Case study · Marketplaces
Customers and providers, matched and paid safely
Marketplaces live or die on trust and liquidity. This is how we built a two-sided platform for local services, with provider onboarding and verification, search and booking, split payments, reviews and the trust and safety tools a marketplace needs.
Project overview
A two-sided marketplace platform.
- Industry
- Marketplaces
- Client
- Confidential
- Solution
- Two-sided marketplace
- Platform
- Web + optional apps
- Timeline
- 16–24 weeks
- Team
- 6 people
- Payments
- Stripe Connect split payouts
- Trust
- Verification and reviews
- Admin
- Operations dashboard
Expected business outcomes
What the marketplace had to prove
Early marketplaces are measured on liquidity and trust.
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Tracked
Search-to-booking conversion
The key liquidity measure, visible from day one.
Built into analytics
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Verified
Every provider
Identity and qualification checks before going live.
Configurable per category
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Automatic
Split payments and payouts
Customer payments split and providers paid out automatically.
Through the payment provider
Business challenges
Where the client started
The model is clear; the platform isn't built.
Supply
Providers recruited manually and listed on a basic site.
Bookings
Handled by messages and spreadsheets.
Payments
Collected and paid out by hand.
Trust
No verification or reviews.
Scale
Operations can't grow without a platform.
Proposed solution
What the platform covers
Both sides of the market, plus operations.
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Provider onboarding
Profiles, services, pricing, availability and verification.
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Search and discovery
Search by service, location, price and rating.
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Booking
Instant or request-based booking with calendars.
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Payments
Split payments, commission and automatic payouts.
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Reviews
Verified reviews after completed bookings.
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Trust and operations
Disputes, moderation, refunds and an admin dashboard.
Project requirements
What the client asked us for
The request was a marketplace like the big ones. The first version focuses on one category and one city, doing the core loop very well.
Trust and payments are built properly from the start, because they are hard to retrofit.
What the project had to deliver
- 01A strong core booking loop
- 02Verified providers
- 03Automatic payments
- 04Tools for operations
Key challenges & considerations
What made it harder, and what we did
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Cold start on both sides
What we did
The launch was limited to one category and one area to build activity on both sides.
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Payment regulations and KYC
What we did
Payments used a regulated provider with identity checks on providers.
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Disputes and refunds
What we did
The dispute and refund flows were designed before launch.
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Different rules per category
What we did
Rules were configurable per category.
What we watched for
- Start with one category
- Build payments properly
- Design disputes early
- Measure liquidity from day one
Development process
One category, done well
Launch narrow, then expand.
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Market design
Core loop, commission and policies defined.
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Provider side
Onboarding, verification and availability.
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Customer side
Search, booking and payments.
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Trust and ops
Reviews, disputes and admin tools.
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Launch
One category and city, then expand.
Technology stack
Marketplace foundations
Payments through a regulated provider; everything else built to evolve.
Front end
- React or Next.js
- TypeScript
- Accessible design system
Back end
- Node.js or .NET
- PostgreSQL or SQL Server
- REST / GraphQL APIs
Cloud
- Azure or AWS
- Managed databases
- CDN
Quality
- Automated tests
- CI/CD
- Monitoring and alerts
Quality assurance & deployment
Tested every sprint, released without drama
Testing ran alongside the build, not after it. Every feature was checked against its acceptance criteria in the sprint it was built in, and releases went through an automated pipeline.
- Automated unit and API tests, run on every change
- Code review by a second engineer before anything was merged
- Feature testing against written acceptance criteria
- Cross-browser and responsive checks on the agreed devices
- Security checks on access, sessions and data handling
Deployment
- 01Trust and opsReviews, disputes and admin tools.
- 02LaunchOne category and city, then expand.
- 03Automated release pipelineThe same build moved from staging to production, with a tested rollback.
- 04Monitoring and warrantyError and uptime monitoring from day one, and six months of free bug fixing.
Final deliverables
A marketplace ready to grow
Providers onboard and get verified, customers find and book them, payments split automatically and reviews build trust.
Operations teams handle disputes and quality from one dashboard.
- Two-sided onboarding
- Booking and payments
- Reviews and verification
- Operations dashboard
Handed over to the client
- 01Production applicationDeployed and monitored
- 02Source codeIn a repository the client can access
- 03Technical documentationArchitecture, setup and deployment
- 04Test suite and pipelineSo later changes stay safe
- 05Six-month warrantyFree bug fixing after delivery
Success metrics
How success is measured
| Measure | Outcome | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|
| Search-to-booking conversion | Tracked | Built into analytics |
| Every provider | Verified | Configurable per category |
| Split payments and payouts | Automatic | Through the payment provider |
Verified reviews
What clients say about our web development work
Verified reviews from our clients on the same kind of work, published on Clutch.
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Web Development
Custom Web Development for a Software Solutions Company
We can rely on them to handle almost any task with confidence, as they consistently deliver good results.
Casper Hougaard Jensen
CEO & Co-Founder, Iterator IT Jul 2021 – Sep 2022
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Web Development
Web & Mobile App Development for a Software Development Company
They efficiently organized tasks and deliverables while promptly addressing questions.
Damien Retzinger
Founder, Graycore Jun 2021 – Feb 2023
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Web Development
Website Development for a Software Engineering Company
They have a broad understanding of different technologies.
Eugene Bosikov CEO, Ezibeline LLC Mar 2022 – Ongoing Verified review on Clutch (Eugene Bosikov, opens in a new tab)
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