A vendor is any entity or representative that is registered as a business in the jurisdiction in which they operate. For those entities or representatives not registered as a business, we additionally define a vendor to be any user who purchases and resells product with the intention of making a profit beyond reasonable compensation for their time, or purchases/produces many distinct products for sale (including mass production).An artisan is a user who produces only a small range of product types, and plays a direct role in the creation of the products that they sell. If a user meets requirements for both an artisan and a vendor, they will be classified as a vendor.
- To apply for status as a vendor, a user should send a PM to the moderation team account stating that they are interested in artisan or vendor status, and outlining their organization. The moderation team reserves the right to request proof of identity, proof of control of a business or entity, and other documentation as deemed necessary during the approval process. Applications will be reviewed and approved or denied on a case-by-case basis. Users do not need to apply in order to post in the Artisan Services subforum, although all new threads are subject to moderator approval, as in the Classifieds section.
- To apply for a vendor subforum, a vendor should send a PM to the moderation team account outlining why they feel their enterprise is not able to function under the restrictions of the general vendor space.
- Vendors may advertise their services in their signature on geekhack. All advertising of products must be confined to the vendor's vendor subforum, or, in the absence of a vendor subforum, in the vendor's dedicated thread in the general vendor area. As per the Vendor Terms of Service (VToS), a vendor may also post certain types of community-funded projects in the Group Buys and Preorders section. A vendor may have as many threads active in their vendor subforum as they wish, however an individual vendor without a vendor subforum is limited to one active (unlocked) thread in the general vendor area at any given time, unless given permission by the moderation team. Collaborations between the vendor and a community member must be discussed in the vendor's designated space, unless permission is given by the moderation team for a specific product or event to be discussed elsewhere due to significant community involvement.
- Applications for artisan subforums should follow the same process as for vendors. Applications will be reviewed, and approved or denied on a case-by-case basis.
- Artisans may advertise their services in their signature on geekhack. All advertising of products must be confined to the user's artisan subforum, or, in the absence of an artisan subforum, in the artisan's dedicated thread in the artisan services area. Artisans may also post in the Group Buys and Preorders section for large-scale community-funded preorders. An artisan may have as many threads active in their artisan subforum as they wish, however an individual user without an artisan subforum is limited to two active (unlocked) threads in the artisan services subforum at any given time. Collaborations between the artisan and a community member must be discussed in the artisan's designated space, unless a permission is given by the moderation team for a specific product or event to be discussed elsewhere due to significant community involvement.
Artisans and vendors who are given a subforum may have members of their team made moderators in their specific subforum only.
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Each vendor with a vendor subforum or artisan with an artisan subforum will be required to maintain a link to a feedback thread as a sticky. Vendors without a subforum must maintain a link to a feedback thread in the OP of their thread. Artisans without a subforum may create and link feedback threads if they wish, but are not required to do so. Feedback threads will be located in the
Artisan Feedback or
Vendor Feedback subforum; vendors and artisans will not have the ability to edit these threads. Vendors and artisans are encouraged to address this feedback when necessary. If an entity accumulates a significant amount of negative feedback, a review will be launched by the moderation team, which may lead to loss of vendor or artisan status.
If a member or entity that would otherwise be classified as an artisan or vendor is found to be in noncomplience with the VToS, they may have their privileges removed following a review process. A user who has not been granted artisan/vendor status (either by failure to apply, or through a denied application), or has had such status revoked (such as through a vendor review), will not be able to advertise their products or services on geekhack in any form, either actively (by posting or private messaging) or passively (by signature).
Click here to contact the moderation team account.
