Vendors / Shopping mall question

[airic]

I am starting a site selling downloadable products and I have been looking for a ecommerce solution, script, or software that can support multiple vendors all in one storefront or mall. I want to be able to approve products before they list for sale, and I want the vendor to be invisible to the end-customer. Vendors need to be able to track stats/sales and upload products for approval. Does anyone know of something that may work for me?

Thanks,
Eric Kay

[TallTroll]

Hmmm, thats a toughie. You've got some pretty specific requirements there, and whilst I'm sure there are packages that will do the job, its going to be expensive (I'm thinking a £10k bare minimum really)

Packages that can handle d/loadable product, no problem, that's getting popular, packages that will handle the "mall" model, that's doable too (usually more expensive though, licencing issues mainly). Getting one that does both, combining two relatively rare capabilities... that smells like a custom job to me...

[bcc1234]

I can second that. At least $15k for a solid solution.
...or you can go to elance and get it done for $200 and it's going to be the biggest pain in your ...

[Marcia]

airic, fees that people charge vary a lot from place to place. Some geographical locations have high cost of living so rates would be high - like California or New York, while others are much less.

There are Open Source solutions available that can be freely modified without starting from scratch. Why don't you look through the Commercial Exchange here. I can't recall off-hand, but there may have been some programming services offered.

It's probably not cheap, but you can also check with Kagi. They specialize in downloadables, handle the payment processing, and may have come across your situation over time.

[transistor]

Eric, I had very similar needs to yours so I created my own solution from scratch.

Marcia has a great idea, I guess it depends on your skills, time and money available for this project.

Oh, and welcome to Webmaster World! :)