What is a marketplace app?

A marketplace application is a web, mobile, or desktop application that facilitates the buying and selling of goods or services. The app may be divided into two sets of users: merchants and customers. Merchants typically use the app to create accounts, list their products in a catalog, accept orders through the catalog from customers, track inventory levels for each product they sell, process payments for goods sold to customers using a payment processor’s API , and receive customer reviews after delivering goods to them. Customers typically use the app to view merchant offerings within a certain category of interest (e.g., electronics products), browse merchant sales and discounts on those offerings within that category, purchase items from merchants using payment methods supported by the app (e.g., PayPal), and leave reviews for sellers once they have received their delivered items. Marketplace apps are similar to classified ads apps, selling apps, and ecommerce apps. Craigslist and LetGo are two of the most popular marketplace application examples. Examples of marketplace apps built with Crowdbotics:

• A “social media marketing marketplace” app that sells social media services and marketing consulting through a centralized platform. The app would also provide a more broadly applicable marketplace for users to buy and sell products and services.
• A marketplace/social platform that will allow users to come together to buy goods that are eco-friendly.
• An interface for buying, selling, trading, and showing off sports card collections. The main page will pop up which will be option of top trade, top collector, and top catalog and these update daily. The catalog will be created from every users’ cards for the user to search through.

What is the typical cost to build a marketplace app?

A marketplace app usually costs about $37,500 to build. However, the total cost can be as low as $25,000 or as high as $50,000. A marketplace app with a low number of features (also known as a minimum viable product, or MVP) will be more affordable than an app that includes all intended functionality. For example, here are some previous marketplace app price quotes from Crowdbotics:

• $30,000
• $40,000
• $25,000

How long does it take to build a marketplace app?

A marketplace app usually takes 422 hours to build. However, a marketplace app can be built in as few as 267 hours, or in as many as 667 hours. The exact timeline mostly depends on how complicated your specific app is. As a general rule, it will take longer if you require highly custom designs, niche features, complex logic, or non-standard release platforms. For example, some previous marketplace apps build with Crowdbotics received the following hourly estimates:

• 400
• 533
• 333

How to successfully grow your marketplace application

A marketplace app can grow by providing a more convenient experience for users that has fewer steps than its competitors. Marketplaces have already proven themselves to be very successful in an online setting, and they are quickly becoming the preferred way to buy and sell goods in the mobile space as well. The challenge for marketplace apps is to make it easier for users to find products, sellers, or services that they want to buy. This can be achieved through features like local search integration, detailed user profiles, and map-based browsing.

Risks and challenges of building a marketplace application

A marketplace app faces risks associated with fake reviews, fraudulent transactions, and seller or buyer misrepresentation. It is recommended that you implement a feedback system for both buyers and sellers to enable them to rate each other and make it easy for users to review their experience on the platform. You will also need to be sure to provide strong payment processing mechanisms for settling transactions and handle fraudulent transactions in a way that protects your users from financial liability.