Build a Multi-Vendor Marketplace

What "multi-vendor" means (0:00)

There's one thing that separates a regular online store from a real marketplace, and it's not the design or the niche. It's this: can multiple sellers list, sell, and get paid on one platform — that's what's called multi-vendor. In this video I'm going to build one live, step by step.

A normal store has one seller — you. A multi-vendor marketplace has many sellers. As the marketplace owner, you don't hold inventory and you don't ship products. You provide the platform and take a commission. That's the model behind Amazon, Etsy, Airbnb, and so on. You don't need to be their size to build something very similar.

The 4 building blocks (1:00)

Every multi-vendor marketplace needs four core building blocks for it to work — everything else on top is just features.

• Seller onboarding — sellers need a way to create an account and start listing. That can be automatic, or you can require approval where you review and approve sellers manually before they can list.
• Per-seller storefronts — each seller gets their own storefront to showcase what they're selling, tell their story, and add some branding. Buyers can browse to a seller and see everything they're offering.
• Split payments — when a buyer purchases from a seller, the seller gets most of the money minus the commission you take to run the marketplace (5%, 10%, 20%, etc.). You usually use Stripe Connect for this.
• Order routing — when a buyer purchases from Seller A, the order has to go to Seller A, who manages their own fulfillment. For a product marketplace, that means the seller ships the product to the buyer.

Live build — Made by Hands (3:05)

We're building a local artisans marketplace called Made by Hands. We'll create one listing — a handmade pillow with embroidery — add a custom listing field for material (Cotton, Linen, Hemp, Bamboo), set up Stripe Connect with a 20% commission, configure flat-rate $5 shipping, and run a real test purchase.

On Prometora I pick the Product template (Etsy-style fits best). Name: Made by Hands, "a marketplace for local arts". The first draft generates a front page, contact page, and About page. I upload a hero image and clean up the navigation: All Listings, Contact, About.

Custom listing field (4:30)

In Store Settings → Listing Form I keep a single listing type for simplicity. I add one custom field — Material — as a select with options Cotton, Linen, Hemp, Bamboo. Save.

Stripe Connect and commission (5:30)

In Store Settings → Payments I bump the commission rate from 10% to 20% and save. Then I open my Stripe test environment, copy the publishable and secret keys into Stripe Connect on Prometora, and save. Stripe Connect is connected.

Flat-rate shipping (6:30)

I enable shipping and pick flat rate (no carrier integration yet): $5 per order added at checkout, no free shipping threshold for now, US only, and a 7-day shipping deadline — if the seller doesn't ship in time, the buyer is refunded automatically.

Creating the first listing (7:30)

I sign up as a seller and land in the seller dashboard. I create a listing: "Selling pillow with embroidery, handmade", price $50, material Linen (best guess from the photos), three images, no video, publish. The listing appears on the marketplace immediately.

Test purchase as a buyer (8:30)

I sign up on a second account as a buyer. The pillow is $50 but at checkout the total is $55 — $50 plus $5 shipping. The breakdown:

• Seller earns: $40 + $5 shipping = $45
• Marketplace fee (20%): $10

I fill in buyer info, use a Stripe test card, and pay. Order confirmed. The buyer gets a confirmation email; the seller gets a "You made a sale" notification with the shipping address.

Shipping and releasing payout (10:00)

On the buyer's My Orders page the order shows as "Being prepared for shipping". On the seller side, pending payouts shows $40 — the seller only gets paid once they add a tracking number and shipping carrier. I pick UPS, add a tracking number, and mark as shipped. The order is shipped and the payout is released. The buyer gets a "Your order has been shipped" email with the tracking info.

Per-seller storefront (11:30)

Last piece — the seller storefront. I publish a second listing so the storefront has more than one item. In seller settings I upload a profile image and a banner, set first/last name, and save. One toggle to flip on the product detail page settings: Show seller profile. Refresh — the listing now shows "Sold by Rasmus", and clicking through opens the seller's storefront page.

Outro (13:00)

That's how easy it is to set up a multi-vendor marketplace with payments, shipping, and per-seller storefronts. If you have an idea for one, give Prometora a try — it might be exactly the tool you need to launch and scale. Reach out anytime, and a like and subscribe would mean a lot. See you in the next one.