ACL Settings for Creating Products with Variants

-- HikaShop version -- : 3.2.0
-- HikaMarket version -- : Multivendor 1.7.3
-- Joomla version -- : 3.8.1

I'm using Hikamarket Multivendor and I'm really struggling with the ACL settings to simplify the process for vendors to create products. I have one default template and have created a characteristic with 8 variants that the vendors will use with the product. All that I want to require of the vendors when creating a new product is create the name, category, images, and some custom fields I've created. There is no price associated with the main product (only variants of the product), so I've hidden the price field. That all works fine. Once the vendor saves the new product, they can then open it back up and add variants. Here is where I'm struggling. Could you tell me how it is possible through ACL to just have the option of adding a price for that variant? I'm sure this is possible and I keep playing around with ACL but now I'm getting "500 Layout variant_price not found" when I click to edit the variant. I can't figure out the right combination of boxes to check. Is there a good help site showing what is what or could you direct me on how to just show those fields to a logged in vendor when making a new product? Thanks in advance for any help you can give. I'm attaching a screenshot showing my current ACL

Sorry for my long winded question. All I'm trying to figure out is the correct combination on the ACL default store access checkbox list so that when vendors create products with variants, the only fields they see to edit for the variants are price and quantity. Seems like it should be possible but I can't figure out the correct combination in the "product/edit" and "product/variant" check boxes.

This is our Product/Variant Question.

When a vendor is logged in to the front end and goes to the "Product" folder in their account in order to add new products. There is a dropdown box there where they can chose to add either "Products" or "Variants", as seen in the attached screenshot. Is there a way to get rid of the dropdown box so they can only add Products?

Perhaps we don't have a clear understanding of the difference between product and variant.

All products created in our store have one "characteristic" associated with them, which has 10 variant options that the vendor can chose from once the product is created (via the "variant" tab). It seems to work fine. For this reason, we don't want to confuse them with the dropdown option to create either a product or variant.