This video tutorial shows you how to test your Sharetribe marketplace – from user and listing creation to going through the transaction flow.
The sample marketplace in the video is a bike rental platform, but you can build any kind of marketplace with Sharetribe – whether for products, rentals, services, or something else.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
00:45 1. Create a user account
02:09 2. Publish a listing
04:13 3. Sign in as another user
04:34 Log in as a user in the Test environment
05:20 4. Find your listing
05:49 5. Initiate a transaction
07:25 Conclusion
Video content organized by chapter:
00:00 Introduction This tutorial walks through testing your marketplace inside Sharetribe Console: creating user accounts, publishing a listing, and completing a full transaction flow between a provider, a customer, and your platform. Sharetribe generates a fully functional test marketplace based on your answers to the setup wizard, so your exact experience may differ slightly, but the basics are the same. The sample marketplace used in the video is a location-based bike rental platform.
00:45 1. Create a user account Open your test marketplace using the View marketplace link in Console, then create your first user.
Sign up: Click Sign up in the top bar. You can use a real email address, or a testing address such as one ending in example.com. Use a real email if you want this test user to receive email notifications. Enter a name and password, accept the terms of service, and click Sign up.
Verify the email: New users are prompted to verify their email. The fastest way to do this for a test user is in Console: open the Manage Users tab, open the user you just created, click the three dots, and choose Verify email. If you used a real email, you can instead click the link in the verification email. (Real users should always verify their own emails, but for testing, verifying in Console is the quickest way to move forward.)
Complete the profile: Return to the marketplace and add a profile image and description in the user's profile settings.
02:09 2. Publish a listing Still signed in as your first user, create a listing using the Post a new listing link in the top bar.
Listing details: The default flow includes a Title, a Description, and an example dropdown field. You can customize these and add your own custom fields to match your marketplace. Fill in the basic info and make a selection.
Location and price: Enter the listing's location, then set a price. The pricing unit (e.g., per day) reflects the booking unit you chose in the setup wizard; hourly bookings or product pricing would appear here instead.
Availability: Set a weekly schedule. Choose your time zone (it defaults to the user's browser time zone), mark the days the listing is available, and save. You can also add availability exceptions to block out specific dates; blocked days appear grayed out in the availability calendar.
Photos: Upload photos for the listing.
Payout details: Because the sample marketplace uses online payments, you set up payout preferences before publishing. On a test marketplace, click Fill in test details to use sample banking information (a Finnish test bank account). A real user on a live marketplace would enter their actual banking details here; Stripe, Sharetribe's built-in payment provider, supports over 35 countries. Then click Get Verified, add a birthday and phone number, confirm the data, and you'll be directed back to the marketplace.
Publish: Click Publish listing. The listing is now available for booking on the marketplace.
04:13 3. Sign in as another user To test a transaction, you need a second user to act as the customer. Log out of your provider's account and create another user exactly as you did before, using a different email address. Verify the new user's email in Console or through the verification email, just like the first account.
04:34 Log in as a user in the Test environment Instead of logging in and out repeatedly, you can switch between your customer and provider from the Manage Users tab in Console: click the three dots on a user's card and choose Log in as user.
In a test environment, this gives you full access to that user's profile and actions — including initiating transactions, moving them forward, and sending messages — so you can experience your marketplace exactly as your users will. This is intentionally limited on a live marketplace: there, you can log in as a user only with restricted access, and you cannot initiate transactions, advance them, or send messages on a real user's behalf.
05:20 4. Find your listing Now logged in as the customer, find the listing you published by clicking Browse listings on the landing page or by searching for its location in the search bar. On the search results page, customers can sort listings and filter them by custom field values, categories, price, availability, or keywords once you have more of them. For now, click Open to go to the listing page.
05:49 5. Initiate a transaction Complete a full transaction from the listing page.
Book as the customer: Choose the dates you want to book. The Request to book button becomes available: click it to go to the checkout page. Fill in the credit card and billing details (on a test marketplace, click Fill in test details to speed this up), optionally leave a message for the provider, and finalize the booking.
Accept as the provider: Return to Console and log in as the provider again. A red dot next to the inbox indicates a new booking. Open the inbox, click the booking to open the booking page, and click Accept request. The customer's credit card is now charged.
How payouts work: On a live marketplace, Stripe holds the money until the transaction is complete; for calendar bookings like this one, until the booking period is over; on a product marketplace, when the customer marks their order as received. The provider then receives the payment minus the marketplace's commission. If you're not using online payments at all, the transaction is simply a message conversation.
Reviews: Once the transaction is complete, the customer and provider can review each other. Each party can only see the other's review after they've left their own, or once the 7-day review period is over.
You can see all of this activity in Console under Manage, where the users, listings, transactions, and reviews you just created are listed.
07:25 Conclusion With user creation, listing publishing, search, and the full transaction flow tested, you've seen the core of how your marketplace works. Your exact experience may vary based on your setup wizard answers; for example, a grid search view instead of a map, or stock and delivery options instead of availability. Try your test marketplace out for yourself, and reach out via the chat widget at the bottom of Console if you have questions. The next tutorial covers completing your marketplace setup.