Industry Guide
Building Two-Sided Marketplace Platforms
Marketplaces connect buyers and sellers. Chicken-and-egg problem, trust, payments, disputes. Here's how to build two-sided marketplaces.
Table of Contents
Cold Start Problem
Need buyers and sellers. Seed one side (e.g., supply first). Invite-only, manual onboarding. Consider single-player mode — value before network.
Trust & Safety
Reviews, ratings, verification. Dispute resolution. Moderation. Trust drives liquidity.
Payments & Escrow
Stripe Connect, or custom. Escrow: hold funds until delivery. Payouts to sellers. See our Subscription Billing guide for payment infrastructure.
Take Rate & Monetization
Commission on transactions. Or listing fees, subscriptions. Balance — too high kills liquidity.
Frequently Asked Questions
Stripe Connect for marketplaces?
Yes. Connect handles split payments, payouts to sellers. Standard for marketplaces. Custom for complex flows.