Custom marketplace development
Two-sided marketplaces designed and engineered around how your buyers and sellers actually trade: listings, search, payments, payouts and trust, on a platform you own.
Who it’s for
Founders and operators launching a marketplace, or moving one off a no-code or white-label platform that can no longer keep up.
What changes
- A buyer experience that makes finding and trusting sellers effortless
- Seller tools that make listing, fulfilling and getting paid simple
- Payments, platform fees and payouts handled properly from day one
- A platform you own, without per-transaction lock-in to a builder
How we build a marketplace
Marketplaces succeed or fail on the parts nobody sees: the fee model, both sides’ experience, payouts and search. We design those first, and stay on after launch.
Before any screen is drawn, we work out how the marketplace earns: the fee, who pays it, and when sellers get paid. Every screen follows from it.
Buyers and sellers want different things. We prototype both sides in real code, quickly, and put them in front of real buyers and sellers before the real build starts.
Checkout, the split and payouts run on Stripe Connect in your own account. You never move money by hand, and the fee rules are yours to set, not limited by rented marketplace software.
Every listing, maker and category gets its own fast, structured page, so buyers arrive from Google, not only from ads.
Approvals, disputes and moderation get proper tools, designed with the people who will use them every day, not a spreadsheet and an inbox.
After launch we watch both sides of the market and come to you with what to do next, like the searches that have too few sellers.
- Who pays the fee
- The seller
- When sellers are paid
- On delivery
- Who can sell
- Approved makers only
What’s included
Marketplace model and fees
Who buys, who sells, who approves what, and how the platform earns: a commission, a listing fee or a subscription. Settling this first shapes every screen that follows.
You get: A written model of how the marketplace works and earns
Buyer and seller journeys, prototyped
A journey is every step a person takes, like a buyer searching, comparing and paying, or a seller listing and getting paid. We turn both into working prototypes, built quickly in real code, and show them to real buyers and sellers before the real build starts.
You get: Working prototypes of both sides
Listings, search and filters
The pages where sellers show what they offer, and the search and filters buyers use to find the right one quickly.
You get: Listings and search built around what your buyers compare
Checkout, split payments and payouts
When a buyer pays, the money is divided automatically: the seller’s share goes to the seller and the platform keeps its fee. We usually build this on Stripe Connect.
You get: Payments and payouts that run without manual transfers
Accounts, messages and reviews
Sign-up and profiles for both sides, a way for buyers and sellers to talk, and reviews that build trust over time.
You get: The trust features people expect before they pay
Admin and moderation tools
The behind-the-scenes screens your team uses to approve sellers, handle disputes, remove bad listings and see how the marketplace is doing.
You get: Tools to run the marketplace without calling a developer
Search visibility, analytics and launch
Listing pages built to show up in search, tracking for the numbers that matter, like searches, sales and repeat buyers, and a plan for launch day.
You get: Listings people can find, and numbers you can act on
Related work
All work
Questions
How much does a custom marketplace cost?
Marketplaces start at $40,000 and most first releases land between $40,000 and $150,000. They have more moving parts than a website, with two kinds of users, payments and admin tooling, so we scope a focused first release in a paid discovery sprint that is credited to your build.
Should we start with an MVP?
Usually, yes. We help you define the smallest release that proves both sides will show up, then build its foundation so it can grow without a rewrite.
How do payments and payouts work?
Stripe Connect is our default recommendation for split payments, platform fees and seller payouts. We evaluate alternatives when your market, currency or model calls for them.
Can you move us off a marketplace builder?
Yes. We plan the migration of listings, accounts and URLs so you keep your data, your search rankings and your users while gaining a platform you control.