Well, i am working on something similar based on following assumptions
1 - there is one site to have all stores (kind of ebay without the bidding thing and amazone)
a. It implies the look and feel SHOULD be the same, though you can add logos , banners linked to each store
2- there is ONE single database for all products. So same item could be repeated if
provided by different store (see ebay and amazone). Inventory is of course product/store bounded.
3 - you can be in the central MALL and see everything, including central mall only products.
Go figure, same product with different pricing
The product listing will show who sells each item. You can jump to certain store and see its products only
4 - Categories are showed ONLY if it contains products provided by that store
5 - The shopping cart is unique, so the checkout process.
6 - from Administration point of view
a) the setup of categories is unique and set by the MALL owner (see Amazone, ebay)(this could be changed)
b) Stores choose the best match to their products
c) theat means that store admin sees only his products and categories included, while playing with the admin module
d) Adding a new product is about
- choosing the right category from the whole arrangement
- then adding the product by standard procedures
- if a new category is choosen, it will indeed added automatically on the front end
The code is too crude to be posted, but i certainly will
if somebody wants to see the alfa alfa version, see http://www.itilcon.com/zipcart
All i have mentioned is working so far.
Now I am adding those admin modules needed for each store admin
(like adding specials, featuring a product, checking order status for ITS PRODUCTS only,
managing coupons, etc)
regarding payments, the original question. My take is this.
I expect to control the payment gateway and profit a small amount out of each transaction.
Unless the pay a reasonable fee for the service. Or both.
The MALL should get the money from the Bank and to transfer it to each store, excluding the fee if applies
So they get the money indeed, probably in matter of seconds if system set properly,
which I do not think poses a major obstacle.:frusty:
