Frequently Asked Questions About Marketplace Management
This guide addresses some of the most common questions regarding marketplace management, empowering you to navigate the intricacies of your PrestaShop Marketplace.
Q: Can customers find nearby sellers for faster delivery?
A: Absolutely! You can enable the "Advanced shop map" feature within the "General > Map" settings. This activates functionalities like address suggestions, auto-fill coordinates, and shop address searching, all powered by a Google API key (required). With this enabled, your customers can enter their address and discover the closest vendors offering the products they seek.
Q: How does the product review system work?
A: The marketplace offers flexibility in product reviews. You can leverage the default review module from PrestaShop or integrate our "Product Reviews" module, a comprehensive solution for managing reviews, ratings, and FAQs.
Q: What payment methods are available for marketplace orders?
A: Customers can utilize all the payment methods configured for your website, including familiar options like PayPal, bank transfers, COD, Skrill, etc. This aligns with the payment methods available for other products on your site. Importantly, the marketplace owner receives the overall payment initially. Payouts to individual sellers occur upon processing their withdrawal requests.
Q: How does the marketplace handle product exchanges and returns?
A: Presently, the marketplace module doesn't provide a built-in exchange and return selection process for customers. Customers who wish to exchange or return products need to contact the seller directly. However, the system does automatically recalculate commissions based on order status updates made by sellers or marketplace admins. It's important to note that due to the module not managing cash flow, return shipping costs require manual handling.
Q: Can the marketplace handle multiple currencies?
A: Currently, the marketplace module operates using the default currency set within PrestaShop. The system avoids currency conversions due to potential rounding errors that could negatively impact transactions.
Q: Does the marketplace support direct commission payments to sellers?
A: Unfortunately, the module does not currently support direct customer payments to sellers. Here's why:
- Logic disruption: It would disrupt the core functionality of the module.
- Dispute management: It would complicate handling disputes and refunds, as the marketplace admin wouldn't manage the order payment directly.
- Shipping management: It would hinder the effective management of product shipping by the marketplace admin.
The module prioritizes a smooth workflow. It doesn't interfere with the payment process and doesn't allow sellers to create their own payment methods. All payments go to the admin's bank account. When a seller submits a withdrawal request, the admin can review and approve it before manually transferring the commission from their bank account to the seller.
Q: How do orders with multiple sellers work?
A: Customers can add products from various sellers to their cart. When placing an order with multiple sellers, the system automatically splits it into sub-orders, one for each seller. These sub-orders share the same order reference but have distinct IDs for easier tracking.
Q: How to upload product images faster?
A: To optimize product creation speed, it's recommended for sellers to first save product data (text fields) in the database. Product images, which are a different file type, can be uploaded later. This two-step approach ensures smoother and more efficient product creation.
Q: Why doesn't the carrier selection show all options?
A: PrestaShop prioritizes offering the most suitable carrier options to customers. If a product shares compatible carriers considered the most reasonable choices, the system won't display alternative carriers. This aligns with PrestaShop's core functionality for smart carrier selection. Unfortunately, our marketplace module cannot modify this core behavior.
However, if you allow sellers to create their carriers, the carrier selection dropdown will become available for each seller's store. This allows customers to choose from different carrier options depending on the seller.
Q: Can multiple sellers sell the same product?
A: Our marketplace module empowers sellers to create and list as many products as they desire. They can compete with other sellers by offering the same products at a more competitive price. Products can have unique images and descriptions to stand out. However, our module doesn't support one product ID with multiple sellers and prices. Sellers have to submit their product listings individually.
We hope this FAQ clarifies some key aspects of marketplace management. If you have any further questions, feel free to reach out to our support team!