan law. Includes — but is not limited to — controlled substances (Poisons, Opium and Dangerous Drugs Ordinance); firearms, ammunition, explosives, regulated knives (Firearms Ordinance); tobacco and alcohol without the appropriate Excise licence; pharmaceuticals, prescription medicines, and medical devices regulated by the NMRA; wildlife, protected fauna/flora, ivory (Flora and Fauna Protection Ordinance); antiquities (Antiquities Ordinance); stolen goods; hazardous chemicals, fireworks, asbestos. See Terms section 6 for the full prohibited-items list.
2. Adult content
Sexual services, escort services, pornography, fetish goods, and any other materials regulated under the Obscene Publications Ordinance. Underwear, swimwear, and intimates from regular fashion catalogs are permitted; explicit imagery in product photos is not.
3. Counterfeit and replica goods
Goods that infringe on trademarks, copyrights, or patents under the Intellectual Property Act. "Replica", "inspired by", "first copy", "AAA grade", and similar framings of branded goods you did not produce or licence. Authentic resale (e.g., a used iPhone) is fine; framing it as a brand-new equivalent of a more expensive item is not.
4. Spam, low-quality, or SEO-manipulation listings
Empty shops created to park a name; bulk-imported AliExpress listings with stock images and no real fulfilment intent; keyword-stuffed product titles aimed at Google rather than buyers; duplicate shops for the same business under different slugs to game uniqueness. If you sell more than one brand, it's fine — but each must be a real shop you fulfil orders for.
5. Misleading information
Photos that don't match the product (stock photos sold as your own work, photos at a much higher quality than what ships); prices that change at checkout via WhatsApp negotiation tactics; stock levels claimed for items you don't have; "free shipping" framing where shipping is paid by the buyer; fake reviews or testimonials in the bio.
6. Privacy violation
Listing or sharing another person's contact details, address, or photo without their consent; reselling buyer contact data from a prior transaction; impersonating another seller or business. ChatKatalog only collects buyer messages buyers themselves send via WhatsApp — your privacy obligations extend to those messages.
7. Hate or harmful content
Listings, descriptions, or shop bios that promote violence, hatred, or discrimination against any community on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, language, caste, gender, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin. Symbolism associated with terrorism or organised hatred is not permitted regardless of historical claim.
8. Other
Anything that violates the spirit of these guidelines but doesn't cleanly fit categories 1–7. Used sparingly — most reports map to one of the seven specific categories above.
How enforcement works
L1 — Warning
First-time or low-severity violation. Email to the seller describing the specific listing or behaviour that needs to change, with a 7-day window to fix it. No public-facing action.
L2 — Restriction
Repeat L1 or single moderate violation. The specific listing(s) are hidden from your public catalog but kept editable in your admin so you can fix and republish. Email + audit log entry.
L3 — Suspension
Repeat L2 or single serious violation (e.g., counterfeit at scale, misleading pricing across the catalog). Shop is temporarily hidden from public; you keep dashboard access to export data. Email + audit log entry. Lifted on resolution.
L4 — Removal
Repeat L3 or single severe violation (e.g., illegal products, hate content). Shop is permanently removed. You have 30 days to export your data via the contact section on / before deletion completes (see /privacy section 6 for the deletion window).
Appeals
Every enforcement action includes an email summary of what was found and why. To appeal, reply to that email or write to legal@chatkatalog.com within 14 days, with any context or evidence you'd like us to consider. A second member of the ChatKatalog team — not the one who made the original decision — reviews the appeal and replies within 5 business days. Restored shops keep their original slug, products, and order history.
Reporting a shop
Anyone can report a shop directly from its public catalog footer — the "Report this shop" link opens a short form. Reports are reviewed by our team; if you provide an email we may follow up for clarification. Reports submitted in bad faith (e.g., to harass a competitor) are themselves a violation of these guidelines.
Questions
If you're unsure whether something falls inside or outside these guidelines, message us via the contact section on / before listing. We'd rather help you frame a listing correctly than enforce against it after the fact.