AbleCommerce Shopping Cart Software

I have not yet purchased a license for AbleCommerce but understand that it includes the source code needed to make customized implementations. My question is, from a developer standpoint, would it be reasonably possible to modify AC so that it could be used as a marketplace/cybermall where multiple sellers can register and maintain their own independent catalogs and product offerings that are featured through the main site? Essentially an Amazon.com marketplace style implementation, with the owner of the portal site taking a commission of sales. How is the AC model suited to such customization? Would it be a reasonable task for an advanced dev team or a mountain of making AC do something that it just isn't designed to do? (Obviously we'd have to add DB tables, etc.)

Any thoughts?

PandionDev wrote:I have not yet purchased a license for AbleCommerce but understand that it includes the source code needed to make customized implementations. My question is, from a developer standpoint, would it be reasonably possible to modify AC so that it could be used as a marketplace/cybermall where multiple sellers can register and maintain their own independent catalogs and product offerings that are featured through the main site? Essentially an Amazon.com marketplace style implementation, with the owner of the portal site taking a commission of sales. How is the AC model suited to such customization? Would it be a reasonable task for an advanced dev team or a mountain of making AC do something that it just isn't designed to do? (Obviously we'd have to add DB tables, etc.)

Any thoughts?

"Reasonable" and "advanced" are very vague descriptions. My reasonable could be your "no way". AC7 includes a significant amount of source code, however full source requires an additional (and reasonably priced) purchase.

There is no built-in capability to accomplish what you want. Multiple catalogs, commission tracking and B2B functionality would have to be extensively customized both on the front-end and back-end.

Can it be done? Sure. The CommerceBuilder API included with AC7 is very robust. Should it be done with AC7? That's a question only you can answer. Trying to make a $ 1,000 storefront program into a competitor to one of the largest online ecommerce solutions known to man may perhaps be a lofty goal.

I appreciate the reply. Our development staff is definitely capable of creating that type of system from scratch (given enough time) but we are looking to have a springboard to save some of the initial effort. You are absolutely right, however, that the goal of transforming a $1000 package to something huge like Amazon is very lofty. I have seen that there are several sites on the net (i.e. Etsy) that do similar marketplace type implementations with not quite as sophisticated an implementation as Amazon.

I guess my major question was how complete is the available AC7 source code and would it provide the ability for such customization, albeit extensive. Of course, then there's the question of whether anyone know of any .Net-based products on the market that handle that type of cybermall interface that wouldn't necessary need to be as customized.

From a development standpoint, AC7 is certainly capable. It's written extremely well. Combined with the variety and quantity of information available here in the forums, you have a tremendous starting advantage.

In the end, you're going to want total customization anyways. So a base product that is "closer" to your goal probably isn't all that much help.

Able's core API (called CommerceBuilder) is a massive amount of groundwork you won't have to re-invent.