5 Reasons Why You Should Build Your Marketplace with Sharetribe

Looking for the best marketplace development platform for your startup? 

Choosing a marketplace solution is a huge decision. 

You need a platform that not only supplies your needs but also fits your budget. And this brings us to Sharetribe — a flexible, powerful solution that serves as the backbone to 1,000+ marketplaces in various industries globally. 

What Types of Marketplaces Can You Build with Sharetribe?

Here is a quick rundown of th  e marketplace types you can build with Sharetribe:

• Rental marketplaces — A rental marketplace connects property owners and potential customers as well as handles bookings, listings, and payments. Not only does Sharetribe offer easy implementation of these features, it also makes it effortless to roll out additional functionalities like map-based search, availability filters, and refundable deposits.
• Service marketplaces — Another popular marketplace type is a service marketplace, which facilitates transactions between service providers and clients. With Sharetribe, you don't need code to provide essential features like profile pages, two-way reviews, and an on-site messaging system.
• Product marketplaces — Sharetribe is more than capable of handling a variety of online stores and secondhand marketplaces. You can allow users to build their own seller profiles, publish distraction-free listing pages, automate inventory tracking, define commission percentages, and more.
• Network marketplaces — Sharetribe has the tools to help you create matchmaking websites between businesses and people. Your users can create their own profiles, forge connections within your website, publish content, and more. 
• Job marketplaces — Lastly, a job marketplace is designed to help job seekers find the employer that fits their needs and vice versa. You can set up your website to present classified ads or create an open marketplace a la Upwork and Fiverr.

Whatever type of marketplace you want to build, Sharetribe is equipped for it. 

If you prefer looking at examples, you can look at live Sharetribe-powered marketplaces in our Sharetribe review here.

Top Reasons to Build Your Marketplace App or Website with Sharetribe

Before anything else, it's worth mentioning that Horizon Labs is a team of 10+ engineers — each with over 15 years of development experience. 

We've seen and built everything, including countless marketplace websites and apps that turned into global brands. 

Out of all the marketplace platforms we encountered, Sharetribe stands out as the most versatile and cost-effective. 

Without further ado, let's look at the reasons why we recommend Sharetribe for your marketplace website development:

1. Built-in content management

Sharetribe features a built-in, drag-and-drop tool that lets you create landing pages, blog posts, and other content types without writing a single line of code.

The content editor works by letting you piece together different content sections within a single page. These can contain images, YouTube videos, text, columns, Call-To-Action (CTA) buttons, and more. 

Apart from creating content, Sharetribe also lets you modify Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and social sharing elements for each page. You can create a meta description, set a page image of social shares, and so on. 

2. No-code visual editor

Sharetribe comes with a default "Web Template" that already has 90% of what you need to get your online marketplace up and running — from conversion-optimized listing pages to a ready-to-use payments system.

For simple customizations, you can use Sharetribe's no-code editor to modify your website's colors, logo, page layouts, automated messages, footer, and more. 

 Just remember that relying solely on the no-code editor limits your marketplace's customizability. 

If you have bigger visions for your marketplace, you'll need to step out of your comfort zone and get your feet wet in coding — or, you can simply outsource the talent you need from the right people. 

This brings us to the next point…

3. Instantly connect with vetted Sharetribe developers

You don't need to look far If you need professional designers or developers for your marketplace project. 

Founders who want to unlock the true potential of their Sharetribe marketplace can easily find and connect with verified developers from their Expert Network. This includes individual freelancers to agencies who can work with all budgets. 

 Here's a tip: closely investigate the portfolio of the developer you're considering. 

The Sharetribe resource page only provides basic information about each verified developer, including projects completed, minimum starting budget, and services. While everyone is carefully vetted, it's up to you to evaluate whether a freelancer or agency has the specific skillsets you need and aligns with your vision as a company. 

4. Automate tasks with streamlined Zapier integration

Building and managing a marketplace as a solo founder is more than possible with Sharetribe. But as your business grows, doing everything yourself gets harder and harder to the point of being impractical. 

Remember, even companies with in-house teams can struggle with the challenges of scaling their business. That's why they turn to automation to save time, improve efficiency, and reduce the likelihood of human error in their processes. 

The good news is, Sharetribe integrates seamlessly with Zapier. It is a versatile app that lets you design automation workflows between multiple apps and services, be it for email marketing, booking, accounting, or project management. 

You can get started with a few pre-built workflows or "Zaps." 

If you're looking for something more specific, you can browse for more Sharetribe-specific workflow templates on Zapier's website — or, try building your own automation by choosing a third-party app, setting a "trigger" for the automated task, and defining the action event. 

5. Infinitely scale with code

If you're comfortable with HTML, JavaScript, or CSS, you may want to consider building your marketplace app with code. 

Switch to the 'Dev environment' option from the drop-down menu in the top-left corner. This allows the deep customization of the Sharetribe Web Template via your own development server.

With your development environment ready, you (or your team) can work directly through the web template code — allowing you to create pixel-perfect marketplace experiences that reflect your vision 1:1. 

Remember, it's easy to find Sharetribe experts who can lend you the skills and resources you need. 

But if you're adamant about going DIY, rest assured that Sharetribe offers a wealth of learning resources and technical documentation to help you learn the ropes. This covers everything, from initializing your development environment to mapping user journeys.

You can also use external learning resources about the core Sharetribe technologies that run under the hood — be it an online course or YouTube tutorial series. To guide your self-learning journey, here are the technologies you should learn about:

• JavaScript
• CSS
• Redux
• React & React Router
• Express
• Final Form
• Node.js

You can learn more about the company's tech stack by reading the Sharetribe Crunchbase profile here. 

Sharetribe Pricing

Another reason why we recommend Sharetribe is the flexible pricing structure that aligns with wherever you are in your project.

Sharetribe costs just $39 per month to have all the tools you'll need to build a fully-functional marketplace forms scratch.

You only need to upgrade when you're finally ready to launch your marketplace and start generating revenue. This will bump up your subscription cost to $99 per month (annual billing) or $139 per month. 

For advanced features like SSO, mobile app development, custom domains, and the command line interface, you'll need to invest in the higher-end plans.

Hire Seasoned Sharetribe Experts Today

TL;DR — if you have a marketplace idea, Sharetribe can take you there. 

Build marketplaces fast with the no-code editor, or delve into code customizations to control every single aspect of your website or app. It all depends on your budget, web development knowledge, and vision. 

If you want to build big and grow fast, working with a verified Sharetribe expert is the way to go. 

Our team at Horizon Labs is more than happy to step in. Contact us here for a discovery session and request a demo project to ensure we're the right fit!