Multi-Vendor notes

Most Kavio Labs add-ons work in both CS-Cart and Multi-Vendor. In the catalogue they’re marked CS-Cart & Multi-Vendor. A few are built only for marketplaces and are marked Multi-Vendor only. This page covers what is different in Multi-Vendor.

Three areas, three audiences

Area	Who uses it	What our add-ons do there
Admin panel (admin.php)	Marketplace owner and staff	Install the add-on, configure global settings, see marketplace-wide reports.
Vendor panel (vendor.php)	Vendor administrators	Where an add-on supports it: per-vendor settings, vendor-specific data such as their own rules, banners or reports.
Storefront	Customers	Shows the add-on’s features on the storefront. Many features respect which vendor sells a product.

Only the marketplace owner can install, update, disable or uninstall add-ons. Vendors never see Add-ons → Manage add-ons.

Vendor permissions

When an add-on adds pages to the vendor panel, it also registers the matching privileges.

• With the Vendor privileges add-on active, you can give or remove access per vendor user group in Customers → User groups. Our privileges are listed under the add-on’s name.
• Without it, vendors get the add-on’s default vendor access. Each add-on’s Configuration page lists what that is.

If a vendor reports “Access denied” on one of our pages, check their user group privileges first.

Per-vendor data and settings

• A vendor only sees and edits their own records, for example their own products, rules or statistics. The admin sees all vendors. To act as a vendor, select that vendor in the admin panel’s vendor selector.
• When a vendor-level value isn’t set, the vendor uses the admin’s global value. The add-on’s Configuration page says which settings vendors can override.
• Orders are split per vendor. Add-ons that work with orders or carts handle each vendor’s part separately where that makes sense, for example per-vendor shipping thresholds.

Vendor plans

If you use Vendor plans, some add-ons let you make a feature available only on certain plans. The option appears in the plan editor (Vendors → Vendor plans) when the add-on supports it. Vendors on other plans don’t see the feature in their panel.

Storefront behaviour

• In Multi-Vendor, the storefront isn’t tied to one vendor. Our storefront features find the vendor from the product, the vendor’s microstore page or the cart contents, as each add-on’s Usage page describes.
• With Common products for vendors (master products), a product can have offers from several vendors. Add-ons that show per-vendor information use the offer the customer selected.

Cache clearing for vendors

Vendors can’t clear the cache. In the vendor panel, ?cc and ?ctpl are ignored unless developer mode is on. If a vendor changes a setting and doesn’t see it on the storefront, the admin should clear the cache from the admin panel.

Testing tips

1. Test as the admin and as a vendor user. Log in to vendor.php with a vendor account, or use the Act on behalf function.
2. Place a test order with products from two vendors. Check that the add-on behaves correctly for each vendor’s part of the order.
3. If you use Vendor plans, test with a vendor on a plan that includes the feature and one on a plan that doesn’t.