One store, many sellers, and every one of them paid correctly.

Do we need a multi-vendor store, or is a single-vendor store enough?

If you sell your own stock, a single-vendor store is enough and simpler to build. You need multi-vendor when other businesses list and sell through you and you earn commission rather than margin. The difference is seller panels, split payments, seller payouts and returns that belong to one seller. It is the first of our five questions before we quote, because it changes most of the build.

How long does a multi-vendor store take to build?

A first working version is typically 10–14 weeks after scope, and scope is about a week. That version runs one real order end to end: a seller lists a product, a customer buys it, the seller ships it, and the payout shows in the console. Promotions, seller reports and extra payment methods are later phases, each priced before it begins.

How do sellers get paid?

From each order, after commission, on a schedule you set. The checkout takes one payment, the platform records what each seller is owed, and payouts run once an order can no longer be returned. Where the payment rail supports automatic payouts, they run on their own; where it does not, the console runs manual payout batches with a full record. We choose the gateway by country and by whether payouts are needed.

How does commission work?

Commission can be a percentage, a fixed fee per order, or a different rate per category, and you change it in the admin console, not in code. It is taken before the seller's payout and shown to the seller on every order, so there is nothing to argue about later. Monthly seller fees can sit alongside commission if your model needs them.

What happens when a customer returns one item from a mixed basket?

Only that seller's part of the order changes. The return is raised against the item, the seller sees it in their panel, and the refund comes out of that seller's payout rather than the whole order. Your return policy is written in the first phase and built as a flow, because returns handled by email are where money goes missing.

How do we stop bad sellers and fake listings?

Sellers are approved before they can list, and listings can be held for review, reported by customers and removed from the console. Verification can check a seller's documents and bank details before their first payout. Reviews need moderation too, because ratings without moderation become a liability. How strict to be is a business decision we ask about in scope, since stricter checks mean fewer sellers at launch.

Can sellers ship their own orders?

Yes, and in most multi-vendor stores they do. Each seller sets their shipping rules and marks orders shipped with tracking, and the customer sees each seller's part of the order separately. If you want your own riders or a central warehouse instead, that is a different build, closer to a delivery platform, and we scope it that way from the start.

Who owns the code?

You do, on full payment. Exclusive and perpetual.

What if you disappear?

Your repository, your accounts, your signing keys. Documented so another team can pick it up.

Can we move to another team later?

Yes. We write the handover documents that make that possible, whether you use them or not.

Do you take equity instead of cash?

No.

Who holds the app store accounts?

You, unless you ask otherwise. Decided at kickoff, not at launch.

What happens to our data?

It is yours. Exportable at any point, in a format another system can read.