Market organizers

Magpie takes the stall applications and the pitch fees. On market day, your stewards set up and pack down from checklists.

You and whoever runs the market with you work in one Magpie team. Traders join only the channel you open for them.

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The Form builder with Millrace Square Market’s Christmas market stall application: the business name, a photo of the stall and the trader’s liability insurance certificate as file questions, then what they sell, with a second page for contact details.

This combination of seven Magpie areas fits a market organizer.

Forms
Forms takes stall applications with photos and insurance certificates, and can charge a fee.
Contacts
Contacts keeps every trader, tagged by what they sell and how often they trade.
Invoicing
Invoicing bills the pitch fees, and traders pay by card from the email.
Team chat
Team chat gives your traders a channel of their own for arrival times and changes.
Calendar
Calendar puts every market date on your public calendar.
Newsletter
Newsletter emails your shoppers what is in season and who is trading.
Daily Operations
Daily Operations runs set-up and pack-down as checklists, and logs any incident.

Each trader you accept gets a contact, a pitch fee invoice and the traders' channel.

  1. An application comes in

    A trader answers your form, with a photo of their stall and their insurance certificate. You get an email with a link to each application.

  2. You accept the trader

    You mark the application Reviewed. Then you add the trader as a contact, tagged by what they sell.

  3. The pitch fee is invoiced

    The invoice bills the trader's contact, due on the payment terms you set. It will be emailed with a Pay online button.

  4. The trader pays

    A card payment will be recorded on the invoice automatically. You record cash taken on the morning. Both will be added to the books.

  5. The trader is told

    The trader joins the traders' channel from your link. You post the arrival times and a picture of the site plan in the channel.

  6. On their contact

    The trader's page lists each invoice, paid or still owed, and your next follow-up.

Traders apply for a pitch on your form, with a photo of their stall.

Forms builds the stall application, with questions such as what they sell and the pitch size. A File question takes a photo of the stall or an insurance certificate. A question can appear only when a trader says they need power.

Every application comes into one list, with an email to you for each. You mark them Reviewed or Archived, and close the form when the market is full. A form can also charge a fixed fee as it is sent.

Every trader is in one list, tagged by what they sell and how often they trade.

Contacts keeps each trader's business, email and phone. Tags such as Bakery, Regular or Waiting list filter the list. A pinned note keeps their pitch number and the power they need.

A follow-up reminds you of the next step, such as insurance that runs out next month. Each trader's page lists their invoices and what they still owe.

Millrace Square Market’s traders in Contacts: each trader and their business, with tags such as Crafts and Waiting list, Dairy and Regular or Produce and Regular, their email and phone, when you were last in touch and the date of the next follow-up.

You bill each trader's pitch fees, and they pay by card from the email.

Invoicing bills a trader for their market dates and extras, such as power or a gazebo. The trader gets it by email, with its PDF and a Pay online button. Reminders can go out until the pitch fee is paid.

A regular's monthly fee can be a recurring invoice, issued and emailed every month. You can pause it over the winter. Cash paid on the morning is recorded on the invoice by hand.

An invoice to Evergreen Wreath Co. in the invoice editor, in Canadian dollars and due in 14 days: a pitch, power and a hired gazebo, each for two nights, with HST.

Your traders hear where to set up in a channel of their own.

Team chat gives the market a traders' channel. Traders join it from a link you share, as guests of the team. They see that channel and nothing else of your work.

You can post the week's arrival times and a picture of the site plan. A trader can post a question, and you reply in a thread the channel can read. The organizers keep their own channels for planning.

Shoppers find every market date on your public calendar.

Calendar holds the season's market dates, each with the market's address and hours. They are listed on your public calendar, and each has a page to share. A season of Saturday markets is an event for each Saturday.

Your team's calendar also holds the traders' meeting and the day applications close. From a market day's page, you can start a social post that names it.

Millrace Square Market’s team Calendar for October in Month view on a computer and Agenda view on a phone: a Saturday market each week, the Thanksgiving market, the traders’ meeting, the day Christmas market applications close and the season’s last outdoor market.

Your shoppers hear what is in season and who is trading each week.

Newsletter keeps the market's list of shoppers. A code on the market sign opens its signup page, and each shopper confirms by email.

You write each week's email, send yourself a test and schedule it for Friday evening. With web copies on, each email has a public page to share as a social post.

Millrace Square Market’s weekly email in the Newsletter editor: the subject and preview text for the season’s last outdoor market, then the email in Markdown with who is new and back this week and how to get to the square.

On market day, your set-up and pack-down checklists appear when they are due.

Daily Operations runs the routines you write for the market, timed from its opening hours. Set-up opens before the bell, with steps such as barriers up and the fire lane clear. A step can ask for a photo, such as the weights on each gazebo.

A steward who finds a problem reports an incident. A high one will be emailed to you. Notes for the next market day go in the logbook. Pack-down opens when the market closes.

On market morning, Today lists what needs you first, then notes from earlier shifts.

The gazebo on pitch 14 is a high incident. A standing note about the east gate shows every market day until it is stopped.

Today at Millrace Square’s Saturday market for Juno Brodeur, the market manager: a high incident about the gazebo on pitch 14 under Needs attention, then notes from earlier shifts, a standing safety note about the east gate and a note that pitch 22 stays empty.

Seven more areas cover new traders, posters, posts, the website, gazebos, stewards and the books.

Outreach
Outreach emails the makers and growers you would like at the market. Each gets a few emails from your own address. It stops for anyone who replies.
QR Codes
QR Codes makes the code for your posters and the market sign. It can open the newsletter's signup page or the stall application. A dynamic code can change where it goes after printing.
Social Media
Social Media posts who is trading this week to all the market's accounts from one draft. Bluesky, Mastodon and LinkedIn posts go out at the time you set. At that time, Magpie will email you a reminder for Instagram and X.
Websites
Websites gives the market a site with its address, its hours and how to apply. A button can open the stall application, and the site can be at your own domain.
Asset Tracker
Asset Tracker keeps the market's gazebos, tables and weights. One lent to a trader is checked out to their contact with a due-back date. Its condition is recorded when it comes back.
Walkie Talkie
Walkie Talkie gives your stewards a channel for market day. They hold to talk, and anyone who missed a message plays the recording. Volunteers from outside the team join it from a link.
Accounting
Accounting adds each pitch fee invoice and payment to the books. Card payments go to Stripe balance and cash to the Cash account. The market's bank statements come in as CSV files.

Setting up takes five steps.

  1. Make a team for the market

    You create a team and invite whoever runs the market with you. Help: Create and manage a team.

  2. Build the stall application

    You choose its questions, such as the pitch size and the insurance certificate, then publish it. Help: Build, publish, and share a form.

  3. Connect Stripe

    You connect the market's Stripe account, so traders can pay by card. Help: Connect Stripe to receive money.

  4. Add your traders

    You add this season's traders as contacts, tagged by what they sell. Help: Keep a contact list.

  5. Set up market day

    You give the market its hours, then write the set-up and pack-down routines. Help: Run each day's opening, closing and checks.

Plans

A market run by more than one person fits the Team plan. Its one price covers 25 member places for organizers and stewards. Traders in the channel are guests and take no place.

A free team has room for 10 guests, and the Team plan for 100. A free team can create 5 invoices a month, recurring ones included. The Team plan has no limit, higher newsletter limits and Outreach.

Magpie adds no fee to pitch fees paid by invoice. On a paid Form, such as an application fee, Magpie's fee is 1% of each payment. Stripe's processing fee comes out of each card payment.

Other people who sell at markets or run events have pages of their own.

Questions market organizers ask

Can traders apply for a pitch online, with photos of their stall?

Yes. Your stall application is a Form at its own address, with the questions you choose. A File question takes one photo or PDF of up to 10 MB. You can ask for the stall and the products as two questions. Traders apply without signing up first.

Can we ask each trader for their insurance certificate?

Yes. A required File question takes the certificate as a PDF or a photo. Only people who can see the form's answers can download it. A food safety question can show only when a trader says they sell food.

Can someone outside our team help choose the traders?

Yes. You add them to the stall application as a collaborator who can view it. They read every application and its photos, and nothing else of the team's work. A panel member without a Magpie account gets a free one on accepting.

Can we charge an application fee?

Yes. A paid Form takes a fixed amount as each application is sent. The trader pays by card on Stripe's page, into your own Stripe account. Magpie's fee on each application fee is 1%, and Stripe's processing fee applies. Each application shows whether it was paid.

Can a casual trader pay for a single market when they book?

Yes. A paid Form takes the pitch fee as the trader sends it. Each form has one price, so a double pitch has a form of its own. You close the form when the casual pitches are taken.

Can we keep a waiting list of traders?

Yes. A trader waiting for a pitch is a contact tagged Waiting list. Your list can show only that tag. A pinned note keeps what they sell and when they applied. A follow-up reminds you to offer them the next pitch that comes free.

Can we bring our trader list over from a spreadsheet?

Yes. Import JSON adds many contacts at once from one pasted document. Copy the prompt gives you the format, with instructions for writing it from a spreadsheet. Each trader can come in with their business, emails, phone numbers and tags. Magpie checks the whole document before it adds anyone.

Can we be reminded before a trader's insurance runs out?

Yes. You set a follow-up on the trader's contact for the week before it runs out. Its reason can say Insurance renews on 2 May. It becomes a To-do with that date and its reminders. Contacts lists every follow-up as Overdue, Today or Upcoming.

Can traders pay their pitch fees by card?

Yes. Each invoice email has a Pay online button, for paying by card without signing in. The payment is recorded on the invoice, which moves to Paid. Magpie takes no fee on invoice payments, and Stripe's processing fee applies. The pitch fee goes to the market's own Stripe account.

Can regulars be billed every month without us sending each invoice?

Yes. Make recurring turns a regular's invoice into a monthly schedule. Magpie will issue and email the invoice each month, with its Pay online button. When the fee changes, the trader is emailed the new amount before the next invoice. You can pause the schedule over the winter, and nothing is invoiced while it is paused.

What about traders who pay cash on the morning?

You record the payment on their invoice, with the method Cash and the date. A part payment leaves the rest as the balance due. A bank transfer is recorded the same way, with its reference. In the books, cash goes to Cash and a transfer to Bank.

Can we see who still owes a pitch fee?

Yes. The invoice list has Due and Overdue tabs, and totals what is outstanding and overdue. You can narrow it to one trader. Each trader's contact page also lists their invoices with what is still owed.

How do we tell traders where to set up and when to arrive?

Team chat gives the market a traders' channel, and you share its invite link. Each trader joins as a guest and sees that channel and nothing else of the team. You post the arrival times and a picture of the site plan. You answer questions in threads. A trader without a Magpie account makes a free one from the link.

Can traders tell us whether they are coming this week?

Yes. You add the week's market as an event for team members, with RSVPs on. Traders open it from an invitation link you share. Each signs in and answers Going or Not going. You see every answer with the trader's email address.

Can we list the season's market dates online for shoppers?

Yes. Each market day is an event on your public calendar. It shows the address, the hours and a description. Each has its own page to share, which can start a social post. A season of Saturday markets is one event for each Saturday.

Can we email our shoppers each week?

Yes. Newsletter keeps the market's mailing list. Shoppers subscribe on its signup page and confirm by email. You write each email, send yourself a test and schedule it, such as for Friday evening. Each email has an unsubscribe link at the bottom.

Can we bring our shoppers' mailing list over from Mailchimp?

Yes. The import reads a Mailchimp, Substack or CSV export of the shoppers' list. Addresses can also be pasted one per line. You record where the list came from, and how shoppers agreed to hear from you. Anyone the export marks as unsubscribed or bounced is left out.

Can we post this week's traders on Instagram?

Yes. You can write a post naming this week's traders, with their photos, and set its time. Magpie will email you when it is time to post it to Instagram or X. Your phone then opens its share sheet with the text and photos ready. Posts to Bluesky, Mastodon and LinkedIn go out by themselves at that time.

Can we put a QR code on our posters and the market sign?

Yes. A code can open the newsletter's signup page, the stall application or the market's website. A dynamic code can point somewhere new after printing, such as the Christmas market's page. The code counts its scans, and records nothing about who scanned. You download each code as SVG, PNG or PDF.

Can our stewards tick off the set-up checklist on their phones?

Yes. Stewards open each checklist from Today, in their phone's browser. Each answer saves as it is given, and a step can ask for a photo. Your lead steward then confirms the market is ready to open.

Can stewards report a problem on the day, such as a gazebo that is not weighted down?

Yes. A steward reports an incident from Today, with a photo and how serious it is. A high or critical one will be emailed to you and the market's managers. You give each fix to someone, with a due date. Everything that happens is kept on the incident's timeline.

Can we lend or hire out gazebos and tables to traders?

Yes. Asset Tracker keeps each gazebo, table and set of weights. You check one out to the trader's contact with a due-back date. After that date, it shows as Overdue. A hire fee goes on the trader's invoice as a line.

Do pitch fees go into the books by themselves?

Yes. Accounting adds each invoice when it is issued. Each payment is added on the date it was received. Card payments go to Stripe balance and cash to Cash. Payments on a paid Form are added as Form payments income.

Does it work for more than one market, such as a Christmas market?

Yes. Each market can be a Daily Operations location, with its own hours and routines. Its dates go on the same public calendar. A tag such as Christmas market keeps its traders together. That market can have an application form of its own.

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