Search, categories, a cart: from the outside your marketplace looks like a shop. Behind it, it works completely differently. Know that early, and you plan in the right places.
In a shop you sell your own goods. On a marketplace many sellers do — you provide the place, you make the rules, and you make sure both sides can rely on them. You decide who may offer, what an offer has to say, how the money is settled and what happens when something comes back.
Buyers, sellers and you yourself: your marketplace only carries itself once all three get something out of it. If one side drops away, the others do not stay either.
Many sellers in one place. Offers can be compared, prices and terms become visible.
Customers who are already looking. Reach, without having to build and advertise a shop of their own.
A range that grows without you buying in or storing anything. You earn on the brokering.
Buyers come when there are offers. Sellers come when there are buyers. You decide which side you win first and what keeps it there until the other arrives. This is the question most marketplaces fail on.
Your income is a share of a deal between two others. Once buyer and seller know each other, they can carry on without you. Commission, a fee per listing, a package or paid visibility: what works depends on what keeps both sides with you.
You never hold what is being sold. If a seller delivers badly, the complaint still lands with you. That is why you decide who may sell, which proof is required and what every offer has to state.
One purchase, several recipients: the seller, your commission, perhaps the shipping. Taking in and passing on money for others is regulated. There are payment providers for marketplaces that handle the split, the payout and the checks on sellers.
Returns, complaints, a missed appointment: the contract is between buyer and seller, but both expect you to settle what happens next. Decide it up front and you do not have to rule on every case separately.
Brokering other people’s offers brings duties of your own: a way to report illegal offers, depending on your size checks on sellers, and in many cases a yearly report of sales to the tax office. Which of them apply to you depends on your model.
Sounds hard? Don’t worry: we don’t leave you alone with it, we help you build a successful marketplace business.
And they can be bundled. A set of tyres with the fitting. Planters, the delivery and the planting — three items, one package price, one purchase.
Your own role is a setting too: you can keep the catalogue and set the prices — or leave both to the sellers.
In e-commerce these terms are not used consistently. Platform is the umbrella term. What you are building is the platform that brings supply and demand together.
| Term | What it is | Your marketplace |
|---|---|---|
| Online shop | One seller presents and sells their own products or services. Usually run by retailers or manufacturers, for consumers or businesses. | Many sellers instead of one |
| Platform | Umbrella term for software in the browser. It distributes content, simplifies communication, manages data or brings supply and demand together. | A platform with exactly one job: brokering |
| Portal | A collection of information and services, such as news, search or social networks. Often with no intention to sell. | Brokers, and means to earn from it |
| Store | The shop on the high street. Linked with an online shop and marketing, it becomes omnichannel. | More a department store or a weekly market |
In more depth on the wunschlösung blog (German): The difference between online marketplaces, shops, portals, platforms and stores
Between selling your own range and pure brokering lies a spectrum. Where you start decides how quickly buyers find something and how much you carry yourself.
You start with your own range and bring more sellers in. Buyers find something from day one, and the market grows behind it.
You set the products and prices, sellers report what they can supply. For buyers everything stays uniform.
Sellers create their own offers and set their own prices. You make the rules and earn on the brokering.
About ten minutes. At the end you have a clickable draft and a fact sheet that shows where your plan is strong and where it wobbles.