What Is Seller Hire Purchase?
Hire Purchase (HP) on SolarMarket is an instalment plan that you run directly with the buyer — no bank or financial institution is involved. You collect a down payment at sale time, then receive fixed monthly instalments until the buyer has paid in full. The product is handed over after the down payment; ownership transfers when the final instalment is paid.
HP is most commonly used for solar home systems, battery banks, and solar water pumps — products where the full cash price can be a barrier even for buyers who have steady income.
HP = your own scheme, you collect instalments yourself.
FI = bank or microfinance institution collects instalments and pays you upfront.
RBF = a government or donor programme subsidises the buyer's price.
These are separate settings on the same offer — you can enable one, two, or all three.
Enabling Hire Purchase on an Offer
In the Financing section of the offer form, tick the "Enable Hire Purchase" checkbox. The HP Plans editor appears below it.
If the HP checkbox is not visible on your offer form, HP financing has not been enabled for your account type. Contact SolarMarket support if you believe it should be available to you.
The Quick Fill Tool
The Quick Fill tool is the fastest way to create HP plans. Instead of filling each row manually, you enter three parameters and the tool generates a reducing-balance repayment schedule for every term you specify.
Quick Fill Fields
- Terms (months) — a comma-separated list of plan lengths you want to offer. For example:
6, 12, 24creates three separate plans of 6, 12, and 24 months. - Down Payment (%) — the percentage of the cash price that the buyer pays upfront before receiving the product. Enter as a whole number (e.g. 20 for 20%).
- Interest Rate (% per annum) — the annual interest rate on the financed amount. Enter as a whole number or decimal (e.g. 24 for 24% p.a.). Enter 0 for interest-free plans.
- Replace existing rows — if you already have HP plan rows from a previous fill, tick this to clear them before generating new ones. Leave unticked to add new rows on top of existing ones.
Click "Generate Rows" to run the calculation. The table below fills with one or more instalment plan rows.
Product cash price: UGX 1,200,000
Terms: 6, 12
Down Payment: 30%
Interest Rate: 24% p.a.
Quick Fill generates two HP plan rows:
• 6-month plan: Down = 360,000 (30%), Financed = 840,000, Monthly instalment ≈ 153,860
• 12-month plan: Down = 360,000 (30%), Financed = 840,000, Monthly instalment ≈ 83,790
(All figures are calculated on a reducing balance — each instalment reduces the principal, so interest charges decrease each month.)
Reading the HP Plans Table
Each generated row represents one HP plan. The columns are:
Columns You Set (or that Quick Fill fills)
- Schedule Month — the month number in the repayment schedule (1, 2, 3 ... up to the term). A blank here creates a term-summary row (just the plan overview, not a month-by-month breakdown).
- Term (Months) — total length of this plan in months (e.g. 6, 12, 24, 36)
- Down Payment (%) — the upfront deposit percentage. 20 means the buyer pays 20% of the post-discount cash price before receiving the product.
- Interest Rate (% p.a.) — the annual rate used to calculate interest charges. 0 = interest-free.
Read-Only Computed Columns (auto-calculated, not submitted)
- Monthly Instalment — the equal monthly payment the buyer makes after the down payment, calculated on a reducing balance
- Total Amount — the cumulative buyer spend at that month (down payment + all instalments paid so far)
Display-Only Breakdown Columns
These columns appear when you expand a plan row and are for your reference only:
- Down Payment (UGX amount)
- Financed Amount (Price minus down payment)
- Interest for this period
- Principal portion of this month's instalment
- Loan balance remaining after this payment
Adding Plans Manually
You can add plan rows without using Quick Fill by clicking "Add Plan Row" and filling in each field directly. This is useful when you want non-standard terms (e.g. 18 months) or different down payments for different plan lengths.
Each row you add is independent. You can have as many plans as you like on one offer.
You want to offer a 36-month plan with a 40% down payment and zero interest (interest-free PAYG-style).
Add a row: Term = 36, Down Payment = 40%, Interest Rate = 0.
The computed columns show: Monthly Instalment = financed amount ÷ 36, Total Amount = cash price (no interest).
What Buyers See
When HP is enabled on your offer, the product page shows a financing toggle next to the cash price. Buyers can switch between "Cash" and "Financing" to compare their options. Under Financing, they see:
- A "Starting from UGX X" upfront amount (based on the lowest down payment percentage across all your HP plans)
- All available plans (6-month, 12-month, etc.) with the monthly instalment for each
- A tap/click to expand each plan and see the full payment schedule
On a Quotation generated from your offer, the HP plan details are included in the financing section so the buyer has a written schedule to refer to.
How HP Pricing Connects to Your Offer Price
The down payment and instalments are calculated on your commission-inclusive product price — the buyer-payable cash price including the platform commission. The down payment percentage you enter is applied to that total, not to your net offer price.
Your offer price: UGX 900,000
Commission (10%): UGX 90,000
Buyer-payable cash price: UGX 990,000
If Down Payment = 25%: Buyer pays UGX 247,500 upfront, finances UGX 742,500.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. HP is an option, not a requirement. Buyers can still choose to pay the full cash price at checkout. HP plans appear alongside the cash price so buyers can choose whichever suits them.
HP is managed by you directly — SolarMarket does not automate instalment collection. The platform facilitates the sale and documents the HP schedule, but you are responsible for collecting each monthly payment from the buyer. Most sellers use Mobile Money (MTN or Airtel) for recurring collections.
Yes. Set Interest Rate = 0 in Quick Fill or on a manual row. The buyer pays the down payment plus equal monthly instalments that sum exactly to the financed amount — no interest added.
The platform uses a reducing balance method: each monthly payment covers the interest on the outstanding loan balance, then the remainder reduces the principal. The instalment can therefore differ slightly from a flat-rate calculation. The total-amount column shows the true buyer cost over the full term so you can verify the plan.
Yes. You can edit HP plans as part of a normal offer edit. If the offer is already approved and active, the edit may go through the deferred auto-publish process (live after 10 minutes) or enter a short review queue. See Offer Approval, Editing, and the Change Request System.
HP agreements between you and buyers are your responsibility to manage. SolarMarket provides the platform to document and present the plan, but does not enforce or mediate instalment disputes. Ensure you have a written HP agreement with the buyer, and use the quotation/proforma generated on SolarMarket as part of your documentation.
