Bookings, payments and a business system for every seller
Marketplace website development
A marketplace website brings the people who buy and the businesses who sell into one place, and every booking and payment goes through your site. We design and build marketplace websites on our own business system, and we have built and run one of our own.
That one is Pooky Dog: dog groomers, walkers, sitters, kennels and trainers, booked and paid for on the site, with a dashboard for every business on it and a shop alongside.
- Book and payon your own website
- A dashboardfor every seller
- Paid outwhen the job is done
- Built onthe Mediatopia CMS
What is a marketplace website?
A marketplace website is one website where many businesses sell to many customers. The customer searches, compares, books or buys, and pays on your site; the business gets the booking and the money; and the website in the middle runs the whole thing.
That is what makes marketplace website development different from building an online shop or a brochure website. A shop has one seller. A marketplace has hundreds, each with their own services, prices, opening hours and photographs, each needing somewhere to manage their bookings, and each needing to be paid.
It is different from a directory, too. A directory lists businesses and hands the customer a phone number. A marketplace keeps the customer: the booking, the payment, the reminder, the review and the next booking all happen on your website.
So building a marketplace website means building three things at once: the website your customers use, a business system for every seller on it, and the engine in the middle that takes the payment, holds it, and pays the seller when the job is done.
Pooky Dog: the marketplace website we built and run
We did not want to sell marketplace website development without having done it ourselves. Pooky Dog is our own marketplace for dog owners, live at www.pookydog.co.uk since 4 October 2026.
- Owners say what is going on, where they are and how far they will travel, and see the checked businesses that match
- Groomers, walkers, sitters, kennels and home boarding, day care and trainers, booked and paid for on the site
- Every business checked before it is listed: identity through Stripe, insurance and, where the law needs one, the licence
- Every business with its own dashboard and its own page on the marketplace
- The business paid once the appointment has passed and the 48 hours to report a problem are up
- Fifty breed guides and fifteen ‘Can dogs eat…?’ pages bringing owners in from Google
- A shop alongside, at shop.pookydog.co.uk, with over 700 products and free delivery
What a marketplace website needs
These are the parts every marketplace website needs, and every one of them is working on Pooky Dog today. Yours gets the ones your marketplace needs, built around your trade.
Search by place and distance
Customers say where they are and how far they will travel, and see the sellers that cover them.
Book and pay on your site
Customers book or buy and pay by card through Stripe, without leaving your website.
Payments held, then paid out
The money is held until the job is done, and the seller is paid once the time to report a problem has passed.
A dashboard for every seller
Bookings, a calendar, invoicing, customers, marketing and reviews, for every business on your marketplace.
Free and paid plans for sellers
A free package to get sellers on, and paid upgrades that unlock more tools.
Checks before a seller is listed
Identity, insurance and licences checked before a seller goes live, so customers can trust who they book.
Reviews from real bookings
Every completed booking asks the customer for a review, so every review comes from a real customer.
Listings sellers can claim
Businesses found from public records and listed from their own websites, ready for them to claim.
Emails that send themselves
Booking, account and order emails to customers and sellers, sent as each thing happens.
A page for every town
A page for each kind of seller in each town, shown to Google once there is enough on it.
Guides that bring customers in
Guides that answer what your customers search for, each leading back to your sellers.
A shop of its own
Products sold alongside the services, from a shop on the same system.
A marketplace website or a directory?
Both list businesses. Only one of them keeps the customer, and every booking, on your website.
A directory
- Lists businesses and their phone numbers
- The customer leaves to call or email
- No record of what was booked or paid
- Reviews from anyone, booked or not
- The business runs everything somewhere else
A marketplace website
- Customers book and pay on your website
- The seller is paid through you when the job is done
- Every booking, payment and customer on record
- Reviews from real bookings
- Every seller runs their business from their own dashboard
How your marketplace website is built
- 01
We talk it through
Who buys, who sells, what they book or buy, and how the money moves. We start from your idea, not a template.
- 02
We plan it
The customers’ side, the sellers’ side and the payments in the middle, written down screen by screen before anything is built.
- 03
We build it on our own system
Your marketplace is built on the Mediatopia CMS, the business system behind every website we build, so the dashboards, bookings, payments and emails are already proven.
- 04
We launch and grow it
Live on your own domain, checked page by page, then sellers brought on and pages added for Google.
How much does marketplace website development cost?
Every marketplace is different, so there is no one price for marketplace website development. What it costs depends on who buys and who sells, whether people book a time, buy a product or both, how the money moves between them, and how much of a business system each seller needs.
Because we build on our own business system rather than from a blank page, the bookings, payments, seller dashboards, emails and checks are already built and working on Pooky Dog. That is where most of the work in a marketplace goes, and it is why we can give you a fixed price for yours.
Tell us about your marketplace below, and we will come back to you with what it would take and what it would cost.
Tell us about your marketplace
A few questions about your idea, then your details. Your answers come straight to us, and we will come back to you. If you would rather talk now, ring us on 0117 299 0348.
Marketplace website development questions
What is the difference between a marketplace website and an online shop?
An online shop has one seller: you. A marketplace website has many sellers, each with their own services or products, prices and dashboard, and the website takes the payment and pays each seller. Pooky Dog has both: the marketplace for dog services, and a shop alongside it.
Can a marketplace website take payments and pay the sellers?
Yes. On Pooky Dog the customer pays by card through Stripe when they book, the money is held, and the business is paid once the appointment has passed and the 48 hours to report a problem are up. Your marketplace can hold and pay out the same way, or on the rules that suit your trade.
How do sellers manage their bookings?
Every seller gets their own dashboard: their bookings and calendar, invoices, customers, marketing and reviews, and their own page on the marketplace. They sign in and run their business from it.
How do I get sellers onto a new marketplace?
Pooky Dog found its businesses itself: a sweep of the UK’s towns from Companies House and OpenStreetMap, and a listing built from each business’s own website, ready for it to claim. A free plan gets sellers on, and paid upgrades give them more.
Will my marketplace work on a phone?
Yes. Pooky Dog’s questions are big tiles on a phone, and its shop opens as an app, with a bottom bar and every department two taps away. Every marketplace we build is designed for the phone first.
Why build a marketplace on the Mediatopia CMS?
Because the hard parts are already built. Bookings, payments, seller dashboards, plans, checks, emails and the shop all run on Pooky Dog today, so your marketplace starts from working parts, designed around your trade, rather than from a blank page.
Related: The Pooky Dog case studyBespoke Web ApplicationsSaaS Platform DevelopmentThe Mediatopia CMS
Have an idea for a marketplace?
Tell us who buys, who sells and what they book or buy, and we will tell you what it would take to build your marketplace website.