Welcome to Food4All
This is your guide to setting you on the path to connect with new buyers. The content below will help get you started. We are here to help at support@food4all.com.
If you don’t have time to setup your account, consider taking the FASTTRACK. We’ll setup your account and train you!
My Account - Setting up your account
ACCOUNT SETTINGS
- Log into your account, select Seller>My Account. Select Account Settings.
- Account Images: Upload your logo associated with your account. Your logo will be displayed when a shopper clicks on your website link; it will also display when a shopper enters through Food4All.com. Tip: The ideal image is 320 X 320 pixels.
- About Us and Certificates/Practices: Briefly describe your company. Name your certificates and practices. Shoppers will see this when they enter through Food4All.com
- Primary Address: Enter the address where checks will be sent if you elect to accept payments by check.
View video on Basic account set-up and setting a location
- Wholesale Online Store: Your wholesale online store is a private online store where qualified wholesale buyers can view and purchase your wholesale goods. The shopping page is gated, in that a buyer needs to create and log into a wholesale buying account before they can view your wholesale goods and prices.
- Refer to My Goods to view the different options for setting up your products as wholesale and/or retail.
- Additional wholesale payment options: In addition to credit card, decide what payment methods you would like to present to the buyers.
- Allow check payment (optional setting) presents a button during check out allowing a buyer to indicate they will pay for the order with a check or cash
- Allow invoice request (optional setting) presents a button during check out allowing a buyer to indicate they would like to receive an invoice. Within Seller>My Order>Order List, you can review the order, finalize and send an invoice.
ONLINE STORE SETTINGS
- Find the link to your shopping pages, manage you online store open and close schedule, add additional payment methods and more through this setting.
- Enable Food Item Widget: Shoppers buy through your website or Facebook page using the widget to see all of your products.
- This feature will provide you with a line of code that you can embed in your website, Facebook page, or send out in an e-mail. This will link shoppers to your items within Food4All. Give your widget a name, such as My Farm or My Ranch. Then select the code in between the “ “. This is your link.
- Use your embedded widget code to add a free Shop Now button that you can use on your website.
If you have active wholesale and retail goods, you will have two different stores.
- Consumer Online Store: Your consumer online store is accessible to buyers through the zip code search on Food4All.com, and anywhere you place the link, such as on your website, social media page and/or sending it through an email newsletter. Anyone can purchase from your consumer shopping page. This page displays retail prices.
- Additional consumer payment options: In addition to credit card, decide what payment methods you would like to present to the buyers.
- Allow check payment (optional setting) presents a “Pay by check” button at check out allowing a buyer to indicate they will pay for the order with a check or cash.
- Allow SNAP/EBT onsite payment (optional setting) presents a “Pay by SNAP/EBT onsite” button at check out allowing a buyer to indicate they will pay for the order with SNAP/EBT benefits when they pick up their goods.
- Wholesale Online Store: Your wholesale online store is a private online store where qualified wholesale buyers can view and purchase your wholesale goods. The shopping page is gated, in that a buyer needs to create and log into a wholesale buying account before they can view your wholesale goods and prices.
- Refer to My Goods to view the different options for setting up your products as wholesale and/or retail.
- Additional wholesale payment options: In addition to credit card, decide what payment methods you would like to present to the buyers.
- Allow check payment (optional setting) presents a button during check out allowing a buyer to indicate they will pay for the order with a check.
- Allow pay in person payment (optional setting) presents a button during check out allowing a buyer to indicate they will pay with either cash or a coupon/voucher.
- Allow invoice request (optional setting) presents a button during check out allowing a buyer to indicate they would like to receive an invoice. Within Seller>My Order>Order List, you can review the order, finalize and send an invoice.
- Allowable order window: Limit how far into the future your customers can select a pick up or delivery date. For example, if you would like customers to only place orders for pick up Saturday of each week, then limit the pick up and delivery date to weekly on Saturday.
- Open and close store schedule: Open and close your online store for a period of time or on a weekly recurring basis. Select your open and/or close dates. Enter a custom message that will be displayed when your store is closed.
- Minimum order threshold (wholesale shopping page only): Set a minimum order for your wholesale customers.
View a video on setting up Online Store Settings
SETUP BANK – Get Paid!
Food4All uses Stripe to process your payment. You can read more about Stripe’s highest level of security protocols. Food4All does not store any of your confidential banking information.
- Enter your information as it appears on your bank statement. If your bank account is associated with your Social Security Number, then enter your name as the business name. Stripe will verify your identity and bank account within 24-48 hours. Food4All does not store any personal banking information.
- Payment Schedule: Payments are made into your bank account on a weekly basis. Weekly payouts contain payments processed two business days prior (this is how long it takes for your pending account balance to become available on this schedule). Payouts are initiated on Wednesday night to be deposited on Thursday morning. Orders received 48 hours prior to when the payout is initiated are deposited on Thursday morning. Typically this translates to payments received by late Monday are initiated on Wednesday and deposited on Thursday.
View video on Setting up Bank Account
SALES TAX MASTER SETTINGS – optional setting
- If you have sales tax in your state, you can collect and track sales tax on individual items and on orders. In the Sales tax master settings tab, you can input your sales tax rate for different good tax categories and enable it to apply to retail and/or POS sales.
- Please note, tax rates can be updated for each Pick Up or Delivery Location. Tax rates maybe different for different locations – consult with you state and local tax authority in order to get the latest tax rates for each tax category in your jurisdiction.
- When a customer checks out in your online store, sales tax will automatically be itemized and applied. You can keep track of your sales tax data by going to Sales and Accounting Reports—> Sales Tax Report.
- Sales tax will be removed from EBT/SNAP orders per federal mandate.
LOCATION MASTER SCHEDULE – optional setting
Set your schedule once, then apply this schedule to each incremental location you set up by selecting “Same as master” for each location.
My Locations - View and manage your pick up, delivery and ship-from locations
This is where you will identify your pick up locations, delivery services, and shipping services. You will also set your schedule – days of the week and hours for pick up or delivery, and set order cut off dates and lead times.
You need to set at least one location on your account before you start uploading products.
SET UP A PICK UP LOCATION
To set up a new pick up location, select Add New Location.
- Complete the information including name, address, contact information. Identity the location as a Pick Up location. Set the schedule for the location (when it will be open for pick-up), including order cut off dates and required order lead times. Save.
- Cut off: orders for the week need to be received by the specified date and time. When an order is placed during the week after the order cut off, the first available time a buyer can specify for pick up or delivery is the following week.
- Lead time: provides a time buffer in between when the order is placed and when the buyer can schedule a pick up. If an order is placed after hours, the schedule for the relevant day will be factored into the available pick up time. For example, if a location has a start time of 9am, and the buyer places an order on the same day at 7 am, the earliest the order can be scheduled for pick up is 12 pm, assuming a 3 hour lead time.
SET UP A DELIVERY LOCATION
If you offer your own delivery, or use a third party delivery service, first send us a quick e-mail at support@food4all.com, and we will set up your delivery account, or your delivery partner’s account.
- Once the delivery account is set up, go to My Locations and select Add New Location.
- Complete the information including name, address, contact information. Once you identity the location as a Delivery location, you will see a Delivery Services map showing the delivery services in your area.
- Select your own pin or your delivery partner’s pin. Set the delivery schedule including order cut off dates and lead times. Save.
View a video on Setting Up Delivery
SET UP A SHIPPING SERVICE
Food4All offers sellers to setup shipping through Food4All’s shipping account. The benefit of using our shipping service is that you as a seller do not need your own shipping account. And your customers have access to discounted UPS and USPS shipping rates, saving as much as 40% off of USPS rates and 62% off UPS rates. When a customer selects and pays for shipping in your Food4All online store, we process the payment and pay the shipper. As a seller, you can create a shipping label directly within your Food4All account.
Important: A label must be created for shipping orders within 7 days of the order date. When a customer places as order and indicates shipping, we authorize the charge on their credit card. When a label is created, we capture the charge so that we can deposit the proceeds for your goods into your bank account. However, charges not captured within 7 days must be released back to the customer’s credit card, resulting in the order being automatically cancelled.
- The address entered will be printed on the shipping label as the Ship From address. Shipping rates will be calculated based up this Ship From address and the address entered by the customer during the checkout process in your online store. Note, shipping (to and from) is currently restricted to US addresses.
- Select the carriers you would like to use.
- Max Shipping distance (optional field): For highly perishable goods, you have the option to set a maximum distance the goods will be shipped. If set, this distance will be re-enforced in the shopping cart when the buyer enters a ship to address.
Once you have set up all of your locations, you can manage them in the list view:
- Activate and deactivate a location: You have the ability to activate or deactivate a location by clicking the check box to the left of a location. If all locations are deactivated, the store is automatically closed.
- Identify locations by sales channel: You can identify a location by retail, wholesale, both or product specific. This will enable you to easily determine what goods show up in each channel or if you check “product specific”, you can navigate to My Goods section, click to edit a good and determine which locations you would like that product to be available at.
- Connect and disconnect from marketplaces: If you are participating in a marketplace using Food4All, you will see it listed in your locations. You will not be able to edit this location as it is managed by the marketplace manager, however – you can easily connect or disconnect from a marketplace in My Locations. Once you disconnect from a marketplace, your products will not longer be available at that location.
My Goods- Add and manage your goods
ADD/EDIT GOODS
This is where you will enter and manage your goods within Food4All.
Select Add Good. Choose Good Type.
- CSA/Farm Share: Select this for a product that has a one time payment, but then is fulfilled over a specific date range with a defined recurrence pattern (i.e. weekly or monthly pick up/delivery). The customer pays once and then receives the goods over a defined period of time. The customer’s order will show up on your Fulfillment Report for each fulfillment occurrence. This product can also be setup to offer different Options such as Size (Small, Family) and Type (Vegetable Only, Meat and Vegetable). These items can only be sold on the Consumer shopping page.
- Subscription/Installment Payments: Select this for a product that has a recurring billing cycle. You define the start and end dates (when applicable), and the recurrence (weekly, monthly, annually) of the billing cycle. Use this to setup installment payments for your CSA, or to offer subscriptions (i.e. weekly vegetable or meat box subscriptions). When a buyer selects a subscription, they are required to maintain a credit card on file. When they place their order, the payment is collected for the first billing cycle. Their card is charged for each subsequent billing cycle for the subscription’s duration. The customer’s order will show up on your Fulfillment Report for each billing cycle.
- Simple Good: These are single items that you would like to sell.
- Good with Options: Allows you to offer different options, such as size, flavor, and type, and then designate the variable for each option. For example, the option of Size may have variables of 8 oz, 10 oz and 12 oz. Additionally ingredients, nutritional information, and choices – such as glass or plastic jars can be designated.
View videos on Adding Goods Part 1 and Adding Goods Part 2
Add Good Step 1:
Enter item information and upload a photo.
- Active: Your good is live or not live, which allows you to manage your seasonal items.
- Consumer/Retail: You sell this good at retail prices to consumers. Active goods designated as Consumer will display on your Consumer Shopping Page.
- Wholesale: (New feature): You sell this good at wholesale prices to wholesale buyers. Active goods designated as Wholesale will display on your Wholesale Shopping Page.
View video on Adding a Wholesale Good
- Online Shopping Page: Your good will show up in your online store(s)
- Point of Sale: Your good will show up in your Food4All Point of Sale (Seller>Point of Sale)
- Shippable: Select if you have set up a Ship From Location and are selling by the box. Note, only available for Simple Goods and Subscription Goods
- Track Stock: If you would like to track the quantity on hand and prevent overselling, check this box.
- Locations: This is the location(s) where your product will be available for pick up on each of your shopping pages.
Simple Goods Set Up:
- UOM: Unit of measure (required). If you don’t see a unit you desire, send support@food4all.com an email. We can add a custom UOM.
- MOU: Minimum order-able units (required). What is the minimum number of units you want your customer to purchase?
- Force Increments (required): Usually 1, but if you would like your customers to purchase more than one, indicate here.
- Stock on Hand (if Track Stock is enabled): Enter in the amount of product you have based on the Unit of Measure identified above. When a customer orders the product, Stock will automatically reduce. Once the page is saved and refreshed, Stock will reflect orders (which reduce stock) and refunds (which increase stock). Stock on Hand is tracked across retail and wholesale purchases. For example, if you have 100 lbs of ground beef that you sell in 1 lb increments to consumers and 10 lb increments to wholesale buyers, then both wholesale and retail purchases will reduce your quantity on hand.
- Low Quantity Threshold: If you choose to set a Low Quantity Threshold, you are notified via the Seller dashboard that your Stock has reached the Low Quantity Threshold. Shoppers will also see a notification in the shopping cart when there are equal to or less than the number of product on hand identified in the Low Quantity Threshold.
- First day product is available (optional): Enter a date if you would like to constrain buyers to buy from this day forward.
- Last day product is available (optional): Enter a date if the product is no longer available after this date.
- Your orders can be limited as follows (optional): Note, we recommend you use either the Track Stock feature or this feature, but not both.
- Daily: Each day
- 7 Day: Each week, defined as “Sunday last week” to “Saturday this week”
- 30 day: Each month, starting on the 1st of the month and ending on the last of the month
- You may choose to limit all orders across the life of your account. Selecting “since January 1st” will limit the order count to the calendar year.
Goods with Options and CSA/Farm Share Set Up
After completing the first page of the product set up, Goods with Options allows you to identify product options and the variants of each of these options. In the example below, this product is set up with the options of Size and Type. Customers will be able to select from the different combinations of size and type.
Once the options and variants have been set up, next you will have the ability to input prices and track stock (if selected in the first page of the product set up).
On this page, you can take the following actions:
- Delete: Delete your product
- Avail: When checked, your active product combination will show up on the shopping page.
- Retail Price: Price displayed to consumers
- Wholesale Price: When applicable.
- Stock: If Track Stock was selected during the product set up, enter in the number of product you have on hand. This number will decrease when an order for the product is placed. The number will increase when the product is refunded. Refresh the screen to show the latest Quantity on Hand.
- Low Qty: If you choose to set a Low Quantity Threshold, you are notified via the Seller dashboard that your Stock has reached the Low Quantity Threshold. Shoppers will also see a notification in the shopping cart when there are equal to or less than the number of product on hand identified in the Low Quantity Threshold.
RECURRENCE PATTERNS (CSA/Farm Shares Only):
Do you have products that you sell on a subscription basis with beginning and end dates? If not, skip this step.
Examples of these types of products would be CSA shares or a fixed subscription to your products.
If yes, you will need to set up your Recurrence patterns for your CSA items.
After naming your recurrence pattern and selecting a range of dates, select the timing for the recurrence, be it daily, weekly, monthly, etc. If you have an every other week schedule, or a first of the month schedule, you will have the ability to designate that pattern once you select weekly or monthly.
Next select the locations for the recurrence. Set the schedule for each location.
During the shopping process, buyers will be limited to these pick up times and locations when they order your CSA product.
Subscription Set Up
Complete the product setup similar to Simple Goods.
On the second page:
- Set how often the subscription will be fulfilled: weekly, monthly, or annual.
- If applicable, set a “start” and “end” date for the subscription. (If no start or end date, the subscription will begin when purchased and run until cancelled.)
- Determine the number of days before fulfillment you would like the customer’s credit card to be charged.
- (Optional) Limit the number of subscriptions sold.
- Sellers can cancel a customer’s subscription through My Orders>Order Detail. Canceling a subscription does not refund a subscription.
Sellers can refund a customer’s subscription through My Orders>Order Detail.
Sellers can unenroll all customers in a subscription through Seller>My Goods.
Buyers will see which products are offered as subscriptions on the retail shopping page.
When a customer places a subscription item in their shopping cart, they will be notified they are subscribing to a recurring payment. A credit card is required to complete the purchase of a subscription. The system will require that the credit card is saved in the buyer’s account.
Once the buyer completes the purchase, they will have paid for the first subscription interval. Their credit card will be charged for the next billing interval according to the billing setup in the product detail page.
Buyers have the ability to cancel their subscription by logging into their Food4All account and selecting My Orders.
If a buyer cancels a subscription, the seller receives an email notification.
Shipping Set Up
Simple Goods and Subscriptions sold by the box can be designated as shippable. Buyers will see which products are offered as shippable on the retail and wholesale shopping page.
Weight: Always round the weight up of the packed box to the nearest pound. For example, if your packed box is 5.1 lbs, round the package weight up to 6 lbs. If the actual shipping weight is higher than what what is indicated in the product setup, your package can be returned to sender or be charged an upcharge. Both scenarios may result in your account being suspended from shipping.
Dimensions: Adding dimensions will result in a more accurate shipping rate.
Perishable: You must select perishable if your goods can not last in transit for an undefined amount of time. If perishable, indicate the maximum amount of time the packed item can last in transit once presented to the shipper. Consider weekends and holidays when presenting perishable goods for shipping.
By law, you must indicate if your package contains dry ice and appropriate precautions taken. If indicated, dry ice will be noted on the shipping label. Indicate the weight of the dry ice (this should be included in the package weight calculation).
GOOD CATEGORIES
You can now organize all of your good into categories to make it easy for your customers to find what they need and for sellers to organize their products better. There are two ways that you can add your products into categories:
- In My Goods–> Map Goods to Categories, you can view a list of all of your products and use our pre-determined categories to start “mapping” them to specific categories. For example, you can map your “butter crunch lettuce” to the Vegetables category. First, select a category from the top drop down menu. Then, check each product in the list that you would like associated with that category. You can also select a subcategory for each product as well. Click “Save” at the top right hand corner to save your selections.
- In My Goods–>Add/Edit Goods, you will now see a “Categories” column header. In order to edit/add a category from this tab, click the orange edit pencil icon next to the good. You will see a “Select Category” header where you can choose a category and sub category for that good. You can also add an additional category if needed. Click “next” at the bottom right, then click “Save”.
- Once your goods are categorized, shoppers will be able to use a tab on your shopping to “Filter by Category”. Only categories that you have products in will show up as options.
FEATURED GOODS
You can now feature certain products on your shopping page. These will show up at the top of your shopping page and can be changed out whenever you desire.
In order to tag a product as a “featured good” go into My Goods–> Add/Edit Goods. You will now that each product has a star to the left of it. If this star is clicked, that product will be listed in your “featured goods” section on your shopping page. Up to 4 goods can be featured.
My Orders - View and manage your orders
ORDER LIST / REFUND
From the Seller Dashboard, select My Orders > Order List
- View your orders with the most recent orders placed first. Drill down to view orders details by clicking on the order. View specific order information by selecting each line item of the order.
- Process full or partial refunds, select My Orders > Order List > Refund
- Refunds can be processed once for each order. Select all or some of the items for refund. If desired, enter a reason which will display on Credit Card Payments Received Report. Refunded items are removed from Fulfillment Reports. Sales and Monthly Receipt reports are also updated with refund data.
- Refunds are immediately processed via Stripe, and typically take up to 5 business days to reflect on a customer’s statement. Refunds are processed free of charge. Included in the customer’s refund is a pro-rated Community Supported Software fee.
TRIM ORDERS
An UNPAID order can be opened and trimmed as many times as necessary prior to it being marked as PAID. As the order is trimmed, the order total is adjusted. And the buyer is notified via email of the items that have been cancelled from their order. Any item that is trimmed from the order is marked as “Cancelled” and removed from all reports. This feature goes hand in hand with the Vendor Payout Report, ensuring that the report is accurate.
PENDING SHIPMENT
Once you receive a shipping order, you have 7 days to create a shipping label. If a label is not created within the 7 day window, the order will automatically be cancelled and funds returned to the customer’s credit card.
Use the Pending Shipment page to manage the order and create the label. Orders can also be cancelled through this page.
Creating a shipping label: Once a mailing label is generated, the carrier receives a notification to expect the package. We will send your customer an email notification and tracking number. Not shipping an order soon after printing the label could trigger problems with both the carrier and your customer. The carrier may attempt to locate your package in their facilities, and your customer may expect their delivery to arrive sooner than it actually does. Best practice is to create a label and hand the package to the shipper on the same day.
SALES REPORT
From Seller Dashboard select My Orders > Sales Report
View details of who bought what, where and when. Answer questions such as:
- What is my most popular pick up location?
- When are the most CSA’s ordered?
- How much of an item did I sell by $ and volume? and through which channel?
- Who are my best customers?
FULFILLMENT REPORT
Prepare your orders for a pick up or delivery date. This report contains details of each order and the customer contact information.
DELIVERY REPORT
If you offer delivery services, this delivery report will provide you with your customers delivery information.
PICK REPORT
Generate a report of what orders need to be ready to pick up or delivered on a certain date.
CUSTOMER ORDER SHEETS
Generate a PDF document that lists each line item in a customer’s order and can be printed with and without $ values. One sheet per customer which allows an easy way to pack, label and check-off orders for each customer.
PRINT LABELS
This will export order into a label format (2″x4″ Avery Label #8163) that includes the following information: Customer name, date, and product list
MONTHLY RECEIPTS REPORT
Summary of gross and net receipts by order source:
- What were my gross sales at the farmers market in July?
- What are my gross and net receipts for my farm store in June versus July?
- What were my net receipts for online June orders?
CREDIT CARD PAYMENT RECEIVED
This report will show you the payments deposited into your bank account for each of your orders paid by credit card.
Point of Sale - How to setup and use your mobile point of Sale (POS)
ADDING GOODS TO YOUR POINT OF SALE
There are two ways to Add Goods to your POS.
- Direct from the POS: Select Add Good to add a farm/ranch.
- Through My Goods>Add/Edit My Goods (see below).
Note: CSA’s and Goods with Options, because they are highly configurable, must be added through My Goods>Add/Edit.
ATTACHING AN ORDER TO YOUR CUSTOMER’S ACCOUNT
- Add Account: If your customer would like to create a Food4All account where they can view their orders and re-order from you, select Add Account. Complete the information on the page. The order will then be attached to the customer’s new account.
- Select Account: If your customer has an existing Food4All account and would like the order attached to their account, use Select Account to search and select the customer’s name.
- Note: CSA’s sold through the POS require a Food4All customer account. This helps to identify the customer when picking up the CSA. Other transactions do not require a Food4All account.
ADDING AD HOC AMOUNTS
Enter Amount and Description in the fields at the bottom of the page to input one-off items. The amount and description will show up on your Sales Report.
ENTERING POS GOODS THROUGH My Goods>Add/Edit Good
- Select the My Goods Tile.
- Select Add/Edit Good.
- Check the POS box.
E-MAILING CUSTOMER RECEIPTS
Once an order is created, enter the e-mail address of the customer to send a receipt. If the order is already attached to a Food4All customer account, a receipt will be automatically e-mailed to the e-mail address on file.
CREDIT CARD READERS
Credit card readers will be available for the 2022 selling season.
Buyer Paid Fees and Seller Credit Card Fees
- Cash and check transactions do not incur any fees to you as the seller.
- Credit card payments: As a seller, you incur a processing fee of 2.9% + 30 cents per transaction and a 0.5% bank account deposit fee. Proceeds are deposited weekly into your bank account.
- Online Orders: Buyer fees: 2.5% + 95 cents is added to each order. We cap the fee at $9.95. . This fee is added to the CSA order and paid by the buyer.
POS Orders:
- Buyers do not incur a fee for individual farm items or menu items purchased through the POS.
- Buyers do incur the CSS fee for CSA’s sold through the POS of 2.5% + 95 cents per transaction, capped at $9.95. This fee is added to the CSA order and paid buy the buyer.