Couple of questions about multiple-vendor product

Hello Jarrod,


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  1. I’d like to set up two levels of vendors. One level will not be able to sell product directly, only profile products and take email enquiries. Is there a straightforward way to ‘turn off’ the pricing functionality for one group of vendors?

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    CS-Cart “Catalog Mode” module may suit your needs partially. It allows you to set products to be displayed only in the catalog mode. It can be installed/enabled on the following page of the admin panel:



    http://demo.cs-cart…h=addons.manage



    You can refer to the following article where information on the mode setup is given:



    http://kb.cs-cart.co…alog-mode-addon


[quote name=‘Jarrod’ timestamp=‘1383465828’ post=‘170853’]

3. I would also want to set up a search by vendor section, can vendor names be made searchable? Is there a widget for this or would it require coding?

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Advanced search options allow you to search products by vendor. You can check it here: [url=“http://demo.mv.cs-cart.com/”]Instant Demo - CS-Cart Multi-Vendor Demo Try Free for 15 days


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4. The demo version has an integrated payment gateway that looks very nice. I reside in NZ, what gateway options do I have to achieve the same?

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The software is integrated with more than 70 payment systems by default. The complete list of integrated payment systems is given here:



http://www.cs-cart.c…nt-systems.html


[quote name=‘Jarrod’ timestamp=‘1383465828’ post=‘170853’]

5. I was a bit disappointed with the vendor backend area. My vendors will have varying degrees of computer savvy (that’s why they need my site right?) and the vendor admin is as complex looking as the admin’s backend. Is it possible, and how simple is it, to switch off functionality in the vendor backend area so that they only see just the functions they need to set up a profile and list a product?

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You can contact us directly at sales@cs-cart.com and list the features you need to have in the vendor panel so that we can tell you if any code changes are required.


[quote name=‘Jarrod’ timestamp=‘1383465828’ post=‘170853’]

6. Finally, is there any limit to the number of products vendors can list? If I had 1000 vendors with 100 products each (with high res images, etc) what sort of hosting plan would I need?

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There is no limit on the number of products vendors can list, however, the running speed and functioning of your store on the whole will depend on a number of factors, such as the server’s performance capacity, amount of products, referencing intensity, etc.



In case you are planning to have a large number of products, e.g. 500 000 items for instance, it may require some extra optimization to allow your store to handle such number of products.



Besides, you would surely need to rent a high-productive dedicated server in this case.

Unfortunately, the catalog mode cannot be set up on a per vendor basis. And vendors cannot be automatically displayed in alphabetical order. In case you are interested in these features, you can contact us directly at sales@cs-cart.com and we will pre-estimate their development.