The Visit Fort Collins Marketplace is an eCommerce platform designed so consumers have a seamless experience of purchasing from multiple vendors with ease.
With our custom-built commerce site, Visit Fort Collins can help businesses and individuals with eCommerce tools, best practices, support, and education on how to enter the online selling world or widen your exposure to a larger customer base.
Overview of How the Visit Fort Collins eCommerce Program works:
• Any Fort Collins business with appropriate offerings may participate on the platform.
• Customers will be able to shop the site and purchase items from multiple businesses in a single transaction.
• Businesses may offer 1 to 25 items on the site. (If additional items are requested, we will consider on a case
by case basis). These items can be physical products, downloads, gift cards, or experiences.
• Businesses or individuals must offer a minimum of one product on the site and the minimum price is $5.
• Businesses will be able to add their logo, business description, and social media links to their profile on the
site.
• Businesses that are selling experiences can use the built-in online booking system or can provide a voucher
so customers can book on your website.
• Businesses will also have the ability to sell downloadable products on the site like MP3s or ebooks. The site
does NOT allow for Digital Rights Management.
• Businesses have control over the product(s) they are selling. Photography of merchandise must be
professional in nature and approved by VFC. You may include pictures, videos, and will control pricing of
items and sale pricing. Each product will have the ability to designate its own shipping cost.
• Businesses can designate items as Pickup only, Ship only, or offer the customer a choice to have items
shipped or picked up. Businesses must commit to ship items within 3 days of receiving the order. You may
choose any shipment method you prefer, so long as you provide information on how long the item will take
to be received.
• The moment an order is completed, each business is notified by email that they have an order pending on
the platform.
• Businesses must have a PayPal account to be paid on the platform. This does not have to be a business
PayPal account, it may be a personal account you are using for this purpose. Payouts will occur AT LEAST
on a monthly basis and will likely occur on a weekly basis. There is a 5% administration fee on every sale
which supports operations of the program AND covers the credit card processing fee. The 5% fee is charged
only if a transaction occurs. The Marketplace will be responsible for paying sales tax to the appropriate entities.
• Each individual business will be responsible for all customer disputes and refunds, and to agree to a retailer
or individual code of conduct.
• The introductory period will encompass November through January. Businesses will have three weeks to
load their store with products beginning November 2nd. The site will launch on November 23rd to be
available for Black Friday. If a business wants to continue to utilize the VFC Marketplace, annual
agreements will begin on February 1st.
Support for You:
• Assistance with idea for products or experiences.
• Website support with written playbooks, videos and Zoom live events.
• Dedicated Project Manager to help you with loading products and managing your profile.
• Best practices for online commerce success.
• Referrals to photographers or other key providers as needed.
Marketing:
Visit Fort Collins Marketplace Benefits include a strong brand and proven track record in reaching residents and visitors.
• Visit Fort Collins Website - Over 1 Million Webpage Views per year
• 38K Instagram Followers
• 7K Twitter Followers
• 12K Facebook Followers
• Over 60K Newsletter Subscribers
• Weekly Things to Do Newsletter
• Advertising for eCommerce
• Leveraging partnerships with multiple organization across the state to publicize the site
