How to Create Customer-to-Customer (C2C) Marketplace in Shopify.

Introduction

A C2C (Consumer-to-Consumer) marketplace is a dynamic online platform where individuals can seamlessly buy and sell goods and services directly to one another.

Unlike traditional business models such as B2B (Business-to-Business) or B2C (Business-to-Consumer),

C2C marketplaces operate on peer-to-peer transactions, creating an energetic community of buyers and sellers.

Imagine a bustling virtual bazaar, where everyday people turn into entrepreneurs, offering unique products and services.

Popular examples of C2C marketplaces include eBay, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and Poshmark.

These platforms allow individuals to engage in commerce without requiring a traditional business infrastructure.

How C2C marketplace works:

It’s no Rocket Science, By designing a streamlined user flow, you can master the functionality of your e-commerce platform with ease. Follow these steps to understand:

Users sign up and create their accounts on the platform.

Admin reviews and approves the listed products.

Approved products are displayed for customers to view.

Customers browse and make purchases from the available products.

The C2C marketplace owner earns a commission on each transaction.

Benefits:

Zero to Minimal Set-Up Costs: Low initial expenses for starting the platform.

Lower Prices for Buyers: Competitive pricing from multiple sellers.

Large Selection of Products & Services: Diverse offerings from various sellers.

Convenience: Easy and streamlined transactions for both buyers and sellers.

Steps to Create C2C Marketplace

To enable your users to access the C2C feature,

the admin must configure and activate the C2C marketplace settings from the Admin panel in Webkul’s Multi Vendor Marketplace app.

Admin needs to navigate to:

The multi-vendor marketplace app’s Admin panel >> Configuration >> General Configuration: enable C2C marketplace.

Once the admin enables the C2C Marketplace, Admin will get the field “Choose when you want to create customers” with the dropdown:

• At the time of sign-up.
• At a time of Seller approval.
• Do not need to create a Customer.

Additionally, If Admin wants then she/he can add a tag to the customer by enabling the configuration option “Add Tag to Customer“. As you can see in the image below.

Once enabled, customers will have the option to convert into sellers. This allows them to list their own products and participate in peer-to-peer transactions directly on your platform.

Convert Customer into Seller:

In a Multi-vendor marketplace, To Convert your Customer into a Seller.

The Admin will need to Paste the following code into the customer/account.liquid theme to display the “seller portal” button on the Customer’s account page.

<a class="btn btn--small wk_c2c_marketplace" target="_blank" href="https://sp-seller.webkul.com/?p=c2c_marketplace_process&customer_id={{customer.id}}&shop={{shop.permanent_domain}}" style="display: none;float: right;">Seller Portal</a>

To paste the above code. Follow the below process.

• Go To Themes.
• Further, click on the edit code button.
• Select customer/account.liquid file from the templates.
• Paste the above code.
• Click Save

After pasting the code,

Front end

On the account page, customers will get a ‘Seller Portal‘ button that allows them to become a seller. As mentioned in the image below.

After clicking the ‘Seller Portal‘ button on the customer account page, the Customer will be redirected to the Terms & Conditions page established by the store owner.

To proceed further, the customer can click on the checkbox “Accept terms and conditions” and finish Recaptcha verification. As mentioned in the below image:

Clicking on the submit button will redirect the customer to the seller portal. As shown in the image below:

Admins have the option to add a ‘Join as Seller’ in the main menu of the online store. To add this menu, they need to navigate to:

Shopify Backend >> Sales Channels >> Online Store >> Navigation. Add menu item, enter the name, and paste the link to YOUR PUBLIC URL FOR YOUR SELLERS.

Admin can get public URL from:

Multi-vendor Admin panel >> configuration >> Instructions to Marketplace >> “Your Public URL for your Seller” Copy Public URL. As mentioned in the image below.

Paste this public URL into the ‘Add menu’ option. This will display the ‘Join as Seller’ menu on the front end, as shown in the image below.

After clicking on the ‘Join as a Seller’ menu, customers will be redirected to the Seller Dashboard, where customer can register themself as sellers, add products, and start selling.

Once a customer registers as a seller, they can seamlessly list and sell their own products, while other users can browse and purchase these items.

This seamless integration enhances the marketplace experience, creating a vibrant community and driving increased engagement and sales.

SUPPORT

Furthermore, if you need any kind of support/consultancy then please raise a ticket at http://webkul.uvdesk.com/.  

You can also drop a mail at support@webkul.com

Thanks for reading this blog!!! 🙂