Do you manage your farm seasonally? If so, this notification is for you!

There are four Farmigo links that you provide for members:

Sign-up, Account Management, Additional Payments and the Store link. 

In the past, each of these links had to be edited every time you switched to a new season. This means emailing members to let them know about the link changes, and updating links on your web page.

We have officially changed these links so that in the future, only ONE will need to be edited each season.

Which one of these links is not like the other?

Sign-up: http://www.farmigo.com/join/oldmacfarmseasonal/winter-spring2013
Account Management: http://www.farmigo.com/account/oldmacfarmseasonal
Additional Payments: http://www.farmigo.com/pay/oldmacfarmseasonal
Store: http://www.farmigo.com/store/oldmacfarmseasonal


The Sign-Up link is the only link that will change with each season. The Account Management, Additional Payments, and Store links will all be the same, saving you a little bit of time as you prepare for a new season!

Web store items are transferred automatically between seasons, so you never have to add items twice. 



Technical Advisor Tip: Members are able to view multiple seasons from their account. When you create a new season, members will be able to switch between multiple seasons:

A reusable box is great way to create a communal experience for your share members and encourages environment-friendly practices.  Coolers are also a great way to expand offerings to your members beyond produce.  But these containers cost money!

The Membership Fee is a helpful tool for asking members to make a deposit on these fun containers.  Read more below for tips on setting up the Membership Fee and then refunding the deposits.

You may want to consider explaining what this fee is for in the signup process by adding a comment to the location or adding it to the payment plan notes.

• Adding a location comment:  Under the Info tab of the location editor, you may add a comment.  This comment will appear in the first step of the signup process next to the location listed.
  
• Adding payment plan notes:  Email [email protected] with edits that you would like to make to your payment plan notes, which are presented in the Terms step of the signup process.  Please note that the notes may not be adjusted for all payment plan types.
  

When the member signs up and is charged the membership fee, a receive fee payment is added under the Payment tab of their member file.  This payment line indicates that the fee has been charged.

Now let’s say that it’s the end of the season or the member has canceled their subscription, you may record their deposit refund by taking the following steps under the Payment tab of the member file:

1. Add an Internal payment with the status “Received” for the amount of their refund and save changes.  You may want to add a note that the payment is for a returned container.
   
2. Add a Check or Cash payment (depending on how you deliver the refund) with the status “Refunded” for the amount of their refund and save changes.  You may want to add a note that the payment is for a returned container.
   

What if I don't know how many distributions I will have?  Plan conservatively.  

For those of you that manage your deliveries seasonally, it is sometimes difficult to predict how many deliveries you can squeeze into a season.  I recommend minimizing expectations and scheduling the minimum number of deliveries that you believe is reasonable for the season.  If you find at the end of the season that you may offer additional produce, advertise this surplus as a BONUS for your members at a reduced price per delivery or at no additional cost.  To offer bonus deliveries to your members, take the following steps:

1. Create a unique schedule for the extra deliveries.
   
2. Create a share at the discounted delivery price or at a price of $0; assign the share to the unique schedule created in step 1.
   
3. Ask members to log into their accounts and add the Bonus Deliveries to their subscription. (Email [email protected] if the feature which allows members to add to their subscriptiontion is not currently turned on.)
   

To learn more, visit the Farmigo Help Site. 

What tips can you share about planning deliveries?  Do you find pro-rating shares to be a good strategy for increasing membership?

How many times a week do you fail to remember your password to a website you are sure you have an account with? You sit there going through all of the possible options until finally one works or you give up in frustration. Whether it is your bank account or your favorite music website, it is impossible to keep all the usernames and passwords straight. In attempt to stay off of the list of forgotten passwords, This week, Farmigo will launch a new feature, allowing members to easily sign up and log in using their Facebook accounts. Members who do not wish to connect using Facebook or do not have a Facebook account can still sign up or log in using their email address and selected password.

Let's take a look at what the new signup and login processes will look like.