The products are local to the market.
Every market may have a different idea of what that means. For our market in Athens, GA, nothing comes from further away than about 100 miles. The system won’t prevent you from selling something that traveled 1000 miles, but that goes against what I’m trying to accomplish here.
The crafters set their own prices.
The system is meant to emulate many aspects of a traditional “booths and tables” market. The customers are buying directly from the crafter, at prices set by the crafter. The crafter describes what is available, supplies photos of the items, and sets the purchase price.
The customer has choices.
Just like at a traditional market, the customer can browse everything that is available from all of the different crafter. The customer can choose exactly what to buy, how much to buy, and from what crafter to buy.
The customer has time to decide.
Unlike a traditional market that may be only open for a couple hours (with all the good stuff gone soon after opening), LocallyCrafted.net markets are usually open for business for several days each cycle—long enough to fully browse the site and plan menus for the week.
The products are often created to order.
After the ordering window has closed, the crafters are notified of all of their orders for the cycle. They usually have enough time to create exactly what was ordered, package it, and deliver to the pick-up site. Depending on the crafter, some things may have been made ahead of time, so what you see is exactly what you get.
Payment is taken when the orders are picked up.
Most markets will have a set time and location for customers to pick up their orders. Payment is not made when the order is placed through the website but is instead made in person when the order is picked up.
The system does keep track of customer balances, so it is possible to allow customers to conveniently pay as much as they want in advance and then "draw down" on their balance.
That is what makes a LocallyCrafted.net market.
LocallyCrafted.net gives the internet's advantages to Artists Markets.
Whether you manage or sell at a traditional market with many other vendors or use a small email list to market products you create, LocallyCrafted.net is for you!
LocallyCrafted.net gives you:
Your Own Web Address
You can create your market at a unique locally crafted address (i.e. athens.locallycrafted.net)
Customizable Extras
Your market comes with a welcome page, a Frequently Asked Questions system, and a weblog (news page), all out of the box and all fully configurable and ready for your own content.
Multi-Level Users
Users can create accounts at your market. There are three levels: Market Managers (those people "in charge" of the market), Crafters (all sellers through the market are called crafters), and Customers.
Unlimited Crafters
Any number of crafters can join the market. Unsolicited requests require approval from a market manager before they are listed and can begin selling. Of course, it works just as well with a single crafters as it does with a whole market full.
Virtual Studio Tours
Crafters get their own "About" page and a photo gallery, with unlimited photos and captions.
Flexible Product Listings
Market Managers and Crafters can organize product categories and list products, giving them full descriptions, images, prices, etc.
Market managers and crafters can quickly adjust availability, pricing, and other items at any time. Crafters can only edit their own products, but Market Managers can edit everything.
Flexible Memberships
Membership is flexible. You can charge customers an membership fee -- you set the amount and whether it is annual or lifetime. You can charge crafters a fee to sell their products (either as a variable percentage of sales, set per crafter, or as a flat fee per item), just like a table fee at a booths-and-tables market.
Flexible Pricing
Crafters set their own prices. The market can tack on a surcharge for each item. The customer sees the total of the two. The crafter gets the sales price, minus any surcharge, minus any sales percentage. It’s hard to succinctly describe, but is rather easy in practice.
Wholesale Accounts
Customers can be marked as "Wholesale Accounts". Crafters can set special wholesale prices for their products, and the wholesale customers will automatically see those prices. Wholesale customers will go to the end of the line by default (to give retail customers paying higher prices first dibs), but that behavior can be disabled.
Automatic Communication
Automatic sending of the availability email. Each week I send out an email to our customers with a little chatty news section followed by the complete listing of products for that week. They go to the website to place their orders, but they enjoy getting the email as a reminder. So, the system allows you to type the chatty news section through the weblog, and by checking a box it will email all your customers the weblog entry plus the product listing.
Easy Ordering
Ordering is very simple. Customers can place their own orders, and market managers can place orders for customers unable to do so themselves. Confirmation emails go out to both the customer and the market managers.
The market manager is able to edit and adjust individual orders and individual items within the order. This includes price adjustments, credits, etc.
Crafter Sales Notification
The crafters can see the orders for their products in real time through the website, but at the end of the ordering window, the website will send emails out to the crafters letting them know of the orders, what needs to be made, etc.
Label Generation
Labels for each crafter will be automatically generated as PDF documents formatted for printing to several standard Avery label sizes. The crafter can print them on their own using their own printer (or the market manager can do it for them).
"Delivery Day" Reports
Ready-to-print PDF documents are created for processing grower drop-offs/pickups, invoices for the customer, and packing lists for those putting orders together.
In-Person Payment Processing
Payments are taken in person, when the orders are picked up. The system does keep track of customer balances, so it is possible to allow customers to conveniently pay as much as they want in advance and then "draw down" on their balance.
Customer orders can be easily adjusted after the fact through the website to account for rejections, shortages, credits, etc.
There are many nuances I've left out, but that about sums up the major features. The cost? It's completely free to start your market, and from there I'll be asking for 3% of your completed sales to cover my hosting costs and development time. I'll give you a paypal link or a mailing address to send payment, and you can pay on your own schedule. You'll find it to be much cheaper than trying to host your own online ordering system!
You can see what we’ve done with our market at athens.locallycrafted.net -- feel free to look around, "tour" our member crafters (They’re used to me doing everything for them, but I’m walking them through uploading photos, etc.), and browse our product listings.
Feel free to create a site for your market to get the ball rolling and see for yourself how it works. Just click on "Our Markets" to get started.
And as always, if you have any questions, feature requests, etc., please let me know. Over the last six years I’ve seen how our system has revolutionized marketing for small growers, farmers markets, and artisans in general in our area, and I know it can do the same for yours.
Eric Wagoner
support@locallycrafted.net
Athens Locally Crafted
Athens Locally Grown
