The marketplace that owns the transaction owns the business.
We build custom marketplace platforms — two-sided buyer-seller marketplaces, service booking platforms, and rental networks with the trust, payments, and review infrastructure that drives liquidity. Fixed scope, fixed price.
Sharetribe and Marketplacer get you to v1. They also give every competitor the same starting point. A custom marketplace platform is the one that compounds — your matching algorithm, your review system, your trust logic — built for the liquidity you're building toward.
Marketplace businesses have a chicken-and-egg supply-demand problem that no technology solves — but technology determines whether you can get to liquidity before you run out of time and money. A marketplace platform needs to handle both sides simultaneously: onboard enough supply to make the platform valuable to buyers, and convert enough buyer demand to make it worth sellers' time to maintain their listings.
The technical requirements of a production marketplace are more complex than a single-sided product. Stripe Connect (the payment infrastructure that holds funds in escrow and splits payouts to sellers) has more edge cases than a standard Stripe integration: connect account onboarding, payout schedules, refund attribution, and dispute handling across multiple parties. The review and rating system needs to be fraud-resistant while remaining useful. The search and discovery layer needs to be fast and relevant enough that buyers find what they're looking for without needing to browse every listing.
No-code marketplace tools (Sharetribe, Bubble marketplace templates, Marketplacer) solve the launch problem. They don't solve the competitive moat problem. When your marketplace finds a wedge and starts to grow, the platform you can differentiate on — the matching logic, the trust signals, the booking flow optimised for your specific transaction type — is the one you own.
A production marketplace with seller/provider onboarding, listing management, buyer-facing discovery and booking, Stripe Connect payments, in-platform messaging, and the review and trust layer that drives conversion and repeat use.
Seller/provider onboarding and listing management
Seller registration with Stripe Connect account creation and verification. Listing creation with your category-specific fields, pricing configuration (per item, per hour, per booking), availability calendar, and photo upload. Listing approval workflow if curation is required.
Buyer discovery and booking
Search with category, price, location, and availability filters. Listing detail page with photos, reviews, seller profile, and availability calendar. Booking request or instant booking (configurable per category). Payment held in escrow at booking.
Stripe Connect payment escrow
Funds held until configurable release trigger (service completion, dispute window expiry). Automatic payout to seller's connected bank account minus the platform fee. Refund workflow with dispute mediation.
In-platform messaging
Buyer-seller messaging attached to a booking. No personal contact details shared until configurable trust checkpoint (booking confirmed). Message notifications via email and push notification.
Reviews, ratings, and trust signals
Post-transaction review prompt for both buyer and seller. Verified badge system for sellers who complete identity verification. Response rate and acceptance rate metrics displayed on seller profile. Review manipulation detection. Built on Next.js, Postgres, Stripe Connect, Cloudinary for listing photos, and WebSocket or Convex for real-time messaging.
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 marketplace with seller/provider onboarding, listing management, buyer-facing discovery and booking, Stripe Connect payments, in-platform messaging, and the review and trust layer that drives conversion and repeat use.
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
Marketplace founders are managing supply-side and demand-side growth simultaneously — the technology cost needs to be a defined, known number so the capital plan for growth isn't undermined by an open-ended development budget. Fixed scope and fixed price is how you build a marketplace platform with financial clarity.
Related engagements.
Questions, answered.
The platform fee is configured as a percentage or fixed amount deducted from each transaction. Stripe holds the gross amount at booking, deducts the platform fee on payout, and transfers the net amount to the seller's connected account. The platform keeps the fee in its own Stripe account.
Yes — pre-booking enquiry messaging is configurable. Sellers can answer buyer questions before a booking is placed. Buyer contact details are not shared; all communication is through the platform's messaging layer.
Service providers set their available time slots in their calendar. Buyers can only book available slots. Confirmed bookings mark the slot as unavailable. Provider can block availability for personal time or existing commitments.
Seller onboarding, listing management, buyer booking, Stripe Connect payments, messaging, and review system typically runs $65k–$120k. Mobile apps (iOS + Android) for consumer-facing surfaces add scope. Fixed-price.
16 to 20 weeks for a production marketplace with both web surfaces and full payment infrastructure.
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.