Selling on Pinterest

Creating a business Pinterest account

If you don’t already have a Pinterest account, you can open one here.

If you haven’t already, you will need to convert your Pinterest account to a business account. To convert your account select the drop-down arrow from the top right corner of your Pinterest account. From the options select Convert to business:

On the ‘Upgrade to a free business account’ page select Upgrade.

You’ll then need to provide your business information, such as your business name and the URL of your website.

Claiming your website

In order to start creating a catalog, you’ll need to first claim your website. On the ‘Business Hub’ page underneath the name of your business, if you haven’t claimed your website yet, you’ll see Website not claimed. Select this to be taken to the page where you can claim your website:

Next to ‘Websites’ select Claim:

A box will appear giving you options for how to claim your website:

The easiest option for you to use will be the ‘Add HTML Tag’ method. Copy the meta-tag that is provided to you by Pinterest, and then in a new tab open your ShopWired account.

Select Settings > S.E.O. from the menu. In the ‘SEO Tags’ section, paste the meta-tag from Pinterest into the ‘Custom Meta Tag 3’ field:

Select save changes. This will automatically place the meta-tag in the code for your website's home page.

Then return to your Pinterest account and select Continue.

Enter your website’s URL in the box and select Verify:

If the process was successful, you will see a ‘Connected’ message.

Creating a catalog

The best way to create a catalog of your products in Pinterest is to use an XML feed of your products. To generate this feed you will need to install the Google Feed app, if you have not already done so, which will generate a feed automatically every 24 hours with the latest product information.

(To install the app select APPs > Available APPs from the menu in your ShopWired account. Find and select the Google Feed app and select INSTALL THIS APP.)

To create a catalog select Ads > Catalogs from the top menu in your Pinterest account:

You will then need to configure your data source. Use the following field guidance for filling out the form:

Name - Enter a name here so the data source is easily identifiable to you, such as ShopWired Feed.

Product feed URL - Enter the URL for your product feed here. To obtain the URL from your ShopWired account, select Feeds > Google Feed from the menu, and follow the instructions in the Obtaining your feed guide in the 'Obtaining the URL for the feed' section.

File format - The Google Feed is an XML file, so select XML from the drop-down menu.

Default availability - Products in your feed which don’t have an availability value will default to the choice you make here. Select what you want the default availability to be.

Product feed login details - If you have password protected your feed, you will need to enter the username and the password here. If you haven't password protected your feed, then you can leave these fields empty.

Country/region - Select where you send your products from.

Language - Select what language your feed is in here.

Default currency - Select the currency that you use in your ShopWired account.

Time/Time zone - These fields are optional. Select what time you want Pinterest to import the data from your feed.

Once you’ve filled out the information for your data source, select Create Pins. You’ll then be taken back to the ‘Catalogs’ page, and Pinterest will begin to process your feed. Once they have finished processing the feed, you will receive an email from Pinterest with the status of your feed. This process could take up to 24 hours.