Vendor Start Guide

This article outlines the steps a new vendor needs to take to get setup on Mothership. To complete the installation process, you'll need someone who has the required permissions on your ecommerce platform. Additionally, this guide assumes that you've been invited by a retailer to connect with them on Mothership. .

Questions to answer before you start

Before you begin, it will be helpful to have answers to the questions below.

1. Which products am I going to make available to my retail partner?

   
   

2. What wholesale price am I going to charge?

   Most of our vendors set a percentage discount off of the retail price that is applied to all of the products they make available to a retailer. However, we also provide a way to have multiple discount tiers and manually set the wholesale price.

   
   

3. What am I going to charge my vendor for shipping?

   Mothership can calculate a shipping charge on each order. This charge is separate from what the retailer charges the end-customer for shipping. Shipping service levels can be either economy, standard, or expedited. Shipping rates and service levels are a per-country setting.

   For simplicity on the retailer's end, it's recommended that you either build your shipping costs into the wholesale price or configure a tiered set of flat rates.

   
   

4. How am I going to invoice my retailer? How often will I invoice my retailer?

   Mothership can automate the payments between you and the retailer by integrating with your Stripe account. Alternatively, we can generate a PDF order activity report that outlines the items purchased and shipping charges incurred. The later option requires you to settle up outside of Mothership.

   You can invoice your retailer on a per-order, daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

   
   

5. Will we handle returns? If so, who will manage that process? Who will accept the return? How will the end-customer get a return shipping label?

   
   
6. Who can my retail partner contact if they need to cancel an order or something goes wrong? Who is my point of contact at the retail partner?

Onboarding Process

You will need to complete the steps below to finish the onboarding process.

1. Set up you Mothership Vendor Portal account and connect it to your ecommerce platform. Please follow our platform specific setup guides.
   1. Shopify
   2. BigCommerce
   3. WooCommerce

   4. Squarespace

      
      
2. Publish products to Mothership. You can find links to platform-specific instructions below.
   1. Shopify
   2. BigCommerce
   3. WooCommerce

   4. Squarespace

      
      

3. Fix any product validation errors. You can find instructions at the link below.

   https://supplier-support.mothership.fm/article/128-how-to-fix-product-data-validation-errors

   
   

4. Configure a payment integration if you want to automate your payments with your retailer.

   
   

5. Email your contact at the retailer and let them know you've finished the setup process.

   
   

6. The retailer will place a test order. We want to see the order flow from the retailer's ecommerce platform, into Mothership, and then on into your ecommerce platform. Once it's there, it's recommended you go through the fulfillment process without actually sending out the order. We want to ensure that you have all of the information you need to fulfill the order and that Mothership can send the fulfillment information back to the retailer.

   
   
7. If everything works with the test order, you're ready to go.

Support

What should you do if you need help? The first place to check is with your retail partner. If they can't resolve the issue, you should contact Mothership support at support@mothership.fm