Your listing types determine what kind of listings your marketplace has and how customers interact with them. You need at least one listing type in your marketplace. You can configure multiple listing types (up to 20) if you want different transaction types on your marketplace.
Listing type settings
Your listing type needs two names: one outward-facing (title) and one internal (ID).
Listing type name: the title of the listing type. It's shown to your users on your marketplace when a seller picks a listing type during listing creation. Use a descriptive title such as "Daily rental" or "Product sale."
Listing type ID: the unique identifier for the listing type. It's not shown to your users. The ID distinguishes a listing type from others in your marketplace database. You can use the ID to limit custom listing fields to a specific listing type. Developers can use the ID to support custom functionality.
Transaction settings
Transaction settings determine what kind of transaction takes place in your marketplace. It defines the default listing fields that providers have to fill when creating a listing and how customers initiate a transaction on the listing page.
Transaction settings also determine the transaction steps between a customer and a provider, including payment, payout, and reviews.
Sharetribe has three default transaction settings: Calendar booking, Purchase, and Free messaging.
Calendar booking allows providers to set their availability when creating a listing. Customers initiate transactions by choosing the time or dates to book a listing. Perfect for most rental and service marketplaces.
Purchase allows providers to set the price of a unit and define how many units they have in stock. Buyers can purchase listings. Perfect for product marketplaces (and in some other types of marketplaces).
Free messaging enables transactions without payments between providers and customers. Perfect for marketplaces where payments are not necessary or happen off-platform.
Default fields
Your transaction process settings determine what fields providers have to fill when creating a listing. Different transaction settings enable different default fields, some of which can be enabled or disabled.
Providers must fill out all enabled default fields when creating a listing. Enabled default fields are obligatory fields.
In addition to default fields, you can create custom listing fields and connect them to some or all of your listing types.
Below, we detail what default fields are connected to different transaction processes. Some are always enabled. Others can be turned on or off to suit your marketplace needs.
Every listing, no matter the transaction settings, has the following default fields enabled:
Title
Description
Images
Calendar booking default fields
In addition to the Title, Description, and Images, the calendar booking transaction process includes:
Location
Price
Availability
Payout details
The location field can be enabled or disabled. The location field, when enabled, asks providers to assign a location to their listing. Customers can search by location. Learn more about listing location.
The price field is always enabled. Providers need to add a price to their listing. Customers can see this price on the search and listing pages.
Availability is always enabled. Providers determine the availability of their listing on a weekly basis. Customers can book the listing from a calendar. Learn more about availability management.
Payout details can be enabled or disabled. When enabled, providers have to add their payout details before the listing is published. When disabled, providers don't have to add their payout details to publish a listing. Learn more about adding payout details.
Purchase default fields
In addition to the Title, Description, and Images fields, the purchase process includes:
Price
Stock
Delivery: pickup
Delivery: shipping
Payout details
The price field is always enabled. Providers need to add a price to their listing. Customers can see this price on the search and listing pages.
The stock field is enabled or disabled depending on your stock type settings.
Pickup and shipping can be enabled or disabled. You can enable or disable both or one of them. Learn more about how shipping works.
Payout details can be enabled or disabled. When enabled, providers have to add their payout details before the listing is published. When disabled, providers don't have to add their payout details to publish a listing.
Free messaging default fields
In addition to the Title, Description, and Images fields, the free messaging process includes:
Location
Price
The location field can be enabled or disabled. When enabled, providers to assign a location to their listing. Customers can search by location.
The price field can be enabled or disabled. When enabled, price fields show the price of a listing on the listing page and search page. You can also enable a price filter for customers on the search page.
Multiple listing types
You can have up to 20 listing types in your marketplace. Each listing type needs to have a unique listing type ID. When creating a listing, providers select a listing type from a dropdown selection. A listing can have only one listing type, and it can't be changed once the listing has been published.
If you have multiple listing types, you can limit custom listing fields to specific listing types. Assigning listing fields to listing types happens in listing field settings.
Listing types and your marketplace
Listing types impact how customers start transactions, how providers create their listings, and how they interact to bring a transaction to a successful conclusion. Learn more about how different listing types affect your users.