Marketing and Promotions
How to Set Up a Sale on MakerPlace
Quick Links
Indicate What Percentage Off You'll Offer
View, Cancel or Edit specific sales
Where Shoppers Will See the Sale Prices
How Concurrent sales are handled
Troubleshooting Problems with Setting up a Sale
Get ready to set "sale," makers! You can create a sale by offering a percentage off discount on specific products or everything in your store on MakerPlace in the seller portal.
This is one of the exciting seller-funded features we offer. You can now set up promo codes as well. Seller-driven promotions capture shopper’s attention and help enable you to drive traffic to your MakerPlace store and increase conversion by highlighting offers on the site.
How to Create a Sale:
Log into your Seller Portal
In the left “MY STORE” Navigation sidebar, go to “Marketing” and click on “Sales and Promotions” (It is flagged as “New” feature)
- You will arrive at the Sales and Promotions landing page in the portal. Here, you can create a sale or manage your existing sales/promotions.
- Click on the blue “Create a Sale” button to get started.
This will take you directly to the Create a Sale page (see below), where you will add details and select products to go on sale.
1) Create a name for your sale in the "Sale Details" section
This name is for your reference only (shoppers won’t see this), but make it meaningful, specific, and brief. Choose the naming convention that helps you track the promotions that you are running.
If you are creating a sale that you might do every year, for example, include a dates of the sale and the year in the title, such as “Mother’s Day 15% off Sale 2024.” Alternatively, if you are running a sale on specific items you may decide to name it "Earrings 15% Off Sale May 2024." Note: you have 45 characters with spaces for your title.
2) Indicate the duration of the sale in the “Sale Duration” section.
Select Start and End Date and Times.
All times displayed are in your local time zone. You must schedule your sale at least an hour in advance. Tip: to schedule it as sale to start ASAP, set the start time for five to 10 minutes from the current time to give yourself time to set up the sale.
To give yourself more time to plan the sale, and add in last-minute products, schedule it for several hours or days in advance.Sales can last up to 45 days (about one and a half months).
3) Add products to your sale
For product selection, you can create a sale two ways: put everything in your store on sale or put select, individual products in your store on sale.
a) All Products (default setting):
The percentage off will apply to everything in your store. Note: you can put an unlimited number of items on sale when you select this choice.
Products listed after your sale is scheduled or live will also be included in your sale. If there are a few products in your store you DO NOT want on sale, it’s best to select “individual products” under “Add Products to Sale” when you are setting up your sale.
b) Individual Products:
When you click here, a list of all your products pops up, you can check the ones you want to add to your sale. Note: you are limited to 5,000 items when you select "Individual Products" to go on sale.
If you are selecting individual products to go on sale, and want to add more items to that sale after it is live, you will need to create a new sale for the listings added after the sale went live.
Do you have variants? You will notice that each product variation will display on a separate line, and you are able to see the details of each product variant to know which variation is which, in case you only want to put a specific variant on sale. You'll also see:
A variant-specific product thumbnail photo, if you supplied one
The original price (not sale price) and inventory of your variant
4) Set up your offer
Indicate what percent off you wish to offer on your items or all the items in your store.
The offer must be between 10% and 75%
Retail industry research indicates that 20% to 25% is the minimum offer to motivate customers to buy. Look for more tips on strategies for offering discounted pricing.
When you have selected the products you want to offer on sale, and you’re ready to move on, Click “Save and Continue.” You can also click "Save as a Draft," which gives you more flexibility and control if you need to pause and take care of something else.
Review Your Sale
Clicking "save and continue" will take you to this page where you can review your sale:
You will notice the note “No Minimum” under the “Offer” header. This indicates that the buyer doesn’t have to make a minimum purchase price or quantity before earning the discount.
Review to make sure everything looks good (times, dates, products you want on sale). The time your sale is scheduled for is your local time zone.
Click “Schedule.”
Your sale will be live at the scheduled time.
You can edit sales that have been scheduled or saved as drafts until the sale goes live. After it's live, if you put individual products on sale and you want to make a change, you need to create an additional sale or cancel the sale and start over. The ability to edit a sale after it has published will be available later.
Pro tip: schedule your sale hours or even days in advance to give yourself enough time to thoroughly plan out your sale and consider all the products you may want to put on sale.
How to Manage Your Sales and Promotions
Performance Summary
On the Sales and Promotions page, you can get a view of your Performance Summary, which shows the number of active promotions.
You can also see the details of each purchase of a sale (or any other item) by going to “Orders,” in the left navigation rail, and click on “See Order Details” under “Actions” to get this view of the discount breakdown:
Promotions List
Here, you'll see a list of all your sales and promotions, organized by:
Name you give your promotion/sale
Type of promotion
Status (Draft, Scheduled, Active, Cancelled, Complete)
Start Date
End Date
You can filter your orders according to date range and status:
To view, cancel, or edit a specific sale:
Click the three dots under “Actions” of an individual sale to view or cancel it. Depending on the status of your sale, you will be able to:
View Details: You can view details of any sale, regardless of status.
Cancel: You can cancel scheduled or active sales.
Edit: You can edit a sale that is scheduled or saved as a draft.
You cannot edit a sale when it is active. Instead, you need to cancel the existing sale and create a new one. You can adjust and edit a sale up until it goes live. NOTE: You will have to reset the clock for the promotion start time to an hour from when you are editing your sale.
What Shoppers Will See
Once a sale is scheduled and live, buyers will generally see the three pieces of information communicating your sale price:
Sale price (in red)
Strike-through original price (in grey)
Dollar amount of savings (percentage off) (i.e., “You save $2.00 (20%)”).
If a product doesn’t have any variants: Shoppers will see all three pieces of information above: sales price in red, original price with strike-through, and “You save $XX.00 (XX%)”
If your product has variants: Shoppers will only see a price range from lowest to highest, the original price with strike-through, but not “You save $XX.00 (XX%).” A buyer will see all three pieces of information when they select a variant that has a promotional price.
Note: there may be a brief time delay between when your sale goes live and when shoppers will see the products marked on sale.
Where will shoppers see the sale price?
The sale prices will appear in various places where buyers shop and purchase on the site:
Product page
Search results or category browsing pages
Your store
Buyer’s cart and checkout
Order History/Order Detail page
Order confirmation email
Returns communication
What a sale price looks like on a Product Page
If you don't have any variants of the product you’re offering on sale, the discounted pricing will show the sale price (in red), the strike-through original price in grey and the dollar savings and percent savings in bold as seen below:
If you created variants on your product, your product page will only display the sale price in red and the strike-through original price in grey—until a buyer selects an option, as below:
Once a shopper selects an option from your variants, they will see the specific product’s sale price (in red), a strike-through the original price (in grey) and “You save $X.00 (XX%).”
What your sale price looks like on MakerPlace search and browse pages
Discount prices will appear for your listing on shoppers’ search results pages and related browse category pages. Sale prices will be visible on other landing pages such as the home page, Gift Guide and other specialty landing pages soon.
What buyers will see in their cart when they place an order:
Sale prices will be visible throughout the purchase cycle, in customers’ carts, order history and confirmation emails.
Cart:
Order History/Order Details:
This information will also be shared with customers via an order confirmation email.
Why is this Feature Important?
Everyone loves a good deal. Offering discounts can be a powerful tool for you to drive sales, attract customers, and achieve your business objectives. Promotions capture buyers’ attention and can help drive traffic to your MakerPlace store. You can also help increase sales by highlighting your MakerPlace offers in your marketing efforts, like social media, email newsletters and other places. If a customer is on the fence about making a purchase, and they see it on sale, that could tip the scales to encourage them to buy.
Here are some of the top reasons you may want to offer discounts to customers:
Increase Sales: Offering discounts can attract more customers and increase sales volume. Lower prices can incentivize hesitant buyers to make a purchase, whether they are a first-time buyer from you or a return buyer.
Boost Conversion Rates: Offering limited-time discounts can encourage customers to complete their purchases.
Amp up Your Marketing and Brand Awareness: Discounts can be part of marketing campaigns to increase brand awareness and reach a wider audience. Promoting sales or offering special deals can attract attention and drive traffic to your store.
Promote New Products: Discounting new products or collections can generate buzz and encourage customers to try them out. It's a way to introduce new items to potential customers.
Generate Sales Around Special Events: Sellers may offer discounts to celebrate special occasions such as holidays, anniversaries, or milestones.
Clear Inventory: You can use discounts to clear out old or excess inventory, freeing up space for new products. This can help prevent stock from becoming obsolete or outdated. Please note: Use of the word “clearance” is regulated – it is your responsibility to be sure you use it correctly. As a general rule, you should not offer the merchandise again at regular price after discounting it, and you should not mark it down further after labelling it on “clearance.”
Competitive Advantage: Offering discounts can help you stand out from competitors and attract price-sensitive shoppers.
What You Can Do to Make the Most of the MakerPlace Seller-funded Sale Tool
When you create a sale with this tool, it’s important to continue to follow best practices for creating product listings.
Don’t adjust your product listing in a way that could prevent your product from being selected for paid advertising or merchandising placements.
Don’t put “sale” or “clearance" or “XX% off” in your product title, as this could negatively impact your SEO efforts. Keep titles clean, descriptive, succinct and optimized.
Join our Seller Affliate program to earn commission that will offset the cost of your sale. Offer a 15% discount and your 15% commission on sales that originate from your affilate link to your store covers it! (Note: You will only receive commission on sales of any items on MakerPlace (whether yours or other sellers') that originated from your store affiliate link.)
- Set up a Promo Code to share along with your Store Affiliate Link.
- Share your store affiliate link and only your affiliate link widely.
- Post on social media, especially your Instagram link in bio or LinkTree.
- Add your affiliate link to your website, e-newsletters, and blog.
- Create and add a free QR code to your affiliate store link and drop it on business cards, thank you notes to customers that you include in packages, signage when at craft shows, etc.
- At the very least, email your store affiliate link directly to friends and family.
Get more sales and promotions strategy tips on how to decide what percentage off to offer and ideas for types of sales and how to promote them.
How Concurrent Sales on the Same Items are Handled
You can set up overlapping promotions for your items, but once a customer adds the item to their cart, MakerPlace will automatically apply the best active deal you’re offering for the item.
If at any time there are one or more Seller-driven promotions and MakerPlace site offers applicable to the same order, the promotions will be applied in the following manner:
1) First, Seller-driven sales, which are either a percent or dollar price reduction (“Seller Discounts”) on items or the entire store (other than free shipping) will be applied to an order. If a seller has more than one applicable Seller Discount running, the offer that provides the greatest savings on each item will automatically be applied. Only one Seller Discount will apply per item in an order. Based on the Seller’s selections, not every listing in its storefront may be eligible for a particular offer.
2) Separately, Sellers may provide buyers with promo code discount offers, which are either percent off or dollar price reductions and may require a minimum purchase. They may also be limited to one use per customer. Seller promo codes will not apply to any items that have an active Seller Discount. If there is not an active Seller Discount, you will have to enter a valid Seller promo code to receive that discount offer. If you enter more than one active Seller promo code, the code(s) that provides the greatest savings on the order will be automatically applied.
3) Next, any Seller-offered free shipping will be applied to the order, based on the order total after any applicable seller-driven promotion has been applied.
4) Finally, any MakerPlace site offers will be applied to the order, based on the order total after all seller-driven discounts have been applied. If there is more than one applicable MakerPlace site offer, the offer that provides the greatest discount on the order will automatically be applied.
Read the complete MakerPlace by Michaels Discount Promotions policy.
Troubleshooting Issues with Setting Up Sales
On rare occasions, if you have a high quantity of listings (several thousand, between product listings and variations you offer), products may not appear when you are trying to set up a sale. You may see a “No Products Available” message the first time you attempt to select products to put on sale. This may be due to a number of factors, including loading and timing-out issues due to the quantity of listings. If you get this message, please try again. If the issue persists, reach out to MakerPlace seller support for help at makerplacesellers@michaels.com. Visit this page to learn what our seller support staff needs to assist you with this issue.
Need Help?
If you're experiencing issues setting up a sale, contact MakerPlace Seller Support at makerplacesellers@michaels.com.
