What’s included in the Essential vs. Pro plans? 
Both plans give you access to our full marketplace platform and core services, but the Pro Plan offers additional perks to help you grow.
Here’s a quick breakdown of each plan:

Essential Plan ($50/month) – Includes all the basics you need to start selling: 

Personalized Storefront: A custom-branded page on our marketplace for your products and story. 

Marketing: Inclusion in weekly site-wide ads, emails, and social media promotions showcasing your products​.

Order & Tax Handling: We process customer payments and handle sales tax for you​
You also get access to our vendor portal to manage orders.

Shipping Support: Pre-paid shipping labels for your orders (we cover shipping costs, passed to the customer) 

Basic Design Help: Assistance with setting up your online shop visuals – we can help tweak your banner or logo so your store looks great.

Vendor Support: Ongoing support via email or phone whenever you have questions or need help.

Pro Plan ($100/month) – Includes everything in Essential, plus some extra benefits: 

Enhanced Promotion: Extra marketing exposure such as dedicated social media shout-outs or featured spots in our newsletters and homepage. Pro vendors are highlighted more frequently in our campaigns.

Advanced Store Customization: More in-depth design and branding assistance. Our team can help with custom graphics or additional page layouts for your storefront (services that might normally incur an extra fee are included for Pro)​mainstreetco.us.

Priority Support: Faster, priority responses to your needs and one-on-one guidance to help you optimize your online shop.

Early Access Opportunities: First pick for special promotions, collaborations, or events we organize for our vendors. No matter which plan you choose, our bonus remains 20% on sales for both, and you’ll have full access to our vendor community and resources to help your business thrive.

Nope – you don’t have to worry about sales tax at all. Main Street Collective takes care of calculating, collecting, and remitting any required sales taxes for every sale​. We charge the appropriate sales tax to the customer at checkout and handle filing it with the state. This means you can stay focused on your business, and all the tax compliance paperwork is handled by us in the background.

We make shipping hassle-free for our vendors. When one of your items sells, we pay for the shipping label upfront and the cost is passed on to the customer at checkout. You’ll get a ready-to-print prepaid UPS shipping label for the order directly from our system. All you need to do is print the label, package your product, and send it off (no out-of-pocket shipping expense for you)​. We provide tracking to the customer and even handle any shipping issues that might arise. In short, you don’t have to calculate postage or charge your customer for shipping – we’ve got it covered as part of our service.

Main Street Collective is open to Mississippi-based small businesses and entrepreneurs. To join, you should be a Mississippi resident or have a registered business in Mississippi (we’ll ask for a proof of residency or business license during onboarding). We welcome a wide range of vendors – makers, artisans, local boutiques, service providers, and other niche businesses are all encouraged to apply​. Essentially, if you’re a small business creating quality products or services here in Mississippi, you’re exactly who we built this marketplace for! (Note: We do require that all vendors comply with local/state laws and have any necessary business licenses, but most Mississippi small businesses will meet these requirements.)

Getting started is simple and quick. Here are the steps to join and launch your shop on Main Street Collective:Apply Online: Fill out our vendor application form (on the “Become a Vendor” page). It’s a brief form where you tell us about your business and upload proof that you’re Mississippi-based. This part only takes a few minutes.Choose a Plan: As part of the application, you’ll select either the Essential or Pro plan for your subscription. (Don’t worry – we won’t charge you until you’re approved. Both plans have the 20% commission structure.)Application Review: Once you submit your application, our team will review it within a few business days. We just want to verify your Mississippi business status and ensure a good fit. We’ll get back to you quickly – you won’t be left waiting long.Onboarding & Setup: After approval, we’ll send you a welcome email with instructions to access your Vendor Portal. Now the fun part – setting up your storefront! You can start adding your products, descriptions, prices, and photos. We’ll help by importing some initial info if possible, and our team is available to assist or answer questions as you set up your shop.Launch Your Store: Once you’ve added your products and everything looks good, we’ll make your online store live on our marketplace. From that point, customers can find and purchase your products. The whole process from application to launch can be as fast as a week or so (sometimes even just a few days) – it mainly depends on how quickly you can get your product info ready. We strive to make onboarding smooth, so you can start selling as soon as possible. In summary, you could be up and selling within about one week of applying. 😄 We’ll be with you at every step to ensure a smooth launch!

We pride ourselves on being very vendor-friendly, so you’ll have plenty of support from our team:Dedicated Assistance: You’re not alone after you join. We offer ongoing support via email and phone for all our vendors. Have a question about using the dashboard, fulfilling an order, or anything else? Just reach out to us and we’ll help. We’re a small team that truly cares, so you can expect quick, personalized responses (Pro plan members get priority handling, but everyone gets friendly support).Marketing & Promotion: We don’t just list your products and hope for the best – we actively promote our vendors. Main Street Collective runs weekly marketplace ads, social media posts, and email campaigns that include all our vendors to drive traffic to the site​mainstreetco.us. We also regularly feature individual vendors in our marketing (for example, a “Vendor of the Week” spotlight or targeted social media shout-outs). This means more eyes on your products! Pro plan vendors will get featured more frequently in dedicated promotions, but every vendor gets promotion as part of the community.Design and Storefront Help: We want your shop to look its best. Our team provides a standard storefront template and will help with basic design elements – for example, resizing your logo or tweaking your banner image for a polished look. If you need more extensive design or branding work (like creating custom graphics or a multi-page shop layout), we can do that too. For Essential plan vendors, advanced design services are available for a small fee​mainstreetco.us, and for Pro plan vendors, we include some of that advanced customization at no extra charge. In short, we’ll help make your online storefront beautiful and on-brand.Community & Growth Resources: By joining MSC, you’re joining a community of Mississippi small businesses. We foster a supportive atmosphere – we share tips, success stories, and even host the occasional meet-up or online forum for our vendors to learn from each other. You’ll also receive guidance on things like product photography, SEO for your product listings, and inventory management best-practices (we have resources and one-on-one advice to help you succeed).Technical Support & Platform Maintenance: Don’t worry about the tech side. We handle all the website maintenance, security, and upgrades for the platform​mainstreetco.us. The vendor portal (through Shipturtle) is pretty user-friendly, but if you ever encounter a glitch or need help navigating it, we’ll sort it out. You can focus on your products and customers, while we take care of keeping the site running smoothly.Bottom line: We’re here to help you at every step. Whether it’s a question about an order, ideas to boost your sales, or troubleshooting an issue, the Main Street Collective team has your back. Our success is tied to your success, and we’re committed to making your experience as a vendor positive and profitable!