eCommerce Shop Setup #
Now that you’ve unlocked the E-Commerce functionality, you can add as many of your wines to your shop as you’d like. Keep in mind that these can be added in bulk, or manually.
On your My Winery page, select the states to which your winery can legally ship.
You can add products manually via your “Manage Products” tab, or upload a Product Import Template to add wines in bulk; upload photo(s) for each. Photos look best with the background behind the bottle removed.
A short video that describes the process is linked here.
Click here to download the Import Template and to borrow some Bottle Photo placeholders
Add price and inventory quantity to each bottle listed.
Set your shipping preferences, rates, and coordinate with any shipping / fulfillment partners.
To finalize the listing, you’ll connect your bank account via Stripe, following the steps below (Connect Bank Account to Stripe)
When you receive orders, you’ll get a notification and the order info will show up in your My Winery tab.
Revenues from orders placed through Sommly go straight to your bank account. Sommly does not take a commission.
Note that integration with the following POS/Inventory/Wine Club systems is also on the roadmap, coming soon (Quick Books, Fort Systems, Wine Direct, Vine Spring, Commerce7)
If you partner with a shipping/fulfillment company, you’ll need to add the order to that system to be processed (automated integration is coming soon)
eCommerce: Connect Bank to Stripe #
- Create a Stripe account if you do not already have one, at stripe.com so that you can receive order payouts. If you do already have one, send your account # to support@sommly.com with a request to connect to Sommly platform (this will allow you to skip steps outlined below).
- Connect your Stripe account with Sommly to receive prompt payment for orders placed through Sommly. Stripe charges a 3% fee, but Sommly does not, which means that 97% of the order will go directly to your bank account.
- Within your Stripe Dashboard, provide necessary documentation, and use this guidance to fill out the form (mostly yes/no questions):
Be prepared to submit the following to Stripe via your Stripe Dashboard.
A copy of your liquor license, or a link to where this information is available online.
A signed copy of your alcohol shipping agreement (e.g., FedEx, UPS, or Canada Post). Make sure this agreement covers direct consumers and the types of alcohol you’re shipping. For example, if you are shipping wine, the agreement should explicitly state that it covers wine shipments. If your out-of-state shipping is via shipping/fulfillment partnerships (e.g. WineCub) please note that.
When connecting Stripe to Sommly, Stripe may ask for a brief description of the payment flow, “What are you selling on Stripe, and how are you billing customers? Please feel free to copy/paste this statement, “Sommly is a digital marketing platform and marketplace for wineries, which are selling products direct to consumers. Transactions are processed via Stripe Connect, which is integrated with the Sommly platform. The winery’s connected Stripe account will receive all proceeds from the sale directly, Sommly does not take a percentage commission. Sommly bills its customers monthly or annually for subscription services separately and is not party to the alcohol sales transaction. The monthly/annual subscription service is set up via Chargebee”.
Stripe may ask for a link, screenshot, or response that explains how customers verify they’re over legal drinking age when they enter the site or during checkout. Please feel free to leverage this verbiage, “Sommly has language that ensures customers verify they’re over drinking age when using the platform, as part of terms of service. Additionally, customers will be asked to add birthdate when they create a profile, which is required for checkout.”
Stripe may ask, “How does the website indicate shipping and delivery range?” Please feel free to leverage this verbiage, “Each winery will indicate the states that it is legally permitted to ship when the winery is on-boarded. During the shopping process consumers will have visibility to whether or not a winery they are browsing ships to their state. During checkout there will be a validation that the ship-to address is compliant with the winery’s shipping capabilities.”
Stripe may ask, “How do you ensure shipping is handled in a way that’s compliant with regulations in a customer’s location? Please feel free to use the following response, “Wineries agree to terms of service as part of onboarding, indicating that they are responsible for accurately reporting the states to which they are permitted to ship. If there is a change to a winery’s license or permit status post-onboarding the winery is responsible for keeping the compliance status current.”
Stripe may ask, “Is there an ID check upon delivery? What happens to the shipment when an adult ID cannot be produced?” Please feel free to use the following verbiage, “This is the responsibility of the shipping partner to manage, i.e. FedEx, UPS, etc. If an ID cannot be produced the wine cannot be delivered. Sommly has some language in the terms of service which make this explicit, and there is some language informing the consumer that the ID check will occur upon delivery during checkout.”
You may go to https://support.stripe.com/ for help, or reach out to support@sommly.com or dfortin@stripe.com for assistance getting started.
