Policy points
Through our policy point system, we closely monitor all policy violations and take action when necessary. Curious about how this works? We'll explain it to you.
Policy points
Explanation video
This is an English video, made for international partners.
Why do we use a policy point system?
To jointly offer the best quality and service to our customers, while preventing unfair competition, it is important to combat undesirable practices such as self-promotion, fraud, or imitation. Through our policy point system, we closely monitor all policy violations and take action when necessary.
Why we use a policy point system
If you comply with the conditions, it is unlikely that you will ever face policy violations, such as selling imitation items or circumventing service standards. However, if you do commit a policy violation, we will make a note of it and address it with you. We do this because we strive for a fair playing field on our platform and because we want to be clear about what the violations are and what their consequences are. With this system, we tackle undesirable behavior and unfair competition, so that you can sell via bol as successfully and fairly as possible. We would like to emphasize that policy violations are monitored from day one of selling and that this system only applies to partners who do not comply with the conditions.
How the policy point system works
When a policy violation occurs, a certain number of points are deducted from the total. Not every violation is the same. Therefore, we have divided policy violations into 10 main categories and assigned a weight to each violation in the form of a certain number of points. This means that a minor violation weighs less heavily than a major violation. In this way, the consequences are proportionate to the violation.
We take into account he severity of the violation, the size of your product range, and the number of orders processed in the past 365 days. We do this because we want to support you as best as possible. This is how we ensure that a violation may have less impact, so you can expand your product range with more confidence. At the same time, it is important that the quality of your product range is in order. This way, we build a strong and reliable platform together.
Good to know: if you have multiple seller accounts, we have the authority to deduct the relevant number of points from all your accounts linked to the same Chamber of Commerce number for certain policy violations.
In the seller account, on the 'Performance' page, you can see how many policy points you have. There you also have an overview of any previous violations and for which violations your policy points have been adjusted (retroactively).
New: as of June 1, 2026, the policy points system has been updated.
Partners indicated a need for more room for warnings. We have listened to that. Undesirable items will now be stopped as much as possible during the upload process. You will receive an immediate notification of this. In most cases, we will no longer immediately deduct policy points for this.
Should an undesirable item unintentionally pass through our filter, we will take it offline later. This way, we ensure together that bol's product range remains safe, without immediate consequences for your point balance.
For many other violations, the point deduction remains the same. In some cases, it will be slightly stricter, for example, for violations such as copyright infringement. We will remain within the known bandwidths of the policy point system.
What happens if you violate a policy?
If a violation occurs, the partner concerned will receive an email stating the number of policy points that will be deducted. One year after the points have been deducted from the total, they will be reset in the seller account. A total of 0 points means a definitive closure of the seller account – and a closure of all other seller accounts linked to the same Chamber of Commerce number. If the seller account is closed based on policy points, no more points will be reset. The account will then be permanently closed. It will also no longer be possible to create a new seller account. Here you can read what happens to your orders, stock, customer questions, and more upon closure of the seller account (Logistics via bol).