How to Build a Marketplace App Like Letgo to Buy and Sell Stuff Online

If you are interested to build a marketplace app like Letgo, you don’t need to browse further. Why? Because, you will learn about the scope of buy and sell apps, important concerns regarding them, basic and recommended features and the estimated cost to develop an app like letgo. In fact, this blog is written with the help and guidance of our eCommerce app development consultant, who has over 12 years of experience in web and mobile app development industry. 

Would you rather let go of your used stuff for free or Letgo (sell) these items in exchange for money? We’re sure you would opt for the second option.

This is how most people think. A businessman understands this psyche of the people and can make money out of it. This is the reason yard sales were so popular. Now, everything has come online. Yard sales have been converted into marketplace websites (eCommerce websites) and apps. 

These buy-sell marketplace apps have eased the process to buy and sell locally for both the seller and buyer. They are the perfect way to connect to a seller and an ideal buyer in the locality. 

Buy-sell apps and eCommerce apps are close cousins and we’ll be talking about important concerns you need to focus on before you build a complete marketplace app of your own.

Let’s begin by some statistics that will give you a clear idea of the scope of this mobile marketplace for local buyers and sellers.

Scope of Online Business Apps

• According to Statista, the number of digital buyers is projected to reach 2.14 billion.
• According to Statista, Walmart and Amazon are the two most popular shopping apps on which most people prefer to make purchases.
• According to a report of Statista, the retail e-Commerce sales revenue of Canada is expected to reach 40.3 billion US dollars by 2025.

Image Credit: Statista.com

Next, we will talk about the marketplace mobile app development process.

How to Develop a Marketplace App?

1. Conduct Market Research for Your Own MarketPlace App

   When you want to create your custom marketplace application, first identify your target audience. Your target audience could be people who are using apps like Letgo or eBay while making online purchases. After that, check your competitors to understand the need of your existing customers.

   To do so, you can install top marketplace applications that are famous in your country. For example, in Canada, the top Canadian marketplace applications are Esty, eBay and Kijiji. Check these applications thoroughly and learn what you can implement in your application while developing your own online marketplace application.

2. Identify Your Requirements

   When researching your application idea, another important task you need to carry out is to identify your requirements. Understanding your requirements helps you to know on which platform you want to develop your app, the UI/UX design of your app, and the specific features and functionalities of your marketplace mobile application.

   Make your requirements specific for your mobile application development. This will help you to create a marketplace app that is unique from your competitors and as per your requirements.

3. List Down the Features for Your Marketplace App Development

   Once done with the above two steps, you need to find the essentail features you want to include in your mobile app. Make a list of essentail features that you want to include in your marketplace mobile app. To identify features, check the top players of marketplace applications.

   To give you a brief idea about the features, here’s the list of basic features of an online marketplace application.

   • Search & filters
   • Login/Signup
   • Product/Service listing
   • Ratings & Reviews
   • Notifications
   • Discounts
   • Billing/Shipping address
   • Delivery or order status
   • Order history
   • Chat support

4. Find an Online Marketplace Mobile App Development Company

   Once you selected the features for your mobile application, then it’s the right time to look for a mobile app development company. For finding the right mobile application development company, visit websites like Upwork, Freelancer, and GoodFirms. These websites list experienced mobile app developers and app development agencies.

   You can also consider Space-O Canada as a reliable mobile app development partner as we have experience in developing custom mobile app and web solutions. In fact, you can check out previous work from our portfolio section. Here is more information about one of our developed solutions.

   We have developed a custom roofing software solution for roof contractors. Using this software roof contractors get benefits, such as

   • Boosts Productivity
   • Provides Secure Storage
   • Enables to Stay Organized
   • Offers Mobility

Instead of competing directly against the likes of eCommerce apps like Amazon, eBay, Craigslist you could begin by starting small. Here, we are going to essential aspects before building a marketplace app.

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Important Aspects to Consider Before You Build a Marketplace App Like Letgo

1. Decide upon your niche

   Do you wish to develop a local selling app for selling stuff in your neighbourhood or you wish to create an app to buy and sell across cities and borders? 

   Deciding which market you want to focus on is the first step in this process. You should also decide which commodities you wish to deal with. You can go for a single category and develop an app to sell used clothes or go for a broad spectrum app.

2. User experience

   A single online marketplace app is perceived as an app to buy stuff or an app to sell stuff online depending on whether it’s the buyer or seller.

   User experience for both cases should be taken into consideration. Buy-sell trade apps should be performance-driven and have an advanced set of features. 

3. Fraud protection

   Fraud protection is the key to a steady market. As an entrepreneur, you should invest in customer protection reinforcement and use fraud detection algorithms.

   Both the buyers and sellers should be verified before they can register with your buying selling app. 

After considering these important considerations, it’s time to see which are the basic features that every marketplace app is composed of. 

Basic Features of a Buying and Selling App





1. Registration

   All mobile shopping apps have this feature as a measure to register and verify users. The first step to use any buy & sell website or app is to register either as a seller or a buyer. This is why the registration feature should be easily understandable by the user. 

   Register this feature correctly when you develop eCommerce app for your business.

2. Search filters

   This feature is a must for all online shopping apps. There is a wide variety of commodities available on a website or app. Search and sorting filters make it easier for buyers to find an item of their choice.

3. Shopping cart

   Shopping cart contains all the items a buyer wants to purchase. This feature helps the buyer to keep a track of all the items that he found interesting on the online selling app. This must be considered when you make a marketplace app as it gives a feeling of real-life shopping.

4. Payment integration

   Most sellers and buyers prefer the buy and sell apps online as they have the feature of payment gateway integration. This feature enables the users to choose the payment method which is the most convenient for them. Most apps provide options like e-wallet, card payment, net banking and even cash on delivery.

These were the key features that you must keep in your mind when you plan to create app like Letgo. To make your app stand apart from the crowd, our eCommerce app consultant has given a few recommendations. Have a look.

Recommended Features to Make a Marketplace App





1. Image recognition

   This feature requires the use of advanced technology like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. Letgo app enables the sellers to click a photograph of the item they want to sell and the app automatically recognizes it. It also puts the item into the relevant category from which the buyer can find it and buy it. 

   This is one feature that eCommerce app development can take much advantage of.

2. Virtual try-on

   Using the concept of augmented reality in online shopping , this feature is helpful for buyers who wish to try an article of clothing, accessories or glasses before they buy it. This feature can help make your app the best buy and sell app if configured properly.

3. Push notifications

   This feature works as an alarm for apps to sell and buy stuff online. They remind the customers about the items in their shopping carts that haven’t purchased yet. These also send targeted alerts and messages to the users. 

   When you create a shopping app like Letgo or eBay, push notifications can give a nice push to increase user retention.

4. In-app chat

   This is a normal but most recommended feature for every e-business app to carry our business dealings. Buyers and sellers can communicate with each other using the in-app chat functionality. This can help them to bargain on price, discuss payment method or even schedule a meeting.

After learning about the basic and recommended features required to develop a marketplace app, you must wonder about the eCommerce app development cost.

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Let see an estimate about how much it will cost to make eCommerce app.

How Much Does It Cost to Develop a Marketplace App Like Letgo and eBay?

The approximate cost of the marketplace app development ranges between $40,000 to $1,70,000. Certainly, you can’t get the exact cost of development because it involves several factors into consideration which we have described in the following section.

There are various factors that determine the cost of eCommerce mobile app development. Few important ones are

• Features and their complexity
• Time 
• App development company
• Location
• Budget

After you have decided upon the budget, features and an experienced app development company, the cost estimation becomes easier by just calculating the hours it takes to develop a feature and what is the hourly rate of the company. 

An estimated time to develop some of the features is given in the table

Sr No.	Features	Estimated Time
1.	Registration	15 hours
2.	Search Filters	8 hours
3.	Product List	14 hours
4.	Payment Gateway Integration	10 hours
5.	Delivery	20 hours
6.	Push Notifications	15 hours

You may apply this simple formula to calculate projected mobile commerce app development cost

Estimated Development Hours * Developer’s Hourly Cost = Total Mobile App Development Cost

If you create a simple marketplace app with the features mentioned in the table above, it will take 82 hours to develop it. Suppose an app development company charges $50 as an hourly rate, then the cost to develop a marketplace app can be calculated by multiplying it by the hours taken to develop it. Here, for instance : 82*50= $4,264

Note: As the number and complexity of the features vary, the time and cost also vary.

Wrapping Up

We have tried and explained the important business considerations, basic features, recommended features and estimated cost for developing the best online shopping app. 

If you feel something is missing or needs more information, feel free to mention in the comments.

It is time that you let go of your doubts and start planning to create a marketplace app. Like any venture, there will be unplanned problems, challenges and shortcomings. The important thing is to overcome those and move ahead.

We are an eminent native app web development company in Toronto known for our interactive and performance-driven apps. We are happy to solve any query or doubt regarding how to make shopping app.

Connect with us by just filling the contact us form given below for a 30-min free consultation with our technical expert. This consultation is absolutely confidential on your demand and you can get a free estimated quote and timeline for the app development process.