We’re so excited to announce the debut of MadeinSuwannee.com, the marketplace that celebrates the artisans, growers and farmers of the Suwannee Valley. Now you can support the small businesses of our community — the ones who have a passion for creating unique, handcrafted products, and lovingly grow and harvest food on their land, whether it’s their full time job, a side gig that lets them explore their creativity on their time off, or something in between. We love being able to help these talented entrepreneurs grow their business and make new fans, while strengthening our own local economy and community bonds.
This is called “Made In Suwannee” because it focuses on local vendors in north Florida – Suwannee, Columbia, Hamilton, Madison and Lafayette Counties. While larger marketplaces like Etsy and eBay have millions of customers, it’s too easy for small or new vendors to get lost in the thousands competing for attention. With a focus on only local business, we give our vendors the premium spotlight in a place where they are most supported and appreciated, by friends, family and neighbors.
If you’re a vendor, it’s easy to set up your shop. Simply click the “Become a Vendor” link in the footer of any page and fill out your application. Once it’s approved, you can follow the online tutorials to add your products, customize your shop page with a header or logo, list your hours and contact information. You’ll connect to your own bank for payment processing, and all sales proceeds go directly to you. Made in Suwannee is not involved in any of your financial transactions with customers, so you never have to worry when you’re getting paid. We also do not charge any commissions or other types of fees. There is a simple monthly hosting fee of $20 per month for all vendors. There are no long-term contracts or minimum sales. If you want to take a vacation and pause sales, you can put your shop in “Vacation Mode” and let customers know when you’ll be back to processing orders.
As a shop owner, your pricing and all aspects of your sales are entirely up to you. Well, we won’t allow you to sell illegal products, but you’ve probably already guessed that! You can add variables to your products, like sizes, flavors, colors, even customization. All orders go directly to you, and you communicate with your customers. You can choose to offer shipping, customers can pick up from convenient locations, or you can meet up on your own. Your vendor dashboard shows you all the important information you want to know at a glance – how many orders, customers, revenue. Customers can leave reviews, which you can manage from your dashboard, and they can follow you to keep up with your products.
If you’re a customer, it’s the most convenient local shopping experience you’ll ever have. You can visit the website on your desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile phone, and even save it to your home screen as a mobile app. Enter the item you’re looking for in the Search bar at the top of the page, and all products that meet that criteria – from all vendors – appear. You can choose the ones you like best and add to your shopping cart. You can order jam from Rachel and bread from Dawn and put them all in one cart, pay just one time. Rachel will receive the order for her jam and get that to you. Dawn will bake the bread and get it to you. You have just one easy checkout.
Each month has a new theme for featured products to keep the listings fresh and exciting and showcase different vendors. If you have a favorite vendor you want to find quickly, click the Vendor List link in the footer and find your vendor to go directly to their shop. If you want to know where you can see products in person at Local Markets, we updated that list each month and ask vendors to let us know where they will be exhibiting so you can find them easily.
We hope you’ll make MadeinSuwannee.com your favorite local shopping destination, and welcome you to the family!
