Developing 1C-Bitrix Solutions for Multiple Sellers
We design and develop multi-vendor platforms on 1C-Bitrix. When a client comes with the idea of "adding sellers to an existing store," we immediately warn: the architecture is fundamentally different. In a store — one seller, one warehouse, one settlement account. In a multi-vendor platform — dozens of sellers, each with their own products, stock, delivery conditions, and commission. Trying to stretch one onto the other leads to crutches that collapse under scaling. Our approach includes a multi-vendor marketplace with seller cabinet, split payments, commission models, and product moderation for highload catalogs.
Each project is unique: from choosing a commission model to integration with payment providers. Over 10+ years we have launched 50+ projects — from regional niche platforms to federal catalogs with a million products. Our solutions are proven under loads of up to 10,000 orders per day. In this article, we will break down the key blocks without which a multi-vendor platform does not work.
Multi-Vendor Architecture: What’s Inside?
The key difference is multiple sellers on one storefront. Architecturally this requires:
- Seller entity — a separate highload block with legal entity, details, rating, and moderation status.
- Product-to-seller binding — each catalog item references
VENDOR_ID. - Data isolation — the seller sees only their products, orders, and statistics via a cabinet.
1C-Bitrix does not have a built-in marketplace module. We implement all multi-vendor logic through custom modules and events. For example, when an order is created, a handler fires that splits it into sub-orders by seller.
Seller Cabinet: What Does the Seller See?
The seller works in a separate section — without access to the Bitrix admin panel. The vendor dashboard includes:
Product management — adding, editing, uploading photos with watermarks, bulk import from CSV/Excel, managing stock and prices. Publication after moderation.
Order management — a list of orders with the seller’s positions, status change, invoice printing, return processing.
Finances — balance, transaction history, invoices, withdrawal request. The platform deducts its commission — the rest is transferred to the seller.
Analytics — sales for a period, top products, card conversion, rating, and reviews.
Financial Model: Commissions and Split Payments
Two critical components of a multi-vendor platform's financial infrastructure are commission models and split payments. They work together to ensure transparent and efficient transactions.
Commission System: Four Models
| Model | Description | When to Use |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed % (e.g., 10%) | Single percentage on all sales | Simple marketplace, one category |
| By Category (e.g., 5% electronics, 15% clothing) | Different % for different categories | Multi-category marketplace |
| By Seller (e.g., 8% for anchor sellers) | Individual % | Anchor sellers with special conditions |
| Tariff Plans (e.g., $99/month + 5% commission) | Subscription + reduced commission | High-turnover sellers |
Technically: when an order is created, an agent or handler calculates each seller's share and the platform's commission. Data is written to the financial transaction table.
Choosing a Payment Splitting Method
The choice of splitting method depends on your business model. Platform as agent is the simplest path: money arrives on the platform's account, commission is deducted, the remainder is transferred to sellers. However, this requires an agency agreement and manual transfers, which with 100+ sellers is prone to errors. Split via payment system (YooKassa costs 2-3% per transaction, CloudPayments, ATOL Online) automates the process: funds are distributed automatically without accountant involvement. The downside is dependence on the provider and its commissions. Escrow accounts provide maximum buyer protection but are complex to implement and slow down fund withdrawal. We help choose the option for your jurisdiction and volumes. The built-in payment modules of 1C-Bitrix do not support splitting — we write a custom handler for each provider.
For example, split payments via YooKassa cost 2-3% per transaction but reduce accounting costs by 40%. Compared to manual transfers, automated splitting is 5 times more reliable and 3 times faster. Development of a basic MVP starts at $15,000, and a full-featured marketplace from $50,000. For a marketplace with 1000 orders per month, automated splitting can save $2,000 annually.
Product Moderation and Catalog Management
Product Moderation Mechanism
Without moderation, a marketplace quickly gets cluttered with duplicates and low-quality products. The system:
- Automatic check — a script checks mandatory fields, photo format, prohibited words.
- Manual moderation — a moderator in the admin panel approves or rejects with a comment.
- Statuses — draft → pending moderation → approved → rejected.
- Bulk moderation — for trusted sellers with high ratings we enable auto-approval.
We implement through Bitrix24 business processes or a custom workflow. A typical mistake is not setting up automatic checks. If a moderator manually reviews every product, the delay grows to 2–3 days, and sellers leave. With automatic checking, moderation time drops from 3 days to 2 hours — a 90% reduction.
Catalog with a Million Products: Search and Indexing
A unified catalog with products from all sellers requires:
- Unified category structure — the seller chooses from the platform's tree.
- Mandatory characteristics — for each category a set of properties (size, material, brand).
- Deduplication — if the same product is offered by several sellers, show one card with offers.
- Faceted search — filtering by price, seller, rating.
- Full-text search — starting from 50,000 products the built-in Bitrix search fails. We use Elasticsearch or Sphinx. Elasticsearch is up to 10 times faster than native Bitrix search for catalogs exceeding 100,000 products.
Logistics: How Do Orders Reach Customers?
One order may contain products from three sellers. The cart is split into sub-orders — each with its own seller and delivery conditions. The customer sees the total cost with breakdown. After payment, each seller receives a notification. Statuses update independently.
In 1C-Bitrix we implement this via the shipment mechanism (\Bitrix\Sale\Shipment). Integration with CDEK and Russian Post via API — cost calculation and label generation. More details in 1C-Bitrix documentation.
Development Process: Step by Step
We follow a plan to minimize risks:
- Requirements audit — collect and document functional and non-functional requirements.
- Architecture design — develop DB schema, API, and module structure.
- Custom module development — write modules for multi-vendor, commissions, split payments.
- Integration — connect payment systems, delivery services, 1C.
- Testing — conduct load testing with 10,000+ products and 100+ sellers.
- Launch — deploy to production and provide training.
Scope of Work and Common Pitfalls
Scope of Work
We deliver:
- Project documentation — architecture, DB schemas, API, interfaces.
- Full access — to server, admin panel, repository.
- Training webinar — for administrators and moderators.
- Instructions for sellers — on working in the cabinet.
- Technical support — 3 months after launch.
Common Pitfalls When Launching
- Underestimating load — for a catalog of 100,000 products you need SSD, 16 GB RAM, Redis, and CDN for photos. We conduct load testing.
- Lack of split payments — manual fund distribution leads to errors and delays.
- Weak moderation — the platform loses buyer trust.
- Lack of data isolation — a seller could get competitor data. We protect at the SQL query level.
Why Platform Choice Matters and When to Launch?
1C-Bitrix provides a ready-made framework for catalog, cart, orders, and access rights, cutting time-to-market by 30–40% compared to development from scratch. However, multi-vendor logic is always custom. And here experience matters: we have already collected the rake and know how to build an architecture that does not collapse under load.
Timelines: MVP with a basic catalog and seller cabinet from 3 months, full cycle with split payments and logistics from 6 months. Request an audit — and we will prepare a precise plan. Also contact us for a consultation — it is free and without obligation.