The fact is, West Slope shoppers want to support local businesses; but they usually can’t even find you. The Open Market is here to make that easier.
Join our community of hundreds of local makers, growers, and small businesses building up the West Slope! List your business for free in our interactive directory, get featured in our online promotions, join in on our bi-annual festivals, and get found in our yearly local shopping magazine.
Sign up in 3 minutes. We’ll help get you started within 24 hours.
Create your account in 3 minutes. We’ll approve you within 24 hours.
2 – Set up shop.
Add your business details, offerings, and photos. Need help? Just ask.
3 – Get connected.
West Slope shoppers discover you through our directory, Seller features, festivals, and magazine.
The Website
Your free home base for lead generation, direct sales, and promotions.
The website is our main discovery tool. It’s open 24/7 for shoppers to find West Slope makers, growers, and small businesses. It’s where everything starts: your free directory listing and optional onsite sales, connections to our festivals and magazine, and regular promotional features.
You choose how you want to participate. Directory only? Perfect. Want to only do festivals? We support that. Change your mind later? No problem.
The Directory
Your free listing service in our searchable directory. Shoppers find you when they’re looking for local options.
The directory shows shoppers how and where you want to do business. You can keep it simple or add as much detail as you like:
Payment preferences: Barter, cash, crypto, PayPal, Venmo, whatever works for you.
External links: Your website, social media, online store, or any other platforms.
Shopping options: advertise any retailers carrying your products, upcoming events, or anywhere else people can find you.
It’s a true open market. You control how people connect with you.
Onsite Sales
Let shoppers buy directly through the website, without any extra clicks. We handle checkout, you fulfill orders.
E-commerce tools for Sellers
Products, services, virtual offerings, e-books/downloads, events, classes, and more can all be sold here.
Inventory – automatically update your stock when an order is placed.
Order reports – keep track of sales.
Analytical tools – see how your listings are doing.
Import / Export – move your listings from another platform and start selling local!
Reviews – a handful of stars and a genuine Shopper comment can go a long way!
Open Market Gift Cards – Shoppers can spend these on any onsite Seller.
Cashflow
Transaction Fees: Up to 5% per transaction (just enough to cover Stripe/PayPal processing fees. We take $0.)
Payouts: You keep 95% or more, paid within a week after you fulfill your order. Choose between PayPal, Google Pay, or Venmo.
Orders and Fulfillment
Flat Rate Shipping: Price your listings to include shipping and handling costs. USA shipping only. Shows as “Free shipping” to shoppers.
Notifications: You receive emails with order details immediately.
Simple 3-Step Order Fulfillment:
Ship the order or fulfill the service.
Go to your Seller’s Orders page.
Mark it “Fulfilled.” Done.
Taxes
The Open Market collects and remits all Colorado sales tax for onsite sales.
You’re not required to report Colorado sales tax for Open Market sales, but we encourage tracking your cash-flow for your own records.
Refunds and Exchanges
Approval: This is your choice. We only moderate if disputes arise.
Refunds: Full refunds possible with your approval. Just let us know how you’d like to handle it, and we’ll move the money ASAP.
Exchanges: Managed by you directly with the customer.
What You Need
Payout account (PayPal, Venmo, or Google Pay).
Valid email.
How the website works for Shoppers
Shoppers always shop free, and they shop on your terms. The Open Market just helps make that connection for both of you.
How Shoppers find you:
Discovery: The site is built to surface local businesses when shoppers search for what they need.
Search: Every word in your listing is a keyword that shows up when Shoppers are looking for you.
Filtering: Listings are grouped by category, location, and type to make browsing easy.
Promotion: Seller Features, seasonal gift guides, editor’s picks, social media collaborations, and community spotlights.
Word of Mouth: Every visit is a win/win for all of everyone. Spread the word.
How transactions work
Offsite: Shoppers contact you directly, visit your website, find you at events, or shop through retailers you’ve listed. It’s business as usual, but the Open Market helps make it easier.
Onsite: Shoppers pay with the Open Market Payment Portal using PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Debit/Credit.
After ordering, Shoppers receive a confirmation, and you’ll receive an email with all of the relevant information and your next steps for order fulfillment.
The Open Market follows up to ensure smooth processing and offer the Shopper an opportunity for feedback and public reviews.
The Festivals
In-person sales at biannual Open Market events.
The Open Market hosts festivals twice a year: one before Mother’s Day in Grand Junction, one after Black Friday in Fruita. Live music, food, drinks, family activities, and 40+ seller booths.
Sellers pay a small fee to reserve a booth space, process their own sales, and connect face-to-face with the community
In 2025, we published the Grand Valley Holiday Shopping Guide featuring 80+ local businesses, a community food bank auction, event calendar, and professional photoshoot that’s still being used by local models, makers, and venues for their own marketing.
We’ve got big plans for the next edition, and we’d love to include you! Sign up below to get notified of the next publication!
This project has been slowly growing since 2020, and it's a community effort. We're all in this together, and we'll all benefit from each other's work. Here's a few action items for you that don't take much effort or time, but they have a big impact for everyone here:
Use the Open Market: This project is a tool to build stronger connections in the Western Slope, use it to your advantage.
Build the community: Tell your Shoppers and other Sellers about what's going on, or share some of The Open Market's content and ideas on social media.
Provide Feedback: I'm open to any suggestions, criticisms, or ideas. Your input at this early stage will have a huge impact as this thing continues. Reach out any time: hello@theopenmarket.co
