About

LocalPinch is an DIY ecommerce gift certificate platform designed to serve the untapped local services market.  The simplest way to think of LP is as an “Etsy.com for local services”.  We give small local businesses the tools to create a cost-effective ecommerce presence quickly and safely, and make it easy for shoppers in their area to find them.

LP has two primary customers – local businesses looking to sell their services to local shoppers, and local shoppers looking to purchase local services.

For sellers, LP has a quick signup process.  Once a business is approved and the business profile page is created, the business can create gift certificates (GC’s) to sell for either full price, or at a discount.  There is no fee to list these GC’s – we simply take a 10% commission if a sale is made through LP.  When a purchase is made through the site we collect the payment, and we pay out the seller via Paypal.  Businesses can find a list of their sales in their account, sort and print these, or even download a sales report to Excel.  Each category page and business profile page is SEO optimized so they are easy for customers to find.  LP gets great ranking for searches of listed businesses that end in “gift certificate” (search on Google for “Tweedle Press Gift Certificate”or “Fine Arts Voice Gift Certificate”, for example).

Shoppers to the site will automatically see businesses and GC’s in the city they’re in.  They can search by category or keyword and change the City or Zip, read and leave reviews, and make a purchase.  Purchases can be made for yourself or others.  Shoppers’ purchases can be tracked in their accounts and reprinted.  Business profile pages have useful information such as location, price, and a business description which can include videos and maps.

Other than that, LP has a number of other content platforms that figure to be a part of the LP experience.  We have a blog at localpinch.com/blog, a YouTube channel, Twitter and FB accounts, and at some point, will possibly offer forums.