How to be Part of Buy Iowa Online

Step 1: Becoming a Seller

  1. Fill out and return a Vendor Application.
    1. The Vendor Application includes information about your product/business so that office staff can verify that you meet the guidelines for participation. Products and businesses must be created and located within the 22-county service area. It also includes a brief set of demographic questions that we need completed for reporting purposes for our funding entities. (We are working with grant funds to start this service.) After we have received and approved your Vendor Application form, we will email you an approval notice.
    2. As soon as you have received an email approving you as a seller, please print, sign and mail to the office the Vendor Agreement Form.
    This is a standard agreement releasing Buy Iowa LLC of liability and is required before we can list your products on the site. Please print, read and sign the document. Mail the entire five page document to Buy Iowa Online, P.O. Box 292, Red Oak, Iowa, 51566.

Step 2: Submitting your Product(s) and Business Information.

Once you have been approved, you will receive an email containing (1) instructions explaining how to create and submit your product(s) and business information, (2) several information sheets and (3) a Vendor Agreement.

The email will request:

  1. A written description about you and your business/process that is 500 words or less. The written description should be returned by email to buyiowa@enterprisingiowans.com . The description may be part of the body of the email or may be attached as a Word document. You may include such information as:
    • The geographic location of your business or home.
    • How and why you started creating your product(s)
    • How long you have been making or creating your product(s).
    • How people will enjoy using your product(s).
    • Your plans for new product development.

  2. A written description and photograph for each product.

    The written description and photograph(s) for each product should be returned as part of the same email to buyiowa@enterprisingiowans.com . The description may be part of the body of the email or may be attached as a Word document. The photographs should be sent as separate attachments to the same email. The description must include the following content:

    • Your Name
    • Product Name
    • Product Specifications (color, size, materials used, weight if necessary, etc.)
    • Customization information you will need from the customer if applicable
    • Number of pieces (quantity of that exact piece)
    • Your PayPal account name

    Refer to the information sheet, Writing Descriptions about Products for an ecommerce Site for more help.

    Each photograph should be in .jpeg format be approximately 1024 x 768 pixels or 300 dots per inch (dpi).  The file name should include the product name. Up to 3 photos of each product may be submitted. This will provide you the chance to display your product from different angles and allow the buyer the opportunity to learn more about the product. Refer to the information sheet, Photographing Products for an eCommerce Site.

  3. Our staff will examine the photos and copy received.  If needed, we will work with you to get them Website-ready.  Our plans are to make sure the photos and descriptions reflect the best attributes of your product(s) to the buyer.
  4. The Vendor Agreement must be signed and returned by mail to: Grow Iowa Foundation, Buy Iowa Online, P.O. Box 292, Red Oak, IA 51566.

Step 3: Packaging & Shipping Inventory

Once the photographs and descriptions of your business and products are approved, we will:

  1. Build you a vendor account and supply you with a password to access it. Your account will allow you to check inventory levels, add new products, provide new product photos and descriptions etc. from this point forward.

  2. Send you more detailed instructions about:

    • packaging your product(s) for shipment
    • options for delivery of your product(s) to the fulfillment center
    • Send you product labels to attach to your individually packaged products. Each of these labels will correspond to a single product. You will be responsible for individually packaging each of your products and affixing the corresponding product label to the outside of the package.

    Notes about packaging:

    • Each item must be packaged “READY TO SHIP” before it is shipped or delivered to the fulfillment center in Newmarket, Iowa. The fulfillment center does not package products before shipping to customers. To fill an order for a single item, the item will be collected from the warehouse shelf, labeled and mailed “as is” to the customer.  To fill a multiple item order, the items will be collected from the warehouse shelves and placed together “as is” in a larger container which is then labeled and shipped to the customer.
    • Each item must be in a box/mailing envelope that is large enough to allow a 6” x 6” shipping label to be affixed to the outside of the package by the fulfillment center.
    • The packaging must be standardized for each product type.  For example, every “READY TO SHIP” package containing one men’s size M sweatshirt should have the same weight.  This means that for each men’s size M sweatshirt, the box/mailing envelope and any filler/packaging material should be identical in size, weight and quantity. The fulfillment center will weigh the package containing the men’s size M sweatshirt and assign one shipping price for all packages containing a men’s size M sweatshirt.
    • Any damage to the products incurred during shipping and handling will be the vendor’s responsibility. All products must be packaged carefully.
    • Vendors with many small products to ship to the fulfillment center, may place the individually packaged “Ready-to-Ship” products into a larger box to ship to the fulfillment center.

    Notes about customized products:

    Vendors who have products that are to be personalized with monograms or are special orders etc. will follow Steps One and Two and part of Step Three. Customized product inventory will not be stored at the fulfillment center so vendors will need to provide to the fulfillment center the total weight of each “Ready To Ship” packaged product (product plus packaging materials). The total weight will be used by the fulfillment center to determine the final check out cost for the buyer.

Step 4: Tracking Your Sales & Payments

Once the shipment or delivery of your product(s) has been received at the fulfillment center, you will receive an e-mail confirming the arrival and quantity of items received. At this point, your product will be ready to go live on our Web site.

When your product is up on the Web site, you will be able to take the following steps:

  • Access your online account at any time to check the status of your items and inventory.
  • Check messages from us in your e-mail box on your user account. When your inventory is low, you will be notified through your home/business e-mail and also through your e-mail box on your user account.
  • Submit additional product(s), photos and product description(s). You will be notified by e-mail on your user account as soon as the products, descriptions and photos are approved. Your product labels will be automatically generated for you to print from your user account. Then you will be asked to package, label, and ship or deliver those products to the fulfillment center. You will then receive an e-mail from the fulfillment center confirming arrival, quantity received and Web site posting of those new items.