New in Castiron: Accept Tips on Your Orders

July 15, 2023

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October 19, 2022

Your customers know that when they purchase from you, they’re getting something special. The items you sell aren’t basic — they’re inspired, handcrafted, and delicious. And much of the time, your customers want to thank you for your work.

Based on your feedback, we’re proud to introduce new features designed to help put more money in your pocket while empowering you to do the work you love. Your customers can now leave a tip when purchasing an instant checkout product, or when paying an invoice for a custom order. 

Turn on tipping in your Castiron store

Start accepting tips in a matter of seconds! 

All you have to do to turn on tipping is go to the Castiron admin, select Shop Settings from the menu on the left-hand side of the page, click Payments to manage how you get paid and your fees, and select the toggle to turn on tipping. While you're at it, select 'My customers will pay the fees' to maximize your profits and have your customers cover the Castiron and Stripe transaction fees!

Some food business owners don’t like to ask for tips, which is why the tipping feature can be turned on or off at any time on the Payments page.

Consider turning on tips in your shop, even if you don’t think your customers will use it. They might surprise you! 

"I didn’t think my customers would be interested in tipping, but immediately after turning it on, I got $45 in extra tips from three orders," Leah Livingston of Yaya's Sweet Treats said. 

Any tips that you receive go directly to you — we do not deduct the Castiron fee from your tips, and taxes are not calculated on tips.

How tipping works

What does tipping look like for your customers? When a customer places an order, they’ll have the option to add a tip at checkout. Customers can enter a custom tip amount, or easily select to add 15%, 18%, or 20% of the order subtotal as a tip.

When a customer leaves a tip, you’ll see the tip amount in the order confirmation email automatically generated by Castiron. You will also be able to see tip amounts on the Order Details page for each order while you’re logged in.

You deserve to be compensated for your time and talents! Tipping is one way to do that. 

We believe that you should always price your products in a way that covers your costs and makes you money to spare, which often means increasing your prices (or lowering your ingredient costs and time spent making your products). If you don’t want to increase prices, tips can help supplement your income.

"While the cost of ingredients has continued to rise, I've been hesitant to increase my prices again because I know my customers are also pinched financially. However, for the customer who can afford it and appreciates the services I provide, the tip feature is a way to help me recoup extra expenses I've been up against lately,” Lisa Gaub of Lisa Fay Bakes said. “It literally took five seconds to turn on and I'm getting an average of an extra $5 an order. I love that the customer gets an automatic ‘Thanks for the tip!’ with their order confirmation." 

👀 More new features in Castiron

That's not the only thing we've been working on lately. Check out some of our recent additions:

  • Add a photo gallery to your store with just a few clicks — even on mobile! 
  • Do you take custom orders? Send a quote to your customers instantly, without making your customer submit an order request form. 
  • Build out your store in seconds with our product templates. Whether you sell cakes, cookies, macarons, or something else, you can get a head start on building your custom order forms with templates.

Our goal is to help put more money in your pocket. Activate tipping in your store in less than a minute! Don’t have a digital storefront in Castiron yet? Build yours today.

About the Author
Emily Brungard

Growth Marketing Manager, Castiron

Emily is a sister, a friend, a cook, a world traveler, an interior design lover, and Growth Marketing Manager at Castiron. A career startup marketer, Emily has firsthand experience growing small businesses with marketing.

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