Multiple Supplier Drop-ship Solution

[Jumanat]

I am looking for a cost-effective eCommerce solution that can meet the following requirements:

1) Must be able to handle multiple suppliers
2) Must be able to handle “drop-ship” arrangements
3) Must be able to divide up a single order among multiple suppliers for drop-shipping
4) Must be able to calculate the tax rates on transactions in the U.S. (European transactions a major plus)
5) Must be able to calculate the shipping costs for an order with UPS, FedEx such as flat-rate shipping, variances by weight and item quantity, as well as free–shipping, 3rd party freight, etc.
6) Must be able to support payments made by credit card (authorize.net, PaymentTech, paypal, etc.)
7) Underlying Database must support MySQL or PostGreSQL

Additional features that would be useful
• Full source code included (partial is ok)
• Can support non-credit card transactions like invoicing and pay-by-check, etc.
• International transaction tax support a plus (Europe, Asia [India, China, Japan, etc.])

There are many shopping carts out there, but it has been very difficult to find one that support all the required features.

Regarding the coding language and database support, Java is preferred, but any language would work (.NET, C++, whatever). For the Database MySQL or PostGreSQL.

Cost is a concern, however support for these features overrides cost.

Can anyone give me the names of some off-the-shelf eCommerce Solutions that meet these requirements (even with some level of customization)? I am trying to avoid having a custom solution built for this task.

Thanks in advance!

[Collabora]

Most of what you are asking would depend on the drop-shipper and if they offer an API that can be integrated into the ecommerce software. You cannot expect the software to know all dropshippers now and into the future and each of their business processes. Hence, the drop-shipper would need to inform the cart.

You probably cannot find such an arrangement especially among multiple suppliers. What you can do find is a shopping cart that will easily export that data to your pc and other software so you can forward orders to your suppliers

[Jumanat]

I should have been more clear. My company is the drop-shipper, i.e. we will process the order and send it to the vendors for shipping.

With that in mind what software is out there that can handle this arrangement that does not involve a custom solution?

[Collabora]

I should have been more clear. My company is the drop-shipper, i.e. we will process the order and send it to the vendors for shipping.

As a drop-shipper wouldn't you be sending the product to the vendor's customer on behalf and in the name of the vendor?

But given what you said, it would seem just about any of the popular Off-The-Shelf cart will work. Most will provide you with multiple price levels, etc. What features and functionality are lacking with the OTS software you've seen?

[Jumanat]

In answer to your first question, we will not stock any of the vendors products for a variety of reasons. The vendors stock and control their own inventory, we fucntion as a marketer for their products. When a sale is made on our site, they vendor is notified to ship the product.

The limiation we have found is that none of the off-the-shelf solutions we have seen offer this functionality, i.e. support for drop-shipping. Most of the software we have seen is for someone who holds inventory, waits for an order, and then packages the product and ships it.

OSCommerce, XCart, ZenCart, etc. all have this as their basic model, we need a software solution that can support our model, i.e. true drop-shipping: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_shipping

[JEccles]

Checkout Volusion. They do have some Drop Ship features worked in to their sites.

[roban]

I am also a drop shipper (re-seller) and I use CS Cart. I think it can do everything you want.

[Jumanat]

Thank you! Volusion looks quite promising. Do you use it yourself? If so, what are the limitations you have run into, if any?

[JEccles]

I currently u se Volusion on 2 storefronts. It does have some limitations when it comes to discounted pricing levels, but that is really the only issue I have run into. It is a very intuitive solution and easy to manage.