Assign seller agreements

The seller agreement active at the time of each order is used to calculate the commission.

Assign an agreement to a seller

1. In the dashboard, navigate to Sellers -> Accounts.
2. Select a seller account.
3. Select Overview. In the Account section, select Edit.
4. Select an agreement from the Plan dropdown menu.
5. In the Status dropdown menu, select a status for this agreement. You can select one of the following:
   • Approved: The seller's account is approved. This happens after they review and sign agreement.
   • Declined: The seller's account is declined. This happens if they breach or disagree with the terms of their agreement.
   • Paused: The seller's account is paused. This happens when an agreement is updated.
   • Pending: The seller's account is pending. This happens when a seller signs up to join your marketplace for the first time.
6. Select Confirm then select Save.

Changing a seller's agreement

You can change a seller's agreement at any time. After you update the agreement, the seller's primary contact will be prompted to acknowledge the new terms and commission when next they sign in to their seller account.

The new commission rate takes effect immediately for any new orders, even before the seller acknowledges the agreement. Commissions for any pre-existing orders remain as originally calculated and are not retroactively adjusted.

Example scenario

Commissions are calculated at the moment an order is placed, irrespective of the order's current status or the payout status. Consider the following example of order commissions before and after changing a seller's agreement:

1. Initial order. A buyer places an order for a book, priced at $1,000. The seller, to whom the course belongs, has a marketplace agreement with a default commission rate of 15%. The marketplace therefore collects a commission of $150 from this transaction.

2. Agreement update. The marketplace operator decides to revise the seller's commission structure, introducing a 20% category-specific commission rate for books.

3. Subsequent order. Another buyer purchases the same book for $1,000. This time, the updated 20% category-specific commission rate applies, overriding the 15% default commission rate. As a result, the marketplace now collects a higher commission of $200 from this sale.