RiotCart.com: The Handmade Revolution

So after a failed attempt with a different name/URL, I’ve revamped a lot of the layout, added new organizational functionality, and hopefully made the site more appealing to all!

http://www.riotcart.com

RiotCart is a venue offering vendors of handmade items/crafts the opportunity to open a storefront from which to sell their wares, as well as store all of their informational pages, keep a blog, etc. Shoppers are not required to join anything in order to buy (which is an edge that I feel we have over most other competing sites of the same concept), but are encouraged to in order to keep a profile with a wishlist of vendor items from all network sites, connect with other members via BuddyPress activity streams, build a transaction feedback profile, and more.

The site is based on WP Multisite and BuddyPress, but I’ve done away with a good portion of the BuddyPress functionality, as it was just too much, and users of the first incarnation, ClothUnderground.com, complained of being too confused to use anything. The part I’m proudest of, I think is the totally custom transaction feedback feature, which allows users to leave non member editable comments on another member’s feedback profile, much like eBay’s feedback system (though much simpler). As for plugins, there are about 70 of those in use across the site, whether on the main site or child blogs (shops, in our case), as well as several completely custom template files to turn the child blogs into logically laid out shops, as well as give vendors lots of flexibility in how they want their individual shops laid out.

Anyway, all comments and criticisms are welcome, but please be gentle!