Merchant frequently asked questions

There are no costs for setting up and integrating m8buy onto your site. Merchants are only charged a commission fee which is a % of the total basket paid less the cashback amount provided to each individual that has made an order that has been attributed from a shopping group.

Merchants set the levels of discounts they are willing to provide as well as any relevant terms and conditions. These discounts will be guided by m8buy best practice with the objective of providing a compelling enough offer for shopping groups to buy.

Like the discount amount, merchants are able to set the length of time a shopping group has to shop within. This can is preset and can be edited at any time for future shopping groups. 

No, not a single change is made to a merchants current checkout journey.
To help retailers convert more sales, m8buy will aim to dynamically change prices for items in a basket depending on how many shoppers are in a group and therefore how much discount could be unlocked.
m8buy can also integrate into a product page in the sense that a group discount price can be displayed next to the single unit price. 

The widget can come in different forms and designs and does not necessarily have to conform to what is shown in the prototype. m8buy will work with you to ensure the best possible outcome can be achieved, considering existing real estate and brand guidelines.

There are a number of places you could market the m8buy group buying feature to shoppers so as to increase your conversions and therefore sales. m8buy can work with you on a tailored solution that considers placement across:

* Dedicated how it works landing page that is added to a retailers site navigation index
* As part of the transactional email that is sent post-purchase.
* As part of a merchant's referral and loyalty program.
* Sitewide ribbon or banner.
* As a tile on strategic locations throughout the website.
* Via EDM’s sent out to database and incorporated into a merchant's marketing and social media strategy.
* Via a pop-up that comes when visitors do certain things.
* Via SMS nudges that are forwarded to people who have both signed up to use m8buy group shopping during the shopping period as well as post-purchase.
 

Immediately upon checkout. Payments are made in full by shoppers and are triggered at the time an order is approved and processed by the payment option chosen by the shopper (ie BNPL’s, Paypal, Visa, Mastercard etc.).

When configured, a transactional email is sent to the email address of the customers account summarizing the fact that when they are part of a shopping group they will be receiving the cashback settlement they are entitled to based on the number of shoppers in the group that have also checked out. 

The merchant is ultimately responsible for reconciling, approving and processing the cashback amount to the shopper’s card via a partial refund.

By definition, the cashback will come in the form of a partial refund process offered by your integrated payment gateway. Any refund other than the full order amount is considered a partial refund.

m8buy will work with the merchant to determine how much cashback to approve to the shopper’s order and adjust the shopper's payment accordingly to reflect the cash back amount issued.

All enquiries from shopper's, regarding cashback and how it works, will be communicated by m8buy via the Whatsapp or messenger group created for each shopping group.
m8buy is unable to approve a group discount cashback to a shopper on behalf of a Merchant.
m8buy will provide the merchant with each shoppers details from the shopping group. Specifically, their name, phone number and email address to use for reconciling against orders placed on merchants' order management system.

The merchant will be expected to reconcile and initiate the cashback each individual is entitled to on the same day that the shopping group's timer expires. This will avoid shoppers reaching out to ask for the status of their cashback given they have been told that the cashback is initiated on the same day the timer expires.

Once the merchant confirms with m8buy that the cashback to an individual shopper has been actioned, an email and SMS nudge will be sent to the shopper from m8buy to confirm the amount of cashback that has been given by the merchant to the individual.

Once the merchant confirms with m8buy that the cashback has been initiated, an SMS or notification will be sent from m8buy to the individual shopper confirming the cashback amount having been partially refunded by the merchant and when they should expect to see it in their account.

m8buy merchant fees are based on the total amount paid by a customer less the cashback the shopper is entitled to. This fee is non-refundable in the event of a refund or return. 

Both m8buy and your nominated payment gateways do not charge any transaction fees for partial refund amounts given back to individual shoppers as the cashback.

m8buy merchant fees are calculated and charged only on the total amount of the order placed less the cashback amount the shopper gets in the form of a partial refund.

m8buy will direct all enquiries from shopper's, regarding return of goods, to you, the Retailer/Merchant. For privacy and operational reasons, m8buy is unable to issue a refund to a shopper on behalf of a Merchant. 

These sites can only rely on coupon codes being used to unlock discounts at stores. Given m8buy does not use coupon codes as the mechanism that unlocks the discount, discounts facilitated by m8buy will be unable to be shared and abused like coupon codes can.

In saying that, there is nothing stopping shoppers inviting people to their shopping group and this can be done via these types of platforms - but more people buying from a merchant store is exactly what m8buy is intending to help achieve.