Business Support FAQ

Open Register your business (/registerbusiness), or choose Business Owner on the main Create Account page (/register). Complete account details, business profile, location (Canada), and KYC identity verification, then accept the Seller Responsibility Declaration and Privacy Policy.

Create Account (/register) lets you pick Customer, Business Owner, or Driver. Customer-only is /registercustomer. Business KYC is /registerbusiness. Drivers use /registerdriver with vehicle and ID verification.

A government ID (KYC) is required at registration. An operating/business license document is not required to create the account. An admin may later request supporting license documents for higher-risk selling.

Know Your Customer verification confirms your identity with a government ID (front/back where required) and a selfie face match. It helps protect shoppers and vendors and unlocks the Verified Business badge after successful verification.

Business map location for product shops must be in Canada. The platform focuses on Canadian shoppers and Canadian African & Caribbean businesses.

You are signed in and taken to your dashboard. Complete your shop profile (name, logo, banner, address, category), add products or services, and review membership / subscription options so customers can find and buy from you.

The business plan is CAD $13/month and includes up to 4 staff seats. The monthly fee may be waived while a homepage vendor free promo is live.

A marketplace fee of 2% per transaction applies after the vendor free promo ends. While the promo is live, the fee is 3%. The fee is deducted from your payout, not added as a separate shopper surcharge.

Use Admin → Payment Management / shop rental & subscription tools (or Membership & pricing links in the footer). Super Admin can grant complimentary access, activate plans, or adjust expiry.

A public shop page, directory presence, product or service listings, appointment tools where applicable, staff seats (1–4 on the monthly plan), and access to the business admin dashboard.

Shop selling features may be blocked until the plan is renewed or complimentary access is granted. Contact ops@africanmarketplace.ca if you need help restoring access.

Sign in as the business owner and open Shop profile / Admin shop settings. Upload a logo and storefront banner, set city, postal code, website, and service description so your public page looks complete.

Each shop gets a slug-based page at /shop/{your-shop-slug}. Share this link with customers. Super Admin can also view shop links from Vendor Shop Links.

Pick the category that matches what you sell or offer (Retail, Restaurant, Services, Training, Fashion, etc.). Category affects how you appear in browse and search. Restaurants should use the Restaurant category for food ordering.

Complete registration with a shop name and location, keep your account active, and publish offerings. Verified businesses show a Verified badge after KYC.

Yes. Add your website URL in the shop profile. It can appear under your address on the public business page.

From the admin Product Management area, create listings with photos, price, category, and shop assignment. Follow category rules (for example restaurants publish dishes under Restaurant).

Yes for service-based categories. Publish service offerings and use appointment booking so customers can book; you and the customer receive email notifications.

Training businesses can publish course listings for discovery on the Training marketplace. Register as a Training business and list your programs from the admin tools.

Fashion and beauty shops can offer alteration or hair booking flows (including QR booking where enabled). Customers can also use the Alteration Center. Contact support if you need your shop booking QR set up.

Vendors are solely liable for their listed goods and services. Review the Seller Responsibility Declaration, Terms of Service, and Return & Refund Policy.

Shoppers check out with Stripe card payments on Inclusive African Marketplace. Successful payments create orders and can trigger delivery dispatch.

Connect and maintain your vendor payment / Stripe onboarding where prompted in admin. Marketplace fees are deducted from payouts according to your plan and promo status.

Use the sales / order management screens in your admin dashboard to view order status, customer fulfillment, and delivery links.

Follow the Return & Refund Policy. Refund workflows are handled through the platform refund tools where available; approved refunds return to the original payment method within the stated business days.

You must accept the current declaration to register as a seller. If the policy version changes, you may be asked to re-accept from your account.

At checkout, customers choose AfricanMarketplace driver matching or an external courier. When AM drivers are unavailable (or matching is turned off), Uber Direct is tried first, then Lyft when configured.

Local AfricanMarketplace driver deliveries within Hamilton are CAD $9.99 or less, based on distance.

Yes for product shops that appear on driver maps. Set accurate latitude/longitude (and postal code) during registration or in shop profile so drivers and Uber quotes use the correct pickup location.

When a driver arrives, use the shop pickup confirmation tools in admin / deliveries so the customer is notified and live tracking to the delivery address can continue.

Shop-scoped driver views and summaries are available in admin delivery / tracking tools for your company. Marketplace drivers are matched by proximity and availability after payment.

No. Shop and checkout location are for fulfillment. Uber is only used as a courier option when selected or when AM drivers are not available.

The monthly business plan includes up to 4 staff seats. Add staff from Users & Shops / admin user management within your shop company scope.

Staff roles are limited to your shop’s operations (products, orders, inventory, etc. depending on role). They cannot create a separate Super Admin account.

No. Staff accounts are tied to your employer shop. To open a separate brand, register a new business owner account at /registerbusiness.

It indicates successful KYC identity verification for the business account. It builds shopper trust in the directory and on shop pages.

ID/license images captured during KYC are stored for compliance. Document URLs are exposed only to Admin / Super Admin with KYC document viewing permission—not to the public or other shops.

Account details, shop profile, KYC documents, order and payout records as needed to operate the marketplace. See the Privacy Policy (PIPEDA) for purposes, retention, and your rights.

Update shop profile fields in admin. For name corrections or privacy requests, use Privacy settings or contact the Privacy Officer listed in the Privacy Policy.

Homepage spotlight and promotions are managed by platform admins. Complete your profile, keep listings active, and contact advertise@africanmarketplace.ca or ops for spotlight opportunities.

Yes. Use advertise@africanmarketplace.ca. Membership plans can also unlock enhanced visibility tools.

Yes—category browse, directory search, and Ontario/location-aware discovery help shoppers find shops near them when your profile and GPS/city data are complete.

Email support@africanmarketplace.ca for general help, ops@africanmarketplace.ca for onboarding and operations, and advertise@africanmarketplace.ca for advertising. Privacy questions go to the Privacy Officer in the Privacy Policy.

Ask an admin to resend the ops welcome message from Users & Shops, or contact ops@africanmarketplace.ca. Check spam/junk for mail from africanmarketplace.ca.

See /terms (Terms of Service), /privacy (Privacy Policy), /return-policy (Return & Refund Policy), and /accessibility (Accessibility Statement). You must accept Terms and Privacy to register.

Contact the Privacy Officer or support to request account closure. Order and tax records may be retained as described in the Privacy Policy.