Selling services on KampalaSnap — the big picture

How services differ from shops, what you can do without verification, and where verification fits in.

Services on KampalaSnap

Some things you sell aren't products you ship — they're your time and skills. Cleaning. Salon work. Photography. Mechanic work. Tutoring. Delivery. Catering.

KampalaSnap has a parallel system for service providers, separate from the shop system. This guide is the bird's-eye view of how it works.

Service vs shop — the practical difference

The key thing: services don't use escrow. When a buyer finds you, they tap a WhatsApp button to message you, and you work out the booking, the price, and the payment together. KampalaSnap is the discovery layer; you handle the rest.

Can I be both a shop AND a service?

Yes. Many sellers are. A salon owner runs a Shop (selling hair products) and a Service (offering haircuts). A photographer might run a Service (shoots) and a Shop (selling prints).

One account can own up to one shop and one service at the same time. They're separate profiles, separate subscriptions if you verify both, and buyers see them as separate entities — but they're linked to your single user account.

What you can do without verification

Free, no subscription:

• Open a service profile with category, location, bio, logo, and contact info.
• Upload a small number of videos (the unverified cap is currently a few videos — set in the Pricing Hub).
• Show up in the service directory and search — you appear in category and location browses, just below the verified tier.
• Be reachable on Call AND WhatsApp — both buttons work on your public profile. Verified services get a small ✓ next to the WhatsApp button as a trust signal, but the buttons themselves work identically.
• Be reviewed by past customers who post in your trust feed.
• Buy paid promotions (Spotlight, Top in Category, Local Boost) — same ad menu as verified services. Your boosts work, but ranking- wise they lift you within the unverified tier; verified services still sort above you in any given browse.

What you CAN'T do without verification:

• Wear the verified ✓ check mark on your name, videos, and the contact button — the most-recognised trust signal on the platform.
• Build a showcase (a portfolio of past work — the biggest conversion lever for many services).
• Rank in the verified tier of any browse — verified services always sort above unverified ones, even when both have the same boost.
• Appear at the top of the Spotlight Featured rail — verified Spotlight buyers rank above unverified Spotlight buyers in the rail.
• Upload more than the unverified cap of videos.

The unverified state is "you can be found, called, and booked — but you don't have the trust artifacts (badge, showcase, top-tier ranking) that turn casual taps into committed buyers." Most service providers verify within their first month if they're serious about bookings.

How buyers find services

When a buyer opens the Services tab in the app, they see:

• Categories at the top — Cleaning, Salon, Mechanic, Catering, etc. They pick one to narrow.
• The category list — every service in that category, shown as compact rows with logo, name, location, and a "Featured" pill for services that paid for Spotlight. Verified services rank above unverified ones, and within each tier the ones who paid for boosts rank above the ones who didn't.
• Filters — by location, price tier, attributes (years in business, etc.).
• Search — by service name.

This is category-first discovery. Unlike shops (which buyers browse via the video feed), services are picked by category. A buyer doesn't go looking for "Sandra's Salon" — they go looking for "a salon in Bukoto that does braids."

Showing up well in your category is the main game.

How services + videos work together

Videos still play a role for services — they're how you show what you do, and they appear on:

• Your service profile page.
• The home video feed (mixed in with shop videos).
• Your service category feed.

A video of a cleaner cleaning, a mechanic explaining a repair, or a photographer flipping through portfolio shots adds enormous trust beyond a static profile.

There's a cap on unverified video uploads. Verified service providers can post much more. The cap exists to keep the feed clean during service trials.

What verification costs and gets you

Verification is a monthly subscription, same pricing model as shop verification (set on the Pricing Hub).

For services, verification unlocks the conversion stack — the parts of your profile that turn discoverability into bookings:

• Contact CTA — the WhatsApp tap-to-message button on your profile. Without it, buyers can't reach you with one tap. This is the biggest single reason serious services verify.
• Showcase — a portfolio of your past work attached to your profile. The single biggest conversion lever for many services.
• Public landing page at kampalasnap.com/services/<name> — a shareable web page you can drop into your TikTok / Instagram bio.
• Verified ✓ badge next to your name in the directory, on videos, and on reviews. Trust signal to first-time buyers.
• Top-tier ranking in every browse — verified services always sort above unverified ones, even when both bought the same boost.
• Higher video upload cap — post more service videos.

Note: paid promotions (Spotlight, Top in Category, Local Boost) are available to all services, verified or not. Verification still multiplies their effectiveness — a verified Spotlight buyer ranks above an unverified one in the Featured rail, and verified services always sort first in any category / location filter — but you don't have to verify just to buy ads.

If your goal is to actually get bookings (not just have a free profile online), verification is the path. Ads alone bring eyes; verification (showcase + contact button + badge) turns those eyes into messages.

The path you'll walk

This wave of guides walks you through the whole service journey:

1. Opening your service profile — from "no profile" to "live profile."
2. Setting up your profile — logo, category, attributes, location.
3. Your first video — what to film and how.
4. When buyers message you — the WhatsApp flow and what to do when leads start arriving.
5. The path to verification — when it's worth verifying, how to apply.

After verification, three more topic guides cover the unlocked features:

6. Building your showcase
7. Directory placement + paid promotion
8. Subscription mechanics + vacation mode

A few practical realities

• You're a freelancer / small business owner. KampalaSnap is a discovery tool. You still negotiate, schedule, and collect payments yourself.
• You don't need a business registration to list as a service provider. We don't ask.
• You can pause if you go on holiday. The pause mode parallels the shop pause (see Subscription + vacation).
• There's no commission on service bookings. Since money doesn't flow through us, we don't take a cut. You pay the verification subscription and that's the whole revenue model from your side.

Common questions

Why don't services use escrow?

Three reasons:

1. Most services are negotiated case-by-case — the price isn't fixed like a product is.
2. Many services are paid in cash or via MoMo directly between buyer and provider, which doesn't fit an escrow flow.
3. Services are about ongoing relationships, not one-off transactions. Buyers tend to book the same cleaner, mechanic, etc. repeatedly.

If a service ever evolves into a "fixed price, online booking" model, we may add escrow later. For now, the WhatsApp-first flow fits how services actually work in Uganda.

Can I be a service provider without a phone?

No. The whole point of the verified contact CTA is the WhatsApp tap. If you can't be reached by phone, the service profile won't generate bookings.

How long does the verification fee usually pay back?

Depends on your service. Most service providers we've talked to recoup the monthly fee in their first 1-2 bookings of the month. After that, every booking is pure profit. The economics are usually favorable.

Can buyers leave negative reviews even without booking through the platform?

Yes — anyone who's interacted with you (a buyer who messaged you on WhatsApp and you served them) can leave a review. We can't verify whether the actual service happened, but the review system relies on honest user behavior, the same as shops.

If you get a clearly fake review (someone you've never met), you can flag it for admin review.

What's next

• Opening your service profile — the first concrete step.
• The path to verification — if you want to understand the verification economics before you start.