The Multi-Vendor add-on for X-Cart is the core component of X-Cart Marketplace. It transforms a single seller X-Cart store into a marketplace that can be used simultaneously by multiple sellers (vendors). In X-Cart Marketplace, the Multi-Vendor add-on is enabled out of the box. Due to the limitations of its architecture, this add-on may not be disabled.

With Multi-Vendor, store setup and configuration are shared between the store administrator and vendors (a sub-type of an administrator account with specific permissions). The specific features and settings available to these users depend on the add-on's mode: "Warehouse" or "Vendors as separate shops." The mode setting is configured by the store administrator. It defines whether the goods purchased by a customer are shipped from a single warehouse location common to all the store's vendors or from vendors' separate warehouses. The mode also regulates who does the shipping configuration - the store administrator or the vendors, as well as the shopping cart representation at checkout. It also affects the way orders are processed in the store. In the "Warehouse" mode, vendors have read-only access to the part of the order that contains only their products. In the "Vendors as separate shops" mode, each vendor gets a separate order and has full access to its details (can edit the order, change order statuses, and add tracking numbers).

Regardless of the mode, the store administrator is responsible for managing vendor profiles, defining the size of vendor commissions, supervising all products created by vendors (or by admin, as they can also add and sell products like a regular vendor), as well as configuring payment methods and taxes for vendors.

Vendors, in their turn, can maintain their profile, create and manage the products they own and product attributes, create coupons and discounts that will be applied to the products of this very vendor, export and import their products via CSV, accept payments and set up shipping (if the store is configured to run in the "Vendors as separate shops" mode).

Multi-Vendor: Admin Experience

Multi-Vendor: Vendor Experience

Multi-Vendor: Customer Experience

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