Marketplace / multi-vendor
One storefront where many independent sellers list products, fulfill their part of each order, and receive payouts after the platform takes a cut.
See it
What it is
A multi-vendor marketplace is one storefront where independent sellers list and fulfill their own goods. Etsy is the familiar shape: shoppers browse one site, but the platform handles seller accounts, listing rules, payments, commissions, reviews, disputes, and orders that may belong to different businesses.
Reach for it when the product is the network of buyers and sellers, not just your own catalog. The platform needs seller onboarding, listing moderation, per-seller inventory and fulfillment, payout records, and a clear split between platform policies and each seller's responsibilities.
Gotcha: adding a vendor_id column does not make a marketplace. One cart can become several seller orders, refunds must reverse the right commission and payout, and a banned seller's listings cannot simply vanish from historical orders. Payments, tax reporting, identity checks, prohibited goods, disputes, and support all become platform operations that must be designed before opening signups.
Ask AI for it
Build a multi-vendor marketplace with seller onboarding through Stripe Connect hosted onboarding. Scope products, variants, inventory, shipping profiles, and admin permissions by seller; moderate listings before publication; and split a shopper's cart into immutable seller suborders under one parent order. Create one Stripe PaymentIntent for the platform and use separate charges and transfers with transfer_group to send each seller's net amount after commission. Store a ledger for charges, fees, transfers, refunds, disputes, and payout status, make every webhook idempotent, prevent sellers from reading one another's data, and give buyers a single order timeline with per-seller shipments and support contacts.