Agent guide

Contents

1. Getting started
2. Your menu at a glance
3. Adding and managing products
4. Handling orders
5. Getting paid
6. Reading your dashboard
7. Selling more
8. Marketing your shop
9. Rules that protect everyone
10. Your daily and weekly routine
11. Getting help

1. Getting started

Synara is a marketplace for shops near the buyer. You sell your own stock from your own shop. The buyer pays with M-Pesa when they order, a BodaKe rider collects the parcel from you and delivers it, and you are paid after delivery.

1. Sign up at Become an agent with your shop name, your phone number, your county and town, and a password.
2. Send photos of your national ID (front and back) straight after signing up. It makes approval quicker. If you skipped it, log in: while you wait for approval, the login page lets you send them.
3. Wait for approval. Synara checks every new shop, usually within a day, and sends you a text when you can log in.
4. Set up My shop: add a logo or a photo of your shop front, a few lines about what you sell, and your opening hours.
5. Set where riders collect from: on the Orders page press Shop details, choose your county and town, write the street or landmark, and while you are standing in the shop press Use where I am now to save a map pin. With a pin, the nearest rider is called first.
6. Add your products (section 3), then share your shop link (section 8).

Tip. Add at least 10 products before you start sharing your link. A shop with choice looks trustworthy and keeps buyers looking.

2. Your menu at a glance

On a phone, swipe the menu sideways to see every page. Add Synara to your home screen from your browser menu so it opens like an app.

3. Adding and managing products

One product

1. On Products press Add product.
2. Write a clear name, choose a category from the list, the price in shillings and how many you have.
3. Add up to 6 photos. The first one is the main photo buyers see in lists. Photos are made smaller on your phone before they upload, so they load fast for buyers.
4. Optional: a discount (0 to 90%), a description, and the stock level at which you want a "Low" warning.
5. Press Save product. It is on sale at once.

Sizes and colours

If you sell the same item in several sizes or colours, press + Size/colour on it. The first time, say what the one you already have is (for example Small) and what the new one is (Large). Each size or colour has its own price and stock, but buyers see one card and choose on the product page. Changing the name, category or description of one changes them all.

Similar products: Copy

Press Copy to make a copy of a product with its photos and details, change what is different, and save. The copy stays hidden until you save it.

Many products at once

1. Press Add many, then Download the template.
2. Open it in Excel or Google Sheets. Replace the example rows with your products, one per row. name and price are needed; a category must be spelt as on Synara's list; stock, category, discount, description and photo (a web address starting with https) are optional.
3. Save it as CSV (in Excel: File, Save As, "CSV UTF-8"), choose the file and press Add products. Up to 200 at a time.
4. If a row has a mistake, nothing is added and you are told which rows to fix. Fix them and choose the file again.
5. Add photos afterwards with Edit if your products have no photo online.

Stock, hiding and removing

• Press Stock to change how many you have. Keep it true: a buyer who pays for something you do not have gets a refund, and your shop loses trust.
• When stock reaches 0 the item shows "Out of stock" and buyers can ask to be texted. When you add stock, they get one text saying it is back.
• Set Visible to buyers to No to hide an item for a while. Remove deletes an item that was never ordered, or hides one that was, so your order records stay complete.

4. Handling orders

You only see an order once the buyer has paid. You get a text for each new paid order.

1. Open Orders and press Accept. Do it quickly: buyers notice.
2. Pack the items well, then press Packed, call a rider. Synara finds the nearest free BodaKe rider.
3. You see a 4-digit pickup code. Give it to the rider only when you hand over the parcel. The rider types it into their app.
4. The buyer gives the rider a separate delivery code at the door. When it is entered, the order is delivered and your earning is recorded.
5. After collection you can rate the rider. It helps Synara send good riders first.

If you cannot supply an order, press Reject and say why. The stock goes back and the buyer is refunded. Buyers who are turned away rarely come back, so keep your stock numbers true instead.

Buyers far away. A buyer in another county collects from a shop near them (a collection point). You send their parcel by courier or bus and enter the courier and waybill number on the order. If you tick Let buyers collect parcels from other counties at my shop in Shop details, you become a collection point and earn a fee (KES 50 now) for each parcel you hand over.

Complaints. A buyer can report a problem up to 7 days after delivery (wrong item, damaged, missing, not as described). You get a text, and the order appears under the Complaints tab on Orders. Write your side there: what you packed, and what you offer (a replacement, a refund). Synara decides: a full refund, a part refund taken off your earning, a replacement by you, or no action. Your money for that order waits until it is decided.

Hidden by Synara. If a product breaks the rules (fake, banned, wrong photos), Synara can hide it. You get a text with the reason and it shows on your Products page. Call Synara if you think it is a mistake.

Privacy. You never see the buyer's phone number or street address. The rider does. This protects buyers, and it is why everything goes through the order page.

5. Getting paid

• Synara keeps 9% of the items total, at most KES 500 per order. The delivery fee goes to the rider (less Synara's share of it). There is no sign-up fee and no monthly fee.
• Example: an order of items worth KES 2,000 earns you KES 1,820. An order of KES 10,000 earns you KES 9,500 (the most Synara takes is 500).
• Money becomes ready to pay 24 hours after delivery, so the buyer has time to report a problem.
• Synara sends what is ready to your M-Pesa and records the confirmation code. Check it on Earnings.

6. Reading your dashboard

• Sales today, this week, this month: paid orders that were not cancelled, items only.
• Sales, last 14 days: one bar per day; today's is gold. Look for your best days and post your ads the evening before them.
• Best sellers: never let these run out. Consider adding more sizes or colours of them.
• Running low: items at or below the warning level you set. Restock or update the number.
• Most looked at and Looked at, not bought: an item many people open but nobody buys usually needs a better photo, a clearer description, or a better price. Try one change at a time and watch the next week.

7. Selling more

Photos sell

• Use daylight near a window or outside. No flash.
• Put the item on a plain background (a white sheet or a clean wall) and fill the picture with it.
• Add 3 or more photos: front, back or side, close-up of details, and the item in use or in a hand to show its size.
• Never use another shop's photos. Buyers notice, and it breaks the rules.

Names that are found

• Write what buyers search for: brand, item, size or capacity. "Ramtons Electric Kettle 1.7L" beats "Kettle offer!!".
• Put the important words first. Choose the right category so the item shows in the side menu and category pages.
• Use the description for what buyers ask you on the phone: size, material, what is in the box, warranty, how to use it.

Price and offers

• Check prices of the same item from other shops on Synara and in town. Delivery is added on top, so be fair on the item price.
• A discount shows the old price crossed out and how much the buyer saves, and puts your item in the Deals row on the front page. 5 to 15% on a few items is enough to bring buyers into your shop.
• Items that sell together (a phone and a cover) belong in your shop together: buyers see "More from this shop" under every product.

Trust

• Accept and pack fast. Speed brings good stars, and good stars put your items in Best rated.
• Reply to every review on Reviews: thank happy buyers; for unhappy ones, say sorry and what you will do. Other buyers read the replies.
• Fill in My shop: a logo, a few lines about you and your hours make your shop page look real.
• Going away for a day or more? Switch on I am away in My shop. Your items are hidden instead of buyers paying and waiting. Switch it off when you are back.

8. Marketing your shop

Your shop link

Your link is on the Products page. Anyone who opens it sees only your products. Press Share on WhatsApp or Copy link, and put it:

• On your WhatsApp status, once or twice a week, with a photo of a new item or a deal.
• In your WhatsApp Business profile, Facebook page and Instagram or TikTok bio.
• On a printed card or sticker at your shop counter: "Order on Synara, pay with M-Pesa, delivered by BodaKe".
• In local groups (estate, church, school parents, chama), where the group allows it. Do not spam.

The free ad kit (Ads page)

1. On Ads choose a product. Synara makes a short vertical video and a picture from its photos, with your shop name, the price and your link.
2. Choose captions in English or Kiswahili, in the style you like, for TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or X.
3. Download the video, add music in TikTok or Instagram, paste the caption and post it from your own account.
4. Each app gets its own tracked link, so the Ads page shows how many people clicked from each app and how many bought. Do more of what works.

Front-page banner (free)

On the Ads page you can ask for one of your products to be featured in the moving banner at the top of Synara's front page. It is free for now. Synara checks it, then it runs for 7 days. Pick a product with good photos, enough stock and a discount.

Ideas that work

• Post at the times people scroll: early morning, lunch, and 7 to 10 pm.
• Show the item in use, and show a BodaKe rider leaving your shop with a parcel: it shows delivery is real.
• Run a "this week only" discount and say so in the caption.
• Ask happy buyers to leave a review on their order page. Synara also texts them a day after delivery.

9. Rules that protect everyone

• Sell only genuine items you have in stock, as described and as photographed.
• Take every Synara order through Synara. Asking a buyer to pay you directly outside the site is not allowed and removes their protection.
• Never write reviews of your own products or pay for reviews.
• Give the pickup code only to the rider who collects the parcel.
• No illegal, fake, stolen or dangerous goods. Synara can hide items and suspend shops that break the rules. See the Terms.

10. Your daily and weekly routine

Every day

• Open Orders when you open the shop and after each text: accept and pack.
• Update stock when you sell something in the shop too.
• Glance at the Dashboard: anything running low?

Every week

• Add new products, or new photos to old ones.
• Post at least 2 ads or status updates with your link, and check which app brought buyers.
• Reply to new reviews.
• Look at Looked at, not bought and improve one item.
• Check Earnings against what you expected.

11. Getting help

• Forgot your password? Call Synara. After checking who you are, Synara gives you a 6-digit code; enter it with a new password on the reset page. To change a password you know, use My shop.
• A rider has not come, or a delivery went wrong? Synara sees every order and can choose a rider or sort it out. Call Synara with the order number.
• Synara support: see the Help page