1. Register merchant account
1.1 Who can register for a merchant account and what are the requirements?
All legally registered companies and individuals legally working in Singapore are eligible to register for merchant accounts and become service providers / sellers on Lervice.com’s platform , providing local residents with more convenient, professional and cost saving services.
1.2 What are the fees for becoming a platform merchant?
During the promotion period, merchants do not need to pay any upfront fees, including one-time registration fee and annual maintenance fee are all waived. Merchants can open brand flagship stores on the platform at zero cost and start to receive orders. You only need to pay a minor transaction commission to the platform after you complete the order and confirm income. No transaction, no charge! Compared with the traditional advertising model, Lervice.com's commission model is obviously more beneficial to merchants.
1.3 What is the difference between a company account and an individual account?
Both are platform sellers, and they are basically the same in function. However, because registered companies have stronger fulfillment capabilities, the platform will give company merchants more opportunities for recommendation and exposure. For individual merchants gained 4 stars and above will also be recommended. There will be a tag to distinguish the two kind of merchants shown after the shop's name on the service detail page.
1.4 What information do I need to prepare for registering a merchant account?
The most important information for company account is the ACRA Bizfile, and the most important information for individual merchants is a photo you are holding your ID card / work pass, which is used to verify your true identity and ensure the quality of service.
1.5 What are the requirements for filling in a bank account?
The bank account number is the key information for receiving payment after you provide the service, please fill in it accurately. In order to be foolproof, you are required to provide your account name, bank, account number and PayNow number so that we can cross-verify the information when we make a payment to you.
1.6 How to name the online shop?
company merchant can directly use the business name of the company as the name of the online shop, such as "Blue Sky Mover Official Flagship Store" or "Ocean Music School Official Flagship Store"; individual merchant should also choose a unique and easy-to-remember online shop name for searching, such as "John Zhang Cleaning Service" or "Good Future English School" and so on. Under any circumstances, please do not use someone else’s brand or name to open a shop, otherwise it will not pass the review or be closed at any time. Please note that once you have taken the name of the online shop, you cannot modify it yourself.
1.7 How to choose the type of online shop?
We currently provide three types of online shops, “Standard Shop", "Diamond Shop” and a special "No Shop". The main difference of the former two is the number of services that can be uploaded and the amount of server space occupied. Among them, standard shop are free, which can meet the requirements of most merchants. If you need more storage space, you can upgrade to a diamond shop later. "No Shop" is customized for those who do not have the time or knowledge to manage the online store but still want to collect orders from ServiceOnline, they do not need to upload the service, so there is no direct order from the customer, but will receive the order assigned by the platform. They will neither be found on the front-end, nor will they accumulate ratings/comments online.
1.8 How to choose a business category?
Lervice.com has 8 major categories and more than 50 sub-categories. The major categories are housekeeping services, bodybuilding and fitness, etc. The housekeeping services are subdivided into aircon services, house cleaning, home repairing and other sub-categories, which are convenient for customers to find quickly. Merchants need to check the actual service categories that can be provided when applying an online ship, so that they can upload their services quickly under each of the categories. No worry if you need to add more categories, you can apply it easily in the future. Up to now, you can submit the shop application. After submission, you will generally be notified of the review result within 3 working days.
2. Open online shop and decoration
2.1 What is the Merchant Centre? How to login?
The Merchant Centre is where you manage online shop orders and fund settlement. Once your application for opening a store is approved, you can log in to the Merchant Centre to start online shop decoration and upload services. You can login the Merchant Centre from Lervice.com official website. The official website address is: https://www.Lervice.com/
2.2 How to upload corporate and online shop logos?
After you login to the Merchant Centre, you can easily see the current logo is blank, you can click on the blank logo to upload, please upload logo with correct size and ratio to make it sharp and professional.
2.3 How to add online customer service and accept customer inquiries?
The platform supports the direct use of WhatsApp as your online shop customer service tool. As long as the customer initiates a chat with you from your online shop, you can receive chat information through WhatsApp and reply in time. You can set it in "Shop - Customer Service Management" in the Merchant Centre. Please be sure to respond to customer inquiries in a timely manner to improve the conversion rate of receiving orders.
2.4 How to modify the basic information of the online shop?
If you need to modify the store information, such as company registration information, bank account information, increase or decrease of business categories, etc., you can follow the prompts to modify it under "Shop" section of the Merchant Centre. Please note that your online shop name cannot be modified. If you need to modify it for special reasons, please contact the customer service of the platform.
2.5 How to decorate the homepage and other pages of the online shop?
In order to help you build a better brand, we have also built a homepage for your online shop. Customers can enter your dedicated online shop to view all of your service lists, promotional information, and the QR code of the online shop. You are free to design and decorate your homepage, recommend the most popular services on the homepage, so as to get more attention and orders. Find all the functions under "Mini Site" section of the Merchant Center.
3. Upload products or services
3.1 How to upload and publish a product or service onto my shop?
After the shop decoration is complete, it's time to add products to the shelves. Lervice.com is a service booking platform. What you need to list is your professional service. In particular, it should be noted that a key factor for the success of all Internet models is the "Fixed price". Customers can directly buy the services they want at a fixed price without having to bargain with merchants or call to inquire, otherwise, it will greatly reduce transaction efficiency and also loses the advantage of Internet 24/7 receiving orders and doing business. In order to avoid subsequent disputes, when you set a fixed price, please be sure to specify the service scope and service conditions corresponding to the price, and specify how to charge if the service scope is exceeded, so that both buyers and sellers can clearly understand. Please do not set any hidden charges, because this will make consumers feel fooled, and may eventually give you a bad review, which will be publicly displayed for all customers to view and cannot be deleted, which will cause a very negative image on your brand.
3.2 What does “Enable Variation” mean when upload service?
Enable Variation is a powerful tool to support the approach of “fixed price”, you can set different prices for different conditions. E.g. for aircon general cleaning service you can set a fixed price of $40 to clean one unit, $50 to clean two units; but for deep cleaning you can set a fixed price of $50 for one unit, $100 for two, customers can directly order according to their needs without calling for consultation; another example is the moving service, you can set package price of $100 for a 10- foot truck, and $200 for a 14 feet truck, you can set the price conditions, for example, the prices are only applicable from Monday to Friday excluding weekends, and there must be elevators on both sides, subject to the full capacity of the truck, and if the truck booked by the customer is too small, the cost of two trips will be applied and so on. Don’t be afraid of setting too many conditions, as long as the conditions are reasonable, the transaction can be done quickly.
3.3 What is the “Market Price” and the “Competitive Price”, and how to set it?
The “Market Price” refers to the service price that is common in the market or your usual standard service price; the “Competitive Price” refers to the preferential price that customers can enjoy when booking on the platform. Please remember that one of the most important reasons for customers shopping online is to enjoy a lower price compared to offline price, so it’s better for you to meet customer’s expectations to achieve more sales.
3.4 Can I set a price temporarily, and then discuss the price with the customer?
It is not recommended to do this because it violates the principle of fixed prices and efficient transactions in the Internet economy, and cannot allow you to automatically obtain orders 24/7. It still requires unnecessary labor to bargain or communicate with customers, which greatly affects the customer experience and the chance of receiving orders is greatly reduced.
3.5 What is a “Service Code”? How to use?
After a customer has booked a service from the platform, the platform will issue a booking voucher to the customer. This voucher is a 12 -digit QR code, which the platform name it as a "Service Code”. After you complete the service, you need to ask the customer to show the QR code and invalid the code, which means that you have completed the service. The QR code will become invalid after verification and cannot be used again. You can either use a computer to input these 12 digits for verification, or use the merchant APP to scan the QR code for verification.
3.6 How to set service usage conditions and refund conditions?
When you publish a specific service, you can set the usage conditions for the fixed price, such as the validity period of the price, the minimum consumption amount, the service items included or excluded in the price, and pre appointment required etc.; You can also set the refund conditions in advance, such as the service does not support refunds, or the percentage of refunds that need to be deducted within hours from the appointment date, etc., to protect the interests of both parties.
3.7 Can I ask customers to fill in the appointment time and address online to reduce unnecessary communication?
Sure. When you publish the Lervice.com, you can customize the information that the customer needs to fill in when placing an order, such as the specific address of the on-site service, the date and time of the appointment, the customer’s room type and area, etc. With this information, you don’t need to contact customers to inquire one by one to improve the transaction efficiency.
3.8 What are the requirements for pictures and service descriptions when publishing services?
The picture is the first impression left to the customer. A clear and suitable picture can attract customers to click and enter to view the service details, thereby increasing the chance of placing an order. At least one image must be uploaded when each service is available. The service description information is used to specify the service content, service features, service professionalism, and other selling points corresponding to this price, and is used to attract customers to place orders to purchase services. You can upload photos of previous service cases, including previous customer reviews of you, to prove that you have professional service capabilities and service history, and win more trust.
3.9 How to modify the services published?
In the "Product - Product Management" section of the Merchant Center, you can see all the services that have been published. You can edit and modify the price, picture, description, and other information, and you can also temporarily remove the product or even delete it. Use the “Recommend” function to list your featured services into the homepage of your online shop for more exposure and orders.
3.10 What is “shop category management”?
Besides the universal category in the platform level, you can also set your own sub-category in your shop level. For example, if you are a tuition center, you can set up categories like Chinese, English, and mathematics, and then put the tuition courses on the shelves into the three categories, which is convenient for customers to browse these services.
3.11 What is a “preset template”?
The “preset template” is an information template preset in advance for service description section, so you can directly refer to the template when you enter the "service description". For example, if you want to show a paragraph of company introduction under each of the service released, you can set this piece of company introduction as a template in advance, and you can directly quote this template every time you publish information, so there is no need to re-enter it. The “preset template” is divided into a header template displayed above the service description and a footer template displayed below the service description, which can be set according to your needs.
3.12 How to manage and improve customer rating and reviews?
A word of praise and recommendation from customers is often more effective than your own advertising, so be sure to pay attention to and manage customer reviews. To maintain good rating and reviews, the first thing you need to do is to improve the service quality and customer experience, and strive for every customer to give you five stars and write a few good comments; second, after the customer gives you an review, you need reply to customers in a timely manner to express your appreciations, and at the same time provide a few sentences of your service tenet and philosophy for more potential customers to see; third, if a customer gives you a moderate or even negative review, you need to ask the customer the reason for dissatisfaction in time In order to rectify, at the same time, explain the actual situation from the perspective of the sellers, so that other potential customers can hear different voices so as to make a relatively fair judgment and minimize the negative impact.
4. Receive & fulfill orders
4.1 How many types of orders on ServiceOnline
In order to allow merchants to receive more orders, the platform provides three ways to receive orders: A. Online shop orders, refer to orders placed directly by customers from the online shop after the merchant has released the service; B. Grabed orders, refer to Orders received by the official flagship store of the platform will be automatically pushed to multiple merchants that meet the requirements, and increase the chance of receiving orders; C. Dispatched orders, refers to the order received by the official flagship store of the platform, then assign orders to a certain merchant according to the wishes of customers or the service ability. Merchants can view and manage the 3 types of orders in the Merchant Center or Merchant APP’s "Grabed/Dispatched Orders" menu. Both the grabbed orders and the assigned orders will enter the order center for you to arrange services in a unified manner.
4.2 Will I be notified when new orders placed?
Every time there is a new order depite the order types, the platform will send you a notification via SMS or email to remind you to deal with it in time. You can update your mobile phone and email in the Merchant Centre - store management - store information, or log in to the front page and modify it in "My - Account Management".
4.3 How to check the customer's order? Can I view and process it with my mobile phone?
In order to make it easier for you to take orders and do business anytime, anywhere, in addition to the PC version of the Merchant Centre, we also provide a mobile version of the merchant APP. You can scan the code to download from the "Download APP" section of Lervice.com's official website. The merchant APP can view and manage orders, list and delist products, manage settlement, etc. If you need to add a new service or modify the prices and pictures of existing services, you still need to use the computer/PC version to process.
4.4 What should I do if the appointment time or address is incorrect or not available?
The appointment time that the customer fills in when placing the order is the most desired service time. It is recommended that you do your best to satisfy it to improve customer satisfaction. If you really cannot provide service at that time, you can contact the customer to change the time, and there is no need to modify the service time in the system.
4.5 How to invalidate the service code?
After a customer has booked a service from the platform, the platform will issue a booking voucher to the customer. This voucher is a 12 -digit QR code, which named "Service Code ". After you have completed the service, you need to ask the customer to show the QR code and invalidate it, which means that you have completed the service. The QR code will become invalid after verification and cannot be used again. You can login to the Merchant Centre with your PC and enter these 12 digits for verification on the "Transaction - Order Management - Service Code Verification" page, or you can scan the QR code for verification using the "Verify Service Code" function of the merchant APP.
4.6 What should I do if there are changes in actual service scope that lead to an increase in service fees?
Although the customer has booked a certain Lervice.com and paid for it, the actual consumption may change and increase the cost. This happens from time to time. If available, you can require customers to pay the additional costs onsite; the more common way in ecommerce practice is, you can upload a special product/service named “$1 product”, so customers are able to pay the additional cost by purchasing this “$1 product”, if the additional cost is $10, then just order 10 units of the special product will do. One more order will add one more transaction record, and one more opportunity for customers to post a good review, which will improve the overall score of the online shop. (Platform commission will apply to this special order as well.)
5. Collection and settlement of funds
5.1 When will I receive the service fee paid by the customer?
The basic transaction procedure of the platform is: the customer places an order from the platform and pays the fee. At this time, the fee will be temporarily kept by the platform. After you complete the service delivery and scan the service code, the fee will be ready for processing for settlement (if it is a physical product, there will be a 10 days after sales return period before the fee to be processed), the platform will accumulate all costs to be settled on a weekly basis and send to our payment gateway partner for settlement. In summary, for service products, the time you receive the service fee is about 7 days after you complete the service and scan the service code.
5.2 Why is the service fee I received different from the price I posted?
The main reason is that the platform will deduct the platform commission before settle the balance to you. For example, the commission rate of the platform is 15%, your service price is $100, and then the amount you receive will be $85 (100-100*15%). If there are promotion available on your online shop, for example, a Voucher of $10, then the amount actually paid by the customer will be $90, and the final amount you receive will be $76.5 (90-90*15%). If the Voucher is issued by the platform, this part of the cost will be borne by the platform.
5.3 Why does my platform account have a balance but cannot withdraw?
Because this part of the balance is still waiting for settlement. After you complete the service and invalidate the service code, the funds will enter the settlement state. The platform needs to follow the settlement cycle of the payment institution (including card issuance bank and clearance institution like Visa/MasterCard) for reconciliation. The platform will transfer the fund to you as soon as we receive the fund from the payment institution. Generally speaking, for service products, the time you receive the service fee is about 7 days after you complete the service and scan the service code.
5.4 Is there a limit to withdraw from my account? Any handling fee?
At present, the cash withdrawal amount set by the platform is $1~$5000 per time. If exceeded, please contact the platform customer service. If your receiving account is a local bank account in Singapore, the withdrawal fee will be borne by the platform. You will be responsible for the handling fee for an overseas account out of Singapore, and the platform will deduct the handling fee and release the balance to you.
5.5 Can I withdraw my balance to any bank card or PayNow number?
For the safety of your funds, the platform can only transfer funds to the bank account or PayNow number bound when you opened the store. If you need to change your account, please apply for the change before cashing out or settlement.
5.6 The customer used vouchers or Ang Baos or points to deduct the payment. Who will bear these costs?
The basic principle is who initiates and who bears the cost. If it is a promotional activity initiated by you, including Vouchers, full reduction, cash Ang Baos, etc., this part of the cost shall be borne by you; if it is a promotional activity initiated by the platform, the cost shall be borne by the platform.
6. Manage user rating and reviews
6.1 Who can rate and review my service? What factors will these rating/reviews based on?
Only customers who actually place orders with you can rate and review your service after completing the service delivery (that is, after you scan the service code), to ensure that each evaluation is based on the customer's true service experience. Each customer’s rating includes the following three aspects: first is a text evaluation that expresses the overall service experience; second is a comprehensive score, ranging from one star to five stars; third is the score for three subdivision indicators. Including the business's professional service, service attitude and cost-effectiveness of purchase. The scores from multiple customers will be calculated according to the formula to show a comprehensive score in your shop and on the detail page of each product / service on the shelf for customers to view and reference.
6.2 Can I respond to customer reviews?
Of course you can, and you are encouraged to give feedback on customer reviews in a timely manner. You can properly explain your service concept and service features while thanking customers for their reviews. Especially after encountering moderate or bad reviews, you need to contact customers in time to understand the reasons for customer dissatisfaction and make timely rectify. Each customer has the opportunity to post a 2nd review after the first evaluation, by providing customers with satisfied remedial measures to ask customers for a 2nd favorable review is a very useful public relations strategy. If the customer refuses the remedial measures, you can also explain what happened from the perspective of the business, so that customers can hear different voices, see more comprehensive information, and let customers make their own judgments.
6.3 Can I delete or modify customer reviews?
Cannot. In order to maintain true and objective evaluation content, once the rating and review is submitted, neither the merchant nor the customer can modify or delete it. For negative reviews, as a merchant, you can take remedial measures to regain the customer’s praise and ask the customer to add a 2nd review.
7. Refund and Returns
7.1 What is the refund procedures for service products?
Since service products do not involve logistics and return issues, in principle, customers are allowed to refund at any time, including orders that have not been used after the expiration date. This will help to eliminate customers' worries about booking online in advance, and help a lot to win more orders and revenue. For service products, if the merchant allows refunds, then the system will automatically refund to the customer after a refund application is submitted by customer.
7.2 What is the return / refund process for physical products?
For physical products, as it involves returns after the customer initiates a refund application, the merchant will need to agree to the return. Then, the customer returns the goods to the merchant's designated address. After the merchant receives the product, the refund application will be approved and executed.
7.3 Can I select not to support refunds?
For some of the services, you may select "Refunds not supported" when publishing and listing. This requirement will be clearly displayed in the service description for customers to determine whether to purchase. If the customer understands and accepts it, then the customer will not be able to apply for a refund, even if the service is not satisfactory or the service is not consumed, it is obviously not friendly to the customer. Under normal circumstances, it is recommended that you follow the business model of Internet service booking and allow customers to refund, so that customers can purchase services with greater peace of mind.
8. Marketing & promotional tools
8.1 What marketing and promotion tools available on the platform?
From the perspective of merchants, there are 6 major marketing tools you can use: Voucher, Discount, Flash Deal, Bundle Deal, Ang Bao and Free Shipping. These marketing tools are reflected on the platform as 6 corresponding functional modules, which originally required purchase to use, now they are all free for merchants to use (in terms of operations, you still need to click the buy button to purchase the corresponding marketing tools, but the payment amount is $0)
8.2 What are the benefits of using marketing promotion tools?
Marketing tool helps a lot in interacting with customers, such as Vouchers, you can provide Vouchers of different amounts in your shop and allow customers to use the voucher when the purchase meet a certain amount. It can play a role in three aspects, No. one is to attract customers to buy from your shop (rather than a competitor’s shop that does not have Vouchers); No. 2 is to attract customers to place orders as soon as possible (while the Voucher is valid), and No. 3 is to encourage customers buy higher amounts (thus using higher value Vouchers). Obviously, each of the above benefits is very important to you, which can attract and cultivate more customers to become loyal customers.
8.3 How to use “Voucher” marketing tool?
No. 1, set different voucher value and usage thresholds to encourage customer to hit higher amount for bigger voucher. No.2 is to set the validity period of Vouchers to attract customers to buy as soon as possible within the validity period to enjoy the discount; No.3 is to ensure the value of the Voucher must be attractive, generally speaking, it cannot be less than 5% of the order amount. For example, if you set a $5 Voucher, the threshold for use cannot exceed $100, and the threshold for $10 Vouchers cannot exceed $200, otherwise the attractiveness to customers is too small to be effective.
8.4 How to use the “Discount” marketing tool?
As the name implies, “Discount” means that a certain amount of discount will be automatically deducted when the purchase amount reaches a certain threshold. The biggest difference between this tool and Vouchers is that the Vouchers need to be collected by the customer before they can be used, while the “Discount” does not need to be collected or claimed, as long as the order amount reaches the threshold you set, it can be used directly.
8.5 How to use the “Flash Deal” marketing tool?
“Flash Deal” is a marketing tool that allows customers to enjoy discounts when they place an order within a specified time. You can use this tool if you want to sell some specific service in a short time to meet the weekly/monthly sales target. You can set the promotion time to say 24 hours. Any purchase during this period can enjoy special prices or special discounts, which can help you quickly reach sales targets. The goal, on the other hand, is to reward those customers who follow your shop and give them more benefit to become loyal customers.
8.6 How to use the “Bundle Deal” marketing tool?
Bundle Deal is to pack more than two products together for sale, so as to obtain a more favorable price than buying separately. You can package two related services as a whole to attract customers to purchase at the same time, which increases the chance of cross-selling on the one hand, and allows customers to get more benefits on the other hand.
8.7 How to use the “Ang Bao” marketing tool?
Ang Bao marketing tool allow you to issue an online Ang Bao automatically to the customer who meet a certain purchase amount. The customer can use the Ang Bao amount to deduct the service fee for the next purchase to encourage repeat purchases and become loyal customers. In addition, customers who receive the Ang Bao can also share it with friends through social media channels, and those who receive the Ang Bao can also enjoy discounts when buying, which means existing customers bring in new customers. Compare to the traditional mode, you can only ask customers to introduce new customers to you, but now you can easily meet this target systematically with this marketing tool.
8.8 How to use the “Free Shipping” marketing tool?
Free shipping is mainly for selling physical products, for example, you can set $66 as the amount to enjoy free shipping, so the vast majority of customers will try to meet the &66 threshold to enjoy the benefit. This amount needs to be set according to your profit margin. Setting a low value is of course more attractive to customers, but it will affect your gross profit; setting it too high will lose its appeal to customers. Generally speaking, it is more appropriate to set a number between $50-100.
8.9 What is “Distribution” and how can I participate?
“Distribution” is a very useful social marketing tool to accelerate sales. In addition to the end consumers, there are also many distributors on Lervice.com platform. They will share the services on the platform to their friends and earn commission once their friend purchases. Suppose A is a distributor of the platform, and he shares the link to B to purchase the service, then A can get a certain percentage of commission reward; B later becomes a distributor and recommends C to purchase the service, then both A and B can get the commission award. Through this social sharing mode, the transaction volume can be rapidly expanded. You can go to “Distribute” page in the Merchant Centre and select the services you wish to be distributed and set the commission ratio of each distribution level, then the distributors of the platform will take the initiative to help you promote the service. The distribution commission is borne by the merchant and will be directly deducted from the settlement amount.