A marketplace is an online platform that helps potential buyers and vendors find and cooperate with each other. The owner of the marketplace, unlike the owner of an online store, does not sell anything. They offer a place for someone else’s business and provide traffic and marketing support, receiving a commission on sales.
In this article, we will briefly discuss what points you should consider if you are looking for how to create a website like Etsy.
What factors influence the Etsy-like website’s cost?
The marketplace business model is especially popular right now. According to eMarketer, the average growth of online commerce from 2019 to 2025 will be 23.6%.
In order to evaluate the final cost for creating an online platform for handmade goods, you should take into account many factors that form the development expenses.
Let’s look at the key factors that influence the final development cost for your Etsy-like marketplace.
1. Choice between the custom and out-of-the-box software development
You can take advantage of two possible options to develop an online marketplace:
- Ready-made solution,
- Custom development.
Most commonly, the first option is cheaper. However, this option provides limitations in scalability and may comprise irrelevant features you will never use.
On the flip side, custom software development caters to your specific needs, providing the exact functionality you want. Such development is suitable if you are aiming for a large scale, advanced functionality, and a large number of product categories.
The final pricing fully depends on the location and developers’ rates. For instance, according to Glassdoor, the annual salary of Mid Level Developer in the United States looks the following way:
By the way, in the US, software developers charge approximately $80 per hour.
To compare, if you turn to software development companies in Ukraine, they will charge you around $30-60 per hour, and the annual salary of a Mid Level Developer usually reach $35,000.
Typically, for online marketplace development, you need qualified specialists. There are project managers, front-end and back-end developers, UX/UI designers, and QA engineers involved in building web products.
2. Functionality scope
And of course, the cost of marketplace development hinges on the functionality you want to implement.
We recommend you draw attention to the following features as they are of prior importance for an Etsy-like website.
Personal accounts
Give your users the possibility to manage settings of their profiles with no effort, changing their data.
Listing
Listings on the Etsy platform are items to be sold. Each listing is identified with a user and with a store. Etsy’s listings have the date of creation and are valid for a few months. Listings show a cost and quantity. So, when products are sold out, the user should renew listings before goods can be sold again.
Notification system
A notification system delivers a message to users’ devices to inform them about the site’s updates. So, notifications are a powerful marketing tool for your Etsy-like website.
Online payments
There are many payment options on Etsy: PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Klarna installment payments (United Kingdom, Spain, United States), and more.
Ratings and reviews
Ratings and reviews provide social proof to potential customers. They make a website trustworthy.
Community support
When users face with a difficult situation, and cannot solve it on their own, they ask their questions to Etsy’s support.
3. Web design
Web design is one of the essential components of attracting the user’s attention and increasing user involvement. Thanks to the design, we intuitively feel if a web platform deserves our trust. A quality website design should be professionally executed.
Using a ready-made template for your web design may seem like a cost-effective option, but not for an Etsy-like marketplace website. This marketplace for handmade goods has a complex functionality and layout.
Undoubtedly, website design is not just about aesthetics. Visitors pay attention to the usability and ease of receiving information. So, the site should be understandable for every user.
Whether you are designing a new web solution or refining the existing one, you need to be careful with the features you want to implement. These features can significantly influence the final price.
Etsy uses a clear, clean, and visually-appealing design that demonstrates the sellers’ products and provides a great user experience.
4. Hosting and security
When your software is ready to launch, you need to use hosting services to make it visible and accessible for users. The out-of-the-box solutions we have discussed above provide you with hosting services. But if you opt for custom software development or you want to choose it personally, you should keep in mind the following aspects:
- Select the proper type of hosting (Shared Service, Virtual Private Server (VPS), and Cloud-Based Web Hosting);
- Validate the terms and conditions of a hosting provider;
- Choose an option with a balance of service quality and price;
- Opt for well-known and popular hosting brands;
- Read carefully the security and privacy rules.
Now let’s take a look at the TOP-10 hosting providers and their performance indicators by HostingFacts. Here you can see the minimal rates per option.
Also, make sure the website development team you’re working with knows how to maintain a high level of your web solutions’ security.
You should consider the huge number of online marketplace users. Take into account that your website handles the finances and users’ personal data. Therefore, it is necessary to elaborate comprehensive data protection and security of working with them. The online marketplace is also a guarantor of the security of the transaction.
Conclusion
When building an Etsy-like website, there are many factors you should keep in mind. The key factors that can influence your final expenses are software platforms, hosting providers, and the functionality you want to implement.
To sum up, the approximate cost of Etsy’s creation starts at $50 000, using the average rate of Eastern European development companies. You should consider that the final cost will depend on your website development partner.
