New in Sharetribe 🎉 Reverse price negotiation

Big news! Sharetribe has an entirely new no-code transaction process that enables reverse price negotiation with online payments. This means that you can now build a marketplace where providers reach out to customers instead of the other way round. These kinds of platforms are called reverse marketplaces.

Here are just some examples of reverse marketplaces you can now build on Sharetribe, without coding:

• Knowledge-work marketplaces like Upwork, where customers specify the work they need done (software development, accounting, legal expertise…) and compare proposals they get from freelancers.
• Local service platforms like Thumbtack or Airtasker, where customers post what they need (home repairs, tutoring, event planning…), and service providers compete to win the business.
• Custom product marketplaces where customers describe the item they want, and artists or artisans submit proposals with their design and price. 

In this newsletter, you'll learn how to build a reverse marketplace with Sharetribe.

So what’s a reverse marketplace?

On most marketplaces (let’s call them regular marketplaces), providers create listings, and customers find the product or service they want and buy it.

On a reverse marketplace, these roles are... well, reversed. The customer creates a listing where they describe what they need, and providers start transactions by submitting offers for doing the work. The customer then chooses an offer and pays. 

A reverse marketplace serves customers who: 

• Benefit from receiving multiple competitive options. 
• Want to negotiate on the details and price instead of booking a predetermined service.

If that sounds like something you’re building, price negotiation is the transaction process for you. 

How to enable price negotiation

Earlier, to build a reverse marketplace with Sharetribe, founders could use the free messaging transaction process. However, free messaging doesn’t include online payments. Customers and providers had to handle payments outside the platform. 

Now, the entire negotiation, payment, and delivery process can happen on your marketplace.

Here’s how you enable price negotiation:

1. Go to listing type settings in Console.
2. Click to create a new listing type and give it a name and an ID.
3. Choose the transaction process type Price negotiation. 
4. Enable or disable the default listing fields you want the listing type to use.
5. Save changes.

Simple as that! Note that if you modify the transaction process of an existing listing type, old listings in that type will stop working.

Next, let’s see what this simple change enables on your marketplace.

How price negotiation works for users

Here’s the price negotiation transaction process in its simplest form:

1. A customer creates a listing describing what they need.
2. A provider submits an offer on the listing.
3. The customer accepts the offer, pays, and places an order.
4. The provider delivers the work.
5. Customer reviews and accepts the delivered order.
6. The customer and provider review each other.

Watch this video to see the transaction flow in action:

But that’s not all! After receiving an offer, the customer can also:

• message the provider to negotiate or discuss project details before placing an order.
• make a counteroffer, which the provider can accept or reject.
• reject the offer, and the transaction concludes without a payment.

When the provider delivers the order, the customer can still request changes or fixes if the delivered work doesn’t match what was agreed upon.

That’s the price negotiation process in a nutshell.

Update marketplace and email texts

This launch introduces a lot of new marketplace and email texts. The default copy has been chosen to fit any kind of reverse marketplace, regardless of industry. With marketplace and email texts, you can modify the terms to fit your specific idea or niche.

You can find the new texts in Sharetribe’s Help Center:

• Copy the new marketplace texts and paste them into your marketplace text editor.
• Copy the new email texts and paste them into your email text editor. The price negotiation process adds several new automatic email notifications to keep both parties informed throughout the negotiation and order delivery process.

Build a complete reverse marketplace experience

Many other Sharetribe features help to complete a reverse marketplace flow. Here are some highlights:

1. Tailor provider and customer experiences with user types:

• User roles determine which reviews and inboxes each user type sees.
• User account links show customers and providers only the features they need.

2. Differentiate user type experiences further with access control settings:

• Restrict viewing listings to providers only (so customers don't see project requests from other users).
• Give transaction rights only to providers (since they initiate transactions with offers).
• Allow posting listings only to customers (since they’re the ones listing their projects).

3. Automate permissions with Zapier and build a seamless onboarding experience:

• Set up a Zapier automation (Zap) to automatically grant the right permissions to customers and providers based on the user type they choose at signup. 

You can find a full step-by-step tutorial on how to build a reverse service marketplace in Sharetribe’s Help Center.

While building a reverse marketplace without coding is now much faster and easier, the new transaction process also speeds up custom development. Check our developer documentation to learn more about customizing the price negotiation process.

Regular price negotiation coming soon

The price negotiation transaction process will get its first update soon. Our next release will add a regular marketplace flow option to price negotiation. In a regular flow, providers are the ones who create listings. Customers reach out to them, get offers, and negotiation ensues.

This means that, soon, you can create a marketplace where customers request quotes from providers—or a marketplace that supports both a regular and a reverse flow, Upwork and Thumbtack style.

Keep an eye on Sharetribe’s roadmap and changelog for updates.

Add reverse price negotiation to your marketplace  

With price negotiation, you can build a platform where customers post projects and providers compete with offers—complete with online payments and reviews, no custom development required.

It’s time to start building your reverse marketplace! Head over to Console and start testing the price negotiation process right away.