10 Options for Multi-Vendor Shopping Carts

10 Options for Multi-Vendor Shopping Carts

Multi-vendor e-commerce sites are really popular.

Sites such as eBay, Etsy and AliBaba have enormous reach and support with 100,000’s of sellers on just one site.

However, multi-vendor sites are also really difficult to build and maintain. E-commerce itself is difficult enough, but when you multiply the number of transactions and vendors, you multiply all of the potential issues.

Still, we often get asked how to set up a multi-vendor site. For our members and our readers, here are options for building a multi-vendor site with open source software.

Note: We haven’t tried many of these options. Look at the price tags on some of them and you’ll see why. Please approach this as a list of options and not recommendations.

#1. Yo!Kart

10 Options for Multi-Vendor Shopping Carts - yo!kart
  • Link for more information.
  • Price: $250 and up.
  • Description: Yo!kart is an e-commerce platform that focused exclusively on setting up multi-vendor stores. They have options for a hosted, managed solution and a self-hosted product that runs on PHP and Apache.

#2. Magento with Marketplace

10 Options for Multi-Vendor Shopping Carts - magentro marketplace
  • Link for more information.
  • Price: $349 plus your Magento license costs.
  • Description: Magento is perhaps the most popular open-source shopping cart. It is mostly used by medium-to-large companies with money to spend. Marketplace allows multiple vendors to upload and sell products. Vendors can also get reviews and ratings on their products.

#3. OpenCart, Joomla, WordPress with Multi Vendor / Drop Shipper

 10 Options for Multi-Vendor Shopping Carts- opencart Joomla

#4. IXXO, Joomla, WordPress with IXXO Multi-Vendor Edition

10 Options for Multi-Vendor Shopping Carts-  ixxo Joomla

  • Link for more information.
  • Price: $1,495.
  • Description: IXXO is a shopping cart that’s available as a stand-alone cart, as a Joomla extension and as a WordPress plugin.

#5. Joomla with Hikashop

10 Options for Multi-Vendor Shopping Carts - hikamarket multi vendor
  • Link for more information.
  • Price: €150.
  • Description: Hikashop is a popular Joomla e-commerce extension. Multivendor allow other vendors to sell their products in your store.

#6. WordPress with WooCommerce and WCMarketplace

10 Options for Multi-Vendor Shopping Carts - wc marketplace WordPress

#7. WordPress with Dokan Multivendor Multiplace

10 Options for Multi-Vendor Shopping Carts - dokan

#8. WordPress with YITH WooCommerce Multivendor

10 Options for Multi-Vendor Shopping Carts -  yith WooCommerce

#9. CS-Cart with Multi-Vendor

09 cscart multivendor
  • Link for more information.
  • Price: $1,450.
  • Description: CS-Cart is an open source, PHP / MySQL shopping cart and does have a multi-vendor edition.

#10. Drupal with Drupal Commerce

drupal-commerce
  • Link for more information.
  • Price: Free.
  • Description: Drupal Commerce is a powerful shopping cart system for Drupal. It can be made into a multi-vendor store as detailed here and in the comments below.

#11. Prestashop with Agile Multiple Shop

14 prestashop with agile multiple shop module

#12. Prestashop with Knowband Marketplace

12 prestashop with knowband

  • Link for more information.
  • Price: £109,99 excluding VAT.
  • Description: Very popular and well documented multi-vendor module for Prestashop.

#13. Bit-Cart Hosted Shopping Cart

16 bit cart

  • Link for more information.
  • Price: from $79 per month.
  • Description: A hosted shopping cart solution with multi-vendor pricing plans.

#14. Joomla or WordPress with jMarket Extension by Joobi

15 jmarket by joobi

  • Link for more information.
  • Price: from $40 NZD.
  • Description: A multi-vendor cart working either as a Joomla extension of a WordPress plugin.

#15. Exlcart

17 exlcart

Author

  • Steve Burge

    Steve is the founder of OSTraining. Originally from the UK, he now lives in Sarasota in the USA. Steve's work straddles the line between teaching and web development.

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Denis Dulici
Denis Dulici
11 years ago

Nice collection Steve, congrats! In addition; Magento and OpenCart (+Joomla) has also the Multi-Store feature which gives you the possibility to offer a different store (domain or subdomain) to each vendor.

Sri Mon
Sri Mon
10 years ago
Reply to  Denis Dulici

You can include Unimerchant along with your list. [url=http://www.ostraining.com/blog/general/multi-vendor-commerce/]http://www.ostraining.com/b…[/url]

Ohms238
Ohms238
10 years ago
Reply to  Denis Dulici

Do you have any examples of that? I’m trying to configure one for myself.

Nedned
Nedned
9 years ago
Reply to  Ohms238

An example of prestashop marketplace running

[url=https://www.prestashop.com/forums/topic/208934-module-agile-multiple-shop-for-agile-multiple-sellervendor-marketplace-solution-module/]https://www.prestashop.com/…[/url]

This shop was did with this one [url=http://mysexshop.es]http://mysexshop.es[/url]

Prem
Prem
10 years ago
Reply to  Denis Dulici

Hi Can you let me know which extension to use for a market place with multi vendor as well as vendor can sell the same products through a vendor specific domain also.

Sathya V
Sathya V
8 years ago
Reply to  Prem

Exlcart is another multi vendor platform to consider. This one is low cost in the market [url=http://www.exlcart.com/evendor.html]http://www.exlcart.com/even…[/url]

Sathya V
Sathya V
7 years ago
Reply to  Prem

Dear Prem
You can consider Exlcart’s evendor platform [url=http://www.exlcart.com/evendor.html]http://www.exlcart.com/even…[/url]. It comes with native mobile apps too.

Perez Francisco
Perez Francisco
10 years ago
Reply to  Denis Dulici

Recently I stumbled across this multi vendor shopping cart [url=http://www.ecommercemix.com]http://www.ecommercemix.com[/url] – it has got all the features to setup a multi-vendor marketplace instantly. design wise little customization according to your needs.

Ryan Szrama
Ryan Szrama
11 years ago

We definitely need to do more to simplify the process, but with Drupal Commerce on Drupal 7 it’s also possible to build highly functional marketplace sites. It typically just involves integration with another module for defining what a “store” is – a user profile, an Organic Group, etc. One of our largest users wrote up a great article on the topic for Internet Retailer recently worth checking out: [url=http://www.internetretailer.com/2013/01/23/how-drupal-7-opens-business-e-marketplace-opensesame]http://www.internetretailer…[/url]

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
11 years ago

Just came across this. Good article, Steve, but I’m curious why PrestaShop wasn’t mentioned. There is a company called Agile Modules ([url=http://addons-modules.com]addons-modules.com[/url]) that develop a wide variety of modules which support multi-seller/vendor stores for PrestaShop. Using their modules, PrestaShop becomes a very strong contender in the multi-seller e-commerce field. Just curious…

Zoldar
Zoldar
11 years ago

You mentioned open-cart with Joomla Steve, but did not specifically mention that the Mijo Shop which is an easy install of Open-cart with the Joomla support. It will use all the Open-cart extensions and install them as one would normally install an extension.

What I found exceptionally good was the easy conversion from Virtumart 2.0, push some buttons and a new shop is there!!

TimBee1
TimBee1
10 years ago

Guys, great article and comments. If anyone can point me in the right direction i’d appreciate it…

-we’ll have multiple stores (run by diff merchants)

-merchants can create products and decide which stores they want to push it to (for a charge)

-Distributing store collects distribution charge!

-We take a cut on each transaction

Any ideas on which solution would be best for this?

thx

Ohms238
Ohms238
10 years ago
Reply to  TimBee1

Did you get a response on any recommendations for your multiple store solution? I’m looking for one also and wondering what would work best.

Debi
Debi
10 years ago
Reply to  TimBee1

I’m also curious to hear if you received a response or found a solution as I’m currently evaluating options to do something similar. Thanks 🙂

stratos66
stratos66
10 years ago

Hello all.

Has any of you tried any of these software, the multivendor version of it? Can anyone give me recommendations about support of the product as well as scalability of this.

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
10 years ago

Stratos,

I can only speak to PrestaShop and the Agile Multiple Seller modules, but I’m very satisfied. As far as scalability, I don’t think you’d find any limitations…

stratos66
stratos66
10 years ago

Thansk for reply.

I am currently looking this link:[url=http://www.iecsp.com/review-compare-php-shopping-cart.html]http://www.iecsp.com/review…[/url] which is a comparative chart and shows that cs-cart has more functionalities than any other product in the chart. What is your opinion in contrast?

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
10 years ago

I looked at all the options I could find when we were trying to make a decision, and though I’m more familiar with X-Cart the CS-cart option looked really good. Almost went with that, but for a number of reasons we went with PS and Agile.

Nothing wrong with CS-Cart, and as you said it has a lot of options. We simply felt that PS and Agile offered more options and more versatility for possible future requirements.

It all depends on your needs (both current and future), your ability to work with the software for possible modifications, the look and feel you want for your store, etc.

As I said, not knowing what you need I can’t give you a reason not to choose CS-Cart. If the price is right and it does everything you need out of the box it should make you a good system. I would look at everything CS-Cart has, then compare that to everything that PS and Agile modules have to offer, then make your decision…

stratos66
stratos66
10 years ago

thanks again for your reply. You set it correctly your answer. My specs is that I need a software with multivendor capabilities which has the more the features the better. The reason is that I have no scripting or writing capabilities in order to add and develop functionalities in my site. I am afraid to do that. So I would need to pay someone for me to do that. In contrast if using cs-cart the multivendor I would not know if I need something if someone would cover me from this company. A developer friend of mine told me that cs-cart has more unusefull code inside and he characterized the product as a rubbish. That is why I am looking for reviews and someone to help me.

Gaurav Mishra
Gaurav Mishra
9 years ago
Reply to  stratos66

I am cs cart and Prestashop Expert. I will help you to develop your store.

stratos66
stratos66
10 years ago

Yes I know that. All of them they do have a some trial time. But I have no real traffic to test it. I will have to invent it 🙂

Thanks for your help

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
10 years ago

I wouldn’t say the CS-Code is rubbish, but as you mentioned finding technical help with possible modifications could be tricky. Depends on where you are.

I would say the same about PrestaShop itself, but I found the team at Agile very knowledgeable and willing to help when I needed it. Having that kind of support available if needed meant a lot to me when starting this kind of project.

As Steve said, some systems do have trials available, but as you said it’s difficult to test everything without actually being in production mode. In the end, you have to go with what feels like the best option for your case. Let me know if I can answer any specific questions you might have…

rahul
rahul
9 years ago
Reply to  Terry_tlc

are you trying to sell agile it looks like that. for god sake stop marketing, and start speak about features the entire software wld cost about 2000K . the support is poor i called up the office to purchase the module and they say just send a mail even befor you can ask, so we know what we can expect from agiel

rahul
rahul
9 years ago
Reply to  rahul

sorry there was another agiel module mixed it up with that this wasent the one

stratos66
stratos66
10 years ago

Well I am based in Greece Athens especially. I know that there is distributor in Larisa Greece but he is in Greece. I do not know their expertise though. When saying that “I would say the same about PrestaShop itself, but I found the team at Agile very knowledgeable and willing to help when I needed it. Having that kind of support available if needed meant a lot to me when starting this kind of project” you have cover me totally. I do seem to like Presto but I think there is no multivendor version and their add ons are seeem expensive. Due to the fact though that I am systems engineer I know that pilots not related when the software comes into the field. I still be looking the best software and I will test them all before I decide. Again thanks a lot

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
10 years ago

No problem, Stratos. As I said, just about any of the multi-vendor solutions out there will work if you invest enough time and effort.

The only one I’d recommend not using is “MultiCart”, from iScripts. That was the first one I bought, and even though they said it was the latest version it was full of deprecated code that wouldn’t work correctly on any server I tried it on. Their sales method seems to be to sell the product inexpensively, then charge people a great deal for ‘modifications’ to make it work.

As far as cost, I found that because PrestaShop is free we could buy all the Agile modules we needed or wanted and still spend less than the original cost of CS-Cart.

In any case, test everything you can before you decide. And once you have chosen a product let us know how it works for you…

stratos66
stratos66
10 years ago

thanks again for late reply. I am between the Presta and CS though. I would prefer Presta if I knew that I have someone to advise and help thus I would be more flexible. But since these are my prime days with these kind of products I have a latest question. Presta could start as free and become a multivendor product by adding few add ons? and then how would roughly be the cost for such an operation?

Again sincerely thanks a lot.

case510
case510
10 years ago
Reply to  stratos66

I suggest you stay far from cs-cart multivendor unless you have strong

programming skills and enjoy digging the code for fixing multiple bugs.

Cs-cart

is really not bad and very feature rich, but the bugs will just make

your life nightmare. New versions of cs-cart will feature out most of

those bugs but will bring new ones. Some bugs can well be critical.

That seems the developers do not bother so much to try their code. If

you stop upgrading your software then your current release will become

unsupported in short while.

Beside the bugs there is another reason

to avoid this software: bulk update or import of products is rather

difficult, you won’t be able to import/update all product

characteristics, and format of the spreadsheets is inadequately messy

and inconvenient.

Third reason to search for another solution is

almost full incompatibility of purchased add-ons and templates with

future cs-cart versions. Their programmers do not only add new features

and fix the bugs, they may well completely change the programming style

and modify or even replace some basic functions so that your third-party

software must be modified respectively or replaced (or removed) in

order to keep your project up and running

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
10 years ago

The base Multiple Seller module is only (I think) $144.00 Canadian, but you will probably need additional support modules.

You can find out more by reading this page and viewing the video.

[url=http://addons-modules.com/store/en/content/64-online-market-place-online-shopping-mall-guide-with-agile-multiple-seller-and-agile-multiple-shop]http://addons-modules.com/s…[/url]

You could easily have $400.00-$500.00 invested if you need a lot of the functionality (additional modules), but you’d still be at half the initial price of CS-Cart.

stratos66
stratos66
10 years ago

By talking to Terry and looking more into

[url=http://addons-modules.com/store/en/content/64-online-market-place-online-shopping-mall-guide-with-agile-multiple-seller-and-agile-multiple-shop]http://addons-modules.com/s…[/url] see that Prestashop with Agile Multiple Seller is much more flexible than any other product..

Any comment on this?

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
10 years ago

I’m sorry, Stratos, I’m not sure if you’re asking me a question or just looking for comments in general from others.

stratos66
stratos66
10 years ago

Well Terry I think that I need to consider more seriously Prestashop case. I am looking if any other has similar experience to comment thus to help.

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
10 years ago

No problem, Stratos. I’m a member on the Agile forums at their site, so if you have any other questions you can also contact me there.

stratos66
stratos66
10 years ago

Terry what is your nickname in Agile?

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
10 years ago

Stratos, over there my nickname is Terry…

vineet
vineet
10 years ago

So, My question is, as because this feature is very much important to us please tell me currently this feature is available with cscart multivendor or not ? because i read manual of cs cart multivendor and over there we find payment calculation commission method for per vendor as % or commission as rs. but i did not find different commission on different products from different vendors.

If not then which option is best for us.

Thanking You,

Vineet

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
10 years ago

Vineet,

I may be mistaken, but I don’t believe you can charge commission rates ‘per product’ in any of the systems. As far as I know, commissions rates are set per vendor…

vineet
vineet
10 years ago

Terry,

This accounting system is similar to normal shop accounting. suppose i purchased from a vendor x, y, z products

at respectively cost price.

i.e x = 300

y = 400

z = 350

but i can sell it at any price on our webstore.

suppose we sale it at

x = 370

y = 720

z = 370

but outstanding of that vendor must be calculated as 300+400+350 = 1050

here we have to put commission as product or category basis (i.e Commission as %or Price) for single vendor. Here commission (% or price)is not assign for entire products from single vendor

thanking You,

VIneet

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
10 years ago

Hi Vineet,

I hope I’m understanding you correctly, but it sounds like you’re looking for a “reseller” type of system.

You’re doing a price markup on each product you are reselling, and each product might have a different percentage markup. However, you will be the only actual vendor in the store, even though you’re reselling products from multiple vendors. Is that correct?

vineet
vineet
10 years ago

YES CORRECT…

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
10 years ago

In that case, I don’t think you’re looking for a multi-seller store environment, Vineet.

It sounds like you just need a standard store that allows you to work with both wholesale and retail pricing. Wholesale being what you pay vendors for the products you’re going to sell, retail being what you will sell the products for.

PrestaShop will do that, but you may also want additional modules to increase the functionality of your store…

vineet
vineet
10 years ago

Terry,

But i also need a separate panel for different vender so that they can download their own orders and after shipping they can enter their shipping details not only this they can also view their outstanding, payment and statement as well.

And also If possible, I dont want to show the identity of that vender at our web store. Please suggest us what option is better for us.

As per conversation with cscart they can do the customization for $275 that means I have to pay total $1300. Its out of our estimation. Please help.

Thanking You,

Vineet

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
10 years ago

Vineet,

I think I know what you’re looking for now.

I’m not aware of any inexpensive off-the-shelf solutions for what you need, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something out there.

I do know that Agile modules is currently developing a “Reseller” module for PrestaShop, but I don’t know when it will be ready. You would have to ask on their site. That’s about the best advice I can give you at this point…

Ego..
Ego..
10 years ago

Hi Terry

Am a rookie when it comes to e-commerce.. I have loads of questions to ask would you happen to have e-mail I can get hold of you on..

Thanks in advance for your help.. George from Zambia..

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
10 years ago

Hi George,

This system doesn’t seem to let me put certain types of links in a post, the easiest way to contact me would be in the Agile Module forums.

There is a generic E-Commerce board there to ask questions, and my nick there is Terry. Be glad to answer any questions you might have…

Joshua
Joshua
10 years ago

Thank you for posting this and for allowing your visitors to comment. I am learning so much about the pros and cons of various options. Please keep this post open and updated. you came up number 1 on Google. 🙂

hamid
hamid
10 years ago

Hi guys, i’ve really benefitted from this blogpost. After looking at allot of options over six months and trying the joobi extension for Joomla (which I do not recommend), the Prestashop one looks like the best option because its flexible. Having said that, i’m wondering if those who have tried it can tell me how the plugin works with their theme? How does it look on mobile (something which should concern us all now that mobile shopping is on the rise) and lastly, can a customer make an order from several vendors and pay through one shopping cart?

I would appreciate any informed answers!

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
10 years ago

Hi hamid,

Whether 3rd part modules (like Agile) work with your PrestaShop theme depends on the theme itself. The only guarantee is that they will work with the default theme, and some others.

Most of the modules work fine with the mobile theme, but some are not entirely mobile ready at this point (though they’re being developed). But yes, mobile access is necessary in today’s market. Each module will note on the product page if it’s not yet ready for mobile use.

(see part 2 below)

Webkul Support
Webkul Support
10 years ago
Reply to  Terry_tlc

We are the developer of the magento marketplace module . Module comes with tons of addons as well which will fulfill all of your need [url=http://www.magentocommerce.com/magento-connect/marketplace-9800.html]http://www.magentocommerce….[/url]

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
10 years ago

(part two)

The Agile Multiple Seller module allows three types of payment options, depending on your needs and any additional required accessory modules. The store can be paid (the store would then pay the seller), the sellers can be paid (the sellers would then pay the store owner any commissions or amounts owed), or when using additional modules the payments can be automatically split between the store owner and sellers.

In the first two cases, buyers can only purchase from one seller at a time in the shopping cart. However, by adding the PayPal Adaptive module, the Shipping module, and the Commissions module, buyers can place items from more than one seller in a single shopping cart.

Hope that answers some of your questions…

Ralph
Ralph
10 years ago

Hello,

thank you for the list. This seems to be exactly what I was looking for.

I am new to this shopping topic so please excuse my question.

I am looking for a shop system that allows several dealers to offer all sell their product. The shop just makes the link between customer and vendor. (Like Amazon Marketplace)

Big agencies offered their solutions for 100.000+ Euro.

This is by far!!! not my budget.

The solutions 1-10 you have shown seem to do the same.

Is this correct?

I also found magento + “uMarketplace Suite”

Who can help me to select?

Thanks

Webkul Support
Webkul Support
10 years ago
Reply to  Ralph

we are the developer of magento marketplace and it does suite you needs [url=https://store.webkul.com/Magento-Extensions/Magento-Marketplace.html]https://store.webkul.com/Ma…[/url]

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
10 years ago

Hi Ralph,

The selection is entirely up to you and your requirements. I always advise doing a lot of research, and testing when possible to see what software will meet your needs.

I’ve been talking here mostly about the PrestaShop and Agile combination, because that’s what we finally decided on and use. But yes, most of the systems listed here will do what you want. If you have any specific questions, just ask…

Eric Wilson
Eric Wilson
10 years ago

you clearly missed BitCart, no doubt the best multi vendor shopping cart software in market with plenty of niche features. Must visit [url=http://www.bit-cart.com]www.bit-cart.com[/url]

zeki893
zeki893
9 years ago
Reply to  Eric Wilson

googled bit-cart reviews and they aren’t very positive 🙁

Klaus_2012
Klaus_2012
10 years ago

Thank you very much for this collection!

Can soemone give me a tip: I am llooking for a setup where registered users can buy, sell and request digital products. Has anybody experience whic products is the best for me?

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
10 years ago

Hi Klaus,

The buying and selling parts are easy, but how do you mean ‘request’ digital products?

Are you looking for store software, or more of a ‘classifieds’ type system?

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
10 years ago

Hi Klaus,

Again I’ll have to speak to PrestaShop and Agile, because it’s what I know the most about. But yes, it can do that.

You would need at least two Agile modules. Agile Multiple Seller would let you have both buyers and sellers in your store, and Agile Seller Messenger would let customers ask questions in the store in a Q&A type format…

Klaus_2012
Klaus_2012
10 years ago

Cool, I will give Presta a try.

Thanks a lot!

Dinesh
Dinesh
10 years ago

I just tried Magento before a year of time for one of my website and currently I was in need of another online shopping mall as like my old one. So just tried multivendorz from mercuryminds and yes it works good for me now. Highlighting feature with multivendorz is the price when compared with my old shopping mall with Magento.

Casey
Casey
10 years ago

nopCommerce 3.0 came out on April 19th, 2013 and it has added multi-vendor / multi-store support

[url=http://www.nopcommerce.com/featurelist.aspx]http://www.nopcommerce.com/…[/url]

Vasan
Vasan
10 years ago

Excuse me if i sound dumb. Buy i am not a techie, but can get things done with my team. We are planning a similar(somewhat) site like the ETSY. Does this “Presta” work for us?

If NO, which is the best option?

If Yes, what else will be required to get started?

Terry_tlc
Terry_tlc
10 years ago

Vasan,

An ‘Etsy’ type store is what we created using PrestaShop and the Agile modules.

At a minimum, you would need PrestaShop (free), and a few modules from Agile.

– Agile Multiple Seller

– Agile Multiple Shop

– Agile Shipping/Carrier

Depending on how you set up your store, you may also need at least one of their payment modules. Additionally, there are other modules that add some other nice features to your store…

Vasan
Vasan
10 years ago
Reply to  Terry_tlc

Will “Module Advanced Marketplace” serve the purpose?

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