User Added Products?

I have been Zencart successfully for a few months now but i have hit a roadblock. Does anyone know if/how to enable users to submit products,

Once submitted the store admin would be notified and then be able to edit/approve the product for display.

Thanks
Roy

Sorry, no. Zencart isn't designed to be a 'mall' type cart.

This can be done, but involves a lot of custom coding to create catalog side screens through which product table entries can be created and assigned to categories and of course, major validation of the inputs to keep the site secure.

It's a requirement that needs to be built to meet the specific needs of each store and one where the scope tends to creep at an alarming rate, as more real-world issues emerge (especially in respect of shipping and payment handling).

So it can be done, but is a major undertaking, requiring significant levels of developer skill and Zen Cart knowledge.

OK Thanks. This goes on hold then.

It's a question gets asked in various forms every few days (here's today's example!).

Someday somebody's going to come up with a workable approach for physical products (the digital scrapbookers are already doing it).

However, for physical products it's just a ton more complex. Questions such as "how should sales tax be calculated if your website located on state A sells something on behalf of a merchant in state B to a customer in state A, and who is responsible for accounting for the tax and paying it to the relevant tax authority?" prove to be real head scratchers.

Similarly, "how would you handle confirmations, payments and shipping if a customer brought two items from different suppliers at the same time?" just seems to get more rather than less convoluted as you work though possible solutions.