How to Start Selling with Drops on Droplace

A drop is a limited-time sale event with defined units and inventory. Think of it as an exclusive launch where urgency and community drive sales.

Unlike a traditional online store where products are always available, a drop creates real scarcity: it opens at a specific date and time, has a limited number of units, and closes automatically when they sell out or time runs out.

What makes Droplace different

Signing up takes less than 5 minutes. You'll get immediate access to your dashboard to set everything up before your first drop.

What you need to get started

• Business name and email
• Phone number (for WhatsApp)
• Merchant registration certificate (PDF, JPG or PNG — you can upload it later from the dashboard)
• Stripe account (to receive payments directly)

Activation process

1. Complete the registration form at app.droplace.com/register
2. Your account is created in inactive mode — this is normal
3. Upload your merchant certificate from the dashboard
4. The Droplace team reviews and activates your account (usually within 24 hours)
5. You receive a welcome email and can start creating drops

Before launching your first drop, make sure your profile is complete. This builds trust with buyers and lets you receive payments.

Essential configuration

1. Logo & branding: Upload your business logo. It appears on your drop page and confirmation emails.
2. Stripe Connect: Connect your Stripe account. Money from each sale goes directly to your account — Droplace never touches your funds.
3. Categories: Select which categories you sell in (fashion, tech, beauty, etc.). This allows interested buyers to receive notifications about your drops.
4. Business address: Required to create drops. Shown on the public drop page.
5. Social media: Add your Instagram, Facebook and TikTok profiles. Icons appear next to your business name on the public drop.

Tax configuration (optional)

If you need to charge taxes (IVU, Tax, VAT), configure it in Settings → Payments. You can customize the name and percentage. Tax is automatically calculated at checkout and shown itemized on the receipt.

This is the key moment. A well-configured drop is the difference between a successful event and one that goes unnoticed.

Elements of a drop

• Title & description: Attractive product/event name and detailed description
• Product photos: High-quality images. First impression matters.
• Price: Regular product price. You can enable a collective discount that activates automatically for everyone as soon as the drop opens, with no goal required.
• Available units: Real stock. The drop closes automatically when they sell out.
• Date & time: When checkout opens. Buyers see a countdown on the drop page.
• Duration: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 or 8 hours. After that, the drop closes automatically.
• Share image: Social media-optimized image that buyers can download and share.

Products with variations

If you sell products with sizes, colors or measurements, enable "Variable product" when creating the drop. You can configure variations with independent stock and pricing per combination. Buyers select Color → Size → Height at checkout.

Multi-product shows: sell several items in one single event

Doing a live with 8 pieces of clothing, or a drop where you sell several products one after another? Enable "Multi-product show" when creating the drop and build your playlist: each product with its own price, stock, photos and variations. The drop opens with the first item on the list and, as soon as it sells out, the next one activates automatically — the sale never stops while you keep streaming.

From the live control panel you can also manually skip to another product or reopen one that already sold out, without leaving the show. Registration, the leaderboard, tiers and chat are the same for the entire event — your buyers don't need to register again every time you switch products.

Product video

You can add a YouTube video or upload a video directly (up to 500MB). The video appears at the top of your public drop and significantly increases conversion.

This is Droplace's viral engine. Every person who registers for your drop gets a unique referral link. The more people they bring, the higher they climb on the leaderboard — and the better perks they get.

The 4 tiers

How it works in practice

1. María registers for your drop and gets her unique link
2. María shares the link with 6 friends who register
3. María moves up to VIP tier on the real-time leaderboard
4. When checkout opens, María can buy 30 minutes before the general public
5. María gets an additional 10% discount + $10 credit

Cash commissions for your referrers

Beyond the tier system, you can activate a referral commission program on any drop. You define a percentage between 1% and 20%, and everyone who shares their link earns that commission on the sales they generate — not just whoever brings the most, everyone who refers a purchase. Droplace handles and guarantees the payout via PayPal automatically when the drop closes, deducting it from the total sale, so you never have to make a manual transfer.

Example: if someone brings 5 buyers at $68 each with a 10% commission, they earn $34 — straight to their PayPal, without you lifting a finger.

The collective discount is one of Droplace's most powerful tools. Here's how it works: you define a discount percentage on the regular price, and it activates automatically for everyone as soon as the drop opens at its scheduled time — it does not depend on reaching any registration goal.

Practical example

Pricing tips

• Turn it on whenever you can: since it no longer depends on a goal, the collective discount creates real urgency from the very first second your drop opens, with zero risk of "never activating"
• 10-20% discount: enough to motivate virality without sacrificing margin
• Communicate the savings: on the drop page, buyers see the crossed-out price and the discounted price in large green
• Opening time is opening time: your drop always opens on the date and time you scheduled, no matter how many registrations you have — promote ahead of time so you arrive with the biggest possible audience at the exact moment

Droplace supports both physical products with shipping and in-person services with QR redemption.

Shipping options

In-person QR redemption (services)

If you sell in-person services (restaurants, hotels, beauty salons), each purchase generates a unique QR code that the buyer receives via email. Your staff scans the QR with the redemption portal to validate the purchase on the spot.

Streaming live during your drop multiplies engagement. Buyers see the product in action, ask questions in chat, and feel the urgency of the event in real time.

Two ways to stream

Simulcast to social media

Stream simultaneously to YouTube, Facebook and Instagram from your Droplace drop. Configure streaming keys in Settings → Live Streaming. Viewers on those platforms see your content, but purchases happen exclusively on Droplace.

Live chat

During the live, registered buyers can type in the built-in chat. You respond from the Live panel in the dashboard. Unregistered visitors see a banner inviting them to register.

A great product with a great drop is useless if nobody sees it. Here are proven strategies to fill your drops.

Before the drop

1. Upload an attractive share image: Buyers can download it directly from the drop page to share on their social media
2. Post on your social media: Instagram Stories, TikTok, Facebook — tease the drop with countdowns and product previews
3. Activate the collective discount: A real discount applied to everyone from the moment the drop opens is the most powerful incentive for buyers to share their referral link
4. Send via WhatsApp to your existing list: Your current customer base is your seed. A personal message converts better than any ad.

During the drop

1. Go live: Show the product, answer questions, create urgency in real time
2. Share updates: "15 units left", "Collective price is now active", "Last 30 minutes"
3. Incentivize referrals: Remind buyers they can upgrade their tier by sharing their link

After the drop

1. Share results: "We sold 100 units in 2 hours" — this creates FOMO for your next drop
2. Automatic notifications: Droplace sends automatic follow-up to those who didn't buy
3. Republish successful drops: If you have units left, you can republish the drop with a new date

• Not having Stripe configured before publishingCheckout won't work and you'll lose buyers ready to pay. Set up Stripe first.
• Not activating referral commissionsIt costs a small % of your sale, but multiplies how many people genuinely share your drop. If your product has good margin, turn it on — the cost comes out of the revenue it generated, never out of your pocket.
• Not uploading quality photosA single dark or pixelated photo kills conversion. Invest 10 minutes in taking good photos with natural light.
• Ignoring the power of videoA short video of the product in use generates more trust than 10 photos. You don't need professional production — a phone with good lighting is enough.
• Not promoting before the dropPublishing and waiting for people to show up doesn't work. 80% of registrations happen in the 3 days before opening. Promote actively.
• Duration too longA 3-hour drop loses urgency. For most products, 1-2 hours is the sweet spot.
• Not responding in chat during the liveBuyers want to feel there's a real person behind it. If you go live, keep the chat active.

Creating your account and setting up drops on Droplace is completely free — no subscription, no monthly fee, no drop limit. Every business gets the same full engine: leaderboard, tiers, referrals, checkout, live streaming and automatic notifications to buyers interested in your category.

• Create your account: free
• Set up and publish drops: free, no limit
• Leaderboard, tiers, referrals and checkout: always included

The only thing you pay is a small percentage, and only when you sell: 2.9% + $0.30 Stripe processing (the industry-standard cost) plus an 8% Droplace service charge, which covers the infrastructure and the community of buyers we bring to your drop. If you don't sell, you pay nothing.