Partnership Collaboration with Upgates
The Upgates e-commerce platform offers several collaboration options with external agencies. Currently, the following options are available:
- Marketplace
- Affiliate Program
- Custom modifications of default e-shop templates
- New integrations and features
- Migration from another e-commerce platform
- Marketing and consulting services for e-shops
- Marketing collaboration with Upgates
1) Marketplace
The Marketplace is an advertising portal exclusively for Upgates e-shops. Upgates provides only the platform for running an e-shop, not additional services. For example, an e-shop owner might need help with migrating their e-shop from another platform or require training on how to use the Upgates e-shop. Frequently requested services are e.g. also marketing assistance, customization of the e-shop's appearance, and programming new features.
These services can be offered by external agencies as advertisements on the Marketplace. E-shops then contact external agencie with their requirements by responding to specific advertisements in the Marketplace.
Registration of Partner Agency
Why should you use the Upgates partner program?
15% commission for you! From all project wallet expenditures for 12 months.
For bringing a new client to Upgates, you will receive a 15% commission from the total value of wallet expenditures of the e-shop for one year, starting from the first top-up. You can earn the commission by directly bringing a client to the Upgates system. Alternatively, you can also earn it indirectly through an agency affiliate link placed on your website or anywhere else. All you need is an agency token, which you can easily obtain after registration and entering your company's identification number (IČO).
How does it work?
To claim commissions, the e-shop must have an agency token at the time of creation. You obtain this token by registering in the client section of the commission program and entering your company's identification number (IČO). The recording and calculation of commissions are automatic. Commissions start accruing from the date the e-shop transitions to the paid version.
How to assign a new e-shop in the partner system to your agency?
- Manually create the e-shop for the client through the link in the client section, ensuring the agency token is pre-filled.
- Send the client a URL link to create the e-shop with your agency's pre-filled token. The format of such a link is: "https://www.upgates.cz/?token=1234567890"
- Place a banner or backlink on your website, from which the client can create the e-shop with your agency's pre-filled token.
Conditions
The identification number (IČO) of the e-shop operator must not match the IČO of the agency claiming commissions for bringing the e-shop to the Upgates system.
Additional Partnership Benefits
Income not only from individual graphic modifications
The Upgates system allows for easy management, administration, and customization of the e-shop according to customer requirements. You have a unique opportunity to sell services to your client, such as optimal administration settings, graphic modifications, SEO, emailing, marketing optimizations, and many others. You have access to the code of graphic templates - HTML, CSS, or JS! Your work will be quick and efficient.
How to easily get clients and orders on the Marketplace and Facebook forum
You can offer activities falling into the categories of the Marketplace offer portal. You can directly approach clients on our Facebook Forum, where you can advise them and address their service requests.
Extended trial version options
For e-shops with your agency's token, you can request an extension of the trial period.
Backlink exchange
Part of establishing a partnership collaboration is also the mutual exchange of backlinks. As a backlink, you can use a partner link (text or banner) with your agency's pre-filled token.
How to become a partner agency?
Register in the partner program system and manage your commissions in its client section.
Offers
A registered partner can create offers that will be displayed in the relevant section of the Marketplace. Offers should always include an illustrative image, a description of the service, and ideally at least an indicative price of the service. Each offer is reviewed by an Upgates administrator and manually approved.
Partner Benefits
If we receive positive references from e-shops about your activities, we will add you to the top bar among the recommended agencies.
2) Commission System
Who is the commission system for?
The commission system is intended for any individual or legal entity (you do not need to be a partner agency or an Upgates e-shop owner) who can register in the system and earn commissions for recommending the Upgates e-shop platform. No additional conditions need to be met.
Do you know someone who would like to start an online business and is looking for an e-shop solution? Recommend an Upgates e-shop to them and earn a commission! To make a recommendation, simply use your commission token. We will explain how to easily obtain it below.
Why use the commission system?
For recommending to anyone who plans to start an online business, you can earn:
-
15% commission from the rental for 1 year (commissions start accruing from the date the e-shop switch to the paid version)
How does the system work and where do you get your token?
- To obtain your commission token, you need to register in the system and enter your company's identification number (IČO).
- Send the URL with your token directly to the e-shop prospect, or you can create the e-shop yourself through this URL.
Once a test version of the e-shop is created under your token, it is assigned to your commission system account within a few hours. Commissions start accruing from the date the e-shop transitions to the paid version. The calculation of commissions is automatic. Commissions can be paid out after the total sum of unpaid commissions reaches a minimum value of 500 CZK (20 €). At the same time, commissions can only be paid out after a minimum payout period of 3 months:
- First payout - it is calculated from the 1st commission received and the commission must be in the system for at least 3 month.
- On the next payout - commissions can be paid after 3 months from the last payout.
Conditions
The identification number (IČO) and the owner of the company operating the new e-shop must not match the IČO and the owner of the commission system account claiming commissions for bringing the e-shop to the Upgates system. The system automatically prevents earning commissions from your own e-shops
3) Custom Modifications of Default E-shop Templates
As an agency, you can also make modifications to e-shops according to their wishes. The ability to modify the source code is not offered by other similar platforms. Therefore, in collaboration with an external agency, an e-shop owner can create an e-shop on our platform that is partially customized. Since Upgates ceases to provide technical support in the affected areas after the code editor is activated, the agency takes over the responsibility for the e-shop's web design. In addition to the initial modification, you will usually gain a long-term customer who will request further updates, bug fixes for existing Upgates templates, and other services as paid orders. For the agency, this is an opportunity to maintain ongoing collaboration with the e-shop
We program in the Latte language (documentation).
Upgates is sought after primarily by medium and large companies looking for an e-shop solution due to its many features and good readiness for international expansion. Such clients are accustomed to the services of external agencies and have no problem paying for such services.
4) New Integrations and Features
It's not just about custom modifications of e-shops. An agency can create any integration with an external service (more here), function (more here), or entirely new modules that give customers extended options for using their e-shop. However, we recommend consulting with our sales or technical department first. This is to ensure that we do not already have the same project in internal development. At the same time, we can inform you of specific requests and modules that e-shops most frequently ask for, so you do not develop a function that will not be in demand. We will recommend improvements that e-shops will want and that we currently do not have the capacity to implement.
The advantage of providing these services is usually their regular commission. You can set the price as a one-time fee for implementation, a monthly or yearly flat rate, or a combination of both.
5) Migration from Another E-commerce Platform
In addition to preparing e-shops, making modifications, developing new features, and integrations, there is another opportunity for acquiring new clients for the Upgates system. Many e-shops today run on open-source platforms. Operators of these online stores often switch to rental systems like Upgates. However, migration is often too complicated for them. Therefore, migrating an e-shop to Upgates is another opportunity for partner agencies.
6) Marketing and Consulting Services for E-shops
In addition to web design and technical matters, our e-shops also appreciate marketing, consulting, and other services. Our e-shop owners are experts in their fields but may sometimes struggle with marketing. Therefore, they highly value professional help from experienced agencies. These orders often involve international expansion. Our platform is the best prepared on the market for international expansion. Therefore, Upgates is often chosen by businesses with international ambitions. They greatly appreciate help with translations, consulting, and marketing in target countries. E-shops will best learn about you from our Marketplace, where they are used to finding their new partners.
7) Marketing Collaboration with Upgates
Although Upgates does not actively seek new clients for agencies, we are ready to provide marketing assistance in promoting your brand. How?
Publishing Expert Articles
A proven method is publishing articles. After mutual agreement with the marketing department, we welcome various expert articles.
These articles are always published on social networks, and in most cases, we also sponsor the posts among page fans and website visitors, or among other specific audiences. These articles are also always sent in the newsletter. In such articles, you can provide e-shops with solutions to specific issues as an agency while offering your own services. These can be individual articles or series of articles. We will also publish the articles at least in Slovak. Naturally, there will be a backlink to upgates.cz. These are high-authority web pages with excellent results in organic search.
Monthly, Upgates.cz and Upgates.sk attract around 15,000 unique visitors.
Webinars
Another sought-after way to get noticed among our e-shops is by organizing webinars. The agency proposes a topic in its domain and organizes a professional webinar. Upgates ensures that the maximum number of e-shop owners register for the event. Upgates creates a Facebook event, and the agency provides the platform where the webinar will take place. The agency then provides a recording of the webinar.
Video Tutorials
We want to make it as easy as possible for e-shops to use our system. This includes written guides as well as video tutorials. As an agency, you can create video tutorials on how to navigate the Upgates environment. These can cover everything from the basics to setting up more complex functions. These videos will then be included in our guide section and on the Upgates YouTube channel.
Other Collaboration Opportunities
We are also open to other forms of marketing collaboration. This can include interviews, participation in podcasts, joint paid promotions, etc. These are specific and less common forms of collaboration, so they are a matter of individual agreement. Just contact Upgates at marketing@upgates.cz.
8) How to Receive Orders and Payments?
Finding new customers among our existing e-shops or seeking clients who would like to switch to Upgates is a matter of your business acumen. Upgates does not actively seek clients for agencies. However, if we notice a demand from an e-shop for specific services that we cannot fulfill, we always recommend external partners. Another channel for receiving new orders can be the Upgates forum - Facebook group. Here, e-shops post public queries about specific e-shop settings that are often not possible within the administration. In such cases, it is appropriate to write to them that it could be done with a custom modification and actively contact them with a possible solution. We can also share interesting implementations on Upgates profiles and social networks.
Agencies handle payments for external services themselves outside the Upgates system. Therefore, Upgates does not claim any commissions from the agreed services. Some e-shops request complete service from agencies for managing the e-shop. In such cases, you can pay for the e-shop rental as an agency and invoice the service to the customer with a related margin for management.
If you are preparing a new e-shop for a customer, we can extend the trial period by one month if needed. This allows you to thoroughly test all necessary functionalities. Normally, we offer only a 30-day trial period to regular customers (non-partners), which we do not extend.
9) Test E-shop
It is usually advisable to create a test e-shop through the Upgates.cz website. To be able to test your new features, system options, and similar things on this e-shop long-term, ask our technical support to extend the trial version of the e-shop and provide information about the agency you represent. We will contact you and agree on the length of the trial period and the activation of all available functions. This mainly includes Imports, API, XML, and CSV functions. We recommend creating two versions of the test e-shop, with one having the designer module active and the other the code editor. What exactly does this mean?
10) Code Editor
Our e-shops have two basic ways to handle e-shop design. The first option is to use the basic templates and the Designer module. This offers very wide customization options for the e-shop but has its limits, which you can further extend by using your own CSS styles.
If you want to make significant changes to the e-shop design, it is necessary to activate the extended options of the code editor and modify the HTML graphic templates. Here, it is possible to customize the online store environment entirely according to your own ideas.
By activating the Code Editor, the e-shop loses technical support in all affected areas!
Within the test e-shop, you can choose whether to have the Designer or the Code Editor active. Therefore, we recommend creating two test versions, with one exploring the possibilities of the Designer and the other having the Code Editor activated upon request. All necessary information and documentation can be found in our guides.
