Onboarding your organization
From registration to full access: limited access, the two documents, billing setup, and the optional ACH mandate.
TL;DRAI summary
This chapter explains how your organization gets set up on Cypress in two phases. You start by registering and can immediately begin preparing your fleet, even while you finish uploading required documents and setting up how you'll pay.
For: New business orgs — admins especially
Before an organization can sell or buy, Cypress needs to know who it is. Onboarding is a two-phase checklist with a working-but-limited middle state, so your team can start preparing inventory while the paperwork clears.
The journey
Phase one — registration
Registering creates the org and completes the minimal checklist: the business profile, accepting the terms, and at least one team member. A Cypress Manager reviews the application (within one business day) and grants provisional access — you're in.
Limited access — what works, what waits
A provisional org can genuinely work: build the fleet, import CSVs, score condition, request valuations, and set floors. Two doors stay closed until activation:
- Listing — vehicles can reach APPROVED but not go live.
- Offering — the org can browse but not bid or Buy Now.
The blocks say so in plain words ("finish your organization onboarding"), and a persistent banner across the dashboard lists exactly which checklist items remain, linking straight to where each is completed.
Phase two — the full checklist
Three items, in any order:
- W-9, uploaded and approved. Upload under Settings → Documents. A Cypress Manager reviews it — assisted by an automatic document check (name matches the org, TIN present, signed and dated) — and approves or asks for a corrected copy.
- Dealer license, uploaded and approved. Same flow; the review checks license number, state, and expiry.
- Billing configured. How your org will pay its
commissions:
- Online (default) — no setup beyond a payment method; each sale's commission is paid per-deal by card through the embedded checkout.
- ACH batch billing (optional) — link your operating account through the verified bank connection (you authenticate with your bank; nobody types routing numbers into a form). Once the mandate verifies, your status flips to ACH-enabled.
What ACH changes for you
With ACH enabled, commissions stop being a mid-deal interruption: the fee step of every closing completes itself and the amount rides into your twice-monthly batch settlement — one debit on the 14th or 28th cycle, one receipt, every VIN itemized. Your org gets a credit limit; the Billing page's meter shows utilization, and staying under it is the one thing to watch — hitting the limit pauses listings until the balance settles.
Activation
When the last item completes, a Cypress Manager marks the org fully onboarded. You don't need to log out, refresh, or ask: the banner notices by itself, the gates open, and an "Onboarding complete" toast confirms it — every admin, Fleet Manager, and billing admin gets the notification.
Worked example
Acme Fleet Services registers on a Monday: profile, terms, Maria added.
Alex grants provisional access Tuesday morning — Maria imports the first
40 vans and sets floors the same day, banner counting down 3 items remaining. The W-9 approves Wednesday; the dealer license bounces once
(expired scan) and approves Thursday; Acme opts into ACH and links its
operating account in about two minutes. Thursday afternoon the banner
disappears mid-session — toast, gates open — and the
Transit launches within the hour.
Business rules
- Provisional access is a grant, not a right — the platform reviews before any org touches the marketplace, even read-limited.
- Document approvals are human decisions with AI assistance — the automatic checks advise the reviewer, they never auto-approve.
- Billing choice isn't forever: an online org can adopt ACH later from the Billing page, and the switch takes effect from the next sale.
Under the hood
The checklist is a first-class record per org (minimal + full phases), the banner polls it and re-checks on tab focus, and every approval writes the org's audit trail. Integrators note: a provisional org's API keys work for inventory pushes, but listing-mode launches are blocked with the same onboarding message the UI shows.