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Sun, 06/08/2008 - 11:51
 Hello, I wonder if it's possible to have more than one store owner. I mean, any user can post a product and than follows it's own order workflow, and send the product to the user. What i want is something similar to ebay, but not the auction stuff. So, is it possible? Regards..  
Re: multi store owners, is it possible?
Yeah i'm quite interested in this too. In my case it would be handy if members of a certain role were able to run their own shop, like a market place. I wondered about using organic groups?? Gets a little out of hand if each member has a separate group though. good luck, matt
Store
This has been discussed a number of times on Ubercart and as far as I know the answer is no.   
Re: Store
I've actually already created a role-based "Customer products" module that allows users to basically hook into the Ubercart system. Unfortunately right now it's pretty custom, but the overall idea was pretty straightforward. The only downside is then you have to figure out which parts of Ubercart you are allowing the users access to, such as File Downloads, shippable items, etc. But basically what we're allowing on our site (in the near future) is a user signs up for a program, kind of like a reseller but selling their own products... they sign up, at which point a Role is assigned. The Role gives them access to a "Create Customer Product" screen (just an "add product node" form) and they can use the Drupal system in that way, to create an actual Product node type. This way it utilizes all of the same Ubercart features such as the Shipping modules, and basically IS a product being sold by the UC system. I have some work to do with regard to what the users are allowed to see, and also assigning them a Taxonomy term from the start (we don't want the Customer products showing up in the Official Catalogue, for instance). But if you are interested in getting started on your own I can describe my process, and / or post some code. Once I have time I'll probably abstract my code to something much more open, something like uc_customer_product or something, but right now not all of the pieces are in place with Ubercart core, as far as I'm concerned. I'd love to discuss this more if the Uberdudes are interested in seeing what I've done. (It uses some of the same ways you import custom product nodes from another system like e-Commerce..)
Hosting
Dalton: It would be my guess that Uber users are looking for is an easy way to create an Etsy type of store. Each seller would have total control over their products, images, prices and descriptions. Each would have a separate shipping account with PayPal or another payment host. And the host would charge a percent of sales, maybe a monthly fee or a per product fee to use the system. There would be an overall index listing product groups and some form of overall catalog. One issue would be to design a system in which the non technical person could easy manage their account without the need for hand holding. Or enough safeguards so that the site could not be damaged by one users inattention to detail. Thought that this would be a nice addition to my own site for the expansion idea of sub leasing your server space to others and yet keep a master shopping cart site as the umbrella. Maybe at some point this will be possible. Jim
Re: Hosting
Yeah, the shipping issue I hadn't taken into consideration, mainly because what we're allowing our users to sell are digital files, nothing physical, at least for the foreseeable future. But I think it'd be relatively easy to patch in the seller's email address, for something like PayPal - since that's pretty much the only way they identify you. There is nothing like a "Merchant ID" like what authorize.net uses.. although that would be ideal. But the solution I'm working on will allow users to track their sales, and to map how much they have made for a time period. I haven't spent that much time on that aspect yet; whether it should just be a running total of sales for the particular month, resetting at the end of each; that's probably how I'll do it in the end. But right now, our main goal is to get these digital products setup in a way that allows users to simply enter the information for the node, upload their files, and start selling. Going to try and keep it pretty simple so we don't have to hold hands, although there will be from the start, I'm sure - at least a little bit...
Re: Re: Hosting
I'm glad that some how it is possible. Is there a team working on it right now or it's just you Dalton? If you need assistance, i would be glad to participate, although i'm not a drupal or ubercart guru. But the idea of an opensource marketing software, in my opinion, should have the ability to have more than one boss of the shop, it should be collabrative. As Alaska said, the host, as the risk taker, should charge a percentage of sales or a monthly fee or whatever. I'm waiting to hear from you guys, and Dalton can you tell me your store address please for me to take a look how does it works? Regards,
I'm very interested in this also
Yeah, the shipping issue I hadn't taken into consideration, mainly because what we're allowing our users to sell are digital files, nothing physical, at least for the foreseeable future. But I think it'd be relatively easy to patch in the seller's email address, for something like PayPal - since that's pretty much the only way they identify you. There is nothing like a "Merchant ID" like what authorize.net uses.. although that would be ideal. But the solution I'm working on will allow users to track their sales, and to map how much they have made for a time period. I haven't spent that much time on that aspect yet; whether it should just be a running total of sales for the particular month, resetting at the end of each; that's probably how I'll do it in the end. But right now, our main goal is to get these digital products setup in a way that allows users to simply enter the information for the node, upload their files, and start selling. Going to try and keep it pretty simple so we don't have to hold hands, although there will be from the start, I'm sure - at least a little bit... I'm very interested in this as well. Basically exactly what you are describing (and only needed for digital downloads). I would be willing to contribute financially to this effort, as well as be a tester, but I can't really contribute in a coding capacity. Please send me a pm if I can be of help.
any progress?
Yeah, the shipping issue I hadn't taken into consideration, mainly because what we're allowing our users to sell are digital files, nothing physical, at least for the foreseeable future. But I think it'd be relatively easy to patch in the seller's email address, for something like PayPal - since that's pretty much the only way they identify you. There is nothing like a "Merchant ID" like what authorize.net uses.. although that would be ideal. But the solution I'm working on will allow users to track their sales, and to map how much they have made for a time period. I haven't spent that much time on that aspect yet; whether it should just be a running total of sales for the particular month, resetting at the end of each; that's probably how I'll do it in the end. But right now, our main goal is to get these digital products setup in a way that allows users to simply enter the information for the node, upload their files, and start selling. Going to try and keep it pretty simple so we don't have to hold hands, although there will be from the start, I'm sure - at least a little bit... torgosPizza: What's the latest news on your development toward this feature? I'm also interested in having groups, each with a store, that the group admin creates and manages. I'll even offer dDouble bonus points if the group admin can receive payments directly as opposed to me (the site admin) having to distribute funds post-transaction.
Alaska wrote:Dalton:It would
Dalton:It would be my guess that Uber users are looking for is an easy way to create an Etsy type of store. Each seller would have total control over their products, images, prices and descriptions. Each would have a separate shipping account with PayPal or another payment host. And the host would charge a percent of sales, maybe a monthly fee or a per product fee to use the system. There would be an overall index listing product groups and some form of overall catalog. One issue would be to design a system in which the non technical person could easy manage their account without the need for hand holding. Or enough safeguards so that the site could not be damaged by one users inattention to detail. Yeah, this is exactly what I'm looking for.
Re: Alaska wrote:Dalton:It would
What you are describing is exactly how Ubercart Marketplace functions: http://drupal.org/project/ubercart_marketplace We have it installed on our site right now, as part of our "iRiffs" section: http://www.rifftrax.com/iriffs Users are able to sign up (through a form that I created) which assigns a role called "fanriffer". Only users with that role are able to create iRiff products, but they are able to maintain their own descriptions, prices, etc. I've actually modified the File Downloads integration to be something much more complex because of our needs, but the way the default Marketplace functionality works should suit most users needs... unless you are uploading very large files, but even we can't completely offer that yet.
thanks
@torgosPizza: Thanks, this gives me about 80% of what I'm looking for. I'm still wondering if there's a way to pay the sellers directly. From the docs, it seems that I'd have to take the payments from buyers and then use PayPal Mass Pay to distribute the funds to the sellers. Do you know if it's possible to send the payment directly from the buyers to the sellers? Thanks,
Re: thanks
I think you would just have to require say, a PayPal address, and perhaps some additional code to track payments.. but I guess the short answer is no, not that I'm aware of. However on the UC Marketplace project page (on drupal.org) you should post a Feature Request for that sort of thing. I'm sure Turgid has it in mind already, but like most of us developers, time is sometimes a luxury item When you post the thread on drupal.org link to it here so I can follow it myself. Thanks! EDIT: It sounds like this might already have been asked. |
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I'll be glad to help create that in the near future, though.