What are the guidelines for screenshots? Extension rejected due to "Spam and Placement in the Store".

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João Pedro Ribeiro

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May 15, 2020, 4:00:28 AM5/15/20
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My extension (ID: agoopbiflnjadjfbhimhlmcbgmdgldld) keeps getting rejected due to "Spam and Placement in the Store", when I replied to the message I got the same reply but with the following line highlighted:

Screenshot 2020-05-15 at 08.57.08.png

I tried the following:
  • Screenshot of the extension only
  • Screenshot of the extension on different websites (Google, Amazon, Netflix, etc)
  • Screenshot of the extension on my website
Below is one of the screenshots I submitted:

baseliner-google.png


Yet, I still get the same message with the same part highlighted. Maybe I am missing something. Is there a guideline that I am not following or any rule I'm breaking without knowing?

Josh Shatkin-Margolis

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May 15, 2020, 8:02:57 AM5/15/20
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I am having the same issue.  Did you get this fixed?

For the past two weeks my Chrome Extension has been taken down despite repeated attempts to fix it, which has been in the Web Store for years without issue.  I have made changes trying to comply but it continuously gets taken down for reasons that don't make any sense to me.  I keep emailing support and receive back the same automated email with the same one sentence reason.  I read through all the policy guidelines and believe it meets them all.  What should I do?

Reason for rejection every time:

"Spam and Placement in the Store"

Item has a blank description field, or missing icons or screenshots, and appears to be suspicious.

When I email them they say:

We may remove your item if it has a unclear description field.

But I have rewritten my descriptions ten times and they still get rejected:

Title: Purple Cloud Click-To-Call

Summary: Initiate and track a customer phone call with a single click in your DealerSocket or ELEAD CRM.

Detailed Description: Purple Cloud Click-to-Call helps you track your phone calls so your boss knows you are working hard and your CRM system gives you credit for completing that phone call task.  Tracking your phone calls also helps ensure you receive commission for any sales calls you make.

Just click the customer's phone number and you are in direct meaningful contact with your customer and on your way to closing your next sale.  It saves you time not having to type in a phone number and ensures you don't dial the wrong number.

Single Purpose Description: This extension allows a user to initiate and track a phone call with a single click in two popular customer relationship management systems: ELEAD and DealerSocket.

Host Permission: This extension integrates with two customer relationship management (CRM) systems: ELEAD and DealerSocket.  This extension needs access to these two CRM's hosted web pages to highlight the phone numbers and detect when they are clicked.

For two weeks the extension has been down and my paying customers are cancelling because of it.  What can I do?  How do I fix this?  How can I talk to someone? 
 

João Pedro Ribeiro

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May 19, 2020, 10:16:26 AM5/19/20
to Chromium Extensions
UPDATE

Finally got my approval. 
I think what did the trick for me was removing any hint of any type of 3rd party content from the screenshot.
In my case I had my extension on top of popular websites to show how the extension works, but I only got approval when I used a blank page.
Also, I removed any "extras" from the Chrome Browser screenshot like favourites bar, other extensions, url, etc - being bland worked out.

This is, of course, just my guess.
Hope this helps other people with similar issues.

Jack and Amy Dev

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May 19, 2020, 10:44:25 AM5/19/20
to Chromium Extensions, jo...@purplecloud.com

Hi Josh,

In my personal experience, certain keywords trigger rejection from an initial algorithm that analyzes the description. In your case, it might be the word "track". It may sounds like spam to a "robot" mind.

I would suggest changing this to
"Start and keep account of customer calls with a single click in your DealerSocket or ELEAD CRM."

I know it doesn't convey the same meaning, maybe you can work on a better phrasing.

Also on the Detailed Description:

Purple Cloud Click-to-Call helps you manage your phone calls so that your boss knows you 're working hard and your CRM system gives you credit for completing your phone call task. Measuring your phone calls also helps ensure that you receive a commission for any sales calls you make.

How it Works
Just click the customer's phone number and you are in direct meaningful contact with your customer and on your way to closing your next sale.  It saves you time not having to type in a phone number and ensures you don't dial the wrong number.
Getting Started

<Include clear instructions on how to activate and use the extension, and if they need to log in, etc>
 
Also the screenshots should clearly show how the user uses the product, like do they need to hover over a phone number or right click and choose a menu, etc 

Hope this helps,
Amy

On Friday, May 15, 2020 at 7:02:57 AM UTC-5, Josh Shatkin-Margolis wrote:
I am having the same issue.  Did you get this fixed?

For the past two weeks my Chrome Extension has been taken down despite repeated attempts to fix it, which has been in the Web Store for years without issue.  I have made changes trying to comply but it continuously gets taken down for reasons that don't make any sense to me.  I keep emailing support and receive back the same automated email with the same one sentence reason.  I read through all the policy guidelines and believe it meets them all.  What should I do?

Reason for rejection every time:

"Spam and Placement in the Store"

Item has a blank description field, or missing icons or screenshots, and appears to be suspicious.

When I email them they say:

We may remove your item if it has a unclear description field.

But I have rewritten my descriptions ten times and they still get rejected:

Title: Purple Cloud Click-To-Call

Summary: Initiate and track a customer phone call with a single click in your DealerSocket or ELEAD CRM.

Detailed Description: 


Single Purpose Description: This extension allows a user to initiate and track a phone call with a single click in two popular customer relationship management systems: ELEAD and DealerSocket.

Host Permission: This extension integrates with two customer relationship management (CRM) systems: ELEAD and DealerSocket.  This extension needs access to these two CRM's hosted web pages to highlight the phone numbers and detect when they are clicked.

For two weeks the extension has been down and my paying customers are cancelling because of it.  What can I do?  How do I fix this?  How can I talk to someone? 
 

Paul Draper

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May 21, 2020, 2:31:29 PM5/21/20
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