T3Marketplace

With this blog post, I am trying to explain some thoughts behind the concept of the #t3marketplace like it is now and I am taking some discussion points or statements from the twitter thread I had with @danielkestler here: https://twitter.com/T3Popcorn/status/886970497711439878

Within this context, you might also want to read about the planned features (https://www.startnext.com/en/t3marketplace - Question "How will we use the money if the project is successfully funded?"), our first FAQ blog post (https://www.startnext.com/en/t3marketplace/blog/beitrag/typo3-marketplace-faq-p71388.html) and some thoughts well known community members had in their interviews (https://www.startnext.com/en/t3marketplace/blog/#pnav)

Statement: "... integration in TYPO3 is key to success."
To be honest, I don't think so. Just take a look at various other marketplaces for other (open-source) systems like Magento or WordPress or even successful independent platforms such as Theme Forrest or Templatemonster. They all started somehow without a full integration into their systems or are still running without a full integration. All of them doing pretty well without it. Afaik none of them are doing a payment clearance within the system itself.

Statement: "...your priorities are upside down"
Even if I strongly also wish to have a full TYPO3 integration first, I don't think it would be doable without a proper setup for checkouts, tax clearance, product and vendor listings, buying processes, etc.

Also, we would need to think about TYPO3 instance identifications, buyer logins including license management, gated access depending on the SLA or services which you have recently purchased, composer and non-composer mode and lots more. And this would only cover software - not additional services which are not even tight to software at all, like SLA handling or job and training offers.

Building it the other way round (aiming first for TYPO3 integration), would make things far harder to tackle. We would soon be in an NIH (Not Invented Here) trap again, since we need to build everything on our own, tailored towards our APIs.

With our approach, the initial funding goal is to setup a system which enables to do all the major things a usual shop does, including downloads for software, having a clearance on taxes, currencies and legal stuff, split carts, commission handling, gated access to services and software, etc.

Yes, we might also have some "nice to have" features, but why not if they are "quick wins" and easy to implement.

If you have some additional thoughts or questions about the #t3marketplace, please feel invited to either leave a comment here or to discuss them on Slack in the #t3marketplace channel.