Frequently Asked Questions

Yes — and there's no countdown. Every new store starts on a free plan with its own usage units (1000 to start, 1000 more every month) that cover metered extras like document scans. You only need to pay when you want unlimited premium features or extra usage units, and you can do that at any time — see "What are usage units?" below.

MatSmartShop is an inventory and bookkeeping app that helps you record the financial affairs of your business: generate, send or print invoices, record expenses, keep tabs on stock level, and view fiscal reports. It also lets you publish your catalogue online (Wildfire) so customers can order directly, text customers who owe you or have gone quiet, and load or update data in bulk — even by just photographing a paper sales sheet.

Yes to both. Your login is a single email that can own or be given access to any number of stores — a store switcher appears in the web sidebar, and a pick-list appears when you sign in on Android or Desktop, at no extra charge just for owning more than one store. A given phone or PC is still bound to one store at a time, but switching which store it points to is free and self-service. Running several stores? Consolidator rolls all of them into one combined dashboard, also free.

Install the app on the new phone or PC, choose Recover an Existing Shop, and sign in with your usual email and password — it's self-service, you don't need to contact support. Everything you had synced to the cloud comes back down to the new device.

Usage units are what pay for metered extras on the free plan — like document scans. Every store gets 1000 to start and 1000 more every month at no cost; unused units don't roll over, but any you buy or earn (see referrals, below) never expire and are spent after your free monthly units run out. See your balance and top up anytime under My Usage. An active paid plan doesn't touch this balance at all — its premium features are simply unlimited.

No — SMS runs on its own separate balance, SMS units, bought on their own from inside the app. Every text sent through Customer Follow-Up and every automatic restock alert is charged in SMS units, not usage units, so topping up one balance never affects the other.

Open Upgrade Plan in the app's menu — it reads Renew Subscription once you are on a paid plan — and pay by Paystack (Naira) or PayPal (USD); a promo code can be applied there too. You can check your current plan and usage-unit balance at any time under My Usage.

You're not locked out. Your store automatically continues on the free usage-based plan — you keep selling, invoicing and recording customers — while the unlimited premium extras that came with the paid plan go back to being metered by usage units until you renew.

Yes — please see our payment plans for current rates.

Yes, at any time from Upgrade Plan / My Usage in the app.

Yes, and it's automatic. Grab your personal link from Invite & Earn in the app menu — no need to contact us. You earn 500 usage units in total per successful referral, paid in three stages: 150 as soon as the new store gets its own starting units, another 150 once that new store makes its own first successful referral, and a final 200 once the new store makes a real purchase on the platform.

Wildfire is your built-in online storefront, open on every plan. Publish items with photos and prices, set delivery locations and fees, and share your own store link (or a link to a single item) on WhatsApp, Facebook or Twitter. Orders can be paid online via Paystack or Rave (Flutterwave), or arranged directly with you, and confirmed orders convert automatically into ordinary invoices. Read more on the Wildfire page or in the Merchant Storefront manual.

Turn on back orders for that item and customers can still order it, with a note that it will ship once restocked. The moment your stock shows it's available again, everyone waiting is texted automatically — nothing for you to remember.

A receipt is generated the moment you save a sale, and can be printed, emailed, or shared straight to WhatsApp. Unpaid balances also show your bank or wallet details automatically, so the customer knows exactly where to pay.

No. Upload Data takes a spreadsheet of items, customers, sales, purchases or prices and loads it in one go. Working from paper instead? Scan A Report lets you photograph a hand-written or printed sheet and reads the rows for you — nothing is saved until you've reviewed the draft it produces.

Our online portal and web app are protected with high-level encryption against unauthorized access, and are routinely upgraded to conform to current cybersecurity standards.

Sign in to the web dashboard (Mat Smart Online) from anywhere to see sales, balances and stock in real time, as long as your till has synced to our cloud servers. Every sign-in is also logged under Login Audit, so you can see who accessed your store, when, and from which till.

Yes — MatSmartShop Desktop is a Windows app built for a fixed till PC. It works fully offline with its own local database and syncs to the cloud whenever you're online, and it self-updates. Download it from the manuals page or the Downloads shortcut inside the web app.