Do you want to create a multi-vendor marketplace in WordPress? Building your own e-commerce website has never been easier.

With WordPress, you can create advanced and very complex e-commerce marketplaces without any problems.

And if you want to create an online marketplace like Amazon, Etsy or eBay, then you’ve come to the right place!

In this guide, I will show you step by step how you can create your own multi-vendor marketplace in WordPress.

Let’s get started.

What is a multi-vendor marketplace?
A multi-vendor marketplace is simply a storefront with multiple sellers selling their products. Large e-commerce sites like Amazon and eBay are perfect examples of a multi-vendor marketplace.

On these marketplaces, each seller can create and sell their products. They have complete control over their products, including their prices.

A multi-vendor marketplace is beneficial to both the marketplace owner and the seller. As the marketplace owner, you will get an additional revenue stream by collecting commissions for every product sold on your marketplace.

For sellers, it becomes easy to sell their products without worrying about the technical aspects of setting up a website or store. They simply register on your marketplace and start selling.

It’s a win-win situation for both parties involved, which is why there are so many growing multi-vendor marketplaces.

Things you’ll need to create a multi-vendor marketplace
Setting up your own multi-vendor marketplace in WordPress is not complicated. But you should always be aware of the things you need to set up such a marketplace.

Here’s what you’ll need to create a multi-vendor marketplace:

Domain and web hosting

If you don’t have a website yet, you will need to create one. To do this, you will need to purchase a domain name and web hosting.

If you don’t know what these two are, don’t worry. Here’s a short definition:

A domain name is the address of your website that users will type into their browser to visit your website. Just as people need an address to visit your house, a domain name is needed to visit a website.

Now, once you have a domain name, you also need web hosting.

Web hosting is where your website lives. It is essentially a computer or server where all of your website files are stored.

We’ll come back to this later in the article. For now, let’s talk about the second requirement you’ll need to create your multi-vendor marketplace.

WordPress with WooCommerce

You may already know that WordPress is the best content management platform out there. It currently powers more than 40% of websites on the internet.

WordPress is perfect for anyone who wants to create their own website. And if you want to start an e-commerce website, pair WordPress with WooCommerce.

WooCommerce is the official eCommerce plugin for WordPress and is the best way to set up an eCommerce site on WordPress.

It is free and offers many features that will make it easier for you to manage your store. In addition, there are many WooCommerce addons that can help you expand the functionality of your eCommerce site.

A multi-vendor plugin

WooCommerce itself does not offer the ability to create a multi-vendor marketplace. But fortunately, there are many WooCommerce add-on plugins that can do this job.

So, the final piece of the puzzle for your multi-vendor marketplace is a multi-vendor plugin. This plugin will allow you to turn your eCommerce site into a multi-vendor marketplace that allows sellers to sign up and sell their own products.

In addition, a multi-vendor plugin will also help you set up a dashboard for sellers, display reports, etc.

Now that you know all about the requirements for setting up a multi-vendor marketplace in WordPress, let’s start building it.

Step 1: Get a domain and web hosting
There are many web hosting providers from which you can purchase a domain name and web hosting.

I always recommend Bluehost because it is the best web hosting for building an e-commerce site. It is also the official WooCommerce partner that we will use to create our multi-vendor marketplace.

On top of that, you get a free SSL certificate with Bluehost, which is important for security. If you’re building an e-commerce site, an SSL certificate is a must.

Finally, Bluehost is also very affordable, which makes it the perfect choice for anyone starting an online website.

Let’s get a domain and web hosting from Bluehost. Visit Bluehost and click on the “Get Started” button.

This is a promotional link that will get you a discount on your web hosting purchase. Usually, the price is $8.99/month, but with our promotional discount link, you will get it for only $2.95/month.

Now you will need to choose a plan. I recommend you choose the basic plan since you are just starting out. You can always upgrade later when your needs increase.

After you have chosen your plan, it’s time to choose a domain name. One of the reasons I recommend Bluehost is that you get a free domain name with their web hosting.

Enter the domain name you want for your multi-vendor marketplace. If you’re having trouble choosing a domain name, check out our article where we share some tips for choosing the right domain name.

After entering the domain name, you will be asked to fill in your account information. You can either enter your information or log in with Google.

In the next step, you will see the information about your package. Here you will find several add-ons checked that you can disable if you don’t need them.

Review your package information before moving on to the next step. Once you have reviewed it and continue, you will be asked to enter your payment information. You can either pay with PayPal or use a credit card.

Choose the desired payment method and click the “Submit” button to purchase your web hosting and domain.

Once the payment is successfully completed, your Bluehost account will be created. All you need to do is create a password and log in to your account.

Step #2: Install WordPress on your web host
The next step is to install WordPress on your hosting. One of the best things about Bluehost is that it automatically installs WordPress on your host.

Simply log in to Bluehost and you will be asked to select a WordPress theme. Don’t worry about the theme you select as it can be changed later.

Select a theme and click the “Start Building” button to install WordPress automatically.

Once the installation is complete, you will be redirected to the WordPress dashboard and see this:

Bluehost will help you set up your WordPress site by asking a few questions. The first is to select whether your website is personal or business. Since we are building a multi-vendor e-commerce site, choose Business.

Next, you can either launch your site or create pages or posts.

WordPress has now been successfully installed on your website and you are ready to move on to the next step.

Step #3: Install WooCommerce on your WordPress site
Once WordPress is successfully installed on your website, it’s time to install WooCommerce on your website.

From your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New. Next, search for “WooCommerce” and you will find the WooCommerce plugin at the top. Click the Install button and then click the Activate plugin once it’s installed.

Install WooCommerce – WordPress
Once WooCommerce is activated, you will be redirected to the WooCommerce setup wizard. First, you will need to enter your store details.

WooCommerce Setup – Store Details
Next, select the industry you are in.

WooCommerce Configuration – Industry
Next, you will be asked to choose the types of products you will sell in your store.

WooCommerce Setup – Product Types
After that, select the type of your business. Here, you will be asked to select the number of products you plan to display and if you sell products elsewhere.

WooCommerce Setup – Business Details
Finally, you will need to select the theme for your ecommerce store. Again, you can either continue with your current theme and change it later or choose a theme from the list of themes.

WooCommerce Configuration – Theme
That’s it. You have successfully configured WooCommerce. You can go even further by customizing and personalizing various settings.

But for now, let’s leave that and add a multi-vendor plugin for your website.

Step 3: Install a multi-vendor WooCommerce plugin
The third step is to choose and install a multi-vendor WooComemrce plugin for your marketplace.

We’ve discussed many WooCommerce multi-vendor plugins in the past, but the one we recommend the most is Dokan Multi-Vendor.

In fact, Dokan is the king of multi-vendor plugins for WooCommerce with the highest number of installs for all WooCommerce multi-vendor plugins. It comes with many different features that would make it easier for you to manage your multi-vendor marketplace.

Here are some key features of this plugin:

Independent Vendor Stores
Works with any theme
Dashboard for sellers and customers
Earn commission for every product sale
Coupon management
Detailed reports and statistics
Product reviews
Shipping management
Multilingual
Send announcements and notifications to suppliers
Comes with a mobile app
Dokan Multi-vendor is a free plugin but also comes with premium plans that offer more features and extensive customization.

Here’s the pricing for Dokan:

If you are just setting up your multi-vendor marketplace, you can choose the free plan. But if you are serious about this and want high functionality and features for your store, the Starter plan is perfect.

To install Dokan, go to Plugins > Add New and search for “Dokan” and install the plugin.

Dokan – WordPress Installation

Step #4: Configure your marketplace
Once you have installed and activated the plugin, you will be redirected to a page with the configuration wizard. Let’s now configure the Dokan plugin.

Dokan – Configuration Wizard
First, you will need to set the store URL as well as other settings such as shipping recipient, tax recipient, etc.

Dokan Configuration – Store
In the Sales section, enable the “New Seller Enable Sales” option to allow newly registered sellers to sell their items.

Dokan Configuration – Sales
You can also define the type of commission and the amount of commission you will receive for each product sale.

Next are the withdrawal settings where you can define the withdrawal methods and the minimum amount limit for withdrawals.

Dokan Configuration – Withdrawal
After these settings, Dokan will recommend some plugins to help you improve your marketplace experience. You can choose to disable or enable these plugins.

Dokan Configuration – Recommended
That’s it then. Your multi-vendor marketplace is ready!

Dokan Configuration – Ready
You can go ahead and visit your Dokan dashboard where you can see all your suppliers, sales and commissions earned.

Once your Dokan marketplace is fully ready, you can open it up for vendors to sign up and sell their products.

You can even customize the vendor store by adding a banner, store photo, description, address, etc.

Dokan – Vendor Customization
Dokan also allows you to control the payment options for each supplier in your marketplace. You can set custom commission rates and commission types for each supplier.

Dokan – Supplier Payment Settings
This is something you won’t find in other multi-vendor plugins. That’s why Dokan is so special.

You can configure your store even further if you have installed the pro version of the plugin.

For example, you can enable various Dokan plugins for additional functionality. There are plugins for color customization, auctions, geolocation, live chat, Elementor compatibility, etc.

Dokan – Modules
With these modules, you can fully enhance your marketplace experience for both sellers and customers.

Conclusion
Setting up a multi-vendor marketplace is not as complex as it seems. With the right tools, you can easily create a highly advanced multi-vendor marketplace with all the bells and whistles.

In this guide, we learned how you can create your own multi-vendor marketplace in WordPress using WooCommerce and the Dokan Multivendor plugin.

As the guide shows, these plugins made it easy to set up your store and configure it the way you want.

Now it’s your turn. Go ahead and start creating your first multi-vendor marketplace like Amazon and eBay.

I hope this guide helps you every step of the way on your ecommerce journey. But if you ever have any questions or doubts, feel free to comment below and ask your questions.

I’d be happy to answer your questions to help you set up your multi-vendor marketplace in WordPress using WooCommerce and the Dokan multi-vendor plugin.