In this step-by-step tutorial, we’ll test the most important user flows in your marketplace from user and listing creation to transactions.
Our example marketplace is a platform for bike repair service marketplace called Biketribe, but you can follow along and add content that fits your specific idea.
1. Create a service provider account
Our first step is creating a test service provider.
1. Go to your test marketplace through Console by clicking “View marketplace”.
2. In your test marketplace, go to the signup page. You’ll find it through the “Sign up” link in the top bar.
3. On the signup page, choose the user type “Provider”, if your marketplace has user types enabled.
Your marketplace will have user types enabled if you’re building a B2C or B2B marketplace and you indicated that in the setup wizard questionnaire. You can modify or create user types in Console.
4. Add the requested details. The exact set of information will depend on your answers to the setup wizard. At minimum, you’ll be asked for:
Email
First name
Last name
Password
If you’re building a B2C or B2B marketplace, you will also be asked the following information:
Display name
Phone number
These fields are configured as non-mandatory, so you can leave them empty. They are default user fields that can be enabled or disabled depending on your needs. For example, the display name works as a business name field for business providers.
5. Check “I accept the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy” and click “Sign up”.
Verify email
Before moving on to creating a listing, confirm the provider’s email address. If you used an actual email address for the user, you’ll receive an email with a link to confirm.
You can also verify emails through Console:
Go to Manage → Users.
Click open the new user’s card.
Click open the menu behind the three dots.
Click “Verify email”.
Confirm.
2. List your services
In your test marketplace, check that you’re logged in as the test provider you just created.
Click “Post a listing” in the top bar. This will take you to the listing creation form.
Add listing details
The first section asks the service provider for basic details. This information will be on the listing page for customers to see. The data added here can also serve as attributes for searching, filtering, and sorting listings.
If you haven’t made any configuration changes in Console yet, you’ll be asked for a title and description, such as:
Listing title: Full-service bike maintenance
Listing description: Give your bike the care it deserves! Whether you're an avid cyclist or a weekend rider, regular maintenance ensures your bike is running smoothly, safely, and efficiently. Our expert mechanics will perform a thorough inspection and tune-up, addressing every detail to optimize performance and extend the life of your bike.
In the listing field settings, you can make this page more detailed and ask for specific information about the service in addition to a general description.
Add location
Depending on your answers during onboarding, you may be asked to add a location for your listing. Add any location.
Add photos
Add one photo or more. Photos are shown in the listing thumbnail during search and on the listing page. If you marketplace doesn't need photos, you can disable them in listing type settings.
Add payout details
When your marketplace uses online payments, service providers must add their payout details before they can receive payments from customers.
In listing type settings, you can decide if the service provider needs to add their payout details before they can publish listings. This way, you can make sure that when any customer wants to book a listing, they’ll be able to complete a payment.
Sharetribe uses Stripe for payment processing. Stripe is a top-of-the-industry payment provider that guarantees secure, seamless marketplace payments.
In your test marketplace, you use test data for payouts and payments. You don’t need to use actual banking details.
In the modal that opens:
Choose your account type and country.
Click to “Save details”.
Click to get verified with Stripe.
You may be asked to give Stripe some more verification information. Click “Get verified”
In Stripe's portal, fill in the requested information. Typically this will be personal details, details of your business (if applicable), and a bank account for payouts. You can use in test data since your test marketplace uses Stripe in test mode.
Once the payout details are in place, you're redirected to the marketplace. Click “Publish listing”. Your listing is now available for booking on the marketplace!
Once your image uploads, click “Publish listing". Your first listing is complete.
3. Create a customer account
To complete a transaction on a two-sided marketplace, you’ll need at least two users. So let’s create another test account: this time as a customer. This is essentially the same process you went through in step one of this tutorial.
On your test marketplace, log out of the provider’s account.
Click “Sign up” in the marketplace top bar. Add the requested information.
Confirm the signup.
Verify your email as the operator from Console or via the confirmation email sent to the signup email.
Tip! You can’t use the same email for two users on your marketplace, but there’s a workaround for this. Add “+[alias]" to an email before the @-sign. For example, if your email address is your.name@example.com, you can create the alias address your.name+customer@example.com. Please note that this approach works only with some email providers, such as Google, Outlook, and Hotmail.
You have two users now. In the Manage users tab, you can switch between the users with the Log in as a user feature.
4. Find the service
Logged in as the customer, click “Browse listings” on the landing page of your marketplace.
Or search for the listing through the search field in the top bar.
Since your marketplace only has one listing at this point, it’s easy to find. If you add more test listings and configure your listing data and search, you can test the search and filtering functionality in more detail.
5. Request a quote
The final step in this tutorial is requesting a quote from the provider.
Logged in as the customer:
Open the listing page and check the details.
Click “Request a quote”.
On the checkout page, describe what you need.
Click to “Request a quote”.
Tip! With the marketplace text editor, you can modify any piece of text on your marketplace. For example, you could change the button text “Send an inquiry” to “Request a quote”. Or update the checkout page title “Send an inquiry to {authorDisplayName}” to “Describe your needs to {authorDisplayName} and request a quote”. Learn more about marketplace texts.
6. Submit an offer
Log in as the provider through user management.
Go to the inbox through the link in the top bar. You’ll see a red dot to indicate a quote request.
Open the quote request and click to submit an offer.
On the checkout page, add a quote in your marketplace currency and optional additional details compose a message to the customer. This details can include information about when you can start, a breakdown of your quote, which software you plan to use, etc.
Click to “Submit offer”.
If you didn’t add payout details in the previous step, you’ll be asked to add them before you can submit an offer.
7. Accept the offer
To move the transaction forward, log in as the customer again.
Go to the user’s inbox through the link in the top bar. You’ll see a red dot to indicate a new offer next to the link.
Open the offer in your inbox.
Check the offer details.
Next, you can accept the offer and place an order.
Add your payment details and pay. The money will be held by the marketplace until the provider delivers the order to the customer.
Your other option at this stage is to make a counter offer to the service provider. This can be a result of negotiation through messaging. The service provider can either accept or reject the counter offer.
8. Deliver and accept the order
Once the offer has been accepted, the customer places an order and the service provider gets to work. Here’s how the rest of the transaction process goes.
Log in as the service provider.
Go to the inbox and open the transaction page.
Click “I’ve delivered the order”.
Then, log in as to the customer again.
Go to the inbox and open the transaction page.
You can either accept the order or request changes, if it did not match what was agreed upon. If you request changes, the service provider will need to deliver the changes next.
When you accept the order, the transaction concludes, the service provider is paid.
Both parties can review each other.
Next: Complete your service marketplace setup
You’ve now successfully gone through all of the key user flows of your marketplace. You can keep testing how your marketplace works in your test environment.
If you noticed something you’d like to change in the user or listing creation, search, or transaction process, it’s a great idea to modify your settings and then see how the experience has changed.
Next, it’s time to complete your marketplace setup. Your marketplace already has many settings configured based on your answers during onboarding, but there might be things you want to change. You’ll also want to update your landing page and branding with your own content, among a host of other great features Sharetribe offers.
If you notice something your marketplace needs is not possible with Sharetribe's no-code tools, you can extend your marketplace infinitely with code. You can customize your marketplace yourself or hire a vetted Sharetribe expert to make code changes for you. Learn more about customizing your marketplace with code.