Pricing Rules

Pricing rules decide what a vendor actually pays. VendorStreet starts from a base price, applies any override for that vendor’s category, then layers on late-booking penalties and discounts to reach the invoice total.

Configure all of this under Market → Edit → Pricing Rules.

How is the base price decided?

Before any rule fires, VendorStreet needs a starting number, and where it comes from depends on your market’s booking mode:

• Capacity-mode markets take the base price from the capacity tier the vendor booked. Set these up under Scheduling.
• Spaces-mode markets take the base price from the booth the vendor booked. Each space has its own Base price (USD) on the Spaces inventory. See Venues & Seating.

If neither is configured, there’s no base price to work from — which is the usual explanation for a booking that comes out at zero. Set up your tiers or your booth prices first.

How do I charge different rates for different vendors?

Use Vendor type pricing. Pick a Vendor type, set a Fixed price (USD), and set the Status to active.

This is an absolute override, not a discount. It replaces the base price entirely before anything else is calculated. If your standard booth is $60 and you set nonprofits to $25, a nonprofit’s booking starts at $25 regardless of which tier or booth they picked — the tier price is not consulted at all.

That behavior is what makes it useful for flat-rate categories, and what makes it a trap if you meant “20% off.” For a percentage, use a discount instead.

Common uses:

• Nonprofit or community tables at a reduced flat rate
• Food trucks at a premium for the power and footprint they need
• Farmer-only pricing at a market with a producer-first mandate

Requires vendor types to be set up first.

How do I penalize late bookings?

Use Late booking penalties to charge more the closer a vendor books to the market date. Each penalty has:

• Applies from (hours) and Applies until (hours) — the window before the event when this penalty is in force.
• Penalty type — a percentage or a fixed amount.
• Penalty value — how much.
• Status — active or inactive.

Because penalties are windowed, you can stack a ladder: 10% inside seven days, 25% inside 48 hours. Set the windows so they don’t overlap, or you’ll get results you didn’t intend.

Penalties are not the same as a booking cutoff. A penalty lets the booking through at a higher price. A cutoff refuses it outright. Cutoffs live under the Booking Rules tab, where you set Hours before event and an optional Vendor message explaining what to do instead. Use penalties when you’d rather have a late vendor than an empty booth, and cutoffs when late bookings genuinely cost you more than the revenue is worth.

How do I create a discount or promo code?

Under Discounts & promotions:

• Name — internal label, and what appears on the invoice.
• Promo code (optional) — leave blank and the discount applies automatically to every qualifying booking. Fill it in and vendors must enter the code.
• Discount type — percentage or fixed amount.
• Percent off or Amount (USD) — depending on the type.
• Status — active or inactive.

Leaving the code blank is the difference between a promotion and a price change. An automatic discount is effectively your new rate; a coded one is a lever you hand to specific people.

Set a discount’s status to inactive to retire it without deleting the record — cleaner for your books than removing it outright.

In what order do the rules apply?

1. Base price — from the capacity tier or the booth.
2. Vendor type override — replaces the base price if one is active for that vendor’s type.
3. Penalties and discounts — applied to that figure.
4. Add-ons — optional extras the vendor selected are added on. See Add-ons.
5. Invoice total — what the vendor owes.

The order matters most at step 2. A vendor type override wipes out the base price rather than adjusting it, so a $25 nonprofit rate stays $25 whether they booked the cheap tier or the premium corner.

Common gotchas

• Vendor type pricing replaces, it does not reduce. If you want a proportional cut, use a percentage discount.
• Overlapping penalty windows compound in ways that are hard to predict. Keep the windows adjacent, not overlapping.
• An automatic discount with no code applies to everyone, including vendors you didn’t mean to include. Double-check the status before a season opens.
• A booking that prices at $0 almost always means no capacity tier or booth base price is set, not that a discount misfired.
• Add-ons are priced from your catalog, not from these rules — pricing rules don’t touch add-on line items.

Next steps

• Scheduling — set up capacity tiers and their base prices
• Add-ons — sell optional extras alongside the booking
• Billing — how charges and invoices work
• Reporting & KPIs — see what your pricing actually produced