Multi-Vendor Marketplace Development

A multi-vendor marketplace is one of the most powerful business models in e-commerce — you don't hold inventory, you connect buyers to sellers and earn a commission on every transaction. Building one, however, is one of the most technically demanding e-commerce projects: seller onboarding, commission calculation, multi-party payment splitting, seller dashboards, product approval workflows, dispute management, and logistics coordination all need to work together seamlessly. At Core Chunk, we build production-grade marketplace platforms for Indian businesses.

The Marketplace Business Model A marketplace works because the platform owner captures value from both sides: sellers get distribution and payment infrastructure; buyers get variety and trust. The platform earns through commissions (a percentage of each sale), listing fees, subscription plans for sellers, or featured placement. We help you design your commission and monetisation model before the build begins, ensuring the platform's economics work from day one.

Seller Onboarding and Account Management Every marketplace seller needs: a self-service registration and onboarding flow, document verification (GSTIN, PAN, bank account), a personal seller dashboard to manage their products, orders, inventory, and earnings, the ability to add and edit product listings with images and descriptions, and visibility into their commission deductions and net payouts. We build all of this as a self-contained seller portal, reducing your operational overhead to near zero for routine seller management.

Multi-Party Payment Splitting The most complex part of a marketplace build is payments. When a customer buys from multiple sellers in a single cart, the payment must be split: the marketplace fee goes to you, the remaining amount goes to each seller. We implement this using Razorpay Route (in India), Stripe Connect, or custom settlement logic with scheduled payouts. Seller wallets track accumulated earnings, and payouts are triggered automatically on a daily or weekly cycle with full transaction-level reporting.

Product Approval and Quality Control A marketplace needs quality control to protect its reputation. We build product approval workflows where new seller listings go into a review queue, your moderation team approves or rejects them with feedback, and approved products go live automatically. We add automated quality checks — minimum image count, required fields, price range validation — to reduce the moderation burden.

Logistics and Order Routing In a multi-seller marketplace, logistics can be complex. We support three models: seller-managed shipping (each seller ships their own orders), platform-managed shipping (you negotiate courier contracts and sellers drop-ship to your fulfilment centre), and hyperlocal delivery (orders are fulfilled from the nearest seller to the buyer's location). We integrate with Shiprocket, Delhivery, Dunzo, or custom logistics providers for each model.

Platform: MedusaJS, Sharetribe, or Custom Build Depending on your timeline and requirements, we recommend the right architecture: MedusaJS with custom marketplace modules for technology-first teams, Sharetribe for fast launch with managed infrastructure, or a fully custom Next.js + Node.js build for complete control. We walk you through the trade-offs before the project begins.