BuyGB Producer Policy (covers shops and producers)
As a Producer on the BuyGB.co.uk MarketPlace, you are helping us to provide our members with access to some of the best locally produced food, crafts and hand-made items throughout the UK. When ordering from BuyGB.co.uk, we want our members to experience the best levels of service. This guide outlines the policies to which all our producers must adhere for ordering, delivery and, if necessary, return or replacement of goods.
Administration of your products and orders is achieved through a comprehensive set of online tools referred to throughout this document, located at http://tools.buygb.co.uk/. Full instructions of how to use these tools are provided via the online help facility available within the tools.
Listing your products
Producers should add their products to the BuyGB.co.uk Marketplace using the online tools. Once your account has been reviewed and activated, any products you have added to the tools will be immediately available for purchase by members of BuyGB.co.uk.
When listing products, please ensure that any information provided is complete and accurate, and ensure that your items are described in enough detail to ensure that potential customers have enough information to make a purchasing decision. The pricing entered by you is the price that will be paid by the end customer, excluding any delivery costs (see below), and including VAT (where applicable). Any products which are not eligible for VAT (such as food, soft drinks) must be marked as such in the tools.
The tools allow you to provide detailed delivery information and costs, and these will be quoted to the customer during the checkout process. Once an order has been placed, the delivery costs cannot be altered, so it is important to ensure that these are kept up to date at all times. You are also able to provide details of when and how customers can collect items from your premises. These will be displayed to customers at the time of checkout, so please ensure that these are also kept up to date at all times.
It is your responsibility to ensure that all information you have provided is kept up to date, and you should review your product listings regularly. Remember to ensure that any item which is not immediately available for despatch is marked as such or removed from the MarketPlace, using the tools provided. We will periodically review your product listings to ensure that they match our high standards. If you have any questions, or are unsure how to list a product, please contact us.
Processing your orders
Orders are processed online using our advanced order processing tools. You should log in regularly to check the status of your orders, and in order to ensure customer satisfaction, you are expected to initiate processing of all orders within 1 working day of them being placed by the customer.
Once an order is placed, basic details of the order will be emailed to the registered email address provided by you, and you should log into the tools to initiate processing of the order. Once the goods indicated in the order are ready to be despatched (or ready for collection), you should mark the order as processed, and payment will be taken from the customer (including any delivery costs). In the event that any items within an order are not immediately available for delivery, you should mark the items that are unavailable. This will initiate communication with the customer, allowing them to confirm delivery of the remaining items, or to cancel the order. The order will be 'locked' and you will automatically be informed of the customer's decision before the updated order can be processed and dispatched.
Delivery/Collection
Once an order has been processed, you should print off the 'BuyGB.co.uk Marketplace Order Delivery Note' from the tools, and despatch the order to the customer using the details provided. All orders must be despatched within 24 hours of processing, and delivered according to your indicated delivery terms. Please DO NOT process any orders until goods are ready for despatch.
We offer the facility to allow customers to collect items from your premises. When an item is ready for collection, please process the order as normal, ensuring that the items are placed on one side, ready for collection. The customer will automatically be informed that their items are ready for collection, and reminded of the terms and conditions of collection (e.g. opening times, maximum amount of time that your items can be held). Remember that payment is taken from the customer when the order is processed, and as such no additional payment from the customer is required on collection.
Returns/Replacements
The majority of goods sold in the BuyGB.co.uk MarketPlace are not covered by the Distance Selling Regulations 2000, since they are classified as either 'perishable goods' or are customised to the customer's own specifications. Any items not covered by these regulations cannot be replaced or refunded except in exceptional circumstances. We encourage our members to contact you directly to arrange a replacement item at your discretion.
For items which are not covered by the classifications shown above, to return or replace any item (within 7 days of receipt or collection of your goods) we initially ask our members to contact you directly to arrange a suitable replacement. Your contact details are clearly shown on the customer's order confirmation.
In the event that you are unable to organise a suitable replacement item with the customer, or the customer would like a refund, please ask the customer to print out a 'refund authorisation' by logging into the 'My BuyGB' section of the web site. The customer will then return the goods to you directly, along with the 'refund authorisation' form that they have printed out from the web site.
On receipt of the returned items, mark the order as 'refunded' by entering the 'returns authorisation code' displayed on the enclosed refund authorisation into the tools. This will automatically refund the customer's payment card.
Please note that customers have a statutory 'duty of care' to look after any items in their possession, and any items returned in un-saleable condition should not be refunded. Please contact us for further advice.
You should never offer to refund a customer directly, so please ensure that the process outlined above is always followed when refunding returned items. If customers have indicated that they would like to collect goods and wish to arrange a refund prior to collection, or would like to return goods to you in person, please ask them to obtain a 'refund authorisation' as outlined above and bring this with them, allowing you to process their refund as outlined above.
Payment Settlement
All orders placed through the BuyGB.co.uk MarketPlace are processed by, and payment is made to BuyGB Ltd. Prior to despatch, our systems automatically generate a purchase order to you from BuyGB Ltd, and we ask you to despatch the items to the end customer on our behalf.
When you process an order, we automatically raise a purchase invoice from you to BuyGB Ltd, and your account with BuyGB Ltd is credited with the value of the goods. You can view a list of your purchase invoices, and obtain an account statement at any time by logging into the 'My Account' section of your tools.
If you refund any orders, we automatically raise a purchase credit note from you to BuyGB Ltd, and your account is debited with the value of the refund.
Any items which are eligible for VAT (as indicated in your product listing information) will be invoiced at the value excluding VAT. For example, an item which is eligible for VAT selling at £11.75 will be invoiced to BuyGB Ltd for £10 + VAT of £1.75. Any item which is not eligible for VAT selling at £11.75 will be invoiced to BuyGB Ltd for £11.75 with no VAT.
On the 10th of each month, an invoice will be automatically raised for your transaction costs, along with any monthly fees, from BuyGB Ltd. This invoice will be dated on the last day of the previous month, and will apply to the agreed percentage of the value (including VAT) of any sales made in the previous month. All transaction fees and monthly costs are treated as 'advertising' for VAT purposes, and VAT will be added at the prevailing rate.
Payment of your outstanding balance at the end of the previous month, less any fees, will be made to your designated bank account by direct bank transfer on or around the 10th of each month. In the event that your outstanding balance is negative, you must ensure that any outstanding fees are paid to BuyGB Ltd within 30 days.
