Build a Peer-to-Peer Marketplace Without Code

Chapters

• 0:00What a peer-to-peer marketplace actually is
• 0:32Create the store (template, name, description)
• 1:40Stripe keys and shipping settings
• 3:40Signup form and the Condition custom field
• 5:10First listing as a seller
• 6:40Seller profile, comments, and the ID Verified badge
• 7:50Flagging Venmo and PayPal in messages
• 8:15Buying the lens as a second user
• 9:20Ship, confirm delivery, get paid
• 10:53Wrap up

What a peer-to-peer marketplace actually is (0:00)

Vinted, eBay, StockX. Every one of them is the same thing: a peer-to-peer marketplace. A platform where regular people sell to regular people, and the platform in between takes a cut.

A peer-to-peer marketplace is really four problems. Sellers who sign up in 30 seconds. Money that doesn't move until the item ships. A reason to trust a stranger. And a reason to not just Venmo each other. In this video I'm going to build one with all four solved, no code. A secondhand camera gear peer-to-peer marketplace. Let's go.

Create the store (template, name, description) (0:32)

We'll build a peer-to-peer marketplace called Lensloop. It's a marketplace for buying and selling used camera lenses, and that makes it a product marketplace, because shipping is involved. So I pick the Product Marketplace template and click next. Here I add the name, Lensloop, and below that a bit of information about what Lensloop is: a peer-to-peer marketplace for secondhand camera gear, where photographers and hobbyists sell their used lenses to each other. Then I create the marketplace.

After a few seconds we have the first version. If I open it, it already looks pretty good. There's a nice hero, there's an about page, and of course I could go through and adjust everything I want. But I'm not going to touch the front end right now. I'm going straight to the back office, the store settings.

Stripe keys and shipping settings (1:40)

Let's start by adding the Stripe keys so payments are enabled. I go to the Payments tab, down to Stripe Connect, and paste in the test keys from my Stripe test account. I'm in the test account now on Stripe, I copy the secret key and the publishable key, paste them into the Prometora back office, and save. Keys added.

Next, shipping. I enable shipping and go with a flat rate for now. If the seller doesn't set their own price, shipping is $15, and orders above $500 ship free. I also enable per-listing shipping cost, so a seller can charge more than the default if they need to. The default is 15, but if a seller wants 20 they just enter 20. I'm not integrating with Shipmondo or ShipStation for this one. Shipping countries: USA. Shipping deadline: 7 days. And I turn on buyer delivery confirmation, so the buyer gets a confirmation email 5 days after shipping. If the buyer never acts on it, the seller's money is released automatically after 10 days. Save. Shipping is set up.

Signup form and the Condition custom field (3:40)

Now the signup form. For this marketplace I don't think we need to distinguish between buyers and sellers, so I toggle that off. Now it's just first name, last name, email, phone, business name. You could add custom fields here, but I won't for this one.

On to the listing form. There are four listing types: lenses, camera bodies, film cameras, and accessories. For lenses we're asking for title, description, and price. Let's add one custom field: Condition. I make it a required field, so every seller has to pick the condition the lens is in. The options are New, Like new, Used, works perfectly, and Used, has marks. You can see the preview of the form on the right. Then on the all-listings page I also add a filter for condition, so a buyer can say "I only want to see brand-new lenses." I'll also remove the compare-at price from the listing cards. We're still showing the seller name, price, title, and image.

First listing as a seller (5:10)

Now I'll sign up as a seller and make a listing. I sign up, and I'm logged in. I create a listing and pick the Lenses type. You can see all four listing types here. I've added a title, a description, and I'll leave the URL as suggested. Price is $200, condition is Like new, the image is added, and shipping is left at the default 15, though I could set my own. I publish immediately and create the listing.

Published. Let's go to the marketplace and see what it looks like. There are the four demo listings from when the store was created, and now my listing is there too. On the left you can see the filters: a price range, a seller filter, and the condition filter. And I can browse the different listing types up top.

Let's look at the actual listing page. We probably shouldn't show "in stock" here, so I go to the product detail page settings. We don't need the SKU, we don't need stock, category, or tax, and let's hide the quantity selector. Back to the listing, refresh, and that's better.

Seller profile, comments, and the ID Verified badge (6:40)

If I click on my name up here, I haven't added any information about myself yet, so let me do that from the seller settings. Profile photo, profile banner, some text about myself, a shipping address, which matters for shipping of course, and some social media profiles. Save. Back on the marketplace, when I click my name now, it shows my tagline and a proper seller profile page I can share. Once I have more than one listing, that's an easy way to share all of them.

One more thing in store settings: comments. I enable comments so people can comment on listings. If I go back to my listing, you can see comments are now available.

And under Seller Profiles I'll add a seller badge. I'll add just one: ID Verified. When a seller has gone through Stripe verification, they get this blue shield mark on their profile and their listings. Save. You could easily add other badges too, like a Top Seller badge.

Flagging Venmo and PayPal in messages (7:50)

Also on the listing form, further down, there's "flag prohibited words." I enable that so if anyone writes these words in messaging, the message gets flagged, because we want to keep all transactions on the marketplace. I add Venmo and PayPal for now.

Buying the lens as a second user (8:15)

Now I'll create another profile and try to buy the listing this seller just made. New profile created. I go to the listings, and this is the one I'll buy. I could ask a question first, so let's do that: "How old is this lens?" The seller gets a notification and the chat can happen there. But I'll go ahead and buy it now. Buy now sends me to Stripe checkout. This is a sandbox environment, so a test payment. $200 plus $15 shipping. I add my details and pay.

Order confirmed. Let's check the inboxes. The buyer got "thanks for your purchase." The seller got an order email showing how much they'll earn and what they need to do next.

Ship, confirm delivery, get paid (9:20)

Let's log in as the seller and ship the order. I'm in, and I have $188 in pending payments, awaiting shipment. I have a tracking number and a carrier, UPS, so I enter those and mark it as shipped. I don't get the money yet, because the buyer first confirms they received it and everything is as described.

The buyer gets "your order has been shipped." Logging in as the buyer, under My Orders I can see it shipped on September 4th, with the tracking number and the carrier. Let's say a day or two has passed. I confirm delivery. Delivery confirmed.

The seller gets "order completed," and when I log in as the seller I have $188 in pending earnings. To actually receive the money, the seller now connects Stripe, which is where Stripe asks for identification and bank details. But notice the seller made their first sale before doing any of that. That matters a lot: with $188 waiting, there's a very high chance they go through the verification, even if it takes five minutes.

Wrap up (10:53)

And that's how fast you can set up your own peer-to-peer marketplace. This was a quick tutorial, and there are many other ways to do it and many more features you can enable in the store settings to make the marketplace exactly the way you want. But I hope it showed you how easy it is to get going with Prometora.

If you're considering building your own marketplace, check out Prometora. There's a 14-day free trial. And if you liked this video, give it a like and maybe subscribe. Thank you, and I hope to see you in the next one.