Alternatives for building a marketplace?
Hi! I would like to build a simple marketplace to sell downloadables, provided by different sellers, where I could just earn a small commission. A simple search, filters and categories would suffice.
I'm open to any technology, third-party provider, framework or built-in solution. But ideally I would like to do as minimum development as possible to be "ready-to-market" asap.
Just wondering if anyone can share some recommendations? Thanks in advance!
Trending on Indie Hackers
Surprised no one has mentioned ShareTribe, which sounds like exactly what you're looking for.
This one seems like a viable alternative. I wish they had a more affordable starter plan, but on the other hand, it's a great platform and can save me a bunch of time. Thanks!
Check this one, https://codecanyon.net/item/affiliate-management-system/25393355
I've purchased it for some of the future projects, guys are updating it regularly, it's a very good system.
Will check it out, thanks!
I have also been looking for something like this for years, I remember finding some solutions but they were really expensive and outdated.
One thing that also stopped me from further going this path is that running a marketplace can be really tough (taxes, moderation, copyright, payments, reliability, marketing) and it probably requires a bigger team.
FWIW, if you can use off-the-shelf software to build marketplaces, it demonstrates that the hard part of building one is not the technology but network effects and defensibility. I wouldn't waste a second looking at technology until you understand these problems and find solutions for them.
This is a good place to start: https://www.nfx.com/post/the-nfx-of-trulia-building-a-3-5-billion-marketplace/
The vast majority of Indie Hackers will be better off creating a product and selling it (rather than create a marketplace).
Interesting read, thanks for sharing the article and your advice. I'm honestly looking for something really simple for now. That got me thinking that maybe, just a directory without any selling capabilities would suffice at this stage so that I can validate the idea.
Sort of like Gumroad?
No, he asks about creating his own marketplace, like ThemeForest.
Podia is pretty nice, and a lot more powerful than Gumroad, if you have a few extra bucks to spare every month.
Thanks! What I'm looking for is a platform where I can create a marketplace with sellers and buyers. Not sure Podia does that, they seem closer to Gumroad? They look great, though (how come I had never heard of them before?).