Marketplace Development – The Platform Between Providers and Customers

A multi-vendor marketplace is a platform on which many independent providers sell their products or services under one roof. The operator provides the technology, rules, payment processing and reach and receives a commission or fee in return. To customers, everything feels like a single store, even though orders and payouts are distributed across several providers in the background.

A marketplace is one of the more extensive software projects because two user groups, payment flows and moderation come together. A focused first version for one launch market starts in the Professional package from €8,000; full marketplaces with apps, interfaces or multiple countries are quoted individually as Enterprise projects. Your exact quote follows after the free initial consultation, in which we sharpen the model and launch scope together.

The duration depends mainly on the revenue model, the payment flow and the number of features at launch. We plan the launch in stages: first the provider side, so that listings already exist at public launch, then the customer side. You receive a realistic schedule as soon as model and scope are fixed in the prototype.

We use solutions such as Stripe Connect for this: the customer pays once, the payment is automatically split into the provider's share and your commission, and providers receive their payout according to defined rules. The identity verification of providers is handled by the payment service provider. Refunds, cancellations and credits are mapped in the admin area.

It cannot be prevented entirely, but you can make the route via the platform more attractive. This includes payment protection, reviews only after a real booking, tools for providers such as calendars and automatic invoices, and contact details that are only revealed after a confirmed booking. The more value the platform offers both sides, the less often it is bypassed.

Depending on their design, marketplaces are subject to special rules, for example under the Digital Services Act, the EU P2B Regulation, regarding provider and trader information, and under consumer law. We implement the technical building blocks for this, including reporting channels, mandatory provider information, notices on the ranking of search results and logs. Which obligations apply to your platform specifically, please clarify with your legal counsel – this note does not replace legal advice.