FOR VENDORS

The vendor fee is $35 through October 31^st. It is $75 from November 1^st until the close of registration on November 15^th. Vendor registration may close early if all slots are filled.

Your vendor fee contributes to the cost of operations for this event. You will receive a done-for-you virtual vendor booth where customers are able to shop directly from your small business, a selection of products you are offering. You will also receive two tickets for the event for your family and a friend to enjoy shopping and activities virtually.

Our top objective for this event is to give all makers a chance to reach new customers and make sales. We are modeling this off one of my favorite Christmas markets in northern New York which prioritizes vendor diversity. This approach allows for far less competition and gives makers a unique opportunity to stand out with their crafts. Although this event is virtual, we are limiting the number of vendors to help us prioritize website operational flow for vendors and guests.

Yes. We are asking that vendors limit their offering to 15 products – but you can have up to 15 variations, per product. This means you are able to offer up to 225 potential products through variations. Keep in mind that this is designed to be akin to an in-person vendor market. You do not want to overwhelm your potential customers. You can refer customers to your social media and website pages for further shopping, from the vendor market.

This event is designed for makers of all kinds. We have over 40 different product categories spanning everything from soaps and skincare to candied nuts to print crafts. We want this event to encompass a little something for everyone. As long as your products fit into a category, you’re good to go. These categories were based on a few of our favorite Christmas vendor events and how they select vendors. If there is one you think we should add – let us know.

You’ll notice that this event doesn’t cater to businesses that do not have a target customer. This is by design. We love a multi-passionate maker but in order for this event to really thrive for everyone, we want vendors who can focus their product offerings into a select category instead of trying to offer a little of everything and anything.

No. Although we are known in the dye sublimation world, this event is designed for ALL types of makers. Know someone with a non-sublimation business? Send them over! Our goal is to have substantial diversity for our vendor market guests. This is why there are specific categories and a limit to how many vendors can be part of each category.

The categories are not meant to be rigid. They are meant to help us ensure diversity of vendors. Pick whichever category resonates with the majority of your products that are being offered.

Yes. You can offer one discount code to use towards your shop purchases. You can also offer a discount upon sign up for your email or text list to help you grow your contacts (recommended). Email and text marketing is independent of us. We recommend BREVO for email marketing and CLICKSEND for text message marketing, if you need options.

Each virtual vendor shop is like it’s own mini-website. As a vendor, you will have access to your unique shop orders and sales. All of your orders will appear in your order queue for you to be able to print and fulfill.

This event is specifically designed to not have a middle-man. There is no waiting to get paid out or additional fees for operations (like Etsy). Each vendor will connect their preferred Stripe, Square or Paypal account to their shop for processing payments and receive their funds directly based on their settings with their payment processor. We will not be hosting any payment processing for vendors. All exchange is between vendors and the customer.

Just as you pay shipping when placing an order anywhere online, your customers will also be charged shipping. Shipping is based on retail rates between your address and theirs, with consideration for the size and weight of the items that they purchase from your shop. The payment for shipping is collected with the order payment. You will then use those funds to purchase your shipping labels at commercial rates. This discounted rate will give you a small buffer to account for shipping materials costs.

An affiliate is someone who earns commission for referrals. We have incorporated an automatic affiliate program into the vendor market so that vendors have a chance to earn a little bonus cash just for referring guests to the Merry Maker Market event. Vendors will earn $2 for each ticket sold through their affiliate link, for the event. Affiliate commissions will be paid out at the end of the event via stripe.

Yes. You can offer free shipping on any products or when customers reach a certain threshold spent. Remember that free shipping is not actually free to you. Your prices should be set accordingly to cover the cost of shipping a product without sacrificing profits.

Creatives are plug and play graphics and reels that you are able to use on your social media accounts to promote the event. These are created in Canva and you simply add in your own graphics and upload them accordingly. The creatives offered are designed to help spread the word about your involvement in the Merry Maker Market.

The Merry Maker Market is being marketed through social media advertising, syndicated press release to news outlets and various event sites as well as through email and text marketing. The marketing plan for this event is extensive and we have a team of people at the helm. This does not include our vendors who are encouraged to use the creatives provided to also promote the event (and earn those affiliate earnings!). We modestly anticipate around 5000 or so guests to this event (although we hope for more!).

The beauty of a virtual event is that you do not need to have a bunch of premade stock and guess at what will sell. You can have one of each item, but take as many orders as you choose for those items. Product listings need real photographs – not mockups. A.I. generated staging/backgrounds is accepted, however. You are in charge of your business and determining how many of any item you want to produce. If you want quantity set for items, that will be indicated when your shop page is created for you.

Products that offer personalization are welcome. You can have options as part of your product listing for choosing paint/fonts, adding text like names, ect. For fully customized items, we recommend you direct customers to an outside contact source for your business. Remember, this is designed to mimic an in-person event but be virtual. We want every maker and customer to have a smooth shopping and order fulfillment experience.

As a vendor, there isn’t much for you to do during the actual Merry Maker Market event. Guests will shop and participate in the event on their own schedules – just as they would at an in-person event. Unlike an in-person event, you don’t have to be present. However, we do recommend you be available should customers have questions for you so that you can respond quickly and easily.

Customers can shop from December 4^th at 9AM EST until December 7^th at 9PM EST. You will have access to your vendor shop backend until December 20^th to ensure that you have all orders printed and shipped. At that point, all vendor booths will be closed for the year and our website will default to a Happy Holidays landing page. We plan to continue this event for years to come and as such, will bring back the site each year for our vendors and shoppers.

Shipping your products is easy! Simply carefully pack them in the appropriate size box, measure and weigh the box then plug in the information to purchase your shipping label via your preferred shipping label site – Pirateship, ShipStation, USPS, ect – or in person.

After you have signed up as a vendor, you will receive a “hello” email from us and then your Welcome email with the onboarding form (within 24 hours) for all of your business information and product information. Once complete, our team will build your vendor shop and notify you when it’s ready for review. At that point you will add your preferred payment information for your shop and finalize the details. All shops must be finalized by Nov. 25th.

Other details with creatives, affiliate program and more are sent after your sign up.

Yes. All vendors will have access to an overview video on navigating their virtual vendor booth. You can add/remove products if you wish. We do all on the initial onboarding and shop setup for you to make it easy. Vendors would be responsible for making any product updates after their shop is finalized.

When filling out the onboarding form after sign up with all business and product data, there is a place stating the quantity available of each product and product variation. For makers who create-on-demand their goods, this can be left blank to open accept orders OR you can set the quantity based on how many orders you’re comfortable accepting.