By Locals, For Everyone!
Eastern Shore Market
Offer your goods and services where locals shop. Give existing customers a convenient means to repurchase your product and get discovered by new shoppers no matter where they are. You decide whether to offer shipping, local pickup, or both. More visibility, more convenience, more sales.
We make selling your product online easy.
Find Your Tribe
We are cultivating a community market on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. In this space community comes together, is inspired, and displays and sells goods. Eastern Shore Market is fun, creative, local, unique, inspirational, organic, active, and hometown. Here, you aren’t alone in your business, but a part of a tribe where sellers support sellers.
So, join us at the Eastern Shore Market, and find your tribe.
Product and Seller Eligibility
Items and sellers may include, but are not limited to:
- Products created, grown, and manufactured on the ESVA
- Locally branded products, sold by local businesses
- Artisans such as local artists, painters, photographers, carvers, craftsmen, and sculptors
- Farmers and growers offering farm produce, plants, aquaculture products, and cut flowers
- Food manufacturers: bakers, canners, pastry chefs, artisan cooks
- Manufacturers of all kinds, from furniture makers to crab pot fabricators
- Restaurants
- Ineligible: No alcohol, tobacco/smoking/vaping, firearms, items not family-friendly or illegal. No products in poor taste.
Selling food? Be sure to review all seller terms and conditions. Questions on your product’s or business’s eligibility? Complete the registration form and we will review and contact you. Final seller and product approval subject to Eastern Shore Market.
What We Do
- Promote and maintain the Eastern Shore Market website.
- Process buyer payment.
- Calculate, collect, and remit taxes.
What You Do
- Receive orders from the website by email.
- Prepare orders for local pickup or shipping.
- Get paid.
How It Works
- You register with Eastern Shore Market. We review, approve, and email instructions.
- You set up your online storefront and add products.
- When a customer purchases a product we process the credit card payment. Funds, minus fees, are deposited into your storefront account. An email notification immediately goes to your email.
- You fulfill the order.
- You get paid: when desired, you login to your storefront and transfer money to the bank account of your choice.
Plans and Fees
Basic
Most popular.
- Seller creates storefront, loads products, and maintains storefront.
- Email support.
*12.5% commission at $25,000 sales
10% commission at $50,000 sales
7.5% commission at $100,000 sales
Sales based upon trailing twelve months.
Premium
Currently Unavailable
Extra support for those who need it.
- Seller supplies all necessary information to Eastern Shore Market. ESM creates storefront and loads products. Updates storefront as requested.
- Email and phone support.
*20% commission at $50,000 sales
15% commission at $100,000 sales
Sales based upon trailing twelve months.
Taxes and Shipping
- We collect sales tax and remit it. Taxes are added to each sale prior to checkout.
- If a customer chooses to ship the product, shipping costs are added to the order and passed to the seller without a deduction for commission.
- The seller handles any shipping issues directly with the client and/or shipper.
Disputes and Chargebacks
When starting my first business, a savvy business owner once advised me, “Just realize that ten percent of your clients are legitimately crazy, and it will go much easier for you.” This tongue and cheek comment allowed me to find humor in difficult customer situations. I offer it on here because, no matter how good your product or service may be, disputes and issues will occasionally arise. A shipped product may arrive damaged or a customer may be unsatisfied. A complaint may be legitimate or not. This is not a time to stress or panic. Create your dispute resolution process ahead of time and follow it.
But in each situation, dispute resolution is the responsibility of the seller. If a chargeback occurs, the chargeback plus any resulting bank fees will be charged to the seller and payable to Eastern Shore Market.
Advertising – A Group Effort
A single seller operating their own website will find promoting their products a challenge. But with all sellers working together as Eastern Shore Market, a buzz is created, anticipation built, and all sellers profit. Thus, not only do we advertise through various means, but also sellers are expected to participate in promoting the market as well as other sellers, primarily through social media.
What We Do
Eastern Shore Market advertises through channels of our choosing which may include digital ads, billboard, newspaper, print, radio, social media, and more.
What You Do
Share and promote your participation in the Eastern Shore Market through your social media.
- Follow Eastern Shore Market on Facebook and Instagram so you receive notice of posts and events, then share those events with your followers. Tag Eastern Shore Market along with prominent ESVA groups and use hashtag #ESVAmarket.
- Like and share posts from fellow Eastern Shore Market sellers. In this manner, you are not only increasing your reach, but that of a fellow local entrepreneur.
- Share positive experiences you may have with other sellers.
- Send out an announcement to your email list when your storefront is live.
- Post an announcement on your social media announcing the event.
Other Promotional Suggestions
Product Labeling – Get Them Back to Your Business
Make it easy for customers to contact you in the future or pass along your contact information to others.
- Label all products with name, phone, email, storefront URL, website, and other pertinent contact information.
- Include business cards with every purchase, local or online, which include your storefront URL.
- Tell your story! Even better than a business card, create a story card that communications your story and bridges the connection between you and your shopper. Story cards legitimize a product and increase gratification in the mind of the buyer. You already created your story when setting up your online storefront, so share it out! Cards can be as small as a notecard and contain a photo, graphics, story, and contact information.
Boost Sales With Special Events
Special events online are easy and reap rewards. Create special events throughout the year and promote them. If you maintain a local store and already host special events, include the online storefront for those who can’t make it in person. Holidays, local events, and local celebrations are great times to promote and drive traffic.
- Offer a short-term sale discount.
- Offer a raffle giveaway. Entry is an online (or local) purchase, a social follow or share, or a store visit. Note: for legal reasons you must also offer a no-cost means to enter.
- Promote your special event online. Create a Facebook event (free) and share about. Paid/boosted events reach even further.
Build Your Email List
Periodically remind folks of your product or service by using an email list. An email list of people actually interested in your product is a powerful tool. Gather emails from online orders, online visitors, when entering for a giveaway or raffle, and in person. MailChimp offers free accounts for lists up to 500.
Other
Consider other means to promote your participation in Eastern Shore Market.
Online Seller Application/Registration
After submitting this form we will review and forward instructions to you by email on how to set up your account and load products.