A vendor booth mall rents space to many sellers and runs one shared checkout. Antique mall software has to tag every sale to the right vendor, deduct rent and commission, and produce monthly statements.
Options include dedicated booth-mall POS systems, general POS tools with vendor tags, or a WooCommerce marketplace with a connected POS. This guide compares them and shows what each one asks of you.
TLDR
- Booth malls earn from monthly rent, a commission on sales, or both, and many pass card fees back to vendors.
- A shared counter only works if every item carries a vendor code, so each sale credits the right booth.
- Syncrostore and SimpleConsign are built for vendor malls, with listed plans of $199.99 and $379 a month.
- A WooCommerce setup with Dokan and wePOS can cover vendor accounts and a counter, but neither is built for booth rent.
- Pick by vendor count, how you collect rent, and whether you sell online.
How Booth Malls Make Money
Most booth malls earn from monthly booth rent, a commission on each sale, or both. Underpriced reviewed the public vendor pages of 35 antique malls in 21 states and updated its findings on October 14, 2026.
The median rent for a booth near 10×10 is $275 a month, with a range of $100 to $500.
Underpriced, antique booth rental guide, 35 malls, October 2026
- Rent. A flat monthly fee for the space. Showcases cost less, from $39 to $200 a month.
- Commission. 21 of the 35 malls also keep a share of each sale, from 7% to 15%. Fourteen of them keep a flat 10%, and only 4 say they take none.
- Card fees. 7 of the 35 malls add a 3% to 4% fee on card sales. Most pages do not say.
Your mix of rent and commission decides what the software must calculate each month. If you charge rent only, it needs a recurring fee. If you add commission, it needs a split on every sale. Our guide on how marketplaces make money covers the same commission and subscription models in online form.
Vendor Mall POS: Tracking Sales by Vendor at One Counter
A vendor mall POS tracks sales by vendor by giving every item a vendor code on its tag. The cashier scans the tag, and the sale posts to that vendor’s ledger in the same step.
- Each vendor gets an account with a code, a rent amount and a commission rate.
- Each item gets a tag printed with that vendor code and a price.
- The cashier scans the tag at the shared counter and takes payment.
- The system adds the sale to the vendor’s ledger.
- Returns and discounts reverse or reduce that same ledger entry.
Makers market management works the same way when vendors rotate in and out. The difference is shorter terms, so you need to add and close vendor accounts quickly.
Booth Rental Software: How Rent and Fees Come Out
Booth rental software takes rent, commission and card fees out of each vendor’s sales before the payout. It should do this from rules you set once, not from a spreadsheet you edit each month.
Here is an example with round numbers. A vendor rents a booth at the $275 median and sold $1,000 this month, with $800 of it paid by card. The mall keeps a 10% commission and passes a 3% card fee to vendors.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross sales | $1,000.00 |
| Commission, 10% | -$100.00 |
| Card fee, 3% of $800 | -$24.00 |
| Booth rent | -$275.00 |
| Vendor payout | $601.00 |
This is an illustration, not a quote from any mall. Set your own rent, rate and card-fee rule, and write them into the vendor agreement before the first sale.
How Antique Malls Pay Vendors: Statements and Payouts
Antique malls usually pay vendors once a month, after totaling each booth’s sales and subtracting the mall’s charges [VERIFY]. Each vendor should get a statement with the payout.
- Every sold item with its date and price.
- Commission and card fees, listed as separate lines.
- Booth rent for the month.
- Any carried balance if rent exceeded sales.
- The final payout amount and the method.
Payout method changes your costs. Syncrostore lists bank payouts at $1.37 for standard ACH and $2.49 for same-day or instant, plus a $25 monthly program fee. Multiply that by your vendor count before you pick a plan.
Selling Booth Items Online Too
You can sell booth items online if your system keeps one stock list for the counter and the web. Two separate lists lead to the same item selling twice.
Syncrostore lists an online marketplace in its Consignment Pro plan. SimpleConsign’s Vendor Mall Plus page lists no online store, so ask before you buy [VERIFY]. A store already on WooCommerce has the online side built in, which is why some malls choose that route.
Antique Mall Software Compared
Three dedicated options and one WordPress setup cover the main routes, and their listed starting prices run from $40 to $379 a month. We read each vendor’s pricing page where one was available and note the date.
| Option | Listed price | Rent and fees | Vendor portal | Worth noting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Syncrostore Consignment Pro | $199.99 a month with SyncroPay, $329.99 with your own processor | Booth rent and recurring fee automation | Vendor self-serve portal | No per-vendor software fee. Extra registers cost $19.99 a month each |
| SimpleConsign Vendor Mall Plus | $379 a month. Intro $199 for 6 months or $50K in sales | Automated rent collection | Vendor remote entry and portal | Managed onboarding and full data migration |
| Quail cloud POS | From $40 a month on a Software Advice listing [VERIFY] | Monthly rent, per-item fees, or both | Not stated | Check the vendor’s own page for current plans [VERIFY] |
| Dokan and wePOS on WooCommerce | Dokan Lite free, Dokan Pro from $149 a year. wePOS free, paid from $99 a year (Nov 4) | Dokan Subscription module on Professional, $249 a year [VERIFY for rent] | Vendor dashboard | Not built for booth malls |
Two columns decide most purchases. The first is whether rent runs automatically. The second is what each payout costs you.
Syncrostore Fits Malls That Want Rent Automation
Syncrostore charges one flat price with no per-vendor software fee, and lists rent automation, a vendor portal and one-click settlements by ACH. Card processing rates are quoted individually, not published. Pick it if you want rent, payouts and an online store in one plan. Look elsewhere if you need published processing rates.
SimpleConsign Suits Malls That Want Hands-On Setup
SimpleConsign’s Vendor Mall Plus lists a shared checkout, rent collection, a vendor portal, a store map and managed onboarding. The intro price of $199 ends after 6 months or $50K in sales, whichever comes first. Pick it if you want help moving your data in. Plan for the full $379 after the intro period.
Quail Is the Low Entry Price to Check
Quail’s cloud POS is listed from $40 a month and can charge vendors rent, per-item fees or both, according to Software Advice. We could not load Quail’s own site, so confirm the price and features there. Pick it if budget is tight and your needs are simple.
The WordPress Route With Dokan and wePOS
A WooCommerce store can treat each booth renter as a vendor in Dokan, with a commission rate and an earnings dashboard, while wePOS runs the counter. Our Dokan plugin review covers the plugin in more depth.
- Commission. Dokan’s pricing page lists commission types from the Starter plan, $149 a year for one site. Dokan Lite does not include them.
- Statements. The same page lists vendor statements and earning reports from Starter.
- Recurring vendor fees. Dokan’s Subscription module sells vendors a membership pack. It sits in the Professional plan, $249 a year for three sites. Whether it can model a monthly booth rent that comes out of sales is not described [VERIFY].
- Counter. The free wePOS plan lists a cashier screen, product search, barcode scanning and cash payments. Card and WooCommerce gateways, outlets and cashier assignment need a paid plan from $99 a year.
The real limits matter here. Neither product is built for booth malls, and the product pages do not describe vendor-coded tags at one shared counter, rent netted from monthly sales, or a single payout run [VERIFY]. wePOS pages describe each Dokan vendor running their own POS, which differs from one shared counter for the whole mall. For other plugin choices, see our list of the best multi-vendor plugins.
How to Choose Software for Your Booth Mall
Answer these five questions in order, and the right route usually shows itself.
- How many vendors do you have? Per-payout fees grow with this number.
- Do you collect flat rent, commission, or both? Check that the system can run your exact mix.
- Do vendors need a portal to see their own sales? Price the tier that includes it.
- Do you sell online as well as in the building? Ask how the web store shares stock with the counter.
- Who will set it up and keep it running? Dedicated tools are hosted for you, while a WordPress setup is yours to maintain.
FAQ
How much does a vendor need to sell to cover booth rent?
At the $275 median rent and a 50% margin, a vendor needs about $550 in monthly sales to cover rent alone, according to Underpriced. With a 10% commission and a 3% card fee added, the figure rises to $744.
Do I need to issue 1099 forms to booth vendors?
It depends on how your mall handles payments, so ask an accountant before tax season [VERIFY]. A thread on TaxProTalk shows tax professionals debating whether a mall paying out vendor proceeds counts as a remittance made as agent. Your software should still export a clean year-end total for each vendor.
Can a makers market use antique mall software?
Yes, if it lets you add and close vendor accounts quickly and set short-term rent [VERIFY]. Ask each vendor for a trial and test a mock market day before you commit.
What if I open a second location?
Check the multi-location tier before you sign. Syncrostore lists custom Enterprise pricing for operators with several buildings, and SimpleConsign lists multi-store tracking on its Enterprise plan.
Pick Antique Mall Software That Fits Your Vendor Count
Write down your vendor count, average rent, commission rate and card share, then price each route with those numbers. Start a trial of a dedicated system, or test the WooCommerce route on a staging site with Dokan Lite and the free wePOS plan. Whichever you choose, put the rent and fee rules in writing before the first vendor signs.
