By: Stacy Mayo, As of March 12, 2015

The much-anticipated From the Land of Kansas Marketplace is nearing completion. Select members will participate in the pilot project. Members were selected based on memebrship level and use of specialty crops. The marketplace will become live once these participants have uploaded their products to the site. The objective of the site is to provide an online platform for eligible members to sell approved products to consumers. Consumers visiting the marketplace will be able to purchase products from multiple Kansas companies in one order.

For example there were many Kansas products that I loved and missed when I lived in Wisconsin and being able to go to one site and order them direct from the companies would have made being homesick a little easier.

The pilot program will run from mid-March through April and will allow us to perfect the system and make any necessary updates before offering the program to all eligible members. From the Land of Kansas members Level 3 and above are eligible to sell on the site. The number of products a member is eligible to sell is dependent on their membership level.

• From the Land of Kansas members Level 3 - 5 products
• From the Land of Kansas members Level 4 – 10 products
• From the Land of Kansas members Level 5 – 15 products

Level 1-2 members can increase their membership at any time to become eligible to sell on the site. To see the additional benefits at each level visit the blog we created on the topic.

We will be introducing more information on the site and the inner workings as we get closer to the full launch. In the meantime, here are some details from the seller’s perspective from the Marketplace Seller Policy.

From the Land of Kansas Marketplace Seller Policy information 

TRANSACTIONS

Funding Account Information

• From the Land of Kansas has chosen Stripe as the third-party payment processor.
• Your bank account information will not be stored on a Kansas Department of Agriculture server, but within a secure server at Stripe.

Transactions shall be subject to the following:

• Revenues
  • Products
    • The amount charged for the product is distributed to the Seller of that product, minus applicable deductions detailed below.
  • Shipping
    • The amount charged for shipping is distributed to the Seller of that product, minus applicable deductions detailed below.
• Deductions
  • Sales Tax:
    • The amount charged for sales tax is distributed to the Seller of that product, minus the applicable deductions detailed below.
    • Sales tax will be assessed for sales in states in which the business has a nexus for purposes of assessing sales taxes.
    • The Seller represents the information reported to the KDA regarding the assessment of sales tax is accurate and complete.  The Seller is solely responsible for compliance with applicable state sales tax laws.
  •  From the Land of Kansas processing charges:
    • The From the Land of Kansas program will retain 3% of the product price as the charge for selling products on the site.
    • These funds will be used for ongoing site maintenance of the site.
  • Stripe (our payment processor) fund distribution charges:
    • Stripe will charge $0.25 for each and every fund distribution.  This $0.25 will be withheld from the fund distribution.
  • Stripe processing charges:
    • Stripe will 2.9% of the total order (including taxes) as well as a flat $0.30 per order.
    • The 2.9% will be removed from funds available to the Seller based on their sales amount.
    • If only one Seller is on the account, then $0.30 will be deducted from the funds they are distributed. If more than one Seller is on the account, the $0.30 deduction will be split evenly between each Seller on the account.
• Fund distribution
  • Funds are distributed once per month on the last day of the month.
  • There will be a minimum of five days after an item has been marked shipped before funds will be distributed
  • Funds will not be distributed until the item sold is marked as “shipped.”
  • If From the Land of Kansas needs to refund a customer’s credit card (due to customer complaint or otherwise), the amount of the refund will need to be charged to the Seller.

SHIPPING

• Options
  • A Seller adds the weight of the products into the system and it calculates a shipping charge based on a set formula.
  • The Seller may offer any or all the following shipping options:
    • By weight expedited
    • Next day
    • Standard
    • Free shipping
• Process and Timing
  • The Seller will receive a notification at the email address identified in the Seller profile once the Seller receives an order.
  • Once the Seller receives the notification, the shipment must be sent, using the type of distribution chosen by the buyer, by the end of the second working day following the day the purchase was made. (Example: if the product was purchased at 8 p.m. on Wednesday to be shipped ground, the product needs to ship out via ground from whichever carrier the Seller prefers by end of business day on Friday.)
• Products requiring additional packaging such as temperature controlled shipments
  • The cost of additional materials for shipping for products that require additional materials, such as temperature controlled items, must be included in the cost of the product.  Shipping rates cannot be adjusted by the Seller to account for such additional materials.
• Calculate shipping costs
  • In order to calculate shipping costs if someone orders more than 1 of an item, the system will calculate a percentage increase based on selected shipping method (ie - standard) based upon the total weight of that product line item. The weight multiplier is .1, or 10% increase per pound
    • Example: Each additional pound is worth .1 of the selected shipping rate. If a product weighs 2 pounds, and they add two to their cart, shipping for Standard would be base rate ($8.95 for initial quantity of 1) plus ($8.95 x .2 for the additional two pounds, or $1,79) = $10.74
    • Example 2: Item is a T-shirt and the weight is .5 lbs. User selects standard shipping and adds 10 to their cart. The shipping costs for this line item are
      • $8.95 base rate for first item
      • 9 additional products times .5 pounds = 4.5
      • 4.5 times our .1 increase = .45
      • Our .45 multiplier times the base rate of $8.95 = $4.03
      • Total shipping = 8.95 + 4.03 = $12.98

SALES TAX

• Sales tax will only be charged for the purchase shipped to the states that the Seller has nexus
• Sales tax is calculated through a third-party program to ensure tax rates are up-to-date.
• Tax reports will be provided annually for all sales completed through the site. Annual reports will be provided by January 31 every year.

SALES REPORTS

• Reports can be pulled at any time through the program by the Seller

RETURNS

• The KDA does not take title to returned items. Returned items are sent back to the seller indicated in each sale. The seller does not take the title to returned items until the item arrives at their indicated locations.

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