Hintme FAQ:


Hintmall Store FAQ:

What is Hintme?

Hintme is the best place in the world to discover what your friends and family really want. All you have to say is "Hey, Hintme!" and your friends will know how and where to share their hints with you.


How does Hintme work?

Hintme has invented the future of all gift lists. The problem with rusty old wish lists is that wishing for something is lame. Nobody likes wishing for stuff.

Hintme takes the guilt out by letting you hint them instead.

A hint is simply a suggestion. It's not a command, just an idea of what you might like. We imagine a world where everyone hints what they want and their friends and family get to discover your hints so they can always give more meaningful gifts.


Does Hintme charge anything?

Absolutely not! Hintme is totally free. You'll never have to pay to discover what your friends and family really want.


How do I save hints?

Click the Hintme button in your browser's bookmark bar when you find something online that you want to hint, click on a Hintme button on someone else's hint on Hintme or in the Hintmall. You can also click on a Hintme button added to a web page out there on the internet. They're popping up everywhere!


But I don't have the Hintme bookmarklet yet.

No problem, it's super easy to install. Get the free Hintme bookmarklet now.


What is the Hintme bookmarklet anyway?

Once installed, simply click the Hintme button in your browser's bookmark bar when you find something you want to hint. The Hintbox opens with all the hint details we found for you. You can edit and save the hint right to your hintlist for your friends to discover later.


What's the Hintbox?

When you click on the Hintme Bookmarklet the Hintbox appears with your hint details ready to save to your profile. From the Hintbox you can edit the hint's details and permissions.


What other ways can I save hints?

Hints can also be saved to your profile by:

  • Clicking the hintme link found on someone else's hint.
  • Saving a recommended hint from a friend or a hint shared on another social media site.
  • Clicking the “Create New Hint" link on your My Hints page and entering hint information and uploading an image.
  • Clicking a Hintme button provided by another website.

We are constantly adding new functionality to Hintme so check back often for new ways to share hints.


How do I share hints with friends?

Hintme users can share hints with their friends via the 'h' button found on a hint page.

  • Click on an 'h' button and a list of your friends appears.
  • Select the friends that you want to share the hint with and we'll send each of them a quick email with a link to the hint you've shared.
  • Hints that have been shared with you will also show up in your 'Shared With Me' hintlist.

You can also click on another one of the sharing buttons to share a hint via other social media apps.


What is a Hintlist?

Hintlists are a simple way to organize your hints:

  • Hintlists help you keep track of your hints and are only visible by you.
  • When removing a hint from a hintlist the hint is not actually deleted from your profile, just from the list.
  • If you want to change the viewing permissions for a hint you do so thorough the hint itself.
  • You can create as many hintlists as you like and your hints can be placed in multiple lists as well.

Every Hintme user has two special hintlists.

  • 'I Got This' is a hintlist in which you can place hints that you've received as a gift instead of deleting the hint. Hints in this list get a special icon showing your friends that you've already gotten the hint, but still allow them to see the kinds of things you love. Only your friends can see your 'I Got This' icons.
  • 'Shared With Me' is a hintlist containing the hints that your friends have shared with you by clicking on an 'h' button.
  • You can edit the contents of these two lists but cannot edit their names or delete them from your profile.

What's the Hintmall?

The Hintmall is where all the stores on Hintme set up shop.

Hintmall stores are different than Hintme users.

When someone opens a Hintmall store they can only save hints from outside of Hintme. All public store hints show up in the Hintmall where you can search and filter to find the perfect hint. When a user saves a hint from a store it shows up in Hintme and includes a link to the Hintmall Store it came from.

The cool thing about store hints is that when a store reduces the price of a hint, the update shows up in your hint as well. Very cool!

If you choose to follow a Hintmall Store, you are given access to exclusive hints that the store only shows to followers. Super cool!


What's an event?

Events are special dates that you and your friends share with each other like birthdays, anniversaries and other special dates to remember.

Only your friends get to see your events and Hintme will remind you when an event is coming up so you can peek at their hints without them even knowing it.


What is a No Peeking hintlist?

A No Peeking hintlist is an event based list built around a party where you want to connect with invitees but keep the gift recipient out of the loop. In other words, the birthday boy or girl can't peek at what's going on with the group.

Let's pretend that you set up a No Peeking list for your own birthday.

  1. Create a No Peeking event from your events page.
  2. Invite Hintme friends to join the No Peeking group.
  3. Create a special No Peeking hintlist just for this No Peeking event.

All the No Peeking group members can communicate with each other, share ideas about gift items for the party, reserve gifts on your hintlist, purchase items together and create a great event for you. Event members can be updated regularly and reminded about the coming event.

The No Peeking part? You remain blind to all communication within the No Peeking group, letting the members chat freely without fear that you'll find out what they're planning. You can update your No Peeking hintlist however you won't see which items have been reserved or who has reserved them.

You can also set up a No Peeking list for your friends for a surprise party. Simply designate them as the No Peeking recipient and they will be kept in the dark while you and their friends plan an awesome surprise.


What's my Hintme homepage?

When you login to Hintme you're directed to your home page. Here you have a quick view of your friend's upcoming events and any pending friend requests. This is where you can begin browsing or searching all the publicly hinted items on Hintme.

You can get to your Hintme homepage by clicking on the Hintme logo at the top of any page or the Hints link.


What's my profile page?

Your profile page includes your account information as well as any personal information that you choose to share with your friends.

Other than your image, full name, username and your list of friends, your profile info is not shared with the public however all of your friends can see the information that you share here.

Your birthday (Only the month and day) is shared with all your friends so they will know when to peek at your hints to see what you might want.

You can add as much or as little information to your profile as you like.

You can also update your profile information such as your profile photo and email notification settings.


Who can see my hints?

You have complete control over who sees your hints with the following options. They can be selected in the Hintbox or by editing your hint from your My Hints page.

Privacy Options

  • All of Hintme and your friends
  • Only your friends
  • Selected friends only
  • Private

You can change each hint's permissions at any time.

Important: If you choose to share a hint through a social media link provided by Hintme your hint's privacy settings will not alter who see's your hint on the external site. If you want to keep your hints private do not share your hint via these sharing features.

Note: All hints must conform to our hint guidelines listed in our terms of use. If a hint listed on Hintme is flagged as inappropriate Hintme may block or delete the hint from view.

Please help us keep Hintme a great place for everyone to enjoy by following our public hint guidelines.

Members that break our public hint guidelines and/or terms of use may have their accounts and hints deleted and may be blocked from using Hintme in the future.


How many hints can I save to my profile?

How does one million hints sound? Is that enough? We thought so but if you need more than that just send us an email to imexageratingabouthowmanyhintsineed@hintme.com.


Can I save the same hint to my profile more than once?

Sorry but only one instance of a hint can be saved to an individual profile however a hint may be saved by other Hintme members.


How do I invite my friends and family to Hintme?

You can invite friends to Hintme via email, social media or by searching for them on Hintme. To invite friends via email, click on the Invite Friends link located on your friends page.

Once you select whom to invite we will send them an invitation message like this.


********************************************
Subject: Your friend Frank says "Hey Tim, Hintme!"

Hi Tim.
Your friend Frank Salientia would love to discover the things you want, and hintme is the easiest way in the world to do it.

What is Hintme?
Hintme is a free and super easy service to find out what your friends and loved ones want. With just a click or two your friends can easily hint the things they want from any website.

And so can you!

It takes only a few seconds to sign up, and of course its free!

Once you're a part of the Hintme revolution you'll see how simple it is to finally find out what your friends really want. With Hintme you can always give the perfect gift.

Simply click this link to join.
Join Frank at Hintme
************************************************

I received a Hintme invitation. What happens now?

To accept a friend invitation click on the "accept Invitation" link in the invitation email or from your "Friends" page. Your new friend will be notified that you are now friends and you can start sharing hints with them.

You can also ignore or deny a friend invitation. The friend who invited you will not be notified if you choose either of these options.

If you're new to Hintme simply complete the registration form on the home page to create your account. Install the Hintme button to start hinting and be sure to check out what your friends have hinted.


How do I manage my friendships?

From your "Friends" page you can see all your Hintme friend connections, the invitations you've sent and the invitations you've yet to respond to. Click on "Invite New Friend" to send a friend invitation or "Search For Friends" to discover who's already on Hintme.

You can discretely remove a friend connection at any time as well.


How many friends can I have on Hintme?

There is no limit to the number of friends you can have on Hintme.


What if I need more help getting around Hintme?

At Hintme, we're committed to making our user's experience as enjoyable and hassle free as possible. If you need help with a current Hintme feature feel free to email us at HelpMe@hintme.com and we'll do our best to assist you as soon as possible.

If you'd like to request a new feature or give feedback to our development team please email HintTheChimps@hintme.com. We cherish your comments and will take all requests into consideration for future products.


What is "Hintme Gives"?

When our founders came up with this crazy idea, they pledged to share half of their yearly Hintme profits with local Portland, Oregon charities. Each year (when Hintme finally pulls a profit) they plan to hold a party dubbed "Hintsgiving" where they hope to shed light on some of the under-served charities in their beloved home town of Portland.

If you'd like to learn more about how you can support Hintme Gives feel free to drop us an email at HintmeGives@hintme.com.


Who is Frank Salientia anyway?

Frank Salientia (AKA Frank Frog) was Hintme's loveable mascot. Unfortunately Frank passed away and was buried in the Hintme garden underneath a rose bush in 2015 however his snarky frog spirit lives on in several of Hintme's early commercials and to this day he represents the irreverent nature of the entire Hintme team.

Frank Salientia

We miss Frank and hope that he's enjoying being a snarky tree frog in some other realm, terrorizing crickets and trying to enlighten other long passed-away tree frogs about how awesome Hintme is and how he loved to scream "Hintme!" at us every chance he had. I think I can still hear him...

You can see Frank in action by checking out his commercials on youtube.





Not a member yet? Join Hintme now. Lets go!

I'm a store. Tell Me More!

What's a Hintmall store?

Hintmall stores are different than users. Well for one, they're not users, they're stores.

Stores can save unique hints from their website but cannot save hints from Hintme. The Hints they share are their own products that they sell, not things that they want. Hintme stores do not sell anything on hintme. Their hints simply link to the products on their website.


What does it cost to open a store and share my products in the Hintmall?

Hintme is free. No joke. It will always be free to open a store and share your hints on Hintme.


Why should I open a store and share my products in the Hintmall?

There are many reasons to open your Hintmall store. Here are a few.

  • You have total control over the details of all the hints that have been hinted and re-hinted from your store. If you update the price of a hint, every single child from that hint gets updated across Hintme, even if the hint was hinted from a user hint!

    If you need more reasons than that continue reading.

  • As a store you have the ability to set the category and location for each hint. Only stores have this ability. These categories and locations are used for searching and sorting in the Hintmall and on Hintme as well.

  • You have the option to set hint permissions as "Follower Only" meaning that only users who follow you can get access to these hints in your store.

  • Just like users, get to choose your Hintme domain. "hintme.com/MyAwesomeStore" is where you can let your customers know exactly where to find you in the Hintmall.

  • Hintme is a unique and revolutionary concept that is changing the way we shop online. Every hint is a potential purchase and every user of hintme is likely in the mood to shop, either for themselves or their friends. Our users want to discover your hints, right now! Everybody's happy!

  • We are constantly cooking up new tools for Hintme stores and users. Sign up and we'll keep you up to date when our new toys are ready for you to play with.

How many hints can I share in the Hintmall?

How does one million hints sound? Is that enough? We thought so but if you need more than that just send us an email to imexageratingabouthowmanyhintsineed@hintme.com.


How do I invite users to follow my store?

Your current customer base is a great place to start. Add a link to Hintme on your website or a Hintme button to each of your products. Add your Hintme domain to your advertising materials. Share links to your Hintmall store via social media or share your hints via the social medial tools on Hintme.

All of this is easy however when users start hinting your products, other users will see what Hintmall store they came from and followers will simply appear as if by Hintme magic.


Can anyone follow my store?

Any user can follow your store. Even stores can follow other stores. Honestly though, we can't think of why you wouldn't want someone to follow you. Let's all have a group hug!


How do I connect with my followers?

We are currently working on cool new tools for stores to be able to connect with their followers. Open your Hintmall store today and we'll email you the moment we release any new fun toys from our workshop!


Can stores make friends and save events?

Well, like we said above, Stores aren't users and Users aren't stores. Hintmall stores cannot make friends or save events but stores can have followers and have the ability to share exclusive hints with them and do other cool store things that users can't do.


What happens to user hints if I delete the original hint?

If you we're to delete a store hint, the hint remains in the state that it was in when deleted. But honestly, why delete anything? Simply modify the title of the hint to say "No Longer In Stock" or something like that. Remember, these are HINTS! If someone lands at your store because of this hint then they will likely find something similar that they'll love. "Keep it neat. DON'T DELETE!"


I need more help getting around Hintme!

At Hintme, we're committed to making our user's experience as enjoyable and hassle free as possible. If you need help with a current Hintme feature feel free to email us at HelpMe@hintme.com and we'll do our best to assist you as soon as possible.

If you'd like to request a new feature or give feedback to our development team please email HintTheChimps@hintme.com. We cherish your comments and will take all requests into consideration for future products.


What is "Hintme Gives"?

When our founders Tim and Lisa came up with this crazy idea, they pledged to share half of their yearly Hintme profits with local Portland, Oregon charities. Each year when Hintme finally pulls a profit they plan to hold a party dubbed "Hintsgiving" where they hope to shed light on some of the under-served charities in their beloved home town of Portland.

If you'd like to learn more about how you can support Hintme Gives feel free to drop us an email at HintmeGives@hintme.com.


Where have you been all my life?

Hintme was born on April 27th 2004 in beautiful Portland, Oregon. That's right. 2004! Just after that other kind-of successful social network was launched, but the internet was still so young. Most people didn't shop online yet so we sat on this crazy idea, let it stew and worked out the kinks for a while.

In 2010 our founders decided to take on all these crazy ideas full time and make it real. In early 2012 we launched publicly and have slowly, methodically and organically grown into what we are now. An odd story of patience, persistence and dedication with the ultimate inevitable goal of utter world domination!!!

Just kidding. Kind of...

Some pretty tasty Hintme soup though.


Open your Hintme store now. Lets go!