01
A vendor shares an approved catalogue
The vendor provides product information, wholesale pricing, availability, images, and the fulfilment options it can support.
The transparent guide
How the BloomSites Vendor Marketplace actually works.
Your garden centre can offer approved vendor products without carrying every item in local inventory. You choose the assortment and retail price. The customer buys from you. The vendor or your store fulfils the order according to the receiving option shown.
The short version
Three separate decisions stay separate.
1
Can you see it?
The vendor relationship gives your store catalogue access.
2
Can customers see it?
Your team selects, prices, and publishes the product.
3
Can someone buy it?
Fresh inventory and a valid receiving option make it orderable.
From vendor to customer
Five decisions turn a supplier product into a customer order.
02
Your garden centre chooses what to sell
You decide which approved products belong on your website. Access to a catalogue never means every product publishes automatically.
03
You set the retail price
The wholesale cost stays private. You apply the retail price or approved markup that makes sense for your store and vendor agreement.
04
The customer buys from your website
The customer sees your brand, uses your checkout, and pays the retail price plus any applicable tax and receiving charges.
05
The order goes to the right fulfiller
The order identifies who supplies it and how the customer will receive it. The vendor or garden centre then completes the agreed fulfilment work.
Pricing and fees
You set the retail price. The fee is 5% of the wholesale price.
The customer pays your retail price. From that amount, the vendor’s wholesale cost and the BloomSites platform fee are accounted for. Standard payment-processing charges are separate.
Important: Shipping, delivery, tax, discounts, refunds, and payment-processing charges can also affect the final margin. BloomSites shows the applicable order amounts before activation and checkout.
Example transaction
A product with a $20 wholesale price
- Vendor wholesale price
- $20.00
- Your retail price
- $35.00
- BloomSites fee: 5% of wholesale
- $1.00
- Gross margin before other costs
- $14.00
This is an illustration, not a payout quote. Payment processing, shipping, tax treatment, promotions, refunds, and the vendor agreement can change the final amount.
Who is responsible?
The marketplace connects three parties. It does not blur their jobs.
Garden centre
Chooses products, sets retail prices, presents them on its website, manages the customer relationship, and responds to the customer.
Vendor
Provides authorized product data, wholesale pricing, availability, packaging expectations, fulfilment capability, and order-status information.
BloomSites
Connects the catalogue, storefront, checkout, order routing, status, safeguards, and reporting. BloomSites does not own the plants or set the vendor’s wholesale price.
Receiving and fulfilment
The product controls which promises are safe to show.
Pickup, vendor-to-store, local delivery, and shipping are not interchangeable. BloomSites evaluates the product, supplier, region, inventory, and store setup before presenting a receiving choice.
See the full receiving-options guideLocal or vendor-to-store pickup
The order identifies the pickup location and expected readiness based on the configured source.
Local delivery or ship-to-home
Shown only when the product, destination, and fulfiller support that route.
Fresh availability required
If the data is too old to trust, BloomSites can block the dependent action instead of selling from a stale promise.
Before a vendor goes live
Confirm the rules that software cannot invent.
- Authorized products and sales regions
- Wholesale prices and permitted markup rules
- Inventory freshness and update frequency
- Packaging and fulfilment service levels
- Shipping, pickup, and delivery eligibility
- Damage, replacement, cancellation, and refund rules
- Tax and payment-processing treatment
- Who customers contact and how issues escalate
Straight answers
Vendor Marketplace questions
Does every vendor product appear on my website?
No. Your team selects what to offer. A product must also pass publication, availability, pricing, and fulfilment checks before it can be sold.
Do I have to buy the inventory first?
Not for a vendor-fulfilled product. The wholesale cost becomes part of the order when a customer buys. Products your store fulfils from local stock follow your normal inventory process.
Who owns the customer relationship?
The customer buys from your garden centre website. Your store remains the customer-facing retailer. Data access and communication must still follow the platform terms and applicable privacy rules.
Who sets the retail price?
Your garden centre sets the retail price within any rules in the vendor agreement. The vendor sets the wholesale price.
Is the 5% fee the only transaction cost?
No. The BloomSites platform fee is separate from standard payment-processing charges. Shipping, delivery, tax, refunds, and other order costs depend on the product and setup.
Can every plant be shipped to a home?
No. Receiving options depend on product size, region, weather, vendor capability, store setup, and current availability. An option appears only when it is eligible.
What happens if the inventory feed is stale?
BloomSites is designed to stop or limit commerce actions that depend on information that is no longer current. Your team can see when a connection needs attention.
Who handles damaged plants, refunds, or replacements?
The customer contacts the garden centre. The final resolution and who absorbs the cost depend on the vendor agreement, evidence, fulfilment path, and refund policy. These rules should be confirmed before a vendor is activated.
Know the products, fees, and responsibilities before you turn anything on.
We will map your vendors and fulfilment model, then show what is ready, what needs agreement, and what should remain unavailable.
Review my vendor setup
