[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”General” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_toggle title=”What is Stockabl?”]Stockabl is a wholesale marketplace connecting independent designers and makers with retailers looking to stock their products. While we have features in place to drive buyers to your shop, we do not consider ourselves a representative of your line directly (which is reflected in our low fee structure) – think of us more like your digital line sheet with great visibility to buyers.[/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Do I have control over which stores I receive orders from?”]Absolutely – if you receive an order from a shop that you can’t or don’t want to fulfill for any reason simply let us know within 72 hours of receiving the order notification and we will alert the buyer and remove the order.
We also strongly encourage all buyers to reach out via our messaging system prior to placing an order with a new maker relationship to make sure it is a good fit for both parties and you are encouraged to do the same if you receive an order from a buyer you aren’t familiar with.[/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”What are the fees?”]We offer two levels of membership based on the needs of your business – Standard and Patron.
Standard – ideal for sellers who are looking for a beautiful and professional place to refer buyers as well as find new stockists.
Includes access to our maker community, standard support via our support ticket system, a beautiful custom storefront and unlimited listings with product customization and variations, sales tracking dashboard, inclusion in general buyer marketing, and a messaging system to communicate directly with buyers without leaving the platform. This level has a $5 monthly membership fee and a 6.5% transaction fee.
Patron – ideal for sellers who are interested in having a voice in and furthering the growth of the community.
Includes all standard features, plus priority seller support, first-look access at promotions and opportunities, a monthly community update report, a private forum for feedback and suggestions for future platform and community improvements, and our lowest transaction fee. This level has a $25 monthly membership fee and a 3.5% transaction fee.
All sellers also pay the 3.5% payment processing fee.
For more information about our memberships please see the membership page[/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”How do I get paid for sales?”]Buyers pay for their orders directly through our checkout process (or send a check to our address on their invoice). Once we have cleared the payment, we deduct our transaction fee commission and send the payment to you directly. Unlike some platforms we send you your cut within 3-5 business days, not 30.[/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”How does the buyer referral credit work? “]For any buyer that you refer who places $75 or more in orders, we will credit your account with one month of FREE standard membership.
To be eligible you must be an accepted seller with an account in good standing, and the buyer must put your name or business name down in their application under the referee section. Free month will be issued as a $5 credit on your balance on the first week of the month following a qualifying order.[/vc_toggle][vc_custom_heading text=”Listings” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_toggle title=”What is an attribute?”]Attributes come in two flavors – global or custom. A global attribute (like style, recipient, etc) is used across the site as a product filter, while custom attributes are unique to your product (like canvas size or pendant shape). When creating a variation listing (when available) you can use some or all of your attributes to generate your variations – but attributes can and should also be used on simple products to help buyers find them (global attributes) and provide more information (custom attributes).[/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Do I have to use custom SKUs on all of my listings?”]No, but it will make your life infinitely easier if you ever need to bulk update listings. Even if you don’t plan on using the product importer now, you may find that you need to add a sentence to all of your listing descriptions, or increase prices by 5%, or whatever the situation may be. If you do not have custom SKUs you will either have to manually update every product OR write out the product ID for every product in your catalog on a new spreadsheet. The choice is yours.
If you don’t currently have a SKU system, we recommend a 3-4 letter code representing your shop, with a series of numbers. Example: STOC-0001[/vc_toggle][vc_toggle title=”Why wont my SKU save?”]That is because SKUs, like product IDs (which the system randomly generates) must be unique to each product on the site. This is why we recommend every shop add a unique 3-4 letter code (for example an abbreviation of your shop name) to the beginning or the end of your SKU to make sure it is unique to your product. If your SKU wont save, it’s because it’s not unique (i.e. someone else already used it).[/vc_toggle][vc_custom_heading text=”Orders” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_toggle title=”How do minimum order values work?”]The value you set in the “Minimum Order Value” setting in your shop settings is shown in two places on the site by default – on your shop page beneath your social media links, and in the cart when a buyer is checking out if their order is beneath your minimum.
Minimums are presented to buyers as a “warning” that their order may not be accepted if it is too low, rather than being strictly enforced at checkout, to allow you greater flexibility in accepting special request orders such as sample orders or if you have a lower re-order minimum for example.
If you receive an order that is below your minimum, you have three choices. You may either A) contact the buyer to let them know they are below your minimum and upsell them on additional items, B) accept the order as is, or C) reject the order with a note that it does not meet your minimum.[/vc_toggle][vc_column_text]
Variation Listings
If I use variation listings, can I also use simple (non-variation) listings?Â
Absolutely! Use whichever version works best for your products.
Photos
Do all of my photos have to be the same style within a listing?Â
Nope – to clarify we ask that your main listing photos be of a similar, cohesive style; but your gallery photos can be a mix. As an example, if you choose to make a white background, catalog style photo your main listing then all of your main listing photos should be of a similar look. Your gallery photos can still be a mix of any photography style you choose, and in fact we encourage you to have at least a few different styles (lifestyle, macro, packaging etc) to give buyers a better understanding of your items and brand.
If my photos are smaller than recommended, what will happen?Â
There is a chance your photos will look “soft” and out-of-focus, especially on larger monitors, which we is why we don’t recommend it. If you don’t have the original, larger, photos to work from or your originals weren’t large enough to start with for some reason, we recommend adding a solid color (probably white) border to your images so that they display correctly.
Please note that some people are having an issue where they are using a photo editor to adjust the sizes, however it is not creating photos that are truly the size they think. If you are having issues with soft photos, or cropping, please check the image dimensions directly on the photo.
Help! My images wont upload/load and then disappear!
This is because your files are too big. Image dimensions are limited to 2500 px in either direction and total file size cannot exceed 2MB. If you are unable to upload your images first confirm that it is 2500 px or less on both width and height. Reducing pixel dimensions can drastically reduce file sizes. If your dimensions are correct but your file size is still too large you can run it through an image optimizer. We recommend TinyPNG because it does a great job of reducing file sizes and preserving the quality of the photo.
Search
How are titles going to work with search on Stockabl?
Unlike other platforms, we do not encourage “title stuffing” (i.e. “Long Boho Necklace, Summer Necklace, Pendant Necklace, Gift for Her…”) for your listings. This is for two reasons: 1) it’s really unattractive from a visitor’s perspective and 2) our search function looks at multiple aspects of the listing to display your product in the results. Instead, we would like you to give your product a simple name, just like if you were naming it on your own linesheet. This name could be as straight-forward as “Chicken and Egg Tea Towel” to “Happy Birthday Card, Pack of 6” to something more stylized like “Galactic Kindness Necklace”.
Should I create multiple duplicate listings with different titles?Â
No – only one listing per product (unless it’s included in set of some kind) is necessary. Simply including your alternative “titles” as tags or within the description of your product is sufficient. Additionally, you can select attributes that work as high-level tags on your products (like “handmade” or “eco-friendly”) so you wont need to include those in your tags. Be sure to browse our list of available attributes.
What does the search use to find matching products?Â
Our search algorithm may not be powered by an artificial intelligence, but it’s pretty comprehensive all the same. In addition to your title, it also looks at your description, your tags, your categories, and the global attributes you assign to each product. While we don’t put a limit on the number of tags or attributes you can associate with your product – please only use relevant ones. If your account is showing up in searches that are irrelevant to your product because you mis-tagged it or used a false attribute, it will annoy buyers and make them more likely to leave the platform… which is bad for everyone. So be a good community member and keep it relevant!
Question Not Answered Here?
Leave us a comment with your question and we will be sure to add it to the list![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]