Best plugin/theme for a reverse fiverr website? WordPress

MDan answers:

Hello,

I'm not really sure if I understand what are you trying to achieve but I'll give it a go, as I've been in the same place as you, just that my idea is a little different.

I'm currently building something similar with WC Vendors multivendor plugin (a hybrid between a physical products and a services marketplace) and I've researched quite a few solutions in the past months (almost a year).

For a digital marketplace (I guess this is closer for what you want to do) I strongly recommend the Easy Digital Downloads plugin along with the Marketify theme and the sheer number of extensions compatible with EDD:
https://easydigitaldownloads.com/downloads/marketplace-bundle/
They have a lot of add-ons also:
https://easydigitaldownloads.com/downloads/
3rd partyhttps://easydigitaldownloads.com/3rd-party-extensions/

Also the guys from Engines Themes are somewhat niched for this kind of marketplaces, but they use a closed, proprietary functionality and I think that holds against them https://www.enginethemes.com/themes/ (compared with Woocommerce).

If I didn't understand correctly and you actually want a services marketplace, you can use:
(Btw, I recommend Wc-Vendors over Dokan, the quality of code/support/extensibility if awesome. Their plugin works great with official Woocommerce plugins so this makes the eventual later needed integrations more subtle).

Wordpress
WooCommerce
WC Vendors free plugin
WC Vendors Pro
WC Vendors Bookings integration: https://www.wcvendors.com/product/woocommerce-bookings-integration/
WooCommerce Bookings version 1.9.x https://woocommerce.com/products/woocommerce-bookings/
myCRED points and reward plugin (only if suitable)
WC Vendors auction integration (only if suitable)

For WC-Vendors you can integrate even rewards and points functionality (just like in MTurk) with myCRED plugin. https://ro.wordpress.org/plugins/mycred/ . I guess you would want this also.

Wc Vendors even have a solution for auctions based functionality you need integrating some kind of bidding system also: https://www.wcvendors.com/product/woocommerce-simple-auctions-integration/
It integrates with the WooCommerce Simple Auctions plugin and you can build a full featured auction based multi vendor store.

These themes are compatible with WC Vendors and closer for what are you trying to build:
https://themeforest.net/item/handy-handmade-shop-wordpress-woocommerce-theme/11048978

OR (I really recommend this theme for your kind of project)
https://themeforest.net/item/rehub-directory-multi-vendor-shop-coupon-affiliate-theme/7646339

Basically, I guess the functionality would be as follows:

• Buyers should able to make offers on products. Vendors should also be able to make offers easily through a private messaging system. (Woo + WC Vendors + Buddypress) - all of them free

• Vendors should be able to add individual tax rates for their products - Woo + WC Vendors

• Vendor / Buyer communication. Simple messaging system to ask questions (private and public) - Buddypress or a custom coded messaging solution, it could be done easily - the Handy theme already has this

• When a visitor changes product filters, the results should automatically update in the view (WC Vendors)

• Payments need to go directly to vendors. Commissions for our platform should not be taken before the payment is made to the vendor, but it should be charged *after* as a second transaction. (Paypal Adaptie Payments or Stripe Commisions - both supported by WC Vendors)

Eg. A vendor sells an item for $100. They get the entire $100 payment sent to them automatically via PayPal or Stripe. A second transaction is processed immediately afterward for our commission fee on the vendors PayPal account.

• Notification System for when an item is sold, a private message is received etc. (Woocommerce + Wc Vendors)
• Refund functionality: If a vendor refunds a purchase, the amount to the buyer is automatically sent back via PayPal/Stripe, and the commission fee is also refunded to the vendor automatically. (supported by Stripe I think)

WC Vendors has an Escrow like feature, just set to pay the commision at a later time not at the moment the order is placed (E.g. the advertiser could program the commisions to be payed after the service has been done by the user).

Regarding this, just recently (a few days ago) the guys over https://www.escrow.com/api are testing the integration with WC-Vendors (this is in testing phase)
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I think that first and foremost you should clarify your future specifications, just to be sure that the help you receive is correct and to the point. You can browse through the aforementioned resources and decide what is the bes option for you.
Otherwise I advise you to get a consultant for this job, it is time consuming, I have documented my multi-vendor platform idea for at least 6 months and I can find myself blocked from time to time (business wise).

Disclaimer: I'm not in any way affiliated with WC-Vendors or EDD but I've chose WC Vendors for my own projects and I've heard great things about EDD.

Cheers,
Daniel