Once your inventory is live, let shoppers reserve or purchase any of your available products for in-store pickup from anywhere on Locally's platform with our "Buy It Locally" transaction feature.
This article covers our Reserve/Pay for in-Store Pickup options. You can also offer same-day delivery with Locally, head here for more information.
How does Buy It Locally work?
When a shopper on Locally sees that an item is in-stock at your store, they'll also see they have the option to "Reserve Online, Pickup In Store" and/or "Pay Online, Pickup In Store". To check-out, a shopper will enter their contact information and payment info, when applicable.
Once the shopper completes check-out you'll receive a notification with the order details. You'll then have 8 business hours to fulfill the request and confirm back to the shopper that the item is waiting to be picked up. Buy It Locally is message-based, so throughout the process the store and the shopper can exchange messages back and forth to one another regarding the order.
How are stores notified of orders?
Stores can receive order notifications via email, text message (SMS), or both. Each notification contains a unique URL for an order page that contains the shopper's name and contact info, the product(s) they are requesting to pickup, and where the order originated from.
- A store must designate at least one recipients to receive ALL notifications, but can add as many additional recipients as you'd like. Recipients can be set to receive all notifications, or scheduled to only receive notifications during certain days/times
- You won't receive text notifications at all hours of the day! Only email notifications are sent if your store is closed. If a shopper places an order outside of your business hours, they are told they'll hear back when you open. You'll receive an email notification, but won't receive a text notification until you next open.
- Stores must respond to requests within eight business hours of the notification. Locally sends a reminder every 30 minutes. If eight business hours go by without the shopper receiving a response from your store, the transaction is automatically cancelled. At that time you will have received fifteen reminders.
What if a shopper requests an item that is no longer available?
If you receive an order you can't fulfill, you'll open the order and uncheck "Confirm Item is Being Held." This will prompt you to send a message to the shopper. Explain why you cannot hold the item, and use this as an opportunity to salvage the sale by recommending another product, etc. If you need to cancel the order for any reason you can do so by selecting "More," and then "Cancel Order."
How are Payments processed?
To offer "Pay Online Pickup In Store," you'll connect or setup an account with Stripe, our payment processor, which only takes a few minutes. This is done through your Locally dashboard.
When a shopper places a "Buy Online Pickup In Store" order, their credit card is authorized when the order is placed, but the card isn't actually charged until you receive the request and confirm the order. A temporary hold is placed on the shopper's card for the amount of the item. If the order is confirmed, the charge to the shopper will show up as being from your store. The shopper is instructed to bring their ID and credit card with them. When they arrive, confirm their ID and credit card match the information on the Locally order screen. Head here to learn more about best practices for fraud screening and mitigation.
If the order is canceled and not confirmed, Stripe will release the hold on the shopper's card within 5-10 business days. Once confirmed, the money is directly deposited into your Stripe account on a rolling basis, within 48 hours. If you need to refund the order at any time, follow these instructions.
Firearms and ammunition stores may be ineligible to hold an account with Stripe and therefore unable to accept payment processing for Store Pickup on Locally. Please review Stripe's policies if you have questions as this is beyond our control. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Reservations for Store Pickup are still available to any retailer.
How much does Buy It Locally cost?
Below is an outline of charges. For a summary of pricing for retailers, please head here.
Reservations for In-Store Pickup
The following is effective beginning November, 2019.
On reservations for in-store pickup, Locally charges a 3.5% transaction fee. This fee is waived if the shopper doesn't show up to your store, or if the shopper shows up but leaves without making any purchase.
- 2-3 days after each order, you'll receive an email/text notification to set an "Order Resolution Status" where you mark the outcome of the order. This includes a link for you to quickly resolve the order. You can only set an order resolution status once. If you change the status after setting it, the change will not be reflected on your bill.
- You can also log in to your Locally dashboard and mark the order resolution status at any time, for up to 30 days after the order. Again, only the first order resolution status you set will be taken into account for billing.
- Your fees are added up at the end of each month's billing cycle and charged as a single charge to your credit card 7 days later. Once the invoice has been generated, it cannot be changed, but a credit will be issued for the next month .
Here are your order resolution status options:
No! No-show, no-charge. When you mark the order as a no-show, the Locally fee is waived. The shopper is alerted that they have been marked as such.
No. We only charge if you report that the shopper shows up and purchased something. If the shopper shows up and leaves empty handed, you'd select the "the shopper showed up but did not purchase anything" status and the fee is waived.
No! No fees are issued if you need to cancel an order due to an item no longer being in stock. Fees are only issued for orders auto-cancelled dueo to lack of retailer response.
You are charged 3.5% of the original item.
No! We only charge 3.5% on the product that was reserved through Locally. This is the outcome you should be shooting for every time!
When you report a shopper showed up but didn't purchase anything, they are sent an email alert that includes an option for them to leave a store review. When you mark an order as a no-show, the shopper is sent an email alert informing them they were marked as such. This is in part to prevent fraud, but also to help give retailers another chance to salvage the sale (the alert may re-pique the shopper's interest in the product). Last, if we find that shoppers are repeatedly placing orders and then no-showing, we will restrict their ability to place future orders with Locally!
Payments for In-Store Pickup
On confirmed payments for in-store pickup, Locally charges a 3.5% transaction fee. This is charged monthly via your Locally dashboard. Additionally, Stripe's payment processing fee in the US and Canada is 2.9% +$.30 per successful card charge. Stripe's fee varies by country, load https://stripe.com/pricing to view the rates in your country.
Same-Day Delivery
There is no monthly fee to use Same-Day Delivery. The standard Locally 3.5% transaction fee plus Stripe processing fee applies on all confirmed orders.
Auto-Cancelled Orders
Effective February 1, 2022, all orders that are auto-cancelled due to a lack of response from the retailer will be charged the 3.5% transaction fee.
Setting Up Buy It Locally
First, login to your locally.com account and click Buy It Locally > Setup & Configuration on your dashboard.
Start by selecting if you'd like to offer Reservations only, Payments only, or both. Most stores offer both.
Next, add who should receive order notifications. Each store must have one contact designated to receive ALL notifications. Additional users can receive all notifications, or receive notifications during certain days and times. Remember, Locally only sends notifications during business hours.
Finally, enter your billing information and local tax rate. If you're accepting payments for in-store pickup, link your Stripe account.
Triple check to make sure you have added your store hours for all of your locations. To do this, head here and follow the instructions for adding store hours. Locally cannot activate Buy It Locally for you without store hours.
Once your setup is complete, fill out this form and we'll enable you!
We'll do a quick check to make sure your inventory is up to date, your store hours are added, and your Buy It Locally setup looks good. We'll then place a test hold so that you can try out the system and make sure your staff receives their notifications, and you're all set!
Want to pipe Buy It Locally notifications directly into your POS system and respond from there? You can use our PushCart API to set up an API connection. Go here to check out the documentation, and contact us for integration assistance.