How to set up a multi-vendor marketplace in Italy in 2026: a technical guide and requirements

Setting up a multi-vendor marketplace in Italy involves creating a platform where multiple independent sellers can list their products, receive orders and manage shipments, whilst the platform operator coordinates everything and takes a commission on each transaction.

It is not a traditional e-commerce site with a single catalogue: it is a complex online trading system that must simultaneously manage multiple separate seller dashboards, distributed payments, different logistics and specific tax regulations.

But what is a multi-vendor marketplace and how does it work? What are the essential requirements and how should the project be structured correctly before choosing the most suitable platform to create an e-commerce site like Amazon or eBay?

What is a multi-vendor marketplace and how does it differ from a traditional e-commerce site?

A traditional e-commerce site has a single owner who sells their own products. A multi-vendor marketplace is a platform where multiple parties — known as vendors, sellers or merchants — sell their products through a single portal, managed by a third party acting as an intermediary.

The model is the same as that of Amazon, eBay, Etsy or Zalando: each seller has their own account, their own catalogue, their own shipping rules and their own prices. The platform operator — known in the industry as a marketplace operator — sets the rules for admitting sellers, applies commissions on each sale and manages disputes between sellers and buyers.

According to Netcomm data, by 2025 over 72% of e-commerce purchases in Italy will take place via marketplaces, with Amazon dominating but with steady growth in vertical and regional marketplaces serving specific niches. This figure demonstrates that the marketplace model is not the exclusive preserve of international giants: there is real scope for specialised, local or sector-specific platforms.

The structural differences compared to traditional e-commerce are:

• More legal entities involved: each seller is a separate entity with its own VAT number, tax obligations and returns policy
• Distributed payments: the buyer’s money must be distributed between the seller (product cost) and the operator (commission), often in real time
• Separate dashboards for each role: the buyer, the seller and the operator have different interfaces with different permissions
• Dispute management: the operator must be able to intervene in every order from every seller in the event of complaints
• Legal liability: the marketplace operator has specific obligations towards buyers under European digital commerce legislation

What are the fundamental technical requirements of a multi-vendor marketplace?

Before choosing any technology, it is essential to have a clear understanding of the project’s functional requirements. A functioning multi-vendor marketplace must meet a series of technical requirements that cannot be added later — they must be designed from the outset.

Dedicated and separate seller dashboard

Every seller joining the marketplace must have access to a private area where they can: upload and manage their product catalogue, set prices and availability, manage orders received, configure their shipping rules, view their sales statistics and download their tax reports. This dashboard must be completely separate from the platform operator’s dashboard and the end buyer’s experience.

The quality of the seller dashboard is often the determining factor in a marketplace’s success: if it is complicated to use, sellers will not upload products, the catalogue will remain empty and buyers will not return. Simplicity and speed of management are non-negotiable requirements.

Native split payment system

The most sensitive technical requirement of a multi-vendor marketplace is payment management. When a buyer pays €100 for a product, that money must not go entirely to the marketplace operator to then be manually redistributed to the sellers: it must be distributed automatically at the time of payment, according to the defined commission rules.

This mechanism is called split payment and requires integration with payment gateways that support it natively (such as Fabrick Financial, Stripe Connect, Mangopay or Adyen). Split payment in a marketplace is not just an operational convenience: in many scenarios, it is a regulatory requirement, because a marketplace operator that collects the full amount and then pays it out to sellers could be considered a third-party fund manager, subject to specific regulatory obligations.

Cuborio integrates native split payment into every marketplace project: commissions are calculated and distributed automatically for every transaction, without manual intervention and without the operator touching the sellers’ funds. Find out how split payment works on the Cuborio platform

Flexible commission management

Not all marketplaces operate with a fixed percentage commission. The most common commission models are:

• Percentage commission on sales: the most widespread model (e.g. 15% on every sale)
• Fixed commission per transaction: a fixed amount regardless of the order value
• Monthly fee for the seller: the seller pays a subscription to access the platform, regardless of sales
• Hybrid model: percentage commission + fixed monthly fee
• Category-based commission: different percentages for different product categories

The platform must be able to handle all these scenarios in a configurable manner, without requiring development every time the commission model changes.

Unified catalogue with multi-vendor products

The end buyer must see a unified and consistent catalogue, even if the products come from different sellers. This means that the platform must manage:

• Identical products sold by multiple sellers at different prices (as on Amazon)
• Completely separate catalogues per seller (as on Etsy or eBay)
• Mixed systems, where some categories are shared and others are exclusive to individual sellers

The choice of catalogue model depends on the nature of the marketplace: a marketplace for standardised products (electronics, branded clothing) tends to favour a unified catalogue; a marketplace for handmade or unique products prefers separate catalogues per seller.

Review and rating system for sellers

Trust is the driving force behind a marketplace. Buyers must be able to rate sellers separately from the product rating: a seller who ships late must be able to receive a negative rating even if the product is excellent. The seller rating system is a functional requirement that directly impacts the platform’s conversion rate.

Multi-seller returns and dispute management

On a marketplace, when a buyer wishes to return a product, the return must be managed separately for each seller involved in the order. If a buyer has purchased products from three different sellers in a single checkout and wishes to return one of them, the system must handle the return only for that specific seller, with a partial refund and management of the reverse split payment.

To explore the logic behind returns management in a multi-vendor e-commerce platform, the guide on best practices for returns and refunds offers a comprehensive operational overview.

How does the user structure work in a multi-vendor marketplace?

A multi-vendor marketplace involves at least three user levels with completely separate permissions and interfaces.

The marketplace operator

This is the entity that owns and manages the platform. They have full access to everything: they can view all orders from all sellers, intervene in any transaction, configure commissions, approve or suspend sellers, and manage disputes. The operator’s dashboard is the platform’s control centre.

The seller (or vendor)

Has access exclusively to their own data: they can only view their own orders, manage their own catalogue and download their own reports. They cannot view other sellers’ data. They can configure their own shipping rules, returns policies and prices, within the limits defined by the platform operator.

The end buyer

Sees the marketplace as a single platform, without necessarily knowing that they are buying from different sellers. They have access to their personal account area with order history, the option to make returns and leave reviews.

In some more complex marketplace models, intermediate roles are added: area managers who supervise groups of sellers, agents who can place orders on behalf of buyers, and category administrators with partial permissions. The platform must support granular management of roles and permissions.

What technical integrations are essential for an Italian marketplace?

A multi-vendor marketplace operating in Italy must integrate with a range of external systems relating to operational, tax and logistics management.

Electronic invoicing and multi-vendor tax management

In Italy, every marketplace seller must issue their own electronic invoice for B2B transactions. The platform must facilitate this process: either by integrating with each seller’s invoicing software via API, or by providing an integrated invoicing system that automatically generates the correct tax documents for each seller.

VAT management in a marketplace is a particularly sensitive issue: from 2021, the new European rules on digital commerce (DAC7 Directive) require marketplaces to collect and transmit to the tax authorities the data of sellers who exceed certain turnover thresholds. The platform must be equipped to handle this compliance requirement.

Integration with couriers and shipping systems

In a multi-vendor marketplace, each seller can use their own courier with their own rates. The platform must allow each seller to configure their own shipping rules (couriers, zones, rates, free shipping thresholds) and enable the buyer to view the shipping options available for each seller within the same checkout.

APIs for integration with external systems

A marketplace of a certain size needs to expose RESTful APIs that allow sellers to integrate their own management systems with the platform: automatic catalogue import, real-time stock updates, and order receipt in the seller’s management system. A marketplace that requires sellers to enter everything manually has a very high dropout rate among the more established vendors.

The multi-channel strategy — selling simultaneously on your own marketplace and on external platforms such as Amazon or eBay — is described in detail in the article on how to expand an e-commerce business’s online sales channels.

Cuborio provides comprehensive RESTful APIs that allow sellers to integrate their management systems with the marketplace: automatic catalogue import, real-time stock updates, and order reception within the seller’s system. Discover the API integrations available on Cuborio

What types of multi-vendor marketplaces can be created?

There is no single marketplace model. The choice of model depends on the sector, the type of sellers you wish to attract and the operator’s business model. These are the main models that can be implemented.

Vertical sector marketplace

This focuses on a specific product category: marketplaces for Italian-made artisan goods, organic and locally sourced products, industrial spare parts, or professional services. Vertical specialisation allows you to establish sector authority and attract both highly qualified sellers and buyers.

Geographical marketplace

It brings together producers and traders from a specific geographical area: a municipality, a county, or a region. This is the model adopted by many initiatives aimed at revitalising local trade, often supported by public bodies, consortia, or trade associations. Cuborio has created several regional marketplaces for Italian organisations wishing to digitise their local offerings. A concrete example of a marketplace built with Cuborio is Ricondizionato.it, which manages dozens of sellers of refurbished tech products with automatic split payment and separate shipment management for each seller.

B2B Marketplace

Designed for business-to-business sales: distributors selling to retailers, manufacturers selling to wholesalers, suppliers selling to professionals. In a B2B marketplace, pricing structures are more complex (customised price lists by customer category), order volumes are higher, and payment methods include 30/60-day invoicing or SEPA bank transfers in addition to immediate payment methods.

Services Marketplace (booking commerce)

It does not sell physical products but services: bookings, appointments, event tickets, access to resources. In this model, the ‘product’ is an available time slot and calendar management is at the heart of the experience. The buyer books, pays online and receives a confirmation with an access code or digital ticket.

Marketplace as a Service (MaaS)

The most advanced model: the operator never handles sellers’ funds. Each seller has their own separate payment account; the system automatically distributes commissions, and the operator collects only its own share, without ever having access to other people’s funds. This model almost completely eliminates the operator’s liability for managing third-party funds.

How do you properly plan a multi-vendor marketplace project?

Most marketplace projects fail not because of technological issues, but due to insufficient planning in the initial phase. These are the steps that cannot be skipped.

Define the business model before the technology

Who are the sellers you want to attract? What is their level of digitalisation? Will they use the seller dashboard manually or do they expect API integration with their systems? What is the commission model? How is logistics managed — does each seller ship independently or is a centralised warehouse planned?

Answering these questions before choosing the technology platform avoids having to make costly changes during the project.

Plan the go-to-market strategy with sellers

A marketplace without sellers does not exist. The launch must be preceded by the onboarding of the first vendors — the so-called anchor sellers — who ensure a sufficient product range to make the platform attractive to early buyers. Without a minimum viable product range, buyers will not return and the marketplace will not take off.

Choosing the technology platform based on actual requirements

Many companies choose the technology before their requirements are clear. The result is almost always a platform that does not fit the business model and requires constant, costly customisation. The choice of technology should be the final step, not the first.

Cuborio is a proprietary platform developed entirely by an Italian team that understands the regulatory and tax landscape of the local market. Every marketplace project is analysed in detail before launch, with a bespoke quote tailored to the client’s specific needs: there are no standard packages, because every marketplace has different requirements that demand a dedicated assessment.