Marketplaces that handle real money.
Two-sided platforms with auth, search, payouts, reviews, dispute handling, and admin. Built so the cold-start problem is the only problem you have.
- Starting at
- $75k
- Structure
- Phase-by-phase quote, fixed bid
What you get for the work.
- 01
Real Stripe Connect, day one
Express or Custom accounts, application fees, payout schedules, 1099-K reporting. The money flows correctly before launch.
- 02
Search that scales
Postgres full-text or Typesense from the start. Faceted, paginated, ranked. Not a "search later, MVP first" promise.
- 03
Admin for disputes
Every marketplace has disputes. We build the queue, the audit trail, and the resolution flow as part of the core, not as an afterthought.
- 04
Owned by you
Code, Stripe account, search index, hosting. All in your accounts. Marketplaces are too operational to outsource hosting.
What we build it on.
- Nuxt or Next + Postgres
- Multi-tenant data model from day one.
- Stripe Connect (Express or Custom)
- Express for speed, Custom when you own the KYC.
- Typesense or Postgres FTS
- Search faceted, paginated, ranked.
- Inngest / Trigger.dev
- Payout scheduling, escrow timers, dispute SLAs.
- Twilio / Postmark
- Notifications across two-sided flows.
$75k buys this. Bigger scope scales it.
Included at the floor
- Two-sided user model (buyer + seller) with auth
- Listings, search with faceting, detail pages
- Stripe Connect with application fees and payouts
- Reviews and ratings on completed transactions
- Admin with dispute queue and audit trail
- Email and SMS notifications for both sides
What scales the number
- Escrow holds and milestone-based payouts
- Verification flows (ID, business, address)
- Subscription tier for sellers (boosted listings, commission discounts)
- Multi-region with localized currency and tax
- Mobile app for one or both sides (see Mobile)
What a starter marketplace looks like
Two-sided auth, listings with faceted search, Stripe Connect with payouts, reviews, dispute admin, notifications. Twelve to twenty weeks. The whole flow works end-to-end at launch.
Where the build scales
Escrow and milestone payouts are a real chapter (fund timing, refund rules, SLA enforcement). KYC verification is its own. Subscriptions for sellers add their own data model. Multi-region marketplaces are roughly 1.5x the scope.
What we will not build
Marketplaces where the founder has not yet talked to any of the supply side. Marketplaces where the take rate is unsustainable. Anything where the demand and supply curves don't intersect at any realistic price.
Common questions.
- Can we use Stripe Connect Standard?
- For very simple marketplaces yes. But Standard pushes the seller to manage their own dashboard which most marketplaces don't want. Express is the default, Custom when KYC matters.
- How long until launch?
- Twelve to twenty weeks at the $75k floor for a real two-sided marketplace. Cold-start (getting first listings + first buyers) is yours.
- Will it survive 100k listings?
- Yes. Search uses Postgres FTS or Typesense with proper indexing. Pagination is keyset, not offset. Performance work is in scope at the floor.
- What about tax?
- Stripe Tax for transaction tax. 1099-K reporting via Stripe Connect. International is more complex and lands in the scaler bucket.
- Can we add a subscription layer?
- Yes. Sellers paying for boosted listings or commission discounts is a common scaler.
Pair this build with.
Build this with us.
Twenty minutes through the intake. A real reply within a work day.