Status of Multi-Vendor?

[CavySpirit]

What is the status of being able to support multiple vendors (in any way, shape or form) on the latest release?

[Milbo]

For others who are looking http://forum.virtuemart.net/index.php?topic=90898.msg298173#msg298173

[CavySpirit]

Okay, well, this answer to someone's problem is as clear as mud to me on the actual status of multi-vendor:

You dont need to choose the vendor anylonger. Look in the config first tab, you can see all that stuff, when you enable multivendor. Which is not supported. Depending on which kind of multivendor it can be useful already.

A filter for the media list will follow.

Can I get a straight-forward answer? Some MV functionality is doable? If so, what? Nothing is supported? If not, is there a road map?

[Milbo]

We will use multivendor very soon for our own shop. But come on, surprise me, what do you understand with multivendor?  We call it multi-x, because there are so many different things possible. The main difference is who controlls the cash flow and the wares.
virtuemart 2 is prepared to have categories, shoppergroups, products, paymentmethods, shipmentmethods, media, manufactuerers and so on for each vendor.
When you controll the shippping and the payment, multivendor is mostly just calculating the amounts and this is just a report filter. The other problem is if you have vendors which you generally trust, or if you allow anyone to be vendor. There are 2 small structural things left, which could make a multivendor shop for anymous vendors unsecure. One thing is that we allow to overwrite the automatic generated urls in the media handler. This is absolutly no problem usually, because only admins atm allow to use it. Atm vendors without admin rights just may not allowed to upload images (blocked by the system). So it absolutly depends what you want.

[CavySpirit]

But come on, surprise me, what do you understand with multivendor?

You know, I'm just a long-time VirtueMart user on multiple sites that needs Multi-Vendor capability. I'm not here to challenge anyone. I'm just trying to find a dang solution to my situation right now.

I've invested in another Multi-Vendor solution only to determine that it's just not going to work for me. I've also just wasted a boatload of time trying to get joobi.co's jMarket and jAffiliate application configured.

I'm currently doing a very healthy business with one vendor on one of my sites right now with VM1.1.5. I expect our revenue to triple over the next 12 months. I earn a small percentage of that business. I get paid after the fact, on a monthly basis. I have another similar vendor *waiting* for me to get this multi-vendor store thing done so that I can host their store and sales as well. I have a variety of other smaller vendors waiting. I expect this revenue to be well over 7 figures within the next 12 months.

So, here's my business model. I want to be able to have the vendors manage (or I will help the unsophisticated) their own products, orders, shipping, and payments. I want to globally provide payment processors for several that I will set up that they can choose from.

I do NOT want the customers to be able to order across multiple vendors on one order. It would be pie-in-the-sky nice if they could put 6 different items in their cart from 3 different vendors and then have the system create 3 different orders and 3 different payments for them, nicely presented, but I really do NOT care about that at all. I am fine with having the customer order 3 different times for each vendor.

It is critically important from a customer service point of view that each vendor gets their own order and their own payment. They collect the payment, fulfill the order, manage most customer service questions, handle RMAs and refunds, deal with their shippers, etc.

A big requirement I have is the ability for each vendor to choose their own shipping integration. Previously, I had pay to enhance the Fedex/Virtuemart integration because it couldn't handle our boxing requirements. I hope that's fixed in the newer releases.

I need to see the orders and transactions as well as the vendors can, just like I do with my one vendor now. Based on their monthly revenue, I bill them for my commission. I'd love it fancier than that, but bottomline, it seems like keeping it simple, keeps it doable with less room for bugs and errors.

Also, I use my wonderful 'contact enhanced' add-on for managing customer feedback. It works so wonderfully. I get an email copy of all customer service questions and issues, so I know how the vendors are doing, if and where issues come up that need to be managed, or technical support or usability issues need to be addressed.

I want the vendor to be able to choose which payment processor they want to use from my authorized list. I will try to insist that they signup for a merchant version beyond basic paypal, but the ability to take credit cards up front over paypal is huge for me. Our sales jumped three-fold when we switched.

The jMarket solution (sounded promising and interesting, which needs to be combined with their jAffiliate solution) from joobi.com I'm finding to be inadequate in a lot of ways. But the bugs are just overwhelming. For me, it's not ready for prime-time.

So, here I am, back at VirtueMart. Reading a lot of threads about MV, a lot of promises many months ago that it would be here by this version. And a lot of vague posts without a lot of specifics.

I'm currently without a solution again for MV, after a LOT of money and time invested.

So, maybe I don't understand multi-vendor, but this is what I need. AFTER I get it set up, if I ever do, then I also want to provide my own affiliate program. Will probably use iDevAffiliate for that.

In the meantime, I guess I'm just stuck providing vendor listings in my directory and charging a monthly fee. I am missing out big time and DESPERATE for a solution.

[Milbo]

So, here's my business model. I want to be able to have the vendors manage (or I will help the unsophisticated) their own products, orders, shipping, and payments. I want to globally provide payment processors for several that I will set up that they can choose from.

This "works" already. Every product, order, shipment- and paymentmethod has its own virtuemart_vendor_id. You can even share things like payment and shipment methods ( for exampel cash on delivery) and also categories. You can controll the useable payment and shipment METHODS by installing the payment PLUGINS. So you have absolutly controll over that (just unpublish the plugin, all paymentmethods related to it are disabled).

I do NOT want the customers to be able to order across multiple vendors on one order.

This also makes not really sense, when every vendor controlls its own payment, a cart already belongs to a vendor and you can set (okey we removed it, but 5 minuts to bring it back) how many vendors are allowed to use one cart. In other case the user gets the response that he has to finish the order first, before buying from another vendor. And the legal point is much more complex, ...

It would be pie-in-the-sky nice if they could put 6 different items in their cart from 3 different vendors and then have the system create 3 different orders and 3 different payments for them, nicely presented,

As I said just a filtering in reports.

It is critically important from a customer service point of view that each vendor gets their own order and their own payment. They collect the payment, fulfill the order, manage most customer service questions, handle RMAs and refunds, deal with their shippers, etc.

Done that way. There are just some lose ends to connect.

A big requirement I have is the ability for each vendor to choose their own shipping integration. Previously, I had pay to enhance the Fedex/Virtuemart integration because it couldn't handle our boxing requirements. I hope that's fixed in the newer releases.

We need to rewrite the plugin, but the main point is that the config is stored in the db and so every vendor can have its own config.

I need to see the orders and transactions as well as the vendors can, just like I do with my one vendor now.

Almost or already done. Afaik already, but not well tested.

Based on their monthly revenue, I bill them for my commission.

You can even use the PMargine to automatically calculate your commissoin amount.

Also, I use my wonderful 'contact enhanced' add-on for managing customer feedback.

commercial extension for this is planned.

So, maybe I don't understand multi-vendor, but this is what I need.

Oh you understood your part quite well.

[Milbo]

There are 2 small structural things left, which could make a multivendor shop for anymous vendors unsecure. One thing is that we allow to overwrite the automatic generated urls in the media handler. This is absolutly no problem usually, because only admins atm allow to use it. Atm vendors without admin rights just may not allowed to upload images (blocked by the system).

Btw, I fixed that today, lol. It was secure before, because only admins were allowed to use it, but now it should work more secure and should now also work secure for non admins

[addick]

when will this multi vendor be released?

[Milbo]

it IS released. It IS in every VM2. You just need a bit more brain to use it. It is not working out of the box.

[addick]

so when will the working out the box release be coming?

[faramade]

Is there any instruction out there for using the multi venfor?

[Kalen]

You just need a bit more brain to use it.

LOL XD

I would say that about most aspects of VirteMart integration and tweaking.

I have been using VM 1.1.8 in a 25,000 + product store(heavily hacked).  I am hoping to me able to transition to VM2 soon however the customizations that i have made will have to be rolled over and that is my big task on the horizon.  Looking forward to VM2 stable!!!

BTW Thanks Milbo!  Lots of hard work and coding have gone into VM2.  You guys get a bit +1 for epicness.

[CranialBlaze]

But come on, surprise me, what do you understand with multivendor?

You know, I'm just a long-time VirtueMart user on multiple sites that needs Multi-Vendor capability. I'm not here to challenge anyone. I'm just trying to find a dang solution to my situation right now.

I've invested in another Multi-Vendor solution only to determine that it's just not going to work for me. I've also just wasted a boatload of time trying to get joobi.co's jMarket and jAffiliate application configured.

I'm currently doing a very healthy business with one vendor on one of my sites right now with VM1.1.5. I expect our revenue to triple over the next 12 months. I earn a small percentage of that business. I get paid after the fact, on a monthly basis. I have another similar vendor *waiting* for me to get this multi-vendor store thing done so that I can host their store and sales as well. I have a variety of other smaller vendors waiting. I expect this revenue to be well over 7 figures within the next 12 months.

So, here's my business model. I want to be able to have the vendors manage (or I will help the unsophisticated) their own products, orders, shipping, and payments. I want to globally provide payment processors for several that I will set up that they can choose from.

I do NOT want the customers to be able to order across multiple vendors on one order. It would be pie-in-the-sky nice if they could put 6 different items in their cart from 3 different vendors and then have the system create 3 different orders and 3 different payments for them, nicely presented, but I really do NOT care about that at all. I am fine with having the customer order 3 different times for each vendor.

It is critically important from a customer service point of view that each vendor gets their own order and their own payment. They collect the payment, fulfill the order, manage most customer service questions, handle RMAs and refunds, deal with their shippers, etc.

A big requirement I have is the ability for each vendor to choose their own shipping integration. Previously, I had pay to enhance the Fedex/Virtuemart integration because it couldn't handle our boxing requirements. I hope that's fixed in the newer releases.

I need to see the orders and transactions as well as the vendors can, just like I do with my one vendor now. Based on their monthly revenue, I bill them for my commission. I'd love it fancier than that, but bottomline, it seems like keeping it simple, keeps it doable with less room for bugs and errors.

Also, I use my wonderful 'contact enhanced' add-on for managing customer feedback. It works so wonderfully. I get an email copy of all customer service questions and issues, so I know how the vendors are doing, if and where issues come up that need to be managed, or technical support or usability issues need to be addressed.

I want the vendor to be able to choose which payment processor they want to use from my authorized list. I will try to insist that they signup for a merchant version beyond basic paypal, but the ability to take credit cards up front over paypal is huge for me. Our sales jumped three-fold when we switched.

The jMarket solution (sounded promising and interesting, which needs to be combined with their jAffiliate solution) from joobi.com I'm finding to be inadequate in a lot of ways. But the bugs are just overwhelming. For me, it's not ready for prime-time.

So, here I am, back at VirtueMart. Reading a lot of threads about MV, a lot of promises many months ago that it would be here by this version. And a lot of vague posts without a lot of specifics.

I'm currently without a solution again for MV, after a LOT of money and time invested.

So, maybe I don't understand multi-vendor, but this is what I need. AFTER I get it set up, if I ever do, then I also want to provide my own affiliate program. Will probably use iDevAffiliate for that.

In the meantime, I guess I'm just stuck providing vendor listings in my directory and charging a monthly fee. I am missing out big time and DESPERATE for a solution.

I have a client also looking for multi-vendor and at this stage VM is too far off to meet true multi-vendor needs. We have chosen rather to go with a premium solution. If your expected income is really 7 figures and your not just making it up to make yourself sound important then the $1495 for the multi-vendor suite will be no problem to you, have a look http://www.ixxocart.com/ixxo-cart-multi-vendor. You can view their live demo or request a 15 day hosted demo.

Vendors will be able to register frot he front end and gain access to their own shopping area and have full control over everything they sell with no access to any other users products, this comes bubdled with a full set of payment gateways as well as facebook store allowing you to list the products of all the vendors within facebook and just have the checkout completed on your site.

The $1495 is for your first license, another $169 for branding removal and from $250 per additional store you want to create, seeing as you expect to make 7 figures over the next year this should be nothing more than pocket change for you, Good Luck...

[CavySpirit]

But come on, surprise me, what do you understand with multivendor?

I have a client also looking for multi-vendor and at this stage VM is too far off to meet true multi-vendor needs. We have chosen rather to go with a premium solution. If your expected income is really 7 figures and your not just making it up to make yourself sound important then the $1495 for the multi-vendor suite will be no problem to you, have a look http://www.ixxocart.com/ixxo-cart-multi-vendor. You can view their live demo or request a 15 day hosted demo.

Vendors will be able to register frot he front end and gain access to their own shopping area and have full control over everything they sell with no access to any other users products, this comes bubdled with a full set of payment gateways as well as facebook store allowing you to list the products of all the vendors within facebook and just have the checkout completed on your site.

The $1495 is for your first license, another $169 for branding removal and from $250 per additional store you want to create, seeing as you expect to make 7 figures over the next year this should be nothing more than pocket change for you, Good Luck...

Hi CranialBlaze,

Good luck indeed. These little slams to one's intelligence and experience on this forum are starting to get to me.

Out of respect to the IXXO developers, I actually edited out a huge portion of my original post in which I detailed exactly why IXXO multi-vendor is not ready for prime-time in the US market--at least for my modest business model.

And as far as my personal income goes, I believe I mentioned that I get a 'small percentage' of my main vendor's income. So, I'm not exactly filthy rich.

Nonetheless, I did in fact fork out $1500 for the IXXO Multi-vendor solution earlier this year. I thought it was most definitely going to be the great solution that I needed and was happy to make the investment--although for me, it was a LOT of money. Well, it was $1500 out the door with no return.

The IXXO model assumes that when you make a purchase across multiple vendors, the purchases all go in ONE cart, on ONE order with ONE financial transaction. They rely on Paypal Adaptive to split out payments and commissions. I've had multiple back and forth with Paypal about this. Paypal Adaptive, unlike Paypal Pro, will NOT allow you to take credit cards up front. That in and of itself knocks out 50% or more of our sales--not acceptable. But it gets to be more fun the deeper you go in IXXO. And because the configuration is pretty intense (fine by me), you don't really realize what's happening until you start to try to process orders.

They assume that the administrator of the site is going to finalize each and every order by actually confirming with the customer that they indeed got their shipment. And the money goes to the administrator and must then be distributed to the vendors later.

One order = one TOS. Let's say I order a large, bulky product from vendor A in California for $100 and a small, lightweight product from vendor B in Florida for $10. This goes on ONE order. One financial transaction. I'm not going to bother to detail out all the problems, because I'm assuming that you are intelligent and get it.

Another problem, let's say I have 3 vendors who sell a somewhat similar product, but they are all a bit different.

I do my shopping and choose a product from each vendor. Because they are on one order, I see three different shipping line items presented. One shipping cost might be 3 times the price of another--for whatever reason. IF I had purchased them separately, I would probably have just bought them, no problem. However, seeing the disparity in shipping, causes people to stop in their tracks and reassess their purchase decision. I know. I did it. I tried every IXXO actual store site I could find (not many). AND I actually went through a real purchase just to validate.

More important is the financial model. I DO NOT want the IRS headache of taking in all the income and distributing it back to the vendors. Why on earth do I need to inflate my reportable income? I surely don't. The IXXO model assumes that YOU, the administrator is receiving in all the income and then at some later agreed upon time, you then pay your vendors. Me holding my vendor's money and paying them later is NOT a selling point for my vendors. Not to mention you have to factor in the added transaction fees for getting them their money electronically. What I THOUGHT I was going to be able to do is have my vendors manage their store--their payment processor from a chosen list that I provide, their shipping, their orders, their customer support (for the most part). I had no intention (and still don't) of being the middle man. I'm marketing and tech support. I want to provide a MALL experience. At a mall, you don't go into one store, pick out some products, go to another store, pick out some more products, and then go to some giant central mall checkout and pay. That is not what I wanted. If I'm in Macy's, I'll pay Macy's. If I'm in Sears, I'll pay Sears. I want to know what commissions are due to me. I want the vendors managing their own business. I don't want to be involved in managing their logistics or customers. I was willing to compromise on getting paid later (my commission payments due to the constraints on paypal adaptive), but I don't want the liability for all of their transactions.

IXXO has not offered to return any money to me. There was a statement in one support post that they would develop the functionality I need, but I've heard nothing about it and had no other communication or responses.

I looked in detail at other IXXO sites and actually spoke with another frustrated IXXO client. I wish I could have made it work, and I tried very very hard to do so. Believe me, that $1500 was hard-earned. I spent a lot of time on support tickets articulating what's needed and why.

And here I am. If you know anything different, I'm happy to hear about it. Unlike VM, the vast majority of their support is through private tickets (a virtually dead forum), so you don't get the added view into what others are doing or experiencing. (A software vendor's model that I do not appreciate--although I'm sure it's easier and more profitable--for them.)

So, Cranial, good luck to you with the IXXO premium solution. Been there, done that, can't afford the T-Shirt.

Teresa

[Milbo]

Very interesting CavySpirit. Yeah you mean it serious.

Most people do not understand exactly this little differences. VM2 is planned to work exactly as you want it. One checkout per vendor. The biggest problem atm is for you that there is no frontend access to product editing and things like this.