Service · Web development

Custom marketplace platform development.

A custom marketplace where third parties sell, rent out or offer services, under your brand, with your rules and your economics. We build B2B, B2C and C2C marketplaces with seller onboarding, multi-vendor checkout, payment splitting and the integrations your sector needs. For scale-ups entering a new market and established players opening their platform to third parties.

Seller onboardingMulti-vendor checkoutMollie Connect & Stripe ConnectCommission engine

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A marketplace is not a webshop with multiple sellers.

At first glance it looks like an extended webshop, but the real complexity lies behind the catalogue. A marketplace is effectively two software products in one: a seller side with onboarding, KYC, product management, orders and payouts, and a buyer side with search, filtering, comparison and checkout. Plus everything that holds both together: the commission engine, payment splitting, dispute resolution, VAT per country, fraud detection and the rules that determine which offers are visible.

When building a marketplace platform, we design the economics first. Who pays whom, how the money flows, who is responsible when a dispute arises, and how you maintain the quality of your offering without manually checking every seller. Only then does the software follow. Since 2015 we have built platforms for both B2B marketplaces (industrial wholesale with contract pricing and EDI integrations) and B2C and C2C businesses (consumer and peer-to-peer flows with KYC and escrow).

The Dutch market has well-known reference points: Bol and Wehkamp as hybrid retailers, Marktplaats and Vinted as pure marketplaces, Werkspot and Treatwell as service marketplaces, Catawiki and Bidfox as auction platforms, and Coolblue as a retailer with its own range plus third-party sellers. Each model requires different building blocks, different flows and different compliance. We guide you through those choices before we write a single line of code.

Three types of marketplace.

The difference lies in who transacts and which flows that involves. B2B requires contract pricing and EDI, B2C requires a large-scale catalogue and checkout, and C2C requires strong trust and safety mechanisms. We advise which model suits you in the first conversation, and which components to build in phase one versus add later.

Compact project · fixed sprint budget

C2C or niche marketplace

Peer-to-peer or within a clearly defined niche. Think rental, lending, second-hand, or a community marketplace for a specific group. Self-service onboarding, light KYC, payments via Mollie Connect or Stripe Connect with escrow, and a review system to build trust between strangers. Ideal as an MVP to validate product-market fit before you scale.

Self-service onboardingEscrow paymentsRatings & reviewsDisputes

Mid-sized project · fixed sprint budget

B2C marketplace

A Marktplaats- or Bol-style platform where sellers offer their products to consumers. Seller dashboard with product management, order flow and payouts, multi-vendor checkout, a commission engine with flexible rates, and a catalogue structure that scales to hundreds of thousands of listings. Includes VAT handling per EU country, OSS/IOSS compliance, and shipping label integrations with PostNL and DPD per seller.

Seller dashboardMulti-vendor checkoutCommission enginePostNL & DPD

Larger project · fixed sprint budget

B2B marketplace or services marketplace

For industrial wholesale, contract-based procurement or service brokerage (in the style of Werkspot, Uber or Helpling). With contract pricing per customer, EDI integrations, credit limits, release workflows and approval flows. For service marketplaces, booking flows, matching algorithms, calendar management and SLA monitoring are added. Deep ERP and CRM integration as standard.

Contract pricingEDI integrationBooking and matchingERP integration

What you get at the end.

A production-ready marketplace platform covering the seller side, the customer side and everything that connects them. No black box: code, infrastructure, documentation and knowledge transfer.

Seller onboarding and dashboardSelf-service or guided onboarding with Chamber of Commerce (KvK) validation, VAT check, KYC (identity, UBO and bank account), document uploads and industry-specific questions. Once onboarded, sellers get a dashboard for product management, stock, orders, customer communication, payouts and performance statistics.
Customer side and catalogueSearch, filter, compare, buy. Includes faceted search, geo-filtering where relevant, comparison functionality, wishlist and account area. Recommendations and "you might also like" suggestions based on your own scoring engine or a established solution such as Algolia or Typesense.
Multi-vendor checkout and payment splittingOne order containing items from multiple sellers, with split payments via Mollie Connect, Adyen MarketPay or Stripe Connect. Includes escrow where appropriate, refund flows, and a commission engine that charges per category, per seller or as a hybrid model.
Disputes, reviews and trust layerA dispute workflow between buyer, seller and operator, a rating and review system, and a trust and safety layer with fraud detection, fake listing detection and moderation tools for your operations team. Additional checks are available for regulated segments.
Logistics, VAT and internationalisationShipping models per seller (self-ship or central fulfilment), shipping label integrations with PostNL, DPD, DHL and GLS, and VAT handling per EU country, including OSS and IOSS compliance for cross-border sales. Multi-language and multi-currency as standard, so you can scale across Europe.
Admin and operations environmentA platform admin for your team: approve sellers, moderate listings, adjust commissions, roll out discount campaigns, manage payouts, export reports and handle disputes. Includes an audit log for compliance and role-based access for different teams.
Codebase, infrastructure and knowledge transferFull source code in your own repository, production and staging environments in your cloud (GCP, AWS, Azure) or with us, CI/CD pipelines, architecture overview, incident runbooks and knowledge transfer sessions. No vendor lock-in.
Management and continuous development (optional)A fixed maintenance contract covering monitoring, security patches, performance tuning, fraud monitoring and development of new features. A fixed monthly fee with several response-time levels, tailored to how mission-critical your platform is.

When a marketplace is the right choice.

A marketplace is a two-sided economy, and that is not a logical move for every business model. Here are four patterns we help clients with. If you recognise yourself, we would be glad to talk further.

Range expansion

You have built your own catalogue

You are a retailer or supplier with your own range, but your customers ask for additional products or services that you do not want to purchase or hold stock of yourself. A marketplace alongside your own range (as Coolblue does) extends your offering without tying up your working capital.

Fragmented market

Supply and demand struggle to find each other

In your sector there are many small providers and buyers looking for them, but no efficient way to connect. Werkspot for odd jobs, Treatwell for beauty salons, Helpling for cleaning: each time, a services marketplace has turned fragmentation into a market.

B2B acceleration

Procurement is too slow or too expensive

Your customers buy industrial products or contract-based services through long manual flows involving PDF quotes and order emails. A B2B marketplace with contract pricing, EDI integrations and self-service shortens those cycles and lowers operational costs.

Community monetisation

You have an active community

You have built an audience around a brand, an association, a professional field or a lifestyle. A marketplace where that community trades with each other, peer-to-peer or with providers you know, monetises the community without commercialising it.

How a marketplace project runs.

Marketplace design and economic model

A conversation in which we work through the type of marketplace you have in mind (B2B, B2C, C2C, services or products, horizontal or vertical), who transacts, how the money flows and what the commission models will be. We address the chicken-and-egg question of whether to attract sellers or buyers first, and the strategy for that. We give honest advice: sometimes a straightforward headless commerce platform build with third-party suppliers is enough, and a full marketplace is overkill.

Scope, flows and MVP definition

Workshops with your team to settle the first sprint planning. We model seller onboarding, the KYC flow, the catalogue structure, checkout, the commission engine and payouts. We choose the payment stack (Mollie Connect, Adyen MarketPay or Stripe Connect) and the logistics approach. At the end you have an MVP scope sharp enough to take to a first ten sellers and first buyers, with a route for expansion in phases two and three.

Building in sprints

A working build every two weeks. We build the seller side, the customer side and the operations layer in parallel. You test along with us; we even guide you through early-access onboarding with a few pilot sellers, so we get feedback before going public. A first working marketplace is in place after a few sprints; after that you expand with more categories, more regions, more payment methods or a seller app.

Launch, scaling and continuous development

A soft launch with a closed group, then opening up to the public in stages. We monitor KPIs for each side (GMV, take rate, seller retention, buyer conversion), keep track of fraud and disputes, and optimise wherever the greatest leverage lies. Continued development for new markets, integrations or features in follow-up sprints, so your platform grows along with your marketplace.

The stack and building blocks we work with.

A marketplace is a combination of choices. We do not build a copy of a standard package; instead we combine proven building blocks into a platform that supports your economy precisely, and no more than that.

Front-end & UX

Customer-facing side and seller dashboard

Next.js for the customer-facing side (server-rendered product pages, edge caching, strong Core Web Vitals for SEO), React with TypeScript for the seller dashboard, and a custom design system and component library so marketing and operations teams can build landing pages and campaigns themselves.

Payments & splits

Mollie, Adyen, Stripe

Mollie Connect for Dutch markets with iDEAL, Bancontact and SEPA payouts, Adyen MarketPay for enterprise marketplaces with international scope, and Stripe Connect for SaaS and software marketplaces. We choose based on your geography, payment methods and payout cycles, not on a partnership.

Search & matching

Discoverability and recommendations

Algolia or Typesense for instant search with facets and geo-filtering, Elasticsearch or OpenSearch for heavy analytical queries, and a custom matching algorithm for service marketplaces (which tradesperson suits which job, which provider suits which booking). Recommendations based on purchase and browsing behaviour.

Backend & integrations

The engine under the marketplace

Node.js or Python for the application layer, PostgreSQL as the primary store, Redis for sessions and caching, and a webhook architecture for real-time events. ERP and CRM integrations via REST and EDI; see also our page on smart API integrations. For subscription models on the marketplace itself, we often pair this with building a subscription management platform.

Frequently asked questions.

What clients typically want to know about building a marketplace platform.

What exactly is a marketplace, and how does it differ from an online shop?

An online shop sells your own range, whereas a marketplace brings together third parties. With a marketplace, your platform does not handle purchasing, stock or shipping; the sellers on your platform do. You are the operator, not the retailer, and that changes everything: you need a seller side, a commission engine, payment splitting, dispute resolution and a trust layer. In practice, hybrid models are common, such as Coolblue or Wehkamp combining their own range with third-party sellers. We build both and help you choose the model that suits your business.

What is the difference between B2B, B2C and C2C marketplaces?

B2C connects business sellers with consumers, such as Bol or Wehkamp. B2B connects businesses with one another, often with contract pricing, EDI integrations, credit limits and approval workflows; we see this a lot in industrial wholesale and business services. C2C is peer-to-peer, such as Vinted for second-hand clothing or a rental platform between private individuals. The differences lie in onboarding requirements (KYC for C2C is different from KvK validation for B2B), payment flows (escrow for C2C, invoice payments for B2B) and compliance approach.

Do you replace Mirakl, Sharetribe or CS-Cart?

Not if those off-the-shelf packages fit your situation poorly. Mirakl is strong for enterprise extensions to an existing retailer, Sharetribe is good for quick MVPs within standard flows, and CS-Cart or Yo!Kart suit ready-made B2C marketplaces with limited customisation. We build bespoke when you depart from those templates: sector-specific flows such as industrial marketplaces with EDI, service marketplaces with booking and matching, deep ERP integration, scale requirements where SaaS licences become unfeasible, or a distinct brand experience that does not fit a SaaS look. In the first conversation we will honestly advise whether standard or bespoke software suits you, as a wrong choice costs a great deal of money in either direction.

How do you handle multi-vendor checkout and payment splitting?

We work with Mollie Connect, Adyen MarketPay and Stripe Connect, three payment platforms with native marketplace functionality. An order containing items from multiple sellers is automatically split, commission is deducted directly at the point of transaction, and payouts go to the individual sellers on a fixed schedule. On top of that we build the commission engine, which calculates per seller, per category or as a hybrid model, an escrow layer where relevant, and a payout administration that is sound for tax and accounting purposes. For the Dutch market we often choose Mollie Connect because of iDEAL and SEPA payouts, Adyen for international enterprise scope, and Stripe for software and SaaS marketplaces.

How do you verify sellers and prevent fraud?

Seller onboarding combines automated checks (KvK validation via the Trade Register, VAT checks via VIES, bank account verification via IBAN name check), KYC where legally required (identity, UBO, sanctions lists, often through a service such as Onfido, Sumsub or a local partner), and manual approval by your team for higher-risk categories. In addition, we build fraud monitoring into the listings themselves: fake listing detection, price anomalies, duplicate content checks and velocity checks on new sellers. For risk-sensitive segments such as luxury or medical goods, the flows are stricter; for C2C platforms they are often lighter.

How do you handle VAT across EU countries and cross-border sales?

For cross-border sales within the EU, the One Stop Shop (OSS) and Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) schemes apply, depending on whether the seller is located in the EU or is importing from outside it. We build VAT determination per transaction based on the combination of seller location, buyer location, product category and threshold values, and provide the transaction export your accountant or tax adviser needs for the OSS return. For sellers in the Netherlands this is relatively straightforward; cross-border adds complexity but can be automated well. For marketplaces that also sell outside the EU, we integrate with an external service such as Avalara or TaxJar.

How do you manage multi-vendor fulfilment and shipping?

Two models: sellers ship themselves (each seller uses their own account with PostNL, DPD, DHL or GLS, with shipping labels generated by your platform), or centralised fulfilment (everything comes into your own or an outsourced warehouse and is shipped from there under your brand). We build both and mix them where it makes sense — for example, your own range centrally, third-party sellers handling their own. This includes integration with the carrier APIs for labels, track-and-trace, returns and delivery estimates on product pages. For more complex fulfilment flows, we link to a custom order management system.

What determines the cost of a marketplace project?

Mainly the scope: whether you start with an MVP for one segment or build a broad platform straight away, how many sides you serve (B2C or B2B2C), the complexity of the commission engine, the payment flows and payouts, the integrations with ERP, CRM and logistics, the number of markets and languages, and whether there are compliance requirements for your sector. Further factors include whether you grow alongside operations (seller acquisition and marketing) or whether the marketplace is purely software. We work with fixed sprint budgets and a transparent scope per sprint, so you can adjust course or stop at any point. An honest assessment of what must be in phase one and what can come later often saves more than any other decision.

Do you also work with our in-house developers or with an existing multi-tenant platform?

Almost always. We are happy to work in a mixed team, or hand over knowledge at the end with runbooks and architecture sessions. The codebase lives in your repository. For marketplaces running on a shared platform, such as franchise models or multiple brands on one engine, we often build on a multi-tenant platform architecture, so that a single codebase serves several marketplaces without tenants seeing each other's data. For heavy ERP integrations, we often combine this with our smart API integrations approach.

Talk to us about your marketplace.

A half-hour introductory call, no obligation. We listen to your idea, your market analysis and your economic model, and give direction you can use — even if a marketplace turns out not to be the right choice. For broader context, see also our pages on building a headless commerce platform and building a subscription management platform.

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