Creators & Publishers Help Center
This section is designed to provide you with all the information and support you need to successfully create your account, upload your products on our platform, and process orders.
If you have any questions or need further assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at hello@singularpapers.com. We are here to help and ensure your experience with Singular Papers is smooth and successful.
General
What are the costs of participating in Singular Papers?
Creating a seller account on Singular Papers is completely free. There are no additional costs, hidden fees, or monthly fees. We only retain a 25% commission on each product sold.
Many people ask why we charge this commission. To put it in context, physical bookstores typically retain between 30% and 50% of the book's sale price, and digital bookstores also usually charge around 30%. We believe our commission is fair and allows us to build a sustainable project capable of supporting the industry effectively.
We want to emphasize that we are an independent project, initiated by individuals with knowledge of the industry and e-commerce, undertaken with their own investment and management without third-party funding.
How can I cancel my account?
You can cancel your account at any time without additional obligations. Email us at hello@singularpapers.com so we can assist you with the account deactivation process, deletion of data and products, and management of any pending payments.
What are the terms and conditions?
You can check our terms and conditions in our website, but here a summary of key points:
A summary of our key terms and conditions includes:
- Free Registration: Creating a seller account is free with no minimum duration obligation.
- Commission: 25% commission on the price paid by the customer.
- Seller Responsibilities: Sellers are responsible for uploading their products, setting prices and inventory levels, determining shipping costs, and handling shipments.
- Intellectual Property: The intellectual property of the products uploaded belongs to the authors and creators. However, by creating and using an account to upload products to Singular Papers, you grant us the right to market the listed products on our platform and additional channels (e.g., social media shops) under our brand. Additionally, you grant us the right to use, modify, or edit product content (e.g., product descriptions, images, videos) to enhance sales and promotion through various communication and marketing channels.
- Account Review and Suspension: Singular Papers reserves the right to review and suspend accounts for non-compliance.
Data Protection: In compliance with data protection guidelines, sellers cannot extract or use buyer data for promotional purposes.
What technology stack do we use?
Since we are not a purely tech-focused company and do not have the investment to develop our own technology, we have opted to use leading market tools for developing our online sales platform. Specifically, we use Shopify along with a specialized app that enables the management of products, inventory, and shipping costs by the creators participating on our platform. This approach allows us to leverage robust, stable, and scalable tools while we focus on communication and marketing tasks to grow the platform and increase sales.
Products and promotion
What types of products can I sell on Singular Papers?
You can sell books, artbooks, zines, magazines, and other related printed products under the same brand.
Can I sell other products besides books?
Yes, you can sell other related printed products such as posters, prints, postcards, and occasionally other items like T-shirts, notebooks, etc., as long as they are produced under your brand as a creator or publisher. We reserve the right to accept or reject products that do not align with the website’s purpose.
Can I apply discounts?
Yes, you can! When editing your products, you can add a discounted price in the “Discounted price” section. If you plan to apply discounts, please let us know, as we will have a specific section on the website to promote discounted products. If you apply discounts, the commission will still be 25% of the price paid by the customer for the product.
Can I do launches and pre-sales?
Although we do not yet have a specific dynamic for these cases, if you are interested in doing pre-sales or product launches, please let us know so we can coordinate specific actions on the website to identify products in launch or pre-sale.
Can I sell “print on demand” products?
Currently, we generally do not accept “print on demand” products as they usually involve high time and delivery costs that are difficult to convey to the end customer. However, certain cases (e.g., handmade or personalized products) are welcome on Singular Papers. If this applies to you, tell us about your project, and we will confirm how to proceed on the platform.
Can I add free products?
Yes, you can list free products on the platform. In fact, we highly recommend this practice, in order to preserve your out-of-stock work and/or reach potential customers. In this case no commission will be applied.
Can I sell digital products?
Yes, you can sell digital products or digital versions of a physical book. When creating a new product, simply select “digital product” in the “Choose product” section.
Start selling
What steps should I follow to start selling on Singular Papers?
Easy! By following these three steps, you can start selling on Singular Papers in just a few minutes:
- Complete your account in My Account.
- Define your shipping in Shipping.
- Add your products in Products.
- Ship your orders.
Let’s look at each step in detail.
Step 1 - How can I complete My Account information?
As part of the sign-up process, you can fill in some key data. After signing up, access Settings > Account and complete the rest of the required information. Not all fields are mandatory, but it's recommended to provide as much information as possible to better showcase your artwork and proposal. You can add an "About" section, links to your website or social media profiles, a banner, a profile image, and a logo.
Step 2 - How can I add my shipping costs?
To specify your shipping costs, go to the Shipping > Shipping settings section. In this section, you will see a default shipping profile that you need to complete.
First, you need to define shipping ranges. These ranges allow you to set different prices based on price tiers or weight tiers.
For example, if you have the same shipping price for your products regardless of their weight or cost price, you can simply create a price range from 1 USD to the maximum price you usually work with.
If you have different shipping costs based on the order amount, for example, free shipping for purchases over 50 USD, you can create a range from 1 USD to 49 USD and another for purchases from 50 USD to 100 USD, setting different prices for each.
You can do the same with weight ranges.
Once you have established your ranges, you will need to add all the countries where you ship and the corresponding costs. You can add each country independently (even regions or areas within them) and set the price for each range you have defined, as well as specify the shipping days (time it takes from receiving the order to preparing and sending it) and delivery days (estimated time for the order to arrive in each respective country).
Step 3 - How can I add my products?
Uploading products is simple and intuitive. You can add a name, description, photos, videos, and associate it with collections. Here are the key points to keep in mind:
- Choose Good Photos: Include photos of the interior to give people an idea of what the product looks like.
- Add Videos: Videos of the product, the creation process, or any relevant content have high engagement.
- Shipping Method: Remember to select “General shipping” in the “Shipping method” to link it to your shipping costs if it’s a physical product.
- Pricing: The price should include all taxes.
- Inventory Tracking: Select “Track this product’s inventory” for physical products and add the available stock quantity.
- Custom Fields: Complete the “Custom fields” at the end to enrich your product information, making it easier for customers to find through catalog filters.
- Product Variants: By default, a product will be created as a variant of itself. For books, additional variants are usually unnecessary. If you upload other products needing different versions (e.g., sizes), you can create these by editing the product variants after creation.
Once your product is created, you can edit it as many times as needed to update the information.
We usually review all published products, so please be patient if it takes a little time for your product to become active in the catalog!
Where can I or should I ship my products?
Shipping zones and costs are decided by each seller based on the couriers they work with. If you don't work with any couriers or want to expand to new regions, you can start by using your country's postal service.
We recommend that, whenever possible, sellers extend their shipping to at least cover complete regions (e.g., Europe, North America, etc.). If feasible, it’s also beneficial to offer worldwide shipping. Currently, the countries you can select for shipping in Singular Papers are:
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Hong Kong SAR, India, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, United States, Vietnam.
If you need additional countries activated, please contact us so we can evaluate and manage the request.
Can I edit my shipping costs, personal information, or product data?
Of course! You can edit any information about your profile, update product information, or new shipping costs at any time. However, you should note that changes will not apply retroactively to previous or ongoing orders.
What return and refund policy should I apply?
By default, the creators under our store should apply these terms and conditions.
Cancellations: Customers may cancel orders within 24 hours if they have not yet been shipped.
Returns: A 14-day return window is provided from the date of receipt. Items must be returned in their original condition. The seller covers return shipping for defective items, while customers are responsible for return shipping for other reasons. Customs fees and similar charges are not included and are the customer's responsibility.
Refunds: Full refunds are provided for items that arrive damaged, defective, or not as described. Digital products (e.g., PDFs) are non-refundable unless they are corrupted. For cancellations before the product is shipped, refunds are processed immediately. For returns within the return period, refunds are processed within 1 day of receiving the product. Typically, refunds are issued to the same payment method used for the purchase and can take 1 to 10 business days to appear.
Exchanges: Exchanges are allowed for incorrect or defective items, with shipping costs covered by the seller.
This terms & conditions will be shown by default in every profile and product. You can add extra information or special conditions.
Who is responsible for VAT and other taxes?
The seller is responsible for including VAT and any other taxes in the product price. Products are sold with VAT included, not itemized separately for the customer.
What are product collections and how do they work?
Collections are curated groups of products that help customers browse through different types of work. At the moment, we handle the creation and management of collections. This ensures that everything remains well-organized and easy for customers to explore. If you have suggestions or specific ideas for how your work could be grouped, feel free to reach out!
What are product categories & extra information and how do they work?
These optional fields allow you to provide more detailed information about your products, making it easier for customers to find exactly what they’re looking for. Custom fields include: Language, Styles & Techniques, Special Formats, Themes...
One the most unique custom fields is "Mood," which lets customers discover products based on feelings or emotional experiences, such as joy, contemplation, or melancholy.
Currently, you can select only one option per category, but we understand that many works are complex and may span multiple categories. We hope to offer the ability to select multiple options in the future.
Managing products and orders
How can I process an order?
When you receive an order, we will send you a notification to the email address you used to sign up. Our recommendation is to prepare and ship the order as soon as possible (within a maximum of 5 business days from the date the order is received). In the Orders > Orders section, you will find all the necessary details to process and ship the order.
Our recommendations:
- Update Order Status: Don’t forget to mark the different statuses of the order (when it’s prepared and when it’s shipped) so we can automatically notify the customer about the status of their order.
- Add Tracking Information: Add tracking information whenever possible to make it easier for the customer to follow the status of their order.
- Report Issues Promptly: If you become aware of any issues (e.g., loss, out-of-stock, delivery delays), notify us as soon as possible so we can inform the customer and let them decide how to proceed.
Respond to Customer Inquiries: If we receive inquiries about the status of an order, we will forward them to you so you can provide a response to the customer as quickly as possible.
How much time do I have to deliver the product?
We recommend that the preparation time for shipping a product be less than 5 business days from the date of purchase (ideally, the next day). You can specify shipping and delivery times for each country to inform customers about the approximate delivery time.
What happens if I cannot fulfill an order on time?
It is important to maintain transparent communication with the customer and Singular Papers. In such cases, notify us at hello@singularpapers.com so we can inform the customer and offer them the option to continue or cancel the order. Recurrent delays may result in account suspension.
What should I do when I run out of stock?
You can set the stock to zero and/or make the product not visible on the website. You can also delete it, although we do not recommend this to avoid losing traceability of sales and commissions generated, and in case you want to relaunch it later with new stock. If you do not plan to restock, we usually suggest uploading the product in PDF (free or paid) to prevent the work from being lost and to continue generating visibility. If you upload free products, no commission will be generated for each download through the platform.
Payments and commissions
How do commissions and payments work?
The current commission is 25% on the price paid by the customer. In the Orders > Payments section, you can see all the revenue generated by orders, and in Orders > Commissions, you can view the commission history.
How and when will I receive my payments?
Payments are processed monthly between the 1st and 7th of each month, provided the products have been shipped. Currently, payments are made via PayPal. You can add your PayPal account in Settings > Payout method. We recommend using a business PayPal account.
Who is responsible for processing returns?
You are responsible for processing returns once the funds have been transferred. If the funds have not been transferred, Singular Papers will handle the returns.