General Finishes Policies

General Finishes Policies: Brand PROTECTION, E-Commerce, VOC Regulations & Prop 65

MAP PRICING
General Finishes MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) policy applies to all forms of digital media and electronic advertisements, including but not limited to the reseller's website pages, e-mails, electronic networks, shopping engines, banners, and pop-ups on the Internet.

VOC REGULATED PRODUCTS:
It is the responsibility of companies selling online to comply with local and state VOC guidelines when shipping GF products into VOC-regulated regions. Listed below are GF products that may be restricted in Gallon sizes:
Arm-R-Seal
Outdoor Oil
Danish Oil
Seal-a-Cell
Gel Topcoat
Gel Stains

E-COMMERCE:
General Finishes strictly prohibits all GF retailers and distributors from selling on Amazon, or selling/distributing to Amazon resellers without permission. We do encourage you to sell our products via your own websites. Please contact your GF account representative with questions regarding this policy.

PROP 65:
If you sell General Finishes products over the INTERNET or through CATALOGS into California, you are required to include warning notices on your INTERNET/CATALOG sites. Please get in touch with your GF account representative with questions regarding Prop 65.

BRAND MANAGEMENT POLICY:
Using our trade name in any manner that would cause consumers to believe you are General Finishes is not permissible and is in violation of trademark law. 

Objectives:

• General Finishes wishes to protect its established internet ranking and internet reputation
• Online viewers should easily be able to distinguish that you are a distributor or retailer representative and not General Finishes Corporation.

The following are not permissible:

 Website:

• You may not represent yourselves as General Finishes in text, images, or URLs. 
• You may not include General Finishes in your main domain name or URL without a distinguishing identifier that you represent General Finishes in a territory or country as a distributor or retailer. For example, www.GeneralFinishesIrelandDistributor.ie or www.IrelandsGeneralFinishesDistributor.ie is permissible, www.GeneralFinishes.ie is not. The use of General Finishes in the URL is in violation of trademarks. would be confusing to consumers and dilute the ranking of www.GeneralFinishes.com.
• You may not redirect consumers to your site using a top-level URL/domain that contains the words "General Finishes".
•  Social Media and Blogs
• You may not include General Finishes in your social media handles, pages names, or URLs such as Pinterest business name, Instagram page name or Facebook User ID without a distinguishing identifier that you represent another territory or country as a distributor or retailer.
• You may not include General Finishes in avatars (social media profile logos) without a distinguishing identifier that you represent General Finishes in a territory or country as a distributor or retailer.
• For example, you may not use General Finishes Ireland or only General Finishes in your avatar or handle, but are encouraged to use the term with a unique identifier such as Shabby.ie@GeneralFinishesIrelandDistributor
• Logos and banners should clearly identify you as a distributor or retailer.
• To avoid search engine penalties, you may not duplicate General Finishes TEXT content on your website without permission. Resellers and distributors are encouraged to use General Finishes' text content for inspiration, but it must be uniquely rephrased to avoid affecting General Finishes' ranking and protect your site from penalties imposed by search engines for duplicating the content of another site. Resellers can access all of the following General Finishes' content: images, photographs, and videos.

Permissible:

• Use of the General Finishes logo in social media posts and banners when representing yourself as a distributor or retailer for General Finishes. It may not be the main logo or the only logo. Your business branding must be included as well.
• Use of the logo on your website when identifying yourself as a distributor or retailer for General Finishes, but not as the sole logo associated with the site.
• Sharing content from or to General Finishes Social Media Channels, keeping the acknowledgment and credit of the original author or artist intact.
• Use of content descriptions from www.GeneralFinishes.com as long as the content is uniquely rephrased (not copied) to avoid duplication penalties from Google.
• Use of the term General Finishes in product page URLs. For example, www.domainname.com/general-finishes-milk-paint/antique-white is permissible.
• Resellers can access all of the following General Finishes' content: images, photographs, and videos.