I’ve been running CSC for some time now, single store.
I have also setup another test store using CSC for another planned business that basically rents the product. CSC was good for this because I could custom configure the checkout to facilitate scheduling and other special information for delivery times/dates…etc.
I’m looking to develop a ‘franchise’ network and part of the package will be a website for the ‘dealer’. I want to be able to control the product and base pricing (the dealer can modify pricing for differing areas if needed, it’s a short product list) then process the payments to a corporate bank account for later dispersal to ‘dealers’ later… but direct the ‘sale/rental’ order to the correct dealer…automatically. Also in the process I want to let the customer know who their contact is in the area and their information.
MV handles the payment part correctly:
[QUOTE]All the money for customer orders go to the merchant account of the root store administrator. The software tracks payable amounts separately for each of the store vendors and provides a tool to record vendor payouts, but it is the root store administrator who distributes funds among the vendors in a most suitable and convenient way.[/QUOTE]
but is a bit reversed for my needs regarding product and vendors:
[QUOTE]Finally, products from multiple independent vendors appear on the common storefront. And website visitors do the shopping at one web store even if products are supplied by hundreds of different vendors from all over the world. Moreover, your customers’ shopping cart can contain products from several vendors, but they will still place one order and pay only once.[/QUOTE]
vendor (dealer for me) backend is most of the way there:
[QUOTE]Product vendors (Vendor A, Vendor B and Vendor C in the image) access their personal administration areas and never interfere one with each other. There they can add and edit own products, configure own shipping methods, and manage orders that contain their products. The number of vendor accounts is virtually unlimited.[/QUOTE]
I need a mostly unified product offering sold by multiple vendors…not the other way around.
Obviously I also need the dealer to receive notice of an order and be able to login and obtain their ‘orders’.
Now… since I’m hosting these sites on my server I could simply start with a main website that enables the customer to locate their local dealer then direct them to that particular ‘site’… whether it’s a complete stand alone or subdomain… but that means I’ll have to mass update the product db for several sites independently… I’d much rather have one backend to manage multiple sites. The dealer site needs their own front end that looks much like all of the other dealer sites with minor customizations if needed…or maybe just a dealer page with their info… errr…something like that.
I know this is a little different way of doing things but simply need to know if anyone has done something similar or has any suggestions to make this happen?
MV seems like it might help but doesn’t seem to be able to do all I need…unless I should treat the vendors as my dealers…and try to modify from there.
Any insight would be appreciated.