With custom metadata sorting, you can let customers sort by review score and other custom sorting options, set a fully curated listing order, or even monetize top search placement.
Add custom sorting options
Want to let customers sort by review score, popularity, or some other relevant metric? You can do this by creating custom sorting options and adding them to the sorting drop down. Customer customers can use them to sort search results.
First, you need to create a metadata field. We’ll use “Best rated” as an example.
Create a new listing field and give it a name “Best rated” and an ID “rating”.
Choose the access level Metadata.
Choose the field type Number.
Don't display the field on the listing page.
Add a minimum and maximum values 1-5 to follow the star system.
Enable the field for search.
Add a sorting option to the search page:
Choose the sorting option placement: primary (top of the list) or secondary (below primary and default filters).
Choose the sorting order option: High to low.
Save changes.
After creating the metadata field, you then manually edit listings in listing management to include them in sorting. Here’s how you add metadata to a listing:
Open a listing card.
Scroll down and click to edit the listing’s metadata and add a new field.
As the key, enter the ID of the listing field you created earlier, “rating”.
Choose data type Number.
Enter a listing’s review average number as the value: 5 for five stars, 4 for four stars, etc.
This will require some manual upkeep, but also lets you curate your top rated listings. You may not want to lift a new listing with just one five-star review to the top of the sorting results over more established supply.
Tip! Get a review average for your listings with the help of AI and the CSVs you can download from Console.
Upload them to your preferred AI tool (we use Claude at Sharetribe).
Feed it the following prompt:
Read the two CSV files I uploaded. The review CSV includes review
score numbers 1-5.
Calculate an average review score for each listing that has one or
more reviews. Round the review score to the closest whole number.
Cross reference listing ID across the CSVs. Output the listing title,
ID, and average review score for each listing with reviews.
Then, use the listing name or ID to search for listings in listing management and update their rating metadata accordingly!
Curate the listing order on the search page
With custom sorting, you can fully control the order of listings on your search page. This can be a great idea for curated marketplaces where the order of results might be as important as the listings themselves.
Disable all default sorting options in search settings. This means no default options will appear in the sorting dropdown on the search page.
Navigate to listing field settings.
Add a new listing field and give it a name “Sorting order” and an ID “sortingOrder”.
Choose the access level Metadata.
Choose the field type Number.
Don't display the field on the listing page.
Add a minimum and maximum values, such as 1-10000.
Enable the field for search. Don’t add a filter to the search page.
Add a sorting option to the search page and use it as a primary sorting option. As long as this is the only sorting option enabled on your marketplace, it will be used by default and no sorting dropdown will appear.
Choose one sorting order direction:
Low to high: the listing with the smallest number will be first in sorting.
Save changes.
In listing management, assign numbers to all listings in your desired order.
Open a listing card.
Scroll down and click to edit the listing’s metadata and add a new field.
As the key, enter the ID of the listing field you created earlier, “sortingOrder”.
Choose data type Number.
Enter 1 for the listing you want to appear first, 2 for the second one, etc.
Update the values in listing management whenever you want to adjust the order. Any listing without a value will be presented after all listings that have one.
You can also check out this video clip from a Sharetribe Community Q&A on metadata, where we walked through creating a custom search ranking order.
Monetize high search placement
High search placement is important in being noticed by potential customers. With custom sorting, you can monetize this visibility and offer higher positions in sorting to providers who pay a fee to boost their listings. This revenue model is pretty close to monetizing with featured listings.
Set up sorting
Disable all default sorting options in search settings. This means no default options will appear in the sorting dropdown on the search page.
Navigate to listing field settings.
Add a new listing field and give it a name, such as “Paid search placement” and an ID “paidPlacement”.
Choose the access level Metadata.
Choose the field type Number.
Don't display the field on the listing page.
Add a minimum and maximum values, such as 1-10000.
Enable the field for search. Don’t add a filter to the search page.
Add a sorting option to the search page and use it as a primary sorting option. As long as this is the only sorting option enabled on your marketplace, it will be used by default and no sorting dropdown will appear.
Choose one sorting order direction:
High to low: the listing with the highest number will be first in sorting.
Save changes.
Set up a payment flow
In order to monetize the search placement you need to set up a payment flow and communicate to your providers. For this, you’ll need a payment page and some way to promote the option, such a content page or an automated email campaign.
Set up a Stripe payment page. We have great instructions here: How to set up a Stripe payment page for one-time fees.
Create a content page or email explaining the option to boost your listing on the search page. Set clear conditions. Consider things like:
How long will the listing stay at the top? Will there be a queue to the top position, or will it always change when people pay the fee?
Do providers pay for the top position or a position among the top three listings?
How long is the waiting time from payment to boosting?
Will the listing keep the top position longer if other listings aren’t boosted on top of it?
(Optional) Set up automation with Zapier (available from the Pro plan onwards). For example, when someone posts a listing, automatically send them an email explaining the boosting option.
Update a listing’s metadata when someone pays
When you get confirmation of payment, navigate to listing management. Identify the listing that’s to be boosted in search.
Open the listing card.
Scroll down and click to edit the listing’s metadata and add a new field.
As the key, enter the ID of the listing field you created earlier, “paidPlacement”.
Choose data type Number.
Enter number 1 for the first boosted listing. For the next one, enter 2 and it will take up the top position, and so on.