The attacks were present before we started development. The WordPress site attracted this volume because of the collectibles niche and existing traffic. We deployed Cloudflare free tier and Wordfence free version immediately to stabilize the platform before touching anything else.

Cloudflare’s bot detection filtered at the edge. When attack spikes hit, “I’m Under Attack” mode activated reCAPTCHA challenges. Wordfence handled WordPress-level blocking, login limiting, and malware scanning. The two-layer approach kept the site operational while we planned the marketplace conversion. Zero subscription costs – just configuration time.

We integrated Dokan Business to add multivendor functionality on top of the existing WooCommerce installation. Black Friday 2024 timing brought the lifetime license from $2,495 to $1,247. The Business tier was necessary for vendor withdrawal systems, PayPal Marketplace integration, and commission management that lower tiers don’t include.

Wolmart replaced the existing theme. It came with marketplace-specific templates – vendor storefronts, product grids, dashboard layouts. This saved weeks versus customizing the old theme for multivendor. Elementor gave the client visual control to modify pages and vendor registration flows without developer intervention for every change.

Dokan Business sits on top of WooCommerce, adding vendor dashboards, product approval workflows, and commission calculations. We configured PayPal Marketplace and Stripe for automated vendor payouts. When customers check out with products from multiple vendors, WooCommerce processes one transaction while Dokan splits orders internally and routes them to each vendor.
Commission deductions happen automatically based on rates configured in Dokan’s admin panel. Vendors see their earnings in their dashboard and request withdrawals once they hit minimum thresholds. The admin can process payouts manually or set automatic schedules.

The marketplace runs with multiple vendors managing their inventory. Commission tracking is automated. The 4 million daily attacks continue but Cloudflare and Wordfence filter them without impacting performance. The client owns the platform – open source WordPress and WooCommerce, perpetual Dokan license, full database control. No SaaS fees, no transaction percentages beyond what they charge vendors.