How do I set up buy it locally to accept transactions? How much does everything cost?

How does Buy It Locally work?

When a shopper finds an item in stock at your store through a brand site or Locally.com, they'll have the option to reserve or buy online and then pick up in store, depending on what you have set up.

Once the shopper completes check-out, you'll receive a notification with the order details. You'll have eight business hours to fulfill the request, and confirm with the shopper that the item is waiting to be picked up. Buy It Locally is message-based, so throughout the process, your store and the shopper can exchange messages back and forth.

How are stores notified of orders?

Stores can receive order notifications via email, text message (SMS), or both. Each notification contains a unique URL for an order page that has the shopper's name and contact info, the product(s) they are requesting to pick up, and where the order originated from.

A store must designate at least one recipients to receive ALL notifications, but can add as many additional recipients as you'd like. Recipients can be set to receive all notifications, or scheduled to only receive notifications during certain days/times
You won't receive text notifications at all hours of the day! Only email notifications are sent if your store is closed. If a shopper places an order outside of your business hours, they are told they'll hear back when you open. You'll receive an email notification, but won't receive a text notification until you next open.
Stores must respond to requests within eight business hours of the notification. Locally sends a reminder every 30 minutes. If eight business hours go by without the shopper receiving a response from your store, the transaction is automatically cancelled. At that time you will have received fifteen reminders.

What if a shopper requests an item that is no longer available?

If you receive an order you can't fulfill, you'll open the order and uncheck "Confirm Item is Being Held." This will prompt you to send a message to the shopper. Explain why you cannot hold the item, and use this as an opportunity to salvage the sale by recommending another product, etc. If you need to cancel the order for any reason you can do so by selecting "More," and then "Cancel Order."

How are Payments processed?

To offer Buy online, pickup in store (BOPIS), you'll connect or setup an account with Stripe, our payment processor. This is done through your Locally dashboard.

When a shopper places a "Buy Online Pickup In Store" order, their credit card is authorized when the order is placed, but the card isn't actually charged until you receive the request and confirm the order. A temporary hold is placed on the shopper's card for the amount of the item. If the order is confirmed, the charge to the shopper will show up as being from your store. The shopper is instructed to bring their ID and credit card with them. When they arrive, confirm their ID and credit card match the information on the Locally order screen. Head here to learn more about best practices for fraud screening and mitigation.

If the order is canceled and not confirmed, Stripe will release the hold on the shopper's card within 5-10 business days. Once confirmed, the money is directly deposited into your Stripe account on a rolling basis, within 48 hours. If you need to refund the order at any time, fo llow these instructions.

Firearms and ammunition stores may be ineligible to hold an account with Stripe and therefore unable to accept payment processing for Store Pickup on Locally. Please review Stripe's policies if you have questions as this is beyond our control. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Reservations for Store Pickup are still available to any retailer.

Stripe is not available in all countries. Please check here to make sure that your country is supported. If your country is not listed, you will not be able to accept payment orders through Locally at this time.

Sales Tax

Note that we are legally obligated to collect and remit sales tax on your behalf.

Buy It Locally fees
Set up Buy It Locally
Resolution status

Buy It Locally fees

Reserve online, pick up in store (ROPIS)

On reservations for in-store pickup, Locally charges a 3.5% transaction fee for successful transactions. See resoultion status for what to do when a transaction is not completed.

Buy online, pickup in store (BOPIS)

On confirmed payments for in-store pickup, Locally charges a 3.5% transaction fee. This is charged monthly via your Locally dashboard. Additionally, Stripe's payment processing fee in the US and Canada is 2.9% +$.30 per successful card charge. Stripe's fee varies by country. See https://stripe.com/pricing to view the rates in your country. See resolution status on what to do when a transaction is not completed.

Same day delivery

There is no additional fee outside the BOPIS fees for same day delivery.

Auto-cancelled orders

Effective February 1, 2022, all orders that are auto-cancelled due to a lack of response from the retailer will be charged the 3.5% transaction fee. See resolution status below to find out how to avoid these fees.

Set up Buy It Locally

Log in to your locally.com account and click Buy It Locally > Setup & Configuration on your dashboard. Start by selecting if you'd like to offer Reservations only, Payments only, or both. Most stores offer both.

Add who should receive order notifications. Each store must have one contact designated to receive ALL notifications. Additional users can receive all notifications, or receive notifications during certain days and times. Remember, Locally only sends notifications during business hours.

Optional: Extend Pickup Window for Reservations

By default, Locally will allow a pickup window in the next two days. You can extend the window up to seven days.

Enter your billing information and local tax rate. If you're accepting payments for in-store pickup, link your Stripe account.

Verify you have added your store hours for all of your locations. Locally cannot activate Buy It Locally for you without store hours. Retailers: Manage and Enhance Your Listing

Optional: Set custom cart messaging

If you have important info that should show up in the cart, email [email protected] so we can add that messaging. It is available per company.

**To Finalize

Once your setup is complete, fill out this form and we'll enable you!**

We'll do a quick check to make sure your inventory is up to date, your store hours are added, and your Buy It Locally setup looks good. We'll then place a test hold so that you can try out the system and ensure your staff receive their notifications.

Want to pipe Buy It Locally notifications directly into your POS system and respond from there? You can use our PushCart API to set up an API connection. Go here to check out the documentation, and email [email protected] for integration assistance.

Next Step: Review Buy It Locally Order Handling and then Retailers: Extended Features