Frequently asked questions

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Can I use my own developer to extend Sharetribe?

Absolutely. If you have a developer on your team or you’re a developer yourself, you can customize Sharetribe yourself. This is a great resource to have as a marketplace founder. Head over to Sharetribe’s developer documentation and start familiarizing yourself with the code. Still, Experts can bring a lot value due their long experience with and deep knowledge of Sharetribe. You can consider hiring an Expert in a consulting capacity to guarantee efficient development. Or, if you’re a solo founder with technical skills, you should still consider what the most productive use of your time is. Experts can free up your time for other important parts of building and running a marketplace business.

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Can I add just one feature?

Yes! Iterating feature by feature can actually be a great way to build you custom functionality in a lean, evidence-driven way. Choose the most important feature you want to add, hire an Expert, and once the feature is live, track if it improves your performance. Then, choose the next feature, and repeat!

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How much does customizing Sharetribe with code cost?

This depends on multiple factors:

• The scope of your project: How much customization are you planning to do? Adding one feature can be fast and affordable, while a full visual redesign can be a long project that needs a larger budget and timeline.
• The Expert you choose: Freelancer can likely complete projects faster and be more affordable than agencies. However, agencies can usually offer more comprehensive services like project management or design. The location of the Expert also plays a role.

In addition to development costs, you’ll need a Sharetribe Extend subscription once you’re ready to take your customizations live. Extend plan pricing starts at $299/month (paid annually). You can build on the Build plan. Learn more about custom-development costs in Help Center.

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Do I always need to work with the same Expert?

Not at all! You can work with different Experts on different customization projects. In some cases, this might even be advisable: for example, if you plan to create a mobile app for your marketplace, some Experts with that specific experience can be the right fit. Still, if you find an Expert you like working with, their previous knowledge about your marketplace and code can be an asset in future projects.

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Who owns the custom code I build?

You own the custom code you build on top of Sharetribe. Even if you move away from Sharetribe, the code is yours to keep and reuse.

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Where can I learn more about the practicalities of customizing with code?

Sharetribe’s Help Center has a lot of resources on this topic. You can learn a lot about the process customizing a Sharetribe marketplace with code as a no-code founder.