Dokan converts a WooCommerce store into a multi-vendor marketplace where multiple independent sellers manage their own products, orders, and earnings through a frontend dashboard. It is the most installed WordPress multi-vendor plugin, which means extensive documentation, a large community, and compatibility testing with most WooCommerce extensions. This guide covers the setup for a working marketplace that vendors can use from day one.
How Dokan Works With WooCommerce
Dokan adds a vendor user role to WordPress and a frontend dashboard where vendors manage everything without accessing wp-admin. Vendors upload products, manage orders, view their sales reports, and configure their store settings from the frontend. Customers shop on your marketplace site exactly as they would on any WooCommerce store – Dokan’s vendor architecture is invisible to buyers. Commission splits, vendor payouts, and store management happen behind the scenes.
Step 1: Configure Vendor Registration
Go to Dokan -> Settings -> Selling Options. Configure:
- New vendor registration – whether new users can register as vendors immediately or require admin approval
- Vendor can publish products – whether new vendors can publish products immediately or need approval for each product
- Vendor store setup wizard – guide new vendors through profile setup after registration
Requiring admin approval for new vendors lets you maintain quality standards. For open marketplaces, immediate approval reduces friction. For curated marketplaces, manual review is worth the additional overhead.
Step 2: Commission Configuration
Go to Dokan -> Settings -> Selling Options -> Commission. Set the global commission rate as a percentage of each order. This percentage is retained by the marketplace; the remainder goes to the vendor. For example, a 20% commission on a $100 order means you keep $20 and the vendor receives $80.
Override commissions at the vendor level for specific arrangements. Go to the vendor’s admin profile and set a custom commission rate. This is useful for premium vendors with negotiated rates or for initial vendor acquisition where you offer reduced commission for a trial period.
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Step 3: Vendor Payout Configuration
Dokan supports several payout methods: PayPal mass payment, Stripe Connect (each vendor connects their Stripe account), bank transfer (manual processing), and others. For automated payouts, Stripe Connect is the most hands-off option.
Configure payout schedule in Dokan -> Settings -> Withdraw. Options: vendors can request withdrawal anytime, weekly automatic payouts, bi-weekly, or monthly. For new marketplaces, a minimum withdrawal threshold ($50-100) reduces small payout processing overhead. Configure the minimum payout amount and the review period (how long funds are held before they are available for withdrawal to cover potential refunds).
Step 4: The Vendor Dashboard
The vendor dashboard is what vendors use daily. It is a frontend page at /dashboard/ (or your configured URL). Dokan creates this page automatically during setup. The dashboard includes: product management, order management, earnings and payout history, store settings, and customer reviews.
Go to Dokan -> Settings -> Pages to verify all required pages are assigned – dashboard, store listing, terms and conditions. Without these pages assigned, vendor dashboard links return 404 errors.
Step 5: Vendor Store Pages
Each vendor gets a public store page at yourdomain.com/store/vendor-name/. This page shows all of that vendor’s products and their store information (logo, banner, description, contact). Customers can browse a specific vendor’s products or contact them through the store page. Configure the store page appearance in Dokan -> Settings -> Appearance.