7 Examples: How Much Does it Cost to Build an Online Marketplace Website?

Consumers are constantly looking for shopping convenience and the likes of Amazons, the Etsys, and the Fivvers are fulfilling the demand. As a matter of fact, consumers spent a whopping 3.5 trillion US dollars in a single year on various online marketplaces.

But have you ever wondered, what could be the ideal cost to build a marketplace? What is the actual cost of building a marketplace website in 2024?

The major factors involved in developing a marketplace website include the type of business model and available software solution:

• Online builders with no-code options offer a host of flexibility to create a website and build a marketplace MVP.
• Building a marketplace from scratch would involve a complex interplay of strategic planning, technical development, and market validation.

In this article, we will learn the cost of developing the following types of online marketplaces with their features and costs:

1. How much does a marketplace website like Amazon and eBay cost?
2. How much does it cost to build a marketplace website like Airbnb?
3. How much does it cost to build a website like Coursera or Udemy?
4. How much does it cost to build a travel marketplace similar to Booking.com or Expedia?
5. How much does it cost to create a freelance marketplace site like Upwork, Fiverr, or Freelancer?
6. How much does building a real estate marketplace site like Zillow cost?
7. How much does it cost to create an online marketplace similar to Foody?

Cost of building an MVP vs custom marketplace development

The cost estimation is based on the website's complexity levels.

Click here to check out successful Shopify stores converted into multi vendor marketplaces using Shipturtle app.

1. How much does a marketplace website like Amazon and eBay cost?

Amazon and eBay are some of the largest marketplaces in the world. Amazon has the highest marketplace capitalization in the online store segment globally. It has sold over $500 billion in products and boasts over 300 million customer base.

Features of these online stores:

• Dedicated seller section including seller verification, digital store creation, product uploads, login/log-off options, order management, shipping integrations, and refund status.
• Dedicated customer sections where customers can search for products, place an order, and initiate digital payments. Customers can sign in and create their profiles for a smooth customer experience.
• The admin section is where you will find fees, content, advertisements, product management information, user analytics, and reports are also provided, support desk and notifications are also managed in the admin panel.

Check out our guide on how to build marketplace for listing used goods like eBay.

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2. How much does it cost to build a marketplace website like Airbnb?

Airbnb is a global platform that allows customers to rent their properties and apartments to customers who are on vacation, staycation, or trip. They provide comprehensive hospitality services. The website is perfectly built where property owners list out their space with price tags, amenities, and features.

Airbnb takes a commission and facilitates the entire transaction.  From booking to payment, everything is managed seamlessly on the platform. You can easily find numerous properties listed in your preferred location.

Features of the website:

• Property owner dashboard, where owners can list out their properties, add property images, and add features like parking space, swimming pool, etc. They can also have access to the charges and prices they offer for renting it out.
• The customer panel is where after sign-in, you have access to properties in the location you search for with the price tag and other details. Entire booking and payments are done on the platforms.
• While the hosting and taking care of the guest is on the owner.
• The platform features a Google Maps API, third-party integrations, a built-in payment system, search and filtering options, a PostgreSQL database management system, user profile switching, and property listings.

Check out our guide on how to build a P2P rental marketplace platform.

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Building websites like Amazon, or eBay or Airbnb is a continuous development and improvement process.

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3. How much does it cost to build a website like Coursera or Udemy?

Online education has given rise to EdTech platforms like Coursera, edX, Allison, and Udemy. They are one of the largest educational marketplaces in the world. The platform is based on the Massive Open Online course models. Anyone from students, learners, and professionals can acquire useful skills like learning coding, a foreign language, getting a higher education, or earning a certificate from a renowned university.

These websites like Udemy and Coursera are generally created using custom marketplace development solutions. These educational websites also create and build a marketplace app, so that students can have access to educational content on the go and their smartphones. The marketplace must have the following features.

Features of these EdTech websites:

• It has a teacher dashboard where teachers and professors can create and upload courses on the platform.
• They can also schedule the course as per the timings and dates and give detailed project management guides to the learners.
• The student dashboard features a wholesome course search option that allows students to find all the available courses for their subjects.
• Each course has its dedicated page where students can enroll, access detailed course information, watch lessons, submit assignments, track their scores, and write reviews and feedback. The enrollment process is easy, and the payment system is integrated.
• Students can access a personalized dashboard to manage their current, past, and future courses, view earned certificates, check their payment history, and more.
• There is also an admin section where fees, management information, reports, timings, notifications, and other functionalities are monitored.

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Time taken to build a website like Udemy and Coursera:

• If you build the website from scratch then it may take up to 8 months.
• For website creation using a white label solution provider will take less than 3 months in total.

Top factors influencing the cost of building a marketplace website

The marketplace website development cost can depend on many factors. However, roughly and depending on the complexity of the website, the cost to build an online marketplace business site could vary anywhere between $30000 to $300000. Here are the factors to consider for your website building costs.

I. Ready made or customized website development from scratch

If you are planning to get a ready-made marketplace app development provider, then the overall cost will depend on the software application and fees. If you choose to hire a freelance website developer, who will build your own marketplace website from scratch then the cost will vary as per requirements.

Building a website through ready-made templates could cost between $10 to 500 US dollars. Hiring a website developer could cost you anywhere between $500 to $150000. You can also hire a developer on an hourly basis. It would cost you between $50 to $100. They can help build a customized website solution.

II. Technological stack factors

The building block of your marketplace business is based on the technological stack that may include programming, coding languages, databases, and hosting services. If you choose open-source technologies then the cost of creating the online store would be low. Costs for licensed software and propriety software are comparatively higher. On the other hand marketplace website templates are affordable but lack many features.  You can make the marketplace store to meet your business needs.

III. Type of marketplace

There are various types of marketplaces to consider. For instance, Vertical, Horizontal, or Global marketplace. When you develop a website, your marketplace type will decide the overall cost of building the platform and investments. From the three building a global-like marketplace will incur a higher cost, have more technicality, and are generally loaded with a host of features.

• Vertical Marketplace: They have many sellers on the platform but the products sold are of a specific type.
  • Example: Zillow, Chegg, Etsy, Uber. Comparatively low cost of setting up this type of online store.

• Horizontal Marketplace: Offers goods and services in different categories with many sellers but with common characteristics.
  • Example: Poshmark, Dogvacay, Dote, Couchsurfing. It involves medium investment cost.

• Global Marketplace: They offer multiple sellers and a huge range of products and services across the continents.
  • Example: Amazon, Alibaba, Walmart,eBay, Airbnb. It involves high investment cost.

IV. Type of business model

When building your marketplace niche business models are very important, If you want your business to focus solely on providing products and services to companies then the B2B model is best. For serving consumers then B2C or direct consumer bases then C2C. The cost to develop a marketplace solution also depends on these factors.

V. UI/UX designs, maintenance, and running cost

When you develop even a basic marketplace website, you will need to integrate a lot of tools and functionality into the website. For example payment integrations, shipping options, product listings, maintaining the website, inventory management costs, UI/UX design costs and updates and so much more.

These are a few of the primary running costs and factors that could add to your overall online marketplace development cost. For example, the cost of a customized marketplace design (UI/UX) could cost you around $6000 to $10000 approx.