Overview
The price you enter on an offer form is your selling price — the amount you want to receive for the product. This is not the price buyers see at checkout. SolarMarket adds a platform commission on top of your price to cover marketplace operations, and the total becomes what the buyer pays.
This guide explains the pricing chain from what you enter to what buyers pay, how to set a public discount, and how to read the live price preview panel.
The Offer Price Field
The Price field (in UGX) is your selling price — the amount you keep before any commission is calculated. Enter the full amount you want to receive. Do not try to pre-subtract commission; the platform calculates it for you.
If you want to receive UGX 450,000 for a battery, enter 450,000. The platform will show buyers a higher price that includes the commission. You always receive your entered price regardless of what the buyer pays.
Currency
All prices on SolarMarket are in Uganda Shillings (UGX). The currency field defaults to UGX and should not be changed unless specifically instructed by SolarMarket support.
How Commission Works
SolarMarket charges a commission on each sale. The commission is added on top of your price — it does not come out of what you entered. Your selling price is protected.
How Your Commission Rate Is Determined
Commission rates are not stored on the offer. They are resolved in this priority order:
- Per-seller, per-category override — if SolarMarket has set a custom rate for your shop on a specific product category, that rate applies first
- Shop-level override — if your shop has a custom commission rate set by admin, it applies to all your offers
- System setting — the platform-wide commission rule, which may be seller-based, category-based, or a fixed rate
- Fallback — 10% if no other rule applies
To see your current commission rate, check your My Offers list — the commission column shows the UGX amount and percentage for each live offer.
The Full Pricing Chain
Starting from your entered price, here is how the buyer-payable amount is calculated:
- Your Offer Price: UGX 450,000
- Minus public discount (if any): − UGX 0
- Minus RBF subsidy (if offer has an active RBF plan): − UGX 0
- Plus platform commission (10% example): + UGX 45,000
- Plus installation fee (if applicable): + UGX 0
- Plus delivery fee (if applicable): + UGX 0
- Buyer pays: UGX 495,000
Each component is described below.
Setting a Public Discount
You can optionally advertise a discount to buyers. The discount is deducted from your offer price before commission is calculated, so a discount reduces both what the buyer pays and what you receive.
Enabling a Discount
In the Commercial Terms section of the offer form, tick the "Has Discount" checkbox. The discount fields appear:
- Discount Type — choose Fixed Amount (a flat UGX deduction) or Percentage (0–100%)
- Discount Value — the amount or percentage to deduct from your price
- Discount Start Date (optional) — leave blank for the discount to apply immediately, or set a future date
- Discount End Date (optional) — leave blank for an open-ended discount, or set a date after which full price resumes
You want to run a 5% off promotion on a solar panel from 1 July to 31 July. Set Discount Type = Percentage, Discount Value = 5, Start Date = 2026-07-01, End Date = 2026-07-31. Outside those dates, full price applies automatically.
A 5% discount on a UGX 500,000 offer means you receive UGX 475,000 and commission is calculated on 475,000. The discount comes from your side of the price, not from the platform commission.
Discount Cap
There is a maximum discount percentage enforced by the platform. Offers with discounts that push the effective price below the minimum viable margin threshold will be flagged during admin review. Use discounts to create genuine promotional pricing, not to artificially deflate your listed price.
Shipping Fee and Installation
Two additional costs can be added to the buyer's total:
- Shipping Fee — a fallback flat fee for delivery. Per-region delivery rules (set in the Delivery section) override this. See How to Configure Stock, Location, and Delivery for the full delivery guide.
- Requires Installation — toggle to Yes if the product requires professional installation. A separate Installation Fee field appears; enter the UGX amount charged for installation. This fee is added to the buyer's checkout total.
The Live Price Preview Panel
At the bottom of the offer form, a Live Price Preview panel updates in real time as you fill in the form. It shows every line item in the pricing chain so you can see exactly what the buyer will pay before you submit.
What the Preview Shows
- Retail Offer Price (your entered price)
- Public Product Discount (UGX deduction, if discount enabled)
- Buyer Payable Before Shipping
- Agent Selling status (Enabled or No Commission)
- Agent Discount Rule and Commission Pool (UGX)
- Agent Price Reference
- Seller Keeps Without Agent Sale
- Seller Keeps On Agent Sale
- Platform Commission (% and UGX)
- Product Price With Platform Commission
- Shipping
- Installation
- Final Buyer Payable (total at checkout)
- Stock
Use this panel to sanity-check your pricing before submitting. If the final buyer payable looks wrong, adjust your price or discount fields — the panel updates instantly.
You entered UGX 600,000 for an inverter with a 5% discount and a 10% commission rate:
Offer Price: 600,000 → Discount: −30,000 → After Discount: 570,000 → Commission (10%): +57,000 → Final Buyer Payable: 627,000.
You receive: 570,000 (your price minus the discount you offered). The buyer pays 627,000.
What the Buyer Sees
On the product page, buyers see the final buyer-payable price — your offer price plus commission (and minus any discount or RBF subsidy if applicable). Your individual offer price is not shown separately to buyers; they see the end-total price your offer produces.
When HP financing is enabled, buyers also see a "Starting from X" upfront amount based on the lowest down payment across your HP plans. See How to Set Up Hire Purchase Financing.
VAT and WHT Display Labels
In the Tax Display section of the form, you can mark your offer price:
- VAT Inclusive — flags the price as inclusive of 18% VAT. This is a display label only; it does not change the amount you entered or the buyer's total.
- WHT Exempt — marks the product as exempt from Withholding Tax. Display label only.
These labels appear on the buyer's invoice/quotation for transparency. They do not alter any calculated amounts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Because SolarMarket adds a platform commission on top of your selling price. If you entered UGX 400,000 and the commission rate is 10%, buyers see UGX 440,000. This is by design — your entered price is your net amount. The commission is what the platform earns for facilitating the sale.
Yes. Commission is a percentage of your price (or the post-discount price). Lower your price and the absolute commission amount drops proportionally, but the rate stays the same unless your shop or category has a special override.
Yes — open the offer form and look at the Live Price Preview panel. As soon as you enter a price, the panel shows the Platform Commission line with both the percentage and UGX amount. You can also check the commission column on your My Offers list for any existing offers.
There is no hard minimum, but offers priced below a reasonable threshold for the product category may be flagged during admin review. The Live Price Preview will help you see if the effective buyer price looks realistic before you submit.
Check that the discount Start Date has passed — if you set a future start date, the discount activates on that date and the full price shows until then. Also confirm the "Has Discount" checkbox is ticked and saved. If the issue persists after checking those, contact support.
