Shop Operations Partner · Worldwide

Your shop. Our obsession.
We only earn when you sell.

The Online Marketing Partnership is how we work with product businesses globally. You bring the stock and the customers. We build, manage, and grow the online sales machine. Flat monthly base fee. Marginal tiered commission from 5% down to 1% — each rate applies only to the sales within that bracket. No retainer risk. No agency billing.

27years
experience
293active
partners
5%→1%commission
tiered by volume
Your currency.
Your market.

Most agencies charge whether you sell or not. We don't earn our commission until your shop clears the threshold. That's not a marketing promise — it's literally how we get paid.

The Model

Two numbers.
That's the whole deal.

A flat base fee covers everything we do to keep your shop running. A marginal tiered commission on net sales is how we earn our growth — starting at 5% on the first R500k, reducing in steps to 1% on sales above R10M. Each rate applies only to the sales within its bracket, not your full total. No sales? You pay the base fee only — we earn nothing extra.

Base Fee — Monthly
Flat rate
Covers hosting on our managed servers, WooCommerce shop management, FluentCRM automations, newsletters, social media distribution, and all plugin and security updates. Agreed upfront. Billed in your local currency.
Commission — Marginal Tiered
5%→1%
Each rate applies only to the portion of net sales within that bracket — not your full monthly total. Net = gross sales minus returns and coupons. International commissions deposited to our international account.
Sales BracketRate
First R500,0005.0%
Next R500k (→R1M)4.0%
Next R1M (→R2M)3.0%
Next R1M (→R3M)2.5%
Next R2M (→R5M)2.0%
Next R5M (→R10M)1.5%
Above R10M1.0%
Full schedule + example at faq.co.za/terms §9
How the numbers look in practice Worked examples
Small shop — R320k/month
First R320k @ 5%R16,000
Total commissionR16,000
Total FAQ costBase + R16k
Growing shop — R850k/month
First R500k @ 5%R25,000
Next R350k @ 4%R14,000
Total commissionR39,000
Total FAQ costBase + R39k

Each rate applies only to the sales within its bracket — not your full monthly total. Crossing a bracket never increases commission on sales already calculated. Amounts in your local currency. Your confirmed brackets are set out in your Growth SLA before you sign.

What's Included

Everything your shop needs.
Nothing you have to manage.

Your base fee covers the full technical stack — not just hosting.

🖥️

Managed Hosting

CloudLinux server, LiteSpeed, Memcached, OPcache. Fast, stable, managed.

🛒

WooCommerce Management

Product loading, pricing, checkout, order flow — all maintained by FAQ.

📧

FluentCRM + Automations

Customer profiles, purchase sequences, abandoned cart, newsletter campaigns.

📱

Social Media Distribution

Products and promotions shared to Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram.

🔒

Security + Updates

Weekly plugin updates, security monitoring, uptime checks.

📊

Analytics + Reporting

Sales data, traffic, conversion tracking visible in your dashboard.

Who does what

Simple division. No grey areas.

You handle
  • Approved Product List — submitted with change flags before any import or load
  • Product info, pricing and photos — supplied per the approved list
  • Your stock levels and product supply
  • Packaging and order fulfilment
  • Current client database (POPIA-compliant)
  • Customer queries needing product knowledge — within 24 hours
  • EFT payment confirmations within 48 hours
  • 48-hour advance notice before any social post promoting a product or special
  • Monthly content calendar submitted before the last business day of each month
  • External service accounts (paid plugins, WhatsApp API, SMS credits) — you set up, you own
FAQ handles
  • Full ownership of the technical environment — servers, hosting, uptime
  • Your site and email migrated to and managed on FAQ servers
  • Product loading, SEO and catalogue maintenance — from your approved list
  • CRM, automations, abandoned cart, and email campaigns
  • Site-first social media and newsletter distribution with backlinks
  • Discount codes, tracking, and autoresponders prepared ahead of your campaigns
  • Security, updates and performance
  • Monthly Shadow Invoice — full development cost visibility at zero charge to you
How the Partnership Works in Practice

A real partnership means
both sides do their part.

FAQ carries the development cost — no retainer, no hourly billing for building your sales machine. In return, the partnership runs on a clear workflow that protects your brand, your catalogue, and your marketing — and makes sure FAQ's investment goes where it generates sales.

📋

Approved Product List — before every import

Nothing gets loaded without your written Approved Product List. Each item is flagged: NEW, PRICE UPDATE, REMOVE, or NO CHANGE. This means every product on your site is intentional, priced correctly, and ready to sell. No more phantom imports, no rework, no wasted effort on either side.

📲

Site first. Socials second. Always with a backlink.

Every promotion, product launch, or special starts on your website — then goes to social. This builds your search presence, gives customers somewhere to land, and makes every post measurable. Give us 48 hours' notice before a campaign goes live and we'll have the product featured, the discount code live, the tracking set, and the autoresponder ready before your first follower sees it.

📄

Shadow Invoice — you always know what this is worth

Every month, FAQ issues a Shadow Invoice showing all development work completed at our full standard rates — with a 100% discount applied. Net payable: zero. This isn't admin for its own sake. It's proof of what FAQ is investing in your shop, and it means both of us always know the real value of the partnership. No surprises at renewal. No "but what have you actually done?" conversations.

🔌

External services — your account, your cost, your control

If your shop needs a specific paid plugin, WhatsApp Business API credits, SMS gateway credits, or any other third-party service — you set it up, you pay for it, and you own the account. FAQ specifies exactly what you need and how to set it up. You grant us access, we handle the integration. Your costs stay clean. Your accounts stay yours if you ever leave.

Scope sign-off — before we build anything

For any development task over one hour, FAQ sends you a written Scope Confirmation before a single line of code is written. You confirm in writing. We build. If you change your mind after sign-off, the time spent is recoverable — we're investing real resources in your shop and the Scope Confirmation is what protects both of us.

📅

Monthly content calendar — campaigns that land

Submit your planned posts, promotions, and product launches by the last business day of each month. FAQ reviews against your live catalogue, confirms what's ready, flags what needs preparation, and lines up the site-side infrastructure — so when your campaign goes live, the whole machine is firing together.

How It Starts

From application to
first sale — four steps.

01
Week 1

Background Investigation & Fit Call

You submit the application. We analyse your business, products, market, and growth potential before we talk. If we see a genuine fit, we schedule a call. If we don't, we'll tell you upfront — no wasted time on either side.

02
Weeks 2–4

Setup — We Build the Machine

Shop, FluentCRM, automations, payment gateway, social channels — all configured. Your products loaded, reviewed and approved. This is the intensive phase. We do the heavy lifting so the ongoing work stays lean — around one hour per week from you once the shop is live.

03
Month 2+

Growth Phase — Threshold in Sight

Shop is live. We're driving traffic through newsletters, social, and automation sequences. Our goal is to get you past your sales threshold as fast as possible — that's when we both start earning more. Your weekly involvement at this point is roughly one hour.

04
Ongoing

Optimisation — We Never Stop

Continuous product updates, seasonal campaigns, CRM refinements, conversion improvements. The longer we work together, the better the data and the better the results. No lock-in — but the model compounds in value the longer it runs.

Who This Is For

We're selective. Intentionally.

We only partner with businesses we're confident we can grow. This keeps our focus sharp and your results meaningful.

Good fit ✓
  • Registered business with a trading address
  • Products in production with a sales history
  • Able to supply product info, pricing and photos via an Approved Product List
  • Can fulfil and ship orders reliably
  • Warranty and returns policy in place or willing to implement one
  • Wants a long-term growth partner, not a once-off build
  • Willing to submit a monthly content calendar and give 48 hours' notice before social promotions
  • Willing to migrate your site and email to FAQ's managed servers — FAQ takes full admin ownership of the technical environment, your staff get WooCommerce Shop Manager access for products, stock and prices
Not a fit ✕
  • Startups with no product or sales history
  • Businesses that can't supply product content, photos, or an Approved Product List
  • No fulfilment or stock management capability
  • Looking for a short trial with no commitment
  • Expecting results without providing content input or advance notice of campaigns
  • Unwilling to follow the site-first publishing model for social promotions
  • Products restricted from online sale in your jurisdiction
On startups: We don't partner with businesses that don't yet have products in production and a proven sales track record. The commission model only works when there's a solid product foundation — we're investing our infrastructure and time, and we need confidence that the base is there.
The Fine Print — Plain English

No surprises.
Here's exactly how it works.

Full terms at faq.co.za/terms — but here's what matters most.

1

Your data is yours. If you leave, we provide your site design, products, and sales data on a vanilla WordPress + WooCommerce install. No proprietary lock-in on your content.

2

Commission is marginal and tiered. Each rate applies only to the portion of net sales within that bracket — like income tax brackets. Gross sales minus returns and coupons = net sales. The bracket structure is set out in full at faq.co.za/terms §9 and confirmed in your Growth SLA before you sign.

3

FAQ owns the technical environment. You own your business. Your site and email migrate to FAQ's managed servers. FAQ holds full admin access and takes responsibility for keeping everything running. Your staff get WooCommerce Shop Manager access — full control over products, stock levels and pricing. No backend, FTP or cPanel access is provided to clients.

4

EFT orders: 48-hour confirmation. Your team marks EFT payments as received within 48 hours of the customer placing the order. Courier tracking codes updated online.

5

12-month initial term. Early exit means all outstanding base fees for the remaining months are due immediately. Commission accrued to exit date is also payable. After the initial term: month-to-month with one month's notice. No long-term lock-in.

6

Your information stays confidential. Application details and business data are used solely for partnership evaluation and delivery — never shared outside FAQ.

7

Product catalogue workflow. FAQ loads nothing without a written Approved Product List from you, with items flagged as NEW, PRICE UPDATE, REMOVE, or NO CHANGE. If products are removed after FAQ has loaded them based on an approved list, the rework is a new billable task. Full details at faq.co.za/terms §7.8.

8

Shadow Invoice & Feature Removal Fee. FAQ tracks all development investment monthly via a Shadow Invoice at full rates — discounted to zero. If you instruct FAQ to remove or replace a completed feature, a Feature Removal Fee of 50% of the original development cost applies. This protects FAQ's investment and ensures both parties treat development decisions seriously. Full details at faq.co.za/terms §7B.

9

External services are your cost and your account. Paid plugins, WhatsApp API credits, SMS credits, and any other third-party services required for your shop are procured and paid for by you directly. FAQ specifies what's needed and handles integration once you've set up the account. Full details at faq.co.za/terms §7C.

One Form. 5 Minutes.

Let's find out if we're
the right fit for each other.

We review every application before responding. If we see a genuine opportunity to grow your sales, we'll reach out to schedule a fit call. If we don't think we can add value, we'll tell you that too — honestly and quickly.

✓ No obligation ✓ Response within 2 business days ✓ Your information stays confidential
Let’s see if we’re a fit (#23)

We build and run your entire online infrastructure.

Here's why you can trust us with the keys.

27 years of shipping real results

We've been building WooCommerce stores, auctions, and high-growth e-commerce systems since most agencies still thought "online shop" meant a basic brochure site.

Your stuff stays yours

Products, customer data, domain, brand assets — all of it. If you ever leave (with accounts settled), we hand everything over cleanly. We only keep our own code and configs, and that's stated upfront in the contract. No surprises. No hidden clauses.

Security isn't optional

We maintain full admin control over servers and sites. This isn't a power move — it's required for the shared infrastructure and SLAs we guarantee. Enterprise-grade hardening, automated backups, real-time malware scanning, and constant monitoring come standard. Performance and protection without the headaches.

Everything in writing

Commission rates, thresholds, deliverables — all signed before we touch a single file. Verbal promises don't exist here.

We only say yes when we believe it will work

293 active partners. 90%+ retention over decades. If we don't see a clear path to success for your business, we'll tell you upfront — not after months of wasted time.

🤝 Find us on social

We're not a faceless operation. Find FAQ across these platforms — same team, same people, same Eddie.