CrowdFunder Shopify App Support

This page offers installation and usage instructions, FAQ's, and support information for Crowdfunder, a Shopify app to allow storeowners to offer better pre-order campaigns.

Installation
Usage
FAQ
Contact

Installation

You can always ask us to install Crowdfunder for you. There is no charge for installation. When you install the app, you'll receive an email from us asking if you need help. Reply to it and we'll assist.
If you'd like to install it yourself, read on.

When you add Crowdfunder to your store, it creates three files:

1. /snippets/crowdfunder.liquid - The standard Crowdfunder widget.
2. /snippets/crowdfunder-simple.liquid - A simplified version of the Crowdfunder widget consisting of just the progress bar meant for collection pages.
3. /assets/crowdfunder.scss - The widget's style sheet.

Advanced users may wish to edit Crowdfunder's files to customize the widget.

Adding Crowdfunder to your theme

1. Install Crowdfunder from the app store. [Link]
2. Copy & paste {{ 'crowdfunder.scss.css' | asset_url | stylesheet_tag }} to your theme.liquid file just before the </head> tag.
3. Copy & paste {% render 'crowdfunder', product: product %} wherever you'd like the the widget to appear on the product page. We recommend playing it just above your Add to Cart button. You will likely find this in one of three places:
• /templates/product.liquid
• /sections/product.liquid
• /snippets/product-form.liquid
4. Optionally, you may want the progress bar to appear on the collection pages. You'll want to copy & paste {% render 'crowdfunder-simple', product: product %} into the collection loop. This likely occurs in /snippets/collection-loop.liquid or /snippets/collection-grid-item.liquid

Usage

After installation, create the product you wish to crowd fund.

On your pre-order product, make sure that you’ve:

• selected 'Shopify keeps track of this item,
• set the inventory to zero,
• and checked 'allow backorders.'

Access Crowdfunder from within your store’s apps menu.

Within the Crowdfunder app, you may create, edit, or remove your pre-sale campaigns.

FAQ

Troubleshooting & How-to

My campaign is displaying negative numbers!

Whenever Crowdfunder displays negative values, it's almost assuredly because your product has a positive inventory. (Since Crowdfunder is designed for pre-orders, it always assumes your product inventory starts at zero.) For example, if your product has 100 orders, set inventory to -100 and make sure to check "allow pre-orders."

How can I accept donations with Crowdfunder?

Here's the workaround:
Create a product option called "Donate" (or something similar) and then give it three options like $10, $25, $50.
(The variant would be literally named "$10" and have a price of "$10".)

Can I change the progress manually?

Yes! Let's say you've already made five sales to friends & family that aren’t reflected in your campaign. Changing the product’s inventory value from zero quantity to -5 would cause the campaign to show those five sales.

Features & Functionality

Can I have multiple campaigns? Can I crowdfund a collection?

Yes, you can create unlimited concurrent campaigns.
Each campaign must be for a single product. Products with multiple variants are supported. (A campaign can't be for multiple products or an entire collection.)

Can I change my goal amount after starting?

Yes! You can change the goal amount at any time.

Can I my goal be total orders instead of a dollar amount?

Yes! You can choose from either a financial or quantity goal for your campaign.

Can I limit the number of orders I receive?

You can always stop or pause sales of your Crowdfunder campaign by simply unchecking "allow overselling" on your product after the Crowdfunder campaign has been made. This is a manual task, not automatic.

Does this app change how orders, charges, or customers work?

No, it does not alter how orders, customers, or charges are handled. it only alters the product page. It's meant to add social proof and urgency to product launches to maximize revenue.

When are customers charged?

Customers are charged when they purchase your pre-order. You can capture funds immediately for your pre-order product as long as you communicate to your customers that you are charging them in advance for an item that will ship at a later date.

What happens if my campaign doesn't meet its goal?

Unlike traditional crowdfunding campaigns, we leave that decision up to you. You can choose to go into production anyway, or refund your customers. Since the app doesn't change how orders are handled, customers would have to be refunded manually.

Can I use Crowdfunder to create a marketplace where users can register and create their own campaign?

No, definitely not.

Uninstalling & Fees

Do you take any additional transaction fee (e.g. for each successful crowdfunded transaction) etc?

No! We're not monsters. Crowdfunder is a single recurring monthly fee billed through your Shopify store.

How do I cancel my subscription?

1. First delete all of your current crowdfunding campaigns.
2. Once done, you can remove Crowdfunder from your Shopify store through your admin. [Documenation]
3. Optionally, we can remove Crowdfunder's theme code from your published theme upon request.

Why does it look like I'm being charged in arrears?

Make sure that you consider app billing cycles when you plan to uninstall an app. Recurring app charges are generated the first time an app charge is approved, and then on the first day of an app's billing cycle. Because of this, a charge will appear on your bill even if you uninstall an app only a day or two after the trial ends it. [Source: Shopify]

Can I get a refund or extended trial?

There are no refunds, fee transfers, or extended trials. When you subscribe to Crowdfunder, you’re buying the right to use the Crowdfunder app, not a guarantee that you’ll get your own act together. If you don't run your campaign, can’t get funded, never launch your store, go broke, go to prison, or otherwise fail to avail yourself of the opportunity to run a pre-order campaign, you still owe your monthly subscription fee. That’s why they’re called “subscription” fees, not “I got to run a successful campaign and made a million dollars” fees. 😅

Contact Support

It’s our policy to work Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm. We're in Chicago, so that's Central Time.

Support Terms of Service

Our support does not extend to:

• Shopify administration or native Shopify functionality, which can be better answered by Shopify Support.
• Requests that are well documented either via the Shopify Help Center or our own help center.
• Phone or live chat support.
• New feature development or custom designs, which we will refer to the Shopify Experts Directory.
• Any errors related to app customizations, either by third-party plugins, apps or template file modifications. We will advise reverting these customizations back to the original file to restore the default functionality.
• Design or layout changes beyond simple updates that can be made via the app's options.
• Marketing, business, legal or similar issues.
• Page speed or W3C validation or other validation or similar issues.
• Customers with excessive inquiries, especially customization requests or questions that are documented elsewhere.
• Legal or compliances issues such as accessibility, GDPR, COPPA, privacy or other similar matters.
• We also reserve the right to limit the number of support inquiries for a single app install.

Some other important notes about our support:

1. English is our preferred language. If you send a request in another language, we will attempt to use an online translation service to translate your request, but our response will be in English.
2. Inquiries with typographical errors in the sender's email address or other contact information may prevent our reply from being delivered. If you do not receive a confirmation email from us within 15-30 minutes of sending your request, please double check your "spam" or "junk" folder and, if the message has not be received, verify you entered your email address correctly.