Changes to the Marketplace: Commission & Seamless Checkout
Hey guys, Jon here. I'm the founder of Storenvy, and a small business owner like you. I wanted to write a personal note and share a quick video I recorded about some big news that we have.
If you didn't realize it, Storenvy is a small business just like yours. We're a team of 10 people that work tirelessly to ensure the smooth operation of over 100,000 small and special online stores processing millions of dollars per month. We believe strongly in providing a completely free online store platform to the world's entrepreneurs, and we've done just that for 4 years (and loved it!). Investors have been kind enough to fund our efforts long enough for us to build a giant community (that includes you!), but operating solely on venture capital is not sustainable forever. We've got to be able to stand on our own and to generate real revenue in order to be a lasting business that will be here to support our merchant community long into the future.
Introducing "Marketplace Commissions"
Today we're announcing the Storenvy Marketplace Commission. When you make a sale in the Storenvy Marketplace, a 10% commission will automatically be deducted and go to help support and build the Storenvy website and community. Sales through your own store will be 100% free as always. And both you and Storenvy will benefit from any extra sales that you make organically through our social marketplace.
It was very important to me to create a business model and pricing structure for Storenvy that mapped our success directly to yours. If we just charged a monthly fee, we wouldn't have any incentive to drive you more sales. But this commission means we'll be putting energy into driving more customers and more sales to your business.
And if the Marketplace Commission just doesn't work for your business (you don't have the margin, etc), we've created a way for you to opt out of the Marketplace and still operate your custom store. You won't get any organic sales from the Marketplace, but you'll still be able to use our free store builder. We don't anticipate many store owners to skip the Marketplace. The Storenvy Marketplace drives millions of dollars a year in extra sales for our merchants and gets you discovered by millions of shoppers.
This commission will also allow us to make Storenvy better. And one of those improvements is launching in the next few days. Here are the details...
Introducing “Seamless Checkout”
Along with this new commission, we're announcing our new Seamless Checkout experience. (Check out the video for a demo). This new experience was designed to improve checkout speed and conversion rates and also optimize repeat purchases. When a customer checks out, we record their address and payment info so they may check out with only a few clicks next time. This checkout flow is mobile-optimized and also looks great on desktop.
Another great benefit is that these reusable addresses and credit cards will apply to the entire Storenvy Marketplace community. This means that customers who bought from any store in the past can reuse their checkout info on a new store. That's a win-win for everyone since even new customers who have already used Storenvy can check out quickly and easily.
A core component of the all-new Seamless Checkout experience is the fact that customers can pay with credit cards directly on the Storenvy website without hopping over to PayPal. Our credit card processing is powered by Stripe.
Seamless Checkout will launch in the next few days, and we'll begin Alpha testing Stripe with a few select stores. Once we're convinced that it's 100% rock-solid, we'll roll out support for the rest of the merchant community. At the end of this transition, Stripe will be the only payment processor supported in the Storenvy Marketplace. If you'd like to continue offering PayPal to customers in your custom store (in addition to Stripe-backed credit card processing), you're still free to do that.
Since Stripe will be the exclusive payment processor of the Storenvy Marketplace, every single store must connect to Stripe over the next few weeks or risk being removed from the Marketplace (and who wants that?). So be sure to link to Stripe at the top of your dashboard. It's easy and very secure.
I'm really excited about this big step forward for our business and what it means for our community. I know change is very hard, and we're here to listen to concerns or questions. We've created this FAQ to answer some of the basics. But feel free to reach out to [email protected]. if this doesn't cover it. We're on your team and look forward to building sustainable businesses together long into the future.
Jon Crawford
CEO/Founder, Storenvy
Commission, Stripe, and Seamless Checkout FAQs
Why a Marketplace fee of 10%? Why now?
Storenvy's revenue share model is based on aligning our interests with yours. It's simple: sales made through the Storenvy marketplace are charged a 10% commission of the total sale (including shipping), and the remaining 90% goes directly to you. There are no additional monthly fees, or fees to list products; just 10% simple and straightforward. With this revenue model, Storenvy doesn't get paid unless you get paid.
We're beginning this revenue-share model now so we can increase our resources to focus on growing the marketplace, acquiring you new customers and driving you more sales. This also helps us continue to build new features to make the Storenvy experience better for both you and your customers.
However, all sales made through your custom Storenvy store will not be charged commissions. After all, they're the result of the hard-work and effort you have put into marketing your own business.
Why is the Marketplace Stripe only?
Our reason for moving the Marketplace to a seamless checkout powered by Stripe payments is because this allows shoppers to purchase from multiple stores at the same time. If there were two payment systems, one store could be Paypal only, while another could be Stripe only. For the customer this would mean being sent to two separate transaction pages in order to check out from both stores and that is not convenient for any shopper!
We strongly believe, and data demonstrates, that by offering customers the option of checking out with credit cards, reducing steps to check out and leveraging Stripe's ability to enable one-click payments through our seamless checkout, we'll be able to bring more customers to our businesses and accomplish our goals for a more professional checkout.
If you want to sell on the Storenvy Marketplace, you will need to setup a (free) Stripe account. When a customer places an order with you, the money will be transferred to Stripe who will hold it for a few days before transferring it directly to your W pay credit card processing fees?
If you don't have access to a Stripe account, you can still make sales via PayPal but only through your custom store. You will need to setup a PayPal account. When a customer places an order, the money from the sale will go straight into your PayPal account. To withdraw money from your PayPal account, log into your account at PayPal.com and follow the instructions there. The balance in your PayPal account must be manually withdrawn, but you can do that at any time. You also have the option to get a PayPal debit card which allows you to pay for things using the money in your PayPal account. PayPal takes a small fee (also 2.9% + $.30) on each transaction.
Is Stripe payment secure?
The Storenvy Marketplace uses Stripe for the checkout process, which meets and exceeds the most stringent industry standards for security. To learn more about Stripe's secure infrastructure visit their security FAQs.
Custom Storefront's use either Stripe or Paypal (per the customer's selection) for the checkout process. If a customer picks PayPal, Paypal is one of the most accepted payment solutions on the web and because of this, Storenvy has the same payment protection as PayPal.com. Before entering any personal credit card information, you will be transferred to PayPal's secure servers. For more information on PayPal's payment protections, read PayPal's Protection for your Purchases.
For both Stripe and Paypal, Storenvy will never even see your financial information. Your information will only be processed by either of these payment platforms which place a very strong emphasis on security and keeping your information private.
What fees do Stripe take?
Stripe takes a small fee (2.9% +$0.30) on every transaction, though this can be reduced if you make more than $80,000 a month through Stripe. For more information on pricing visit here (https://stripe.com/us/pricing). This is the same as PayPal which also takes a small fee (2.9% + $.30) for the typical credit card fees.
