FAQs – CrowdMall

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

If you have a question about CrowdMall, please check the FAQ below to see if they provide an answer to your query. You can also find plenty of useful information in the help center or you can contact us.

Buyer (Customer) Frequently Asked Questions

Each product page includes a Q&A section for engaging directly with the creator and a Comments section for making suggestions, sharing opinions, and asking questions in a community space. You can also message the creator privately on their creators contact page using direct messaging.

Deadline dates are set by individual creators, but no product end date can be more than six months after a product campaign launches. Campaign end dates are clearly displayed on the product pages.

Each product page includes a dynamic progress bar that displays the journey of the campaign toward reaching its pre-sales target, as well as indications of the number of units pre-ordered and the remaining number of days before the end date of the campaign. Once a campaign is over the creator must provide regular updates to buyers as to the production status. Once an item is shipped you will receive a confirmation email with tracking details.

You can cancel your pre-order for any product at any time before a campaign end date is reached and receive 100% of your money back. Please contact our customer support for your order cancellation.

Such product campaigns are unsuccessful, so 100% of the money raised in pre-orders is returned to buyers as a refund to their original form of payment.

You will be charged when you submit your pre-order. The funds are held securely by CrowdMall and released to the buyer once you have received and inspected the item.

You only pay for products you receive and that meet your expectations. You can contact our customer service team in the rare event you want to file a dispute regarding product quality and we will work with you and the creator to resolve the issue.

Product creators must meet the criteria set out in our policies and Terms & Conditions, which includes a warranty clause. If a product does not meet its described specifications once you have received delivery of the item please notify us immediately upon receipt.

You are not charged for products that are not delivered to you and, where disputes are decided in your favor, you can return the product to the creator without penalty.

CrowdMall does not store any banking or credit card information directly on its servers. We also do not share your payment details with product creators (i.e., sellers). All credit card information is securely handled by Stripe via industry-standard encrypted connections. Stripe (our provider) is fully PCI-compliant and a highly trusted payment processor. PCI-compliance is an information security standard for organizations that handle branded credit cards from the major card schemes. The PCI Standard is mandated by the card brands and administered by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. Stripe has been audited by a PCI-certified auditor and is certified to PCI Service Provider Level 1. This is the most stringent level of certification available in the payments industry. To accomplish this, Stripe uses best-in-class security tools and practices to maintain a high level of security.

This can vary by product. We allow creators up to six months to deliver a product once their campaign ends. However, most creators will deliver their item much faster than this, as one of our requirements is that items are production-ready.

You can only pre-order a product before the end date of a campaign so that creators know with confidence the fixed quantity of items to be built and shipped. You are welcome to get in touch with the creator to find out how and where you can buy the item at a future time assuming it is made available commercially.

Creator (Seller) Frequently Asked Questions

CrowdMall is designed for inventors, creators, product developers and entrepreneurs looking to de-risk their new product launch. CrowdMall enables creators to validate product market-fit and to identify core customer personas, saving time, money and energy when scaling up production and marketing in the commercial marketplace.

CrowdMall resolves the question “Does my product have a viable market?” Products launching on the platform are ready to produce at the end of their campaigns; they will often have raised funding prior to publishing a product page to attract pre-sales. CrowdMall’s top priority is validating product market-fit, with raising money from pre-sales a secondary consideration. Crowdfunding platforms reverse these priorities: for the likes of Kickstarter, fundraising is more important than project validation.

Unlike crowdfunding platforms, CrowdMall also gives product creators access to data that provides marketing insights into customer personas. Knowing their audience before scaling up production and marketing campaigns saves product creators time, money and energy in identifying who their core customers are and how to reach them with tailored messages.

CrowdMall is the missing link in taking a product idea to market successfully:

Stage 1: Crowdfunding – Idea to Seed funding:

- Crowdfunding deals with funding and marketing awareness for an idea.

Stage 2: CrowdMall – Seed funding to MVP (a.k.a. first edition | special sales | post-prototypes | limited-edition collector's items):

- CrowdMall deals with MVP pre-order sales and tests product/market fit.

Stage 3: Commercial retail – MVP to Marketplace:

- E-commerce marketplaces and bricks-and-mortar stores scale the sale of products, either available instantly or after a brief pre-order period (whether or not product/market fit has been tested – i.e. most products available online realize zero sales, once purchases made personally by the seller are discounted).

Stage 1 and Stage 2 are both validation stages:

- Stage 1 validates seed funding, via the purchase of perks/rewards (i.e. idea/funding fit)
- Stage 2 validates MVPs, via the pre-order purchase of products (i.e. product/market fit)

Products should be innovative, original, practical, and disruptive with the potential to find a viable customer market-fit within a reasonable period of time for pre-selling the concepts and creating the products for shipping.

Please review existing campaigns for the information that will be required to set up your own including graphics, descriptions, and various form information.

First you need to fill out your campaign submission following our campaign setup guide. Once your campaign is approved, it will be displayed in the category you have selected on the CrowdMall platform. Be prepared to engage in conversation with potential customers and to answer their questions. The more information you provide about yourself and your product idea, the more likely you are to attract attention, interest, and pre-orders from buyers. Once your campaign goes live, the time schedule you have selected will go into effect. In order to be successful, you need to reach your pre-sales target by the deadline date.

Once you are approved as a creator you can set up your campaign and launch quickly. It only takes a few minutes to input the information once you have your marketing materials ready to upload.

Your product campaign description page is your shop window. The information you share on the landing page for your product idea will be seen by prospective customers when they are deciding whether or not to pre-order your product. Your product campaign description page has a unique URL, so you can share the link to your page with prospective customers via email, SMS text, social media posts, and/or direct messages. You are responsible for promoting your own product campaign; CrowdMall is responsible for promoting the platform itself to potential product creators and buyers.
Product creators must meet the criteria set out in our policies and Terms & Conditions, which includes a warranty clause. If a product does not meet its described specifications once you have received delivery of the item please notify us immediately upon receipt.

You are not charged for products that are not delivered to you and, where disputes are decided in your favor, you can return the product to the creator without penalty.

As well as promoting your product campaign to potential customers, you will need to engage your existing customers in active conversations. Keep your buyers in the loop with the development of your product, answer their questions, and involve them in your production journey. Enthusiastic customers will become your fans and advocates, willing to spread good news about your product via social media and word of mouth. Say “Yes” to opportunities to talk about your product: in print and in the media, perhaps by writing blog posts or being a guest on a podcast or video, and at events such as Meetup gatherings, trade fairs, expos, and conferences.

Your campaign ends in one of two ways: either you reach your pre-sales target threshold before your deadline or you don’t. If you succeed, this is your green light for creating your product, as your production costs are covered by the money you have raised from pre-sales. You need to keep your buyers informed with your production schedule so that they know roughly when to expect shipment of the product they have pre-ordered. If you don’t succeed in reaching your pre-sales target threshold, all the money collected in your escrow account is returned to the buyers.

When you have finished the production process and successfully shipped your product to your customers, there is a cooling- off period of 14 days for them to return the product to you. After this period, you will receive your share of the money collected in the escrow account. The money raised from pre-sales comprises your income, administrative fees incurred by CrowdMall, and any fees you have agreed with service-provider partners that helped you to make the product.