A reverse marketplace is a type of marketplace where the typical buyer and seller roles are switched. In a reverse marketplace, customers post their needs or requests to the marketplace while providers search through these requests and submit bids, proposals, or send a message. This is a reverse of typical marketplace roles, where providers post the offerings to the marketplace that the customers search through and purchase.
Upwork is a well known example of a reverse marketplace. On Upwork, customers post unique projects they need done, usually in software development or design. Providers view these requests and submit bids for the customers' review.
Such a reverse model is particularly suitable for bespoke service hiring or goods procurement by businesses. In these situations, where there are highly specific needs, a reverse model alleviates the customer’s burden to discover the right provider by enabling them to receive bids tailored to their requests. The providers conduct the search and decide if the request is a suitable match. Moreover, this model can give customers more insight into opaque services, increasing transparency and motivating providers to offer the best deal possible. On the other hand, customers must be patient to receive bids, deliberate, and decide.
A reverse marketplace model has several unique aspects. Customers must be able to list their request on the platform and include details about their needs. Providers, in turn, must have search capabilities to discover relevant requests. Finally, the order flow must accommodate a provider submitting their inquiry or proposal for the customer to view and respond. The rest of this article discusses how to implement a reverse marketplace on Sharetribe.
How to build a reverse marketplace on Sharetribe
You can build a reverse marketplace on Sharetribe without coding. This marketplace will enable customers to post requests specifying their needs, enable providers to search and filter through requests and find suitable opportunities, and enable providers to initiate a transaction where they and customers can submit offers and counter offers. Setting up your reverse marketplace on Sharetribe requires several steps and changes. We describe them in more details below.
Customers post requests through listings
Customers must be able to post their requests or needs to the marketplace. This functionality exists through listings. Listings on Sharetribe are characterized by the fact that they are posted by one side of the marketplace (supply or demand) and by the fact that the other side of the marketplace searches through them. Moreover, listings define the sort of interaction, or transaction, users initiate through them.
Listings are made into requests through several configurations. Listing categories and fields should be set up to give the customer an opportunity to share details about their request. Customers will fill out default fields like the title and description of the request and any additional fields that you configure through categories and listing fields. Customers post requests on the marketplace through the “Post a new listing” button in the top right of the top bar.
The listing type settings and fields determines if the request has a price and location associated with it and what kind of transactions providers can initiate. The suitable transaction process for reverse marketplace is "Price negotiation", with the "Reverse" negotiation flow.
Providers search requests
A reverse marketplace must enable a provider to search through requests and identify appropriate opportunities quickly. In Sharetribe, it is listings that are searched-for and returned based on the parameters entered on the search page. Therefore, when configuring listings to be requests, it is important to consider how searching for these listings should happen.
Categories and certain fields can be used by providers to filter requests. It is therefore important to create categories that makes sense to both sides of the marketplace. Moreover, when configuring fields, you decide whether certain fields on the request should be made into a filter for providers. These filters show up on the search page, where all requests are shown, and where filters can be used by providers to return results most relevant to them.
Providers initiate the transaction on the request and customers respond
When providers find the right request, they can initiate a transaction with the customer. Providers initiate the transaction by submitting an offer through the customer's listing. Customers are notified of this offer via email and can view it in their Inbox. They can react to the offer by accepting, rejecting or submitting a counter offer. The message function allows both sides to send any text, including hyperlinks, back and forth to clarify any details and negotiate the price.
Though simple, the fact that the message text is free and open enables different kinds of uses. Beside a simple inquiry, providers can type in or copy and paste however much detail they want to their proposal. Important info like proposed price, timeline, or additional questions can all be typed in and presented how the provider wants. Since they cannot attach digital files directly to the message, they can copy and paste links to digital documents stored on the cloud to bring in additional information through PDFs or images.
Customers can view all offers submitted by providers in their Inbox. They can use the same messaging system to respond to the provider and react to those offers. Both the customer and provider can send as many messages as they need as part of their transaction.
You can always test how things work in your Test environment. Learn how to test a transaction and your marketplace with test users and listings.
If you prefer a hands-on guide, follow our step-by-step tutorial on how to set up a reverse marketplace.