New in Sharetribe 🎉 Private user fields

User fields let you collect additional custom information about users in your marketplace. Until now, all user fields were visible on public profiles. But there are plenty of things you might want to ask from your users that shouldn’t be public. 

That's why you can now create private user fields and collect information that only the user and you, the marketplace admin, can see. Such as: 

• Company registration numbers, such as VAT IDs and other business credentials, that don't need to be displayed publicly.
• Professional credentials, certifications, or documentation to help you vet and approve providers to guarantee quality and trust in your marketplace.
• Demographic information, business types, or interests for user segmentation and better understanding your user base.
• Marketing and analytics permissions for collecting consent to send communications or gather usage data.

In other words, you can now collect information that stays between you and the user, no coding required. 

How to create private user fields

You can create a private user field by choosing an access level in user field settings. Here's how:

1. Go to user field settings in Console.
2. Click to create a new user field and give it a name and an ID.
3. Under the new section, Access level, choose Private.
4. Determine further settings, like field type and whether the field is mandatory. All user type settings are available for both public and private fields.
5. Save changes.

It pays off to think carefully when deciding the access level. If you change the access level setting in Console later, data that’s already been added will retain the original access level; it won't change automatically from public to private and vice versa. You need to update it manually in the user management in Console (more on this below).

How private user fields work for users

Users can find and update private user fields in a new account settings tab called Manage account.

If the information you’re asking for is necessary, adding the private user field to the signup form and making it mandatory is the best choice. Users will be asked to provide the info when creating an account instead of having to navigate to their account settings. You can enable both of these in user field settings. 

Where to find private user field data in Console

In user management in Console, you can see all user data, both public and private. This means you can review sensitive information like VAT numbers, demographic information, or marketing permissions—whatever you’ve added as private fields—all in one place for verification and management purposes.

Private fields will exist under the Private data section in each user's card. You can also edit the data there.

Update marketplace texts

This launch introduces new marketplace texts. You can find the new texts below or in Sharetribe’s Help Center. Copy the new marketplace texts and paste them into your marketplace text editor.

Another recent release, user account deletion, added new texts to the Manage account page. Find those marketplace texts here.

Build your verification and onboarding flow

With private user fields, you can create verification processes and collect segmentation or permission data while respecting user privacy. Collect the information you need to run your marketplace effectively, without compromising on data protection.

Head over to Console and start collecting private user data today!