A Faire alternative for the stores that never shop on Faire

What Faire does for brands

These facts come from Faire's brand page (UK edition), checked on 30 October 2026. Faire sets terms by region and has changed them before, so check the page for your country.

• A marketplace of retailers. Faire says brands can be discovered by hundreds of thousands of retailers.
• Commission on new accounts. Faire charges commission on accounts that find you through its marketplace: 25% on opening orders and 15% on reorders, on the UK page.
• Nothing on accounts you bring. Faire says you pay no commission on orders from existing customers you bring to Faire yourself.
• Payouts. Faire pays brands 30 days after an order ships, or the next day for a fee.
• The admin. Shipping labels, order management, messages with retailers and reports are handled on the platform.

The stores Faire does not reach

A marketplace only sells to stores that shop on it. Plenty of the venues a food or drink brand wants never do: the café that orders by email, the bar that buys through its distributor, the gym that has never heard of a wholesale marketplace, the deli whose owner prefers to talk to the maker.

Those stores are reachable, but only if you go to them. That is the part we do: find the stores in one area that fit your product, find the owner or buyer at each, and write to them about their shop.

Side by side

Compare them on the job each does.

• Who starts it. On Faire a retailer finds your listing. With outreach you write to the store first.
• Which stores. Faire reaches retailers who shop on Faire. Outreach reaches any physical business you choose: cafés, bars, restaurants, gyms, grocers, delis, bottle shops.
• The relationship. On a marketplace the store also has every competing brand one click away. A store you found yourself knows you by name.
• What you pay. On Faire, the marketplace commission above on new accounts. On orders from a store you found yourself, no marketplace commission applies. See pricing for what LaunchPal costs.
• The admin. Faire handles payment and shipping labels. Selling direct, you invoice and ship yourself, though Flow can sync payments with Xero and Stripe.

Use both: find them yourself, let them order where they like

The two fit together well. Outreach finds the store and starts the conversation. If the owner already uses Faire and prefers to order there, Faire says orders from customers you bring yourself carry no commission. If they do not, they order direct from your line sheet or by email.

Either way the store is one you chose, and you hold the relationship.

What going direct asks of you

Selling direct gives you the store and the margin, and it hands you the jobs a marketplace would have done. Be honest about them before you start.

• Invoicing and getting paid. You set the payment terms and chase them. Flow can sync payments with Xero and Stripe, so you see who has paid.
• Shipping. You pack and send each order, or route it through your distributor.
• A way to order. A store needs a simple way to buy: a line sheet, a price list by email, or its usual distributor.
• Follow-up. Nobody nudges a store to reorder for you. Flow reminds you who is due a check-in.

Questions to ask before you rely on a marketplace

Whichever way you lean, these questions tell you how much of your wholesale should run through one platform.

• How many of the stores I most want to be in actually buy on it?
• What do I pay on a first order and on reorders, in my region, today?
• Who keeps the store if I leave the platform: me, or the listing?
• Can I bring my own stores onto it on better terms than new ones?

When Faire is the better fit

If you sell gifts, homewares or giftable packaged food and your ideal stores are boutiques that already buy on Faire, a listing does real work and handles payment terms you could not offer alone. Keep it.

If your best stores are hospitality venues, gyms or local grocers, or your product needs a tasting before anyone buys, a marketplace listing will sit quietly. That is where going direct pays.

How selling direct works with LaunchPal

Pick one city and one store type to start. We find the stores and the owner or buyer at each, write every email around that store, and send from a separate domain we set up for you, so your own address is never at risk. Follow-ups stop the moment a store replies, and you answer it yourself: samples, price, first order. Send samples only to stores that ask.

To set a wholesale price that works whether a store orders direct or on a marketplace, try the wholesale price calculator. And if chains are next, our page on RangeMe vs reaching owners yourself covers that step, as does food broker vs outreach.