Best Off-The-Shelf Solution For Multi-Vendor Marketplace Development: Sharetribe Alternative
Shipturtle is an excellent Sharetribe alternative.
Unlike Sharetribe, you get to create a marketplace website with 40+ essential and advanced functionalities out-of-box to manage multiple sellers and build a seamless experience on Shopify, the most popular e-commerce software.
Ecommerce builders or carts like Shopify and Woocommerce on WordPress are superior over dedicated marketplace solutions like Sharetribe, CS-cart, and others for operating your marketplace business online.
Shopify provides a low barrier to entry and a scalable platform that can grow with your marketplace. Shipturtle’s easy-install Shopify app creates a superior user experience for both sellers and customers simultaneously.
Sharetribe Alternatives: How is Shipturtle on Shopify Better for Marketplace Development?
Sharetribe has been a popular marketplace builder for over a decade.
Obviously, you would expect them to come good with basic functionalities to set up a marketplace. However, it cannot compete with a combination of e-commerce cart platforms and democratic marketplace plugins like Shipturtle in scalability, cost-effectiveness, and feature offerings (look for highlighted features in the tables to follow).
Let’s break it down for you in detail.
| Overview | SHIPTURTLE | SHARETRIBE | Remark |
| Product marketplaces | ✅ | ❌ | Sharetribe does not support online mall-type marketplaces (like Amazon) |
| Rental and services marketplaces | ✅ | ✅ | Both platforms support peer-to-peer marketplaces |
| Multi-lingual support | ✅ | ✅ | Support different languages with the ability to change templates |
| White Labeling | ✅ | ✅ | Have your own brand everywhere, without us appearing anywhere |
| Custom Email | ✅ | ✅ | Own email service and message templates to provide brand consistency |
| Hosted cloud infrastructure | ✅ | ✅ | Cloud hosting of data, search index, file store, and other backend infrastructure |
| Admin panel | ✅ | ✅ | Marketplace login to manage all vendors, products, and orders |
| Access control | ✅ | ✅ | Role-based user privileges |
| PWA application | ✅ | ❌ | Mobile and desktop app for vendors’ on-the-go management |
Vendor management: Shipturtle reigns supreme!
| SHIPTURTLE | SHARETRIBE | Details | |
| Vendor Onboarding | ✅ | ✅ | Vendors can register to sell on the marketplace. |
| Vendor Dashboards | ✅ | ❌ | Each vendor has their dashboard where they can add products, process orders, ship, and view earnings |
| Vendor Website Sync | ✅ | ❌ | Vendors can sync their own website or order management system with the marketplace |
| Vendor Inventory | ✅ | ❌ | Vendors can sync their inventory to the marketplace from other sources |
| Vendor Permissions | ✅ | ❌ | Granular control of features and modules available to different vendors |
| Vendor Profiles | ✅ | ✅ | Vendors share information about themselves, their brands, and their policies |
| Vendor Customer Chat | ✅ | ✅ | Easy ways for customers to chat with their preferred brands boost loyalty, trust, and conversions |
| Vendor Catalogue | ✅ | ✅ | Easy ways to build and manage 1000s of Product Listings – Add, Edit, Delete |
| Analytics | ✅ | Partial | Right analytics on Revenues, SLAs, Returns, etc. to help vendors grow their business |
| Mobile support | ✅ | ✅ | The UI and UX should be mobile / app-friendly to work on the go. |
| Vendor reviews | ✅ | ✅ | Customers can leave reviews of vendors |
Product management: Shipturtle has always more to offer!
| SHIPTURTLE | SHARETRIBE | Details | |
| Customize Product Fields | ✅ | ✅ | Add custom fields as per the marketplace’s industry |
| Single Product Listing | ✅ | ❌ | The ability for vendors to add a single product |
| Automatic Inventory Reduction | ✅ | ✅ | Inventory gets reduced when orders are placed. Vendors can easily add or edit inventory. |
| Bulk Product Listing | ✅ | ❌ | Vendors can sync their inventory to the marketplace from other sources |
| Product Variants | ✅ | ✅ | Support multiple variants for the same product like color, size, material, etc. |
| Product Mandatory Fields | ✅ | ✅ | Make certain fields mandatory while listing |
| Product templates | ✅ | ❌ | Pre-fixed templates / Chat GPT integration for assisted listing |
| Product Approval Flow | ✅ | ✅ | The ability for the marketplace to approve or reject products |
| Product Quick Edit | ✅ | ❌ | Ability to configure certain fields to be edited without approval by vendors (like quantity) |
| Private Label Products | ✅ | ❌ | The ability for marketplaces to list their products alongside vendors |
| Subscription Products | ✅ | ❌ | Ability to offer subscription products like weekly grocery |
| Location Search | ❌ | ✅ | Ability to display product searches by location and map |
Order Management: Shipturtle excels like no other!
| SHIPTURTLE | SHARETRIBE | Details | |
| Checkout customization | ✅ | ✅ | Integrate shipping rules, policies, and live shipping rates at cart and checkout |
| Split order | ✅ | ❌ | Allow customers to order from multiple vendors at a go, and split vendor orders automatically |
| Shipping and pickups | ✅ | ❌ | Supports both shipping and pickup options |
| Order Automation | ✅ | ❌ | Flexible rules to automate Vendor, Warehouse, and Shipper allocation |
| Order Management System | ✅ | ❌ | Step-wise order management from confirmation, pickup, in transit to delivery. Supports picklists and manifests |
| Shipping Integrations | ✅ | ❌ | Full stack shipping integrations with 200+ partners like FedEx, UPS, and Shipstation |
| Shipment Tracking | ✅ | ❌ | Single view of shipment status across Marketplace, Vendors, and Customers |
| Invoicing | ✅ | ❌ | Marketplace to customer or Vendor to customer invoicing |
| NDR | ✅ | ❌ | Ability to change details of non-delivered orders to prevent RTOs |
| Returns | ✅ | ❌ | Return management for customers to initiate returns |
| Digital Products | ✅ | ✅ | Digital products and Services have different requirements like File Storage, Calendar booking, etc. |
| WhatsApp Integration | ✅ | ❌ | Share notifications on WhatsApp in addition to email and vendor dashboard |
| Reverse Bidding | ✅ | ❌ | Module for customers to make an offer, and vendors to accept it |
Payouts, Security & Support: Sharetribe Plays a Catch-Up.
| SHIPTURTLE | SHARETRIBE | Details | |
| Commission Calculation | ✅ | Partial | Flexible Rule-based algorithms to calculate Vendor Commission basis Products, Returns, and taxes |
| Payment Integrations | ✅ | Partial | Secure and seamless ways to transfer money to Vendor Bank accounts |
| Charge Subscription Fee | ❌ | ✅ | Collect subscription fees from vendors to allow access to your marketplace |
| Automatic Payouts | ✅ | ✅ | Automatic generation of payout documents and transfer of money |
| Delayed Payouts | ✅ | ✅ | Configurable delay basis order status, return window, etc. |
| Reconciliation and Accounts | ✅ | ❌ | Money flow should be easily reconcilable and accounted for with the right data flow support |
| Unlimited Scalability | ✅ | ✅ | Ability to manage large data sets with speed, accuracy, and stability. No limit to products, orders, or users |
| Data Security | ✅ | ✅ | Control data access, storage, and movement across the marketplace, vendors, and customers |
| Traceability and Change Logs | ✅ | ❌ | Detailed change logs are critical to tracking user activity across different modules |
| Documentation | ✅ | ✅ | Good documentation with setup videos |
| Customization | ✅ | ❌ | Ability to customize the vendor platform out of the box |
| Live chat support | ✅ | ✅ | Human support – live on chat. |
| Open APIs | ✅ | ✅ | Open APIs to help build on top of the marketplace, needed as you scale |
How Shipturtle + Shopify Trumps Over Sharetribe’s Dedicated Online Marketplace Software?
It is clear why Shipturtle is the best marketplace builder app for B2C, B2B, and C2C business models. Let’s also look at how website builders like Shopify (along with native apps like Shipturtle) stand out for its ease of use, powerful features, extensive ecosystem, and future-proof technology.
| Feature | SHARETRIBE | SHOPIFY |
| Popularity | 4000+ historical marketplaces built with Sharetribe Only a handful of developers meet custom requirementsThey claim 1000s of app integrations. But in reality, they have one integration with Zapier. | + Powering 4.5+ million live stores + Dev support from thousands of agencies + 13000+ app ecosystem + 350+ marketplace apps like Shipturtle |
| Pricing | $369 per month + Huge customization cost + $0.19 per order + Payment Gateway cost | $79 + no customization + $0.30 per order + 2.7% transaction |
| Ease of use | No drag-and-drop builder Slower launch for customization A few weeks to months | + Easy to set up and manage + Faster launch with pre-built features + Configure Shipturtle on Shopify: 1-3 days + Time spent in a Shopify store: A few hours to weeks |
| Scalability | Restrictive options to design pages like homepage, product page etc. Design customization only offered on top-tier pricing plan HUGE drawback as only dedicated Sharetribe developers can do it Early-stage startups, open-source enthusiasts client portfolio Limited social commerce integrations | + Highly scalable with a vast app store + Top D2C brands, SME & large business websites including Decathlon, PepsiCo, Tesla, Los Angeles Lakers, Sephora, Vogue, New York Times + Develop headless commerce, mobile app, POS solutions, native integration with Facebook and Instagram + Future-proof with superior tech & ecosystem, for instance, generative AI solutions offered out-of-box |
| Conversion & checkout | Requires custom workflow to enhance conversion & checkout process | + Conversion champion as a well-designed checkout process minimizes friction and encourages higher-order values |
| SEO & branding | + Basic SEO customizations & branding options | + Advanced SEO features with out-of-box Google compatibility and brand customization options |
While Sharetribe claims to be the popular choice for building a marketplace, Shopify stands out for its ease of use, powerful features, and future-proof technology, making it a compelling choice for many entrepreneurs.
Wrapping Up
If you’re a new marketplace or one that prioritizes ease of use, conversion optimization, and scalability, then Shopify might be the better option. If you’re an established marketplace with unique needs and a focus on community building, then Sharetribe might be a better fit.
| Overview | Shipturtle | Sharetribe |
| How to get started? | – Set your online store on Shopify – Install Shipturtle from Shopify app store – Launch your marketplace | – Sign up to Sharetribe – Set up your marketplace – Buy a custom domain – Launch your marketplace |
Key benefits:
Shipturtle –
- Shopify native application.
- Unlimited & unmatched scalability due to superior e-commerce tech ecosystem.
- Launch in a day instead of weeks or months.
- Robust mobile and desktop app for on-the-go management.
- Maintain impeccable records and transparency with detailed change logs for full traceability.
- Best marketplace software to handle vendor management and sync products across Shopify, Woocommerce, Magento, Squarespace.
- Honest end-to-end tech support in setting up a multi-vendor marketplace on Shopify.
Sharetribe –
- No code marketplace software.
- Built for rental marketplaces like Airbnb and service marketplaces like Fiverr.
- Extensive knowledge sharing through marketplace academy.
Key drawbacks
Sharetribe –
- Sharetribe does not offer core multi-vendor marketplace functionality out-of-box.
- Hidden costs involved in going live with a fully functional marketplace.
- Supports fewer payment gateways and business models out of the box.
- Less functionality for product marketplaces like Amazon.
- Essential marketplace integrations require coding skills.
Shipturtle –
- 100% dependent on Shopify platform.
- Lacking extensive documentation.
