A two-sided marketplace with Stripe Connect, provider payouts, and split billing.
A marketplace founder needed both sides of the transaction to work: customer payments, provider payouts, RCB Software's platform fee, and the trust mechanics that make a marketplace usable. Stripe Connect solved the payment architecture. Next.js solved the application.
The founder had the marketplace concept validated but couldn't find a developer who understood Stripe Connect's destination charges model well enough to implement it correctly.
The marketplace founder had a defined market: service providers who were doing great work but had no online presence, and customers who wanted to find them but had no centralised place to search. The validation was strong — 23 provider signups from a landing page before a product existed.
The technical challenge that had stalled the project: two previous developers had attempted the Stripe Connect integration and both abandoned it after misunderstanding the payment architecture. Stripe Connect has three distinct models (standard, express, and custom accounts), and the payment routing (destination charges vs. separate charges and transfers) has different compliance and liability implications. The provider payouts required the correct account type, the correct charge structure, and the 1099 tax reporting setup for US providers.
The application also needed the marketplace-specific trust mechanics that make first-time users trust the platform: provider profile verification, customer review system, dispute resolution workflow, and the escrow-style payment release that holds funds until service completion.
A production two-sided marketplace with Stripe Connect, automated provider payouts, and the review system and dispute resolution mechanics that convert first-time users into repeat buyers.
Stripe Connect Express
Provider onboarding with the Stripe Connect Express account creation flow. Destination charges — the customer pays the full amount, Stripe routes the provider portion minus the platform fee automatically. No manual payout management.
Provider profile and verification
Provider onboarding with profile creation, portfolio upload, and the identity verification that triggers the Stripe Express onboarding. Search with geographic filtering, category filtering, and rating sort.
Booking and payment flow
Customer-facing booking request → provider acceptance → payment capture on acceptance → service delivery → payment release on completion. Escrow-style payment hold during service delivery.
Review and rating system
Post-completion review requests for both sides — customer reviews provider, provider reviews customer. Verified reviews (only available post-completed booking). Rating aggregation on provider profiles.
Dispute resolution workflow
Admin dispute management tool — booking dispute creation, communication thread, resolution options (full refund, partial refund, release payment). Stripe dispute handling integrated with the admin workflow.
One honest number to start.
Fixed-scope, fixed-price. The number below is the starting point — final scope is built from your brief.
A production two-sided marketplace with Stripe Connect, automated provider payouts, and the review system and dispute resolution mechanics that convert first-time users into repeat buyers.
Three steps, every time.
The same repeatable engagement on every project. No surprises, no mystery, no billable ambiguity.
Brief & discovery.
We send you questions, then get on a call. Output: a written scope with every step, feature, and integration listed.
Build & ship.
Fixed schedule, weekly reviews. No scope creep unless you change the scope — and if you do, we reprice it transparently.
Warranty & retainer.
30-day warranty on every launch. Most clients stay on a monthly retainer for ongoing features and maintenance.
Why Fixed-Price Matters Here
The previous developers billed hourly and left the project incomplete. Fixed price meant the complete deliverable was the commitment.
Related engagements.
Questions, answered.
Stripe Connect charges a fee on each transaction (0.25% + 25¢ for Express accounts, plus standard Stripe processing fees of 2.9% + 30¢). The platform fee is set in the destination charge as an `application_fee_amount` — taken automatically before the provider payout. The economics: customer pays $100, Stripe takes ~$3.20 in processing and Connect fees, platform takes whatever application fee is configured, provider receives the remainder.
Stripe Connect Express supports providers in 40+ countries. The cross-border payout calculation (currency conversion, local payout methods) is handled by Stripe. The application scope in this project was US-only providers with USD payouts; international expansion was designed into the architecture but deferred to v2.
$47,000 for the full marketplace with Stripe Connect, provider profiles, booking flow, reviews, and dispute management. 14 weeks.
The marketplace launched with 61 providers (who had been onboarded during the build phase) and had its first successful transaction in week 2. At 6 months post-launch, 340 providers were onboarded. A second engagement added mobile apps (React Native, iOS and Android) at week 20.
Tell Ryel about your project.
Describe what you’re building and what outcome you need. You’ll have a written, fixed-price scope within the week.