====== Posting Ban Explained ======

There are many reasons why you are not able to post a deal. Here is a check list and some explanation.

===== Why Am I Banned?! =====

=== Are you a newly registered user? ===

There is currently a 24 hour new user ban. If the age of your user account on ChoiceCheapies is less than 24 hours old, you will not be able to post deals.

For users from //some// overseas countries, the temporary ban may be greater than 24 hours. Please be familiar with ChoiceCheapies and observe how this community works before deciding whether you wish to participate.

=== Are you in the penalty box? ===

If you are currently in the [[Penalty Box]], you will not be able to post deals, comments, forum topics or vote. You will have to wait until the penalty expires, or [[https://www.choicecheapies.co.nz/forum/10041|Talk with a Moderator]].

Hover your pointer over "My Account" to reveal whether you are in Penalty Box.

=== Is the domain permanently banned? ===

The domain of the URL of the deal that you are trying to post might be //banned// by the moderators. Domains can be permanently banned for various reasons, including:

  * The store owners/representatives have violated the ChoiceCheapies terms and conditions of use.
  * The store representatives have been **spamming** on ChoiceCheapies
  * The link is a URL shortener or redirection website.
  * Moderators wish to draw store representative's attention, or the past deals are under investigation.

Please [[https://www.choicecheapies.co.nz/forum/10041|talk with a moderator]] if you think an URL domain should not be banned.

=== Is the domain temporarily banned? ===

The domain of the URL of the deal that you are trying to post might be //temporarily banned// by the moderators or the system, with an expiry date for the ban. Domains can be temporarily banned for various reasons including:

  * The store owners/representatives have not been following guidelines or have been bypassing restrictions.
  * The store has posted too many deals that have attracted almost no votes and has been [[store representative#performance-based_store_bans|automatically banned by the system]]. This is the same for all merchants and no appeals will be entertained.
  * There are too many people posting duplicates of the same deal.

=== Has the store representative posting limit been reached? ===

Store representatives are allowed to post only

  * 1 deal per 24 hours.
  * 2 deals per 7 days - provided the votes on past deal are not too low. This can be reduced to 1 deal per 7 days, or 1 per 14 days, or 1 per 30 days, depending on the vote average of past deals.
  * If the past 2 rep posts for the domain made the front page (4+ votes), the representative is allowed an extra post per week, making it 3 deals per 7 days.

See [[store representative#posting_limits|posting limits]] for details. If you have already reached the limit, you will not be able to continue to post deals from your own store.