Question 1

Who operates Islander Connect, and where is it registered?

Accepted Answer

Islander Connect is a marketplace operated by Ad Astra Tendere LLC, an Oregon company. It serves the local communities in the Marianas Islands (including Saipan, Tinian, and Rota), Guam, and our global diaspora, enabling independent creators to sell products, digital guides, and services worldwide.

Question 2

Do I need a US Mainland address to form an LLC and sell on the platform?

Accepted Answer

No. We publish a free, step-by-step Marianas-to-Mainland LLC Blueprint that walks you through establishing a virtual commercial address, appointing a registered agent, filing articles of organization with a mainland US state (such as Delaware), obtaining an IRS EIN, and opening a US business bank account remotely from the islands. You do not have to wait for the LLC to be finalized before you start: you can set up your storefront and prepare listings right away, and they go live once you have connected a payout method.

Question 3

What are the platform fees to sell on Islander Connect?

Accepted Answer

There is no monthly subscription, no listing fee, and no contract. When you sell your own product we keep 10% of the total order, including shipping. Card processing costs are ours, not yours. Products you import from the platform catalog work differently: we supply the product, and you earn 15% of the goods.

Question 4

What happens to a seller’s earnings when an order is refunded?

Accepted Answer

A refund returns money to the buyer that the seller was credited with, so the seller’s pending earnings for that order come down by their share of the refunded amount — the same proportion the order was originally split. If an order earns the seller 90% of its total, a $30 refund reduces their pending earnings by $27. If the seller has already been paid for that order, the amount is offset against their future pending earnings rather than treated as a debt, and an offset under $1.00 is forgiven rather than collected. Payment processing costs are ours, not the seller’s, so those are never recovered from a refund.

Question 5

What happens if a buyer files a chargeback?

Accepted Answer

While a dispute is open we hold that order out of your payout, and nothing is released for it until the outcome is known. If the dispute is lost, it is handled exactly like a refund: your share of the disputed amount is not paid to you, and if you had already been paid for that order the amount is offset against your future pending earnings rather than treated as a debt. If you win the dispute, nothing changes — your earnings for that order are paid as normal, because no money moved.

Question 6

How are digital products paid out, and can they be refunded?

Accepted Answer

A digital sale is not held for the payout hold period that applies to shipped goods. The file is handed over the moment it is paid for and cannot be shipped back, so there is no delivery window to protect: once the order is delivered, your earnings become available as soon as you are otherwise payout-ready. Because a downloaded file cannot be returned, a digital purchase is not refundable after download — except where we approve an exception, for example a file that could not be delivered at all or was not what the listing described.

Question 7

How do local merchants in Saipan, Tinian, or Rota get paid?

Accepted Answer

Buyer payments are collected through Stripe. How you get paid depends on where you are. Sellers in the US mainland connect a Stripe account. Sellers in the CNMI and Guam are paid by direct bank deposit (ACH) into a local bank account, such as Bank of Guam or Bank of Saipan. You enter your bank details in your dashboard, and we never display the full numbers back to you. Payouts are released once a sale settles and clears our payout hold period, which is 14 days.

Question 8

Are sellers responsible for local CNMI Gross Revenue Taxes (GRT)?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We do not calculate, withhold, or file local taxes on your behalf. Sellers based in the CNMI are responsible for keeping accurate business records and for filing and paying their CNMI Gross Revenue Tax (GRT) or local excise taxes directly to the CNMI Division of Revenue and Taxation.

Question 9

What items can I not ship through the platform?

Accepted Answer

Some goods are prohibited in the mail outright (ammunition, explosives, gasoline, liquid mercury, air bags, marijuana), and others are restricted to ground-only — most importantly lithium batteries in damaged, defective, or pre-owned devices, which are forbidden in air transportation. This matters for our island lanes because they fly. See the full plain-language list on our "What You Can and Cannot Ship" page, linked above.

Question 10

Is my personal and business information secure during onboarding?

Accepted Answer

Sellers who connect a Stripe account complete Stripe's own identity checks, and we do not store your tax IDs or Social Security number. Your bank details are held in a server-side store that is never exposed to the browser. You only ever see the last four digits of your account number.

Support & Operations FAQ

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Support & Operations FAQ

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