NexVendor – Simple Multi-Vendor Marketplace

NexVendor – Simple Multi-Vendor Marketplace converts an existing WooCommerce store into a lightweight multi-vendor marketplace. Vendors can register from the frontend, list simple products, view and fulfil only their own orders, track earnings, and request manual payouts. Admins moderate vendors and products, configure commission rules, and process payouts from a dedicated WooCommerce admin screen.

This plugin is intentionally a simple MVP: it does not add custom database tables (it uses WordPress user meta, post meta, and a lightweight internal post type for payout requests), does not modify any WooCommerce core files, and avoids advanced features like vendor subscriptions, vendor shipping zones, vendor coupons, or automated split payments — these are left for future versions.

Core features

• Frontend vendor registration ([nexvendor_marketplace_vendor_registration]) with admin approval workflow
• Frontend vendor dashboard ([nexvendor_marketplace_vendor_dashboard]): overview, products, orders, earnings, store settings
• Branded vendor sign-in page ([nexvendor_marketplace_vendor_login]) that sends vendors straight to their dashboard
• Vendors can add/edit/delete their own simple WooCommerce products, with optional admin approval before products go live
• Orders automatically attributed to the correct vendor per line item, with vendor-only visibility into their own sales and limited shipping details
• Configurable global commission (percentage or fixed amount), calculated and frozen per order item at checkout time
• Vendor earnings tracking: gross sales, commission, pending vs. available balance, and paid totals
• Manual payout request system with admin-managed status (pending / processing / paid / rejected)
• Public vendor storefront pages at /vendor/store-slug/
• A dedicated top-level NexVendor admin area: dashboard, vendors, products, commission, payouts, settings

Security

• All state-changing requests are nonce-protected and capability-checked
• Vendors can only ever read, edit, or delete data they own — ownership is re-verified server-side on every request, never trusted from form fields
• Vendors are blocked from the wp-admin dashboard by default and redirected to their frontend dashboard
• All user input is sanitized on the way in and escaped on the way out
• No custom database tables, no direct unprepared SQL

Requirements

• WordPress 6.0+
• WooCommerce 7.0+ (must be installed and active)
• PHP 7.4+

Shortcodes

Place these on any page or post.

[nexvendor_marketplace_vendor_registration]

The vendor application form. New applicants are created with the Marketplace Vendor role and, when vendor approval is enabled, held as “Pending” until an admin approves them.

[nexvendor_marketplace_vendor_login]

A branded vendor sign-in page. Signed-in vendors are shown a link to their dashboard instead of the form; everyone else gets the login card, and successful sign-ins are sent to the vendor dashboard.

[nexvendor_marketplace_vendor_dashboard]

The vendor dashboard: overview, products, add product, orders, earnings and store settings. Visitors who are not signed in see the same sign-in card here.

[nexvendor_marketplace_vendor_store]

A vendor’s public storefront. Accepts an optional vendor_id attribute, for example [nexvendor_marketplace_vendor_store vendor_id="12"]. Vendor stores are also available automatically at /vendor/store-slug/.

1. Make sure WooCommerce is installed and active.
2. Upload the plugin files to /wp-content/plugins/nexvendor-simple-multi-vendor-marketplace, or install the plugin through the WordPress Plugins screen directly.
3. Activate the plugin through the “Plugins” screen in WordPress.
4. Create a page containing the [nexvendor_marketplace_vendor_registration] shortcode, and another page containing the [nexvendor_marketplace_vendor_dashboard] shortcode.
5. Go to NexVendor → Settings and select those two pages, set your commission rate, and review approval settings.
6. Approve your first vendor under NexVendor → Vendors.

If the dashboard/registration pages are not explicitly selected in Settings, the plugin will automatically try to detect a published page containing the matching shortcode, so vendors are not redirected to the homepage.

1. 

   Vendor dashboard overview

1.0.3

• New [nexvendor_marketplace_vendor_login] shortcode for a dedicated vendor sign-in page.
• Redesigned the vendor sign-in card: branding, clearer labels, a message after a failed attempt, and links for password reset and vendor registration.
• Fixed other plugins’ admin notices appearing in the middle of the NexVendor panel. They now sit above the section tabs, where WordPress expects them.
• Documented all shortcodes in the readme and corrected stale references to the old admin menu location.

1.0.2

• New visual design across the vendor dashboard, registration form and admin screens, based on the NexVendor Core design system.
• Redesigned admin area: branded header, section tabs, a To-Do queue for pending approvals and withdrawals, marketplace-wide totals, and a top-vendor leaderboard.
• Switching between NexVendor admin sections now swaps only the panel instead of reloading the whole admin page. Direct links and browser back/forward still work, and it falls back to a normal page load if scripting is unavailable.
• Added NexVendor branding to the vendor dashboard, registration form and admin dashboard.
• Improved mobile layout: data tables now collapse into readable stacked cards.

1.0.1

• Renamed the admin menu from “Marketplace” to “NexVendor”.
• Added a branded white menu icon that stays fully visible in all states, and adapts to the Light admin colour scheme.

1.0.0

• Initial release: vendor registration/approval, product management, order attribution, commission engine, manual payouts, vendor storefronts, and the marketplace admin area.