Nobody curates the spotlight board, so this policy is the only thing standing between a listing and the public. It applies to the product you link to, the page it lives on, the text and images on your listing, and the business behind it.
Submitting a product is your confirmation that you have read this and that your listing complies. We check listings before and after they go live.
What we do accept
Ordinary physical consumer goods, sold by a verified business, in one of the categories on the board. Services, digital goods, downloads, subscriptions and anything you cannot put in a box are not accepted yet.
Products we do not accept
The list below follows the restricted and prohibited categories used across mainstream commerce platforms. If your product would be refused by Shopify or by a card network, assume it is refused here too.
Adult and sexual content
- pornography and sexually explicit material in any medium
- sex toys, fetish equipment and other adult products
- escort services, sexual services and dating services with a sexual focus
- any listing whose image or wording is sexually explicit, whatever the product is
The "Mature" branch of the Google product taxonomy is not offered as a category on this board for exactly this reason.
Tobacco, vapes and nicotine
- cigarettes, cigars, loose tobacco, shisha and chewing tobacco
- e-cigarettes, vapes, pods, e-liquids and refills, with or without nicotine
- nicotine pouches, patches, gum and other nicotine delivery products
- smoking accessories sold alongside any of the above
Drugs and paraphernalia
- controlled substances, narcotics and their precursors
- cannabis, CBD, THC and hemp-derived consumables
- bongs, pipes, grinders and other drug paraphernalia
- legal highs, research chemicals and substances marketed as a substitute for a controlled drug
Weapons and anything that goes bang
- firearms, receivers, frames, magazines and 3D-printable gun files
- ammunition, primers, propellant and reloading components
- explosives, fireworks and pyrotechnics
- knives marketed as weapons, knuckledusters, batons and disguised blades
- pepper spray, stun guns and other self-defence weapons where they are restricted
Alcohol and gambling
- beer, wine, spirits and any other alcoholic drink
- casinos, betting, lotteries, sweepstakes and skill games played for money
- loot boxes, mystery boxes and anything else sold on the promise of a random prize
Medical, pharmaceutical and supplements
- prescription medicines and pharmacy-only products
- unapproved supplements, nootropics, steroids, SARMs and peptides
- products claiming to cure, treat or prevent a disease without approval
- medical devices that require a licence or prescription to sell
Counterfeit, stolen and infringing goods
- replicas, fakes and unauthorised copies of branded goods
- stolen property and goods with removed or altered serial numbers
- pirated media, cracked software, licence keys and streaming credentials
- anything infringing someone else’s trade mark, copyright or design right
Regulated, hazardous and living things
- live animals, endangered species and products made from them, including ivory
- human remains, body parts and bodily fluids
- hazardous chemicals, toxic substances and regulated waste
- government identification, official documents, uniforms and credentials
- recalled products and goods subject to a safety notice
Financial and digital risk
- financial products and services of any kind, including insurance and lending
- multi-level marketing, pyramid schemes and get-rich-quick offers
- credit repair, debt relief and investment advice sold without a licence
- cryptocurrency, tokens, NFTs and speculative financial products
- malware, spyware, hacking tools, bots and account credentials
- services that generate fake reviews, followers, traffic or engagement
- downloadable files, keys and digital deliverables of any kind
Tickets, politics and high-risk services
- ticket resale and secondary-market event tickets
- political advertising, campaign material and issue advocacy
- high-risk services such as immigration, legal, medical or debt advice
- anything sold as a service rather than as a physical product
Hateful and harmful content
- material that promotes hatred, violence or discrimination against a group of people
- products glorifying terrorism, mass violence or their perpetrators
- anything depicting or facilitating the exploitation of children
Who may advertise
- A business, buying for business purposes. Spotlight is not sold to consumers.
- With a verified business email, a trading name and a country on file.
- Selling through a store or marketplace account you own, control or are authorised to promote.
- Willing to be named on the listing as the advertiser, because every placement carries that name.
A first campaign is reviewed by a person before it goes live. Merchants who prove they control the store they are promoting get a verified badge on their listings.
How a listing has to behave
- The link points straight at the product you describe, not at a homepage, a redirect chain or an interstitial.
- The title, pitch and image match the product the buyer receives.
- You sell the product, are authorised to promote it, or hold a valid affiliate or reseller arrangement.
- The destination page does not auto-download files, open dialogs or attempt to install anything.
- One listing means one product. Duplicate listings for the same product are merged or removed.
What happens when a listing breaks this policy
We remove it. Removal for cause does not create a refund claim, because the placement was delivered from the moment the listing went live. Where we catch a submission before it is published, we refund the payment in full.
Repeat submissions of the same prohibited product are blocked, and we may refuse future launches from the same merchant or domain.
Local law comes first
Some of the categories above are lawful in parts of the world and not in others. A product that is legal where you sell it can still be refused here, and nothing in this policy overrides the law that applies to you.
Reporting a listing
If you see something on the board that breaks this policy, or that infringes a right you hold, write to [email protected] with the listing link and what is wrong with it. We review reports in the order they arrive and act on the ones that stand up.