Opensource Solution for Multi-Site, Multi-Vendor E-Commerce?

c0y0te

I have a bunch of folks who want me to set them up on the 'net with typical shop style sites. What I don't want to do however is setup a unique domain/hosting contract/install for each site - because that will be a pain in the arse to maintain/support/update.

I spent the last two weeks looking for options in the Opensource world what would enable me to do a single install of either e-commerce or cms/portal software with e-commerce extensions, which could then be extended on a shop by shop basis. See http://www.avalon5.com/index.php/web-development/the-elusive-opensource-e-commerce-holy-grail-multi-site-multi-store/ for details of each product evaluated, and frustrations encountered.

I tried WordpressMU for example which is a blog multiuser platform that allows for the creation of thousands of subdomains (e.g shop1.domain.tld, shop2.domain.tld) - and was hoping to get a basic shopping cart plugin to work but it turned out that WPMU is still a bit immature in this area, still quite buggy.

I looked at Joomla/Mamboserver and their plugins for multi-site extensions, but none of them provide for seperate vendor data yet (e.g. each vendor has their own login, can manage their own content/prices/products/catalog and each vendor site has it's own presentation/template).

I then looked at OSCommerce, ZenCart type solutions but their extensions also don't seem to have achieved this holy grail of multi site, multi vendor.

I really want to do this with an opensource solution rather than a full commercial one - so can anyone recommend another product set or point me at a similar solution please? Thanks.

misterq

X-cart pro is open source but licensed:
http://www.x-cart.com/mall_solution.html

As far as I can recall, when I looked at it last, there was an issue with it, like there was only one payment gateway for all stores. That might have changed though, twas several years ago when I checked it out last.

Outside of that, can't think of any others that will do what your looking for.

You might find that individual installs of more tried, tested and widely used software will, in the long run, be more practical.

MartMax

Hi

Not sure if this fits in with your requirement but have a look at Shopify.com - it is free hosted solution but there is a charge of 3% commission on successful sales. It is quick to setup thou.

Good luck

Marty

kodeplay

hello

for a multi vendor ecommerce solution with open source code [paid]
please check - www.kodemall.com

Thanks and regards ,

Karan Ahuja
www.kodeplay.com
www.kodemall.com

croo

Apache's OfBiz (http://ofbiz.apache.org/) can handle a true multi-tenant environment (as well as multiple web stores for 1 company - say to separate wholesale & retail).

But be warned it is also a full ERP so looks like a big & complex beast. On the plus side the complexity makes it extremely flexible.

The application is based on Java Enterprise technology relying heavily on java servlets so you need a server rather than some of the cheaper xAMP hosting solutions.

The out of the box the application runs on an embedded Derby database but it is database independent running on all DB I know (though my personal preference lies with Postgresql).

It is very secure & can handle high volumes with some big US customers online with it.

Definitely worth a look.

trickobrien

After an exhaustive search into shopping carts-the only true winner IMO is Zen Cart.I t has the two magic words-highly reliable.There is a contribution (the Zen Cart community word for plugin) to run a multi shop from the one install.

Hope this helps

tatzianarose

Do you know how to instal this Apache's OfBiz and how to activate the multi-tenant and multi site feature?
If so could you instal this script for me?
Thanks

croo

OfBiz has an "ant" build script in its root directory that includes all the tools needed to build multi-tenant installations. But as I said previously, this is not like joomla or wordpress, this is a big complex app that requires a lot of skills to configure and deploy.

tatzianarose

And can you instal it for me and configure the multi tenant thing?
Thanks

croo

yes, I know how install and enable the multi-tenant support.

tatzianarose

and howmuch would you charg me?
Thanks