Hidden Suppliers – Everything You Need To Know

In this guide, we’re going to tell you absolutely everything you need to know about Hidden Suppliers. We’ll cover – 

• What Hidden Suppliers are & how you become one.
• How to ditch Hidden Supplier status if you get it.
• How to avoid Hidden Supplier status altogether.

Let’s go.

WHAT IS A HIDDEN SUPPLIER?

It’s exactly as it sounds – Hidden Suppliers are literally ‘hidden’ from Poptop’s site. This means their service listings and profiles are temporarily removed from the catalogue so they can’t be found, or booked. But it’s really easy to get back online! We’ll cover that in a minute.

WHY MIGHT YOU BECOME A HIDDEN SUPPLIER?

You’ll become a Hidden Supplier if you don’t update your Poptop calendar on a regular basis. 

Suppliers with 0 unavailable dates in their calendar will automatically be classified as a Hidden Supplier. That means you can’t be found – or booked – until you update.

HOW DO YOU DITCH HIDDEN SUPPLIER STATUS?

Simple! You just need to update your Poptop calendar. You need to block out any dates you CANNOT TAKE A POPTOP BOOKING. Typically this will be because you’re booked elsewhere, but it could also be for personal reasons like family events, holidays, doctor’s appointments etc.

To get your profile back online, you need to input at least 10 unavailable dates into your calendar. Your listings and profile will then be brought back online automatically. 

NOTE – If you have ‘non-working days’ automatically blocked off in your availability settings, this DOES NOT count towards your 1 unavailable date. You’ll need to add others.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU’VE BECOME A HIDDEN SUPPLIER?

If you fall into Hidden Supplier status, we’ll immediately email you and tell you, and direct you to your Poptop calendar to update. We’ll also send you regular reminders throughout the week to make sure you get back online ASAP.

HOW TO AVOID BECOMING A HIDDEN SUPPLIER

You need to have a minimum of 1 unavailable date in your Poptop calendar at all times – that’s easy to do if you manage your availability. 

There are two ways to manage your availability on Poptop. Either sync your calendar (the easiest and best way) or manually update your Poptop calendar.

You can read more about how to update your calendar – and why it’s so important to Poptop’s success – in our dedicated calendar supplier guide.

WHY ARE YOU HIDING SUPPLIERS?

Availability is everything on Poptop (find out why in the guide above!). In order for Poptop to work effectively for everyone involved, we need to know whether you’re available before a booking request comes in. Most of our suppliers already do this by managing their availability.

If suppliers don’t regularly update their calendar, or leave it entirely blank, clients will inevitably submit bookings for dates they’re not available – leading to cancellations. And cancellations are bad for business.

By hiding suppliers who don’t update their availability, we ensure that every booking a client requests goes through – and every booking goes to a supplier that’s using Poptop correctly. Essentially, there are less cancellations – and that’s great for everyone on Poptop!

SUMMARY

Okay, so let’s recap what to do if you become a Hidden Supplier, and how to avoid it in the first place. 

YOU BECOME A HIDDEN SUPPLIER

You get an email telling you you’ve been made a Hidden Supplier. To get back online, you need to log in to your Poptop account, go to your calendar, and input at least 1 DATE you can’t take a Poptop booking. 

Reasons you might not be able to take a Poptop booking.

• You’re booked elsewhere.
• You’ve got holidays or family time planned
• Doctors appointments, childcare, personal events.

As soon as you’ve updated your calendar, your profile will immediately go back online and be available for bookings.

AVOIDING HIDDEN SUPPLIER

Update your availability regularly! We recommend syncing your calendar, but you can manually update too.