Does it cost to participate?

• There is no fee for merchant sellers to join Front Porch Alabama. That’s right—zero up-front cost and zero ongoing costs! 
• The only time you pay us anything is when you make a sale on our website and it’s just a small portion of the sale. 
• Our multi-vendor marketplace is designed to support Alabama retailers, artists and makers with the goal of growing these businesses in our state while providing a great shopping experience for buyers. 
• Front Porch Alabama is an Alabama business focused on keeping our shopping dollars here in Alabama! 

I have a website. Why should I sell on here?

• Front Porch Alabama reaches an audience who is interested in the “Buy Local” movement. They come to our website specifically looking for products from Alabama merchants.
• Buyers return again and again for the convenience of finding a diverse inventory of items from merchants throughout the state all on one e-commerce platform. 
• Our marketplace website delivers an easy and familiar shopping experience for customers. They can visit one website and buy multiple products from different vendors with one checkout.
• When you sell your products across multiple channels (i.e. your website,  retail store, a marketplace website, etc.), you increase your opportunities to make more overall sales.
• While searching for other products on the marketplace, visitors can discover and buy your products without knowing of your business first.

How do you attract new visitors?

• With more than 20 years of experience, our team of marketing experts meticulously crafts campaigns to bring first time visitors to the site via targeted print and digital advertising as well as email marketing. 
• By analyzing our site’s performance and customer trends, we also gear our marketing towards bringing buyers back time and again. 
• Front Porch Alabama is more than an “Amazon for Alabama.” We have created a community to share compelling information about the state we love to call home. Visitors may stop by for a specific product but they often find themselves engaged on our site well beyond the initial click.

How long will it take to get set up?

• It only takes a few minutes to register your business. Once your account is approved, you can have all of your shop profile settings done in under an hour.
• Our marketplace system works hand-in-hand with a seller’s existing Shopify store. Products will automatically be integrated on our site.  We will seamlessly sync your products and inventory into the platform.
• Merchants using another platform other than Shopify can also integrate onto our site via a “bulk importer” function. Inventory would then be managed through the vendor dashboard.
• Rest assured knowing we have a dedicated team on call to help answer any questions you may have. Someone will always get back in touch with you promptly.

How do I get notified of orders and handle shipping?

• You will get an email notification to the registered email address on your account.
• You may also sign up for text alerts in your account.
• Sellers handle all fulfillment and shipping requirements.
• Sellers can set their own shipping rates on their overall store or on a per product basis. Additionally, “Free Shipping” can be set for all products or for specific products.
• Sellers enter shipping carrier and tracking information that is then communicated to the customer.

How and when do I get paid?

• Stripe is our payment processor. Orders are paid out to your bank from Stripe.
• Payments will be dispersed once the order has been shipped to the customer.
• Payment processing through Stripe is 3.15% + $.30 per order.

Who handle taxes?

• Front Porch Alabama operates as a Marketplace Facilitator so we handle calculating and remitting all necessary sales taxes.