How to create a multi-vendor marketplace like Amazon
Amazon is a product marketplace: thousands of sellers list in one catalogue, buyers fill one basket, and the platform keeps a cut of each order. You can run that model for your own niche without a development team. Here is what it takes, and what it does not include.
The short answer
A marketplace like Amazon is a multi-vendor product marketplace: independent sellers manage their own listings and stock, buyers order from several sellers in one checkout, and the operator earns a commission on every order without holding inventory. On Kreezalid you build it from a products template, in private, and open it when the first sellers are in — without writing code.
The five features it needs
- A shared catalogue. Categories and attributes every seller lists into, so one search covers all of them.
- Vendor onboarding. Sellers sign up, get approved, and manage their own listings, stock and orders.
- One basket, orders split per vendor. The buyer pays once; each seller receives their part of the order to fulfil.
- Commissions and payouts. Your take rate on every order, with the rest paid to the seller automatically.
- Shipping and reviews. Delivery rules per seller, and reviews on products and sellers that keep buyers coming back.
- a month to build it in private, on the Build plan
- €39
- from a template to a marketplace you can open
- ~7 days
- of free trial, no credit card
- 14 days
What Amazon actually does
Strip away the scale and Amazon runs on a handful of mechanics that any product marketplace can reproduce.
A catalogue, not a shop
Products are organised by category and attributes, and several sellers can offer the same item. The buyer compares, then picks a seller.
Professional sellers
Sellers pay to be there — a monthly fee, a commission on each sale, or both — and are expected to ship on time and answer buyers.
One checkout for many sellers
A basket can hold items from five sellers. The buyer pays once; the platform routes each line to the seller who fulfils it.
Trust built from reviews
Ratings on products and on sellers decide who sells. Poor service is visible, and the platform arbitrates disputes.
Fulfilment as a service
Amazon stores and ships for sellers who want it. That logistics network is the part a niche marketplace does not copy.
Paid visibility
Sponsored placements and featured positions are sold to sellers — a second revenue line on top of commissions.
Amazon is a trademark of Amazon.com, Inc., with which Kreezalid is not affiliated. This page describes Amazon's publicly visible model so you can build your own version of it.
How to build it on Kreezalid, in 7 steps
The order matters less than finishing each step before you invite sellers in. Most operators do this in about a week.
Choose a niche and a products template. A marketplace like Amazon for everything is Amazon. Pick one category — refurbished electronics, independent fashion labels, regional food — and start from the matching template.
Define the catalogue. Create categories and the attributes each needs (size, condition, material). Sellers list into that structure, so the search works from day one. Variants — one product, several sizes or colours — come with the Product Variants app.
Set the seller rules. Decide whether sellers are approved before they list, what a listing must contain, and how many a seller may publish. Sellers import an existing catalogue from a spreadsheet instead of retyping it.
Connect payments and set commissions. Connect Stripe Connect: the buyer pays once, Kreezalid keeps your commission and pays each seller their share. Set the rate globally, per category or per seller.
Configure shipping. Flat rates, per-weight rules or rules per seller, plus delivery to pickup points if you sell in France. Buyers see the cost before they pay.
Switch on reviews and messaging. Reviews on products and sellers, moderated from the back office, and a buyer–seller inbox so questions are answered before a return happens.
Brand it, recruit your first sellers, open. Colours, logo, navigation and pages in the visual theme editor, your own domain with SSL, then invite the first sellers while the marketplace is still private. Move to Launch the day you open.
Need the catalogue, the commission grid and the seller terms set up for you? Kreezalid Plus does the setup with you, on quote.
What Amazon’s model needs, and how Kreezalid covers it
Sorted honestly: what every plan includes, what an app or the API adds, and what stays a development project.
Native on Kreezalid
- Multi-vendor catalogue with categories and attributes
- Seller accounts, roles and approval
- Multi-vendor cart, one checkout, orders split per seller
- Stripe Connect split payments and automatic payouts
- Commissions globally, per category or per seller
- Shipping rules: flat, per weight, per seller
- Reviews on products and sellers, buyer–seller inbox
- Catalogue import from a spreadsheet, CSV and Excel export
- Multi-currency, multilingual, featured listings
With an app, a theme edit or the API
- Product variants with their own price, stock and SKU — Product Variants app
- Seller storefront with cover and description — Enhanced Vendor Stores app
- Pickup-point delivery in France — Mondial Relay app
- Seller subscriptions — Paid Memberships or Stripe Subscriptions apps
- Negotiated bulk orders — Price Offers app
- Wishlists, coupons, saved searches and alerts — apps
- Product feed to Facebook and Instagram — Meta Catalog app
- Connecting a shipping or accounting tool — REST API and webhooks
Custom development or out of scope
- A fulfilment network storing and shipping for sellers
- Automatic volume discounts by quantity
- Sponsored-product ad auctions
- A “Buy Box” choosing between sellers of one identical item
- ERP, PIM or supplier-feed integrations — an Enterprise project, on quote
What you will not get
A niche marketplace built in a week shares Amazon’s mechanics, not its position. Four things to plan for rather than expect.
Amazon’s traffic
Buyers do not arrive because the marketplace exists. SEO, a mailing list and your sellers’ own audiences bring the first orders; the model only compounds once they do.
A logistics network
There is no equivalent of fulfilment by Amazon. Your sellers ship their own orders under the delivery rules you set, or you negotiate a carrier yourself.
Volume discounts out of the box
Automatic price breaks by quantity are not built in for products. Sellers sell pack sizes as variants, or agree larger orders through the Price Offers app.
Unlimited scale on a starter plan
Launch carries 100 sellers and 2 000 listings; Grow and Extend lift those limits. A marketplace plugged into an ERP or PIM is an Enterprise project, scoped on quote.
Building something closer to another platform?
Each of these pages maps a well-known platform onto the same building blocks.
- Build a marketplace like eBay →A C2C second-hand marketplace: listings by individuals, fixed prices with offers, payments through the platform, seller reviews — no auctions.
- Build a marketplace like Etsy →A makers’ marketplace: a shop per creator, handmade attributes, variants, reviews with photos and SEO on every listing.
- Build a marketplace like Airbnb →A booking marketplace: availability calendars, duration pricing, deposits, host profiles, two-sided reviews and payouts after each stay.
- Marketplace templates →24 starting points by sector and model, each with its pages and its booking or checkout flow configured.
Go further
The three guides operators of a multi-vendor store read before they recruit a seller.
- How to create a multi-vendor ecommerce marketplace →Target market, positioning, setup and growth, step by step.
- Set your marketplace commission →Pricing models, margins and the commission rates established marketplaces charge.
- What Amazon, Etsy and Airbnb got right →Marketing, a solid platform and a seller recruitment plan: the three things the big marketplaces share.
Building a marketplace like Amazon: FAQ
How much does it cost to create a multi-vendor marketplace like Amazon?
On Kreezalid, €39 a month on the Build plan while you assemble it in private, then €129 a month on Launch when you open it to the public. The 14-day trial is free and needs no credit card. Design, payment fees and marketing are the other lines of the budget.
How long does it take to build a marketplace website like Amazon?
About 7 days from a products template to a marketplace you can open: catalogue, seller rules, payments, shipping, branding. Recruiting the first sellers usually takes longer than the build.
Do I need developers to build a multi-vendor marketplace?
No. Catalogue, seller accounts, split payments, commissions, shipping and reviews are configured from the back office. Developers come in only for custom integrations, which the API, webhooks and Enterprise projects cover.
Can several sellers be in the same order?
Yes. The buyer fills one basket from several sellers and pays once; each seller receives the part of the order they fulfil, and the payout is split automatically.
How do I earn money on a marketplace like Amazon?
With a commission on every order, set globally, per category or per seller. You can add seller subscriptions with the Paid Memberships or Stripe Subscriptions apps, and sell featured listings.
Can I handle shipping like Amazon does?
You set delivery rules — flat, per weight, per seller — and can offer pickup points in France. Sellers ship their own orders; Kreezalid does not run a fulfilment network.
Can I build a marketplace like Amazon for free?
You can build and test it free for 14 days without a credit card. Keeping it private afterwards costs €39 a month; opening it to buyers starts at €129 a month.
Your multi-vendor marketplace could be live this week.
Start from a products template, invite your first sellers, open in about 7 days.
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