How do you help a seller switch to Merchavio?
With a clear plan rather than a one-click move: first write down what the seller has today, then try it free for 5 days, connect their own Stripe account and use the import (beta) as a starting point. After that you finish pages, products and courses by hand, and customers come along through discount codes, new signups and double opt-in. The custom domain comes last, and the seller announces the switch to their customers themselves.
What should the seller know beforehand?
A switch is not a single click. The import (beta) provides a starting point, but the seller moves a lot of things themselves, with you or on their own. Say so in the first conversation, so nobody is disappointed later.
| What the seller has | How it gets to Merchavio |
|---|---|
| Pages and products | Import (beta) as a starting point, then finished by hand |
| Content, courses and customer list | moved by hand |
| Past buyers | a discount code for free access to their product |
| Running subscriptions | subscribers sign up again; a free-trial code can cover time already paid |
| Newsletter subscribers | join with double opt-in |
| Payments | the seller’s own Stripe account |
| Domain | connect their own domain |
Phase 1: Prepare
Take stock
Write down together what is running today: products with prices, pages, courses with modules and lessons, videos and downloads, the customer list, running subscriptions with their next payment date, the newsletter list, discount codes and the domain. For each line, note what happens to it and who takes care of it.
Sign up through your link and start the trial
The seller creates their own account through your Shopspotter link. You give it to them labelled as an ad and with a note that you receive commission. Then they try it free for 5 days. Because that is short, they sign up only after taking stock and use the trial to test what matters most: one product, the checkout, the course area.
Connect their own Stripe account
The money goes straight into the seller’s Stripe account. They connect it themselves, so payments and the customer relationship stay with them.
Phase 2: Build
The work happens in the seller’s account: they sign in themselves, and you build it together, for example side by side at the same screen.
Use the import as a starting point
The import (beta) reads the page at the address the seller enters. From it, Merchavio creates up to six empty pages named after the old site’s links and up to six product drafts with placeholder names and the prices it found, all as drafts. You add texts and images yourselves.
Finish pages and products
In the page builder, fill the pages with the seller’s texts and their own photos. For the products, replace the placeholder names, check every price and decide whether each one is a one-off payment, a subscription or a bundle.
Move courses and content
Rebuild courses by hand: create modules and lessons, upload the videos. Start with the best-selling product, then go through every lesson once from start to finish.
Phase 3: Bring customers along
Past buyers
The seller creates a discount code for free access and sends it to past buyers. They use it to unlock their product without paying again.
Subscribers
Running subscriptions don’t move over; subscribers sign up again. A free-trial code can cover the time they have already paid for. For example: if someone has paid up to the 20th and signs up on the 5th, a 15-day trial covers exactly that span. The first payment in the new subscription falls due after that.
Newsletter
Newsletter subscribers join with double opt-in: the seller adds their addresses, and each person confirms their subscription once more by email. A note in the existing newsletter beforehand explains why the confirmation arrives.
Phase 4: Switch over and announce it
Once pages, products and courses are ready, the seller connects their own domain. Then they announce the switch to their customers. A good announcement answers four questions: what changes, from when, what do I need to do, and where can I get help? Codes and instructions go straight into it. The seller writes it, because these are their customers. You can help with the wording, but you never contact their customers yourself.
What is your role, and what can you charge?
You can offer the switch as a service of your own, from taking stock to moving the courses, for your own fee and under your own contract. The price is the same for everyone, whether the seller signs up through your link or not. “Free migration through my link” would be a perk the rules don’t allow without Merchavio’s prior consent in text form. Don’t promise a complete move or any sales either. What a support package can look like is in supporting your sellers.
Your commission doesn’t depend on any of this. At Merchavio, you receive 25% net of the fee on every sale the seller makes plus 25% of their plan on top, for as long as they stay a customer and you take part.
Your next step
First check whether a switch makes sense for the seller at all: which sellers suit Merchavio. How to bring it up is shown in how to recommend Merchavio.
Know people who sell online?
Then create your free Shopspotter account with Merchavio and share your link. You receive 25% of everything your sellers pay, every month.