In brief
- Shopify is a single-merchant platform: the "vendor" field on a product is a text label, and there are no seller accounts, commissions or payouts in the core. Dokan, WC Vendors and WCFM are the three plugins in our map with no native equivalent.12
- A true multi-vendor store moves onto a marketplace app. Webkul MultiVendor Marketplace starts at $15 per month for 3 active sellers and $60 for unlimited; Puppet Vendors runs from $49 for 25 vendors to $599 for more than 400, both with order splitting, commissions and payouts through Stripe or PayPal.89
- If the "vendors" are really suppliers who ship, Shopify's custom fulfillment services route each order's items to the right supplier by email without an app, and Shopify Collective connects retailers to suppliers who are themselves on Shopify, with the supplier fulfilling and typical margins of 20 to 50%.67
- Dokan splits a multi-vendor order into a parent order and one sub-order per seller, copying products, coupons and shipping; on import only the parent order should move, or sales are double-counted.1
- Vendor balances, pending withdrawals and Stripe Connect links do not transfer. They are paid out and closed on WooCommerce, and vendors reconnect on the new platform.345
Which kind of marketplace you have
Three different businesses call themselves a marketplace, and they move in three different ways.
| What it is | Typical WooCommerce setup | On Shopify |
|---|---|---|
| Open multi-vendor platform | Third-party sellers register, list their own products, get paid a share | Marketplace app; the seller experience is the app's |
| Curated supplier catalog | A handful of suppliers whose products you sell and who ship the order; sometimes run on Dokan for the order split | Custom fulfillment services, or Shopify Collective if the suppliers are on Shopify |
| Selling on other marketplaces | Feeds to Amazon, eBay, Etsy | Marketplace Connect, which is the opposite direction and not covered here10 |
How marketplace data is structured on WooCommerce
The three plugins share a shape. A vendor is a WordPress user with a vendor role, whose store details live in user meta rather than in standard profile fields. Products belong to a vendor through their author. Each vendor has a dashboard for products, orders, coupons, reports and reviews, and configures shipping per store.211
Orders are where they differ, and where the migration goes wrong. Dokan's documentation is precise: when an order contains products from several sellers it "splits the products, coupons, shipping charges, and everything based on each seller and creates separate sub-orders for every seller from the parent order". The customer pays the parent; when payment completes, the child orders update; when every sub-order is completed, the parent completes automatically. Dokan filters the sub-orders out of WooCommerce's reports so nothing is counted twice.1 In the database these sub-orders are ordinary WooCommerce orders with a parent order ID, which is exactly how they appear in the REST API.11
Commissions sit on top. Dokan applies the most specific rate it finds, product first, then vendor, then global, as a percentage, a flat amount or both, with category-based rates that follow the product's first category.3 WC Vendors sets commission globally, per vendor, per product or per category, and with Stripe Connect splits the payment at checkout or holds the vendor share for a daily, weekly, monthly or manual payout once the order reaches Processing or Completed.4 WCFM pays vendors through PayPal, Stripe, Stripe Split Pay, bank transfer, Skrill or cash.5
Three things to export that a product export never contains
The vendor list with store meta; the commission and payout ledger, including pending balances; and the order-to-vendor relationship, which for Dokan means the parent ID on every sub-order. Without the third, historical sales cannot be attributed to sellers on the new platform.
The four options on Shopify
1. A marketplace app
The only route that keeps third-party sellers self-serve: seller registration, dashboards, product approval, commissions, order splitting and payouts all come from the app.89 The trade-off is that the seller experience, the payout logic and the data model belong to the app vendor, and a later change of app is a second migration. Choose on seller count, payout method and whether sellers need their own shipping rates.
2. Custom fulfillment services
For a curated supplier model, Shopify can route orders without an app. A custom fulfillment service is added under Settings → Shipping and delivery with a name and an email address; each product's inventory is set to be stocked at that service; when an order is fulfilled, "an email is sent to your fulfillment service with the order and customer details, including which items to ship". Tracking is entered by hand, and items fulfilled by different services may arrive separately.7 There is no seller login and no payout logic: suppliers are paid from your accounting, which is often how curated marketplaces already work.
3. Shopify Collective
Collective connects a retailer's Shopify store to supplier Shopify stores: products are imported, the order is forwarded to the supplier, the supplier fulfils and ships, and tracking syncs back. Retailers buy at the supplier's cost price; margins "typically can range from 20% to 50%".6 The conditions rule most WooCommerce marketplaces out: both sides must be on Shopify, in the same supported country and currency, with Shopify Payments set up and paying out, and the retailer cannot use metafields, digital products or gift cards with Collective products.6
4. Keep the marketplace on WooCommerce
Sometimes the right migration is a split. A brand that runs its own catalog and a marketplace on one WooCommerce install can move the brand store to Shopify and leave the marketplace where it works, or keep the marketplace until sellers can be moved deliberately. This is a legitimate outcome of a scan, and one we recommend when the marketplace is the smaller part of the business.
Marketplace apps compared
| App | Plans | Sellers | Payouts and orders | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Webkul MultiVendor Marketplace | $15, $40, $60 per month | 3, 10, unlimited active sellers | Commission global, per seller, product, category and variant; product approval; seller shipping on the Pro plan; automatic payment splitting through Stripe Connect813 | 4.8, 363 reviews8 |
| Puppet Vendors | $49, $119, $249, $599 per month | 25, 100, 400, 400+ vendors | Automatic order splitting and routing, commission rules, payouts through PayPal and Stripe, API and Zapier on Scale and above9 | 4.8, 125 reviews9 |
Prices and plan limits from the Shopify App Store listings on 19 Sep 2026; both change often. Other apps exist in the same category; these two are the ones we meet most. vendor-published
What transfers, and how
| WooCommerce marketplace data | On Shopify | How |
|---|---|---|
| Vendors and store profiles | App seller accounts | Exported from user meta, imported or invited through the app; sellers complete their own onboarding |
| Vendor products | Products with a vendor assignment | Migrated as products; the app links each to its seller. The Shopify vendor field carries the name for filtering |
| Customer orders | Orders | Import parent orders only; sub-orders would double-count1 |
| Per-vendor sales history | App reports, from cutover onwards | Historical attribution stays in an export; no app rebuilds it from imported orders |
| Commission rules | App commission settings | Re-created; product, vendor, category and global rates map to most apps38 |
| Vendor balances and pending withdrawals | Do not transfer | Paid out and closed on WooCommerce before cutover45 |
| Stripe Connect and PayPal links | Do not transfer | Vendors reconnect their accounts inside the app |
| Vendor shipping rates | App shipping, or profiles per location | Rebuilt; Shopify shipping profiles can model one location per supplier |
| Store reviews and ratings | Do not transfer | Product reviews move to a reviews app; seller ratings restart |
| Vendor store pages and URLs | App seller pages or vendor collections | Old store URLs get 301 redirects to the seller page; see the redirects guide |
| Vendor memberships and subscription fees | Do not transfer | Rebilled through the app or a subscription app; open terms honoured manually |
Settle before you move
- Pay every vendor balance to zero. Withdrawals in progress, scheduled Stripe payouts and reverse withdrawals must complete on WooCommerce.45
- Freeze registrations and product submissions a week before cutover, so the vendor export is final.
- Close or complete open sub-orders. Dokan marks the parent complete only when every sub-order is, and half-fulfilled parents complicate the order import.1
- Write down the commission table as it is actually applied, product by vendor by category, not as it was set up years ago.
- Tell sellers in advance what changes for them: new login, new dashboard, reconnecting Stripe or PayPal, and the date from which their reports start again.
Step by step
- Classify the marketplace using the first table: open platform, curated suppliers, or a channel.
- Choose the route: app, fulfillment services, Collective, or keep it on WooCommerce.
- Export vendors, ledger and order relationships alongside the usual product, customer and order exports.
- Settle balances and freeze the marketplace.
- Migrate products and parent orders, with the vendor name on every product.
- Set up the app or the fulfillment services, recreate commissions, invite sellers, have them reconnect payouts.
- Place a test order across two sellers and follow it through splitting, fulfillment and payout before opening the store.
Marketplaces get an honest fit review before a price.
- Marketplace type identified from the scan, not assumed
- App, fulfillment service or Collective recommended by seller count and payout model
- Vendors, ledger and order relationships exported
- Parent orders migrated once, never double-counted
- Sellers invited with a written change note
- Preview before you pay
Frequently asked questions
Does Shopify support multi-vendor marketplaces natively?
No. Shopify is a single-merchant platform. The product "vendor" field is a label for filtering, and there are no seller accounts, commissions or payouts in the core. A marketplace on Shopify runs on an app such as Webkul MultiVendor Marketplace or Puppet Vendors, which add seller dashboards, order splitting and payouts.
What happens to Dokan sub-orders when I migrate?
Import only the parent orders. Dokan creates one sub-order per seller from each customer order and hides them from its own reports so sales are not double-counted. Importing both parents and children into Shopify counts every marketplace sale twice.
Can vendor balances and pending payouts move to Shopify?
No. Balances, scheduled Stripe Connect payouts and pending withdrawals are settled on WooCommerce before cutover, and vendors connect their Stripe or PayPal accounts again inside the Shopify marketplace app.
Is Shopify Collective a replacement for Dokan?
Only for a curated supplier model where the suppliers are themselves Shopify stores in the same country and currency, with Shopify Payments. Collective forwards orders to the supplier, who fulfils and ships; it is not an open platform where third parties register and list products.
How much do marketplace apps on Shopify cost?
Pricing is by number of active sellers. Webkul MultiVendor Marketplace lists plans at $15, $40 and $60 per month for 3, 10 and unlimited sellers; Puppet Vendors lists $49 to $599 per month for 25 to more than 400 vendors, as of September 2026.
Should a marketplace migrate to Shopify at all?
Not always. When the marketplace is the smaller part of a business that also sells its own products, moving the brand store and leaving the marketplace on WooCommerce is often the better outcome. A scan that ends with that recommendation is doing its job.
Sources
- Dokan. What is a sub-order?, Dokan documentation. plugin vendor
- Dokan. Documentation: vendor dashboard, store settings, withdraw system, shipping, vendor reviews. plugin vendor
- Dokan. How to set up Dokan vendor commission. plugin vendor
- WC Vendors. Vendor commission payout schedules with Stripe Connect and Stripe Connect integration: commission levels, instant split, scheduled and manual payouts. plugin vendor
- WCFM. Vendor payment: PayPal, Stripe, Stripe Split Pay, bank transfer, Skrill and cash. plugin vendor
- Shopify. Shopify Collective and requirements and considerations, Shopify Help Center.
- Shopify. Setting up custom fulfillment services, Shopify Help Center.
- Webkul. Webkul MultiVendor Marketplace, Shopify App Store listing, 19 Sep 2026. vendor-published
- Panther Commerce. Multi Vendor – Puppet Vendors, Shopify App Store listing, 19 Sep 2026. vendor-published
- Shopify. Shopify Marketplace Connect, Shopify Help Center.
- WooCommerce. REST API reference: Orders, including the parent order ID on each order.
- Mufatech. WooCommerce → Shopify plugin map, dataset v3.
- Webkul. Multivendor Marketplace app features: automatic payment splitting through Stripe Connect. vendor-published
Mufatech Studio migrates stores to Shopify. Plan availability, limits and plugin behaviour are quoted from the linked documentation as of September 2026 and can change; check the source before acting on a limit.