People prefer to shop online far more often these days. Why wouldn’t they, when they can buy goods at competent prices from the comfort of their homes and have their goods delivered to their doorstep at minimal to no charge?
Close to four-fifths of shopping takes place online, a significant percentage of which flows through online marketplaces like eBay. The B2B giant alone has a monthly user count of over a hundred million active users.
Entrepreneurs have already sensed this growth in shopping and created their versions of the marketplace for maximum gains. So, if you wish to enter the online shopping sector, now’s a great time to build a website like eBay.
However, you may be wondering how much it will cost, and this blog explains the essential factors that will help you determine the same.
Cost-Driving Factors In Building A Website Like eBay
The development process involves several aspects, some more likely to affect the final cost of the completed website than others. These include technology stack selection, design, and third-party integration.
You must take all of them into account for accurate cost estimation:
Business Requisites
The development team has to consider the needs of the stakeholders when building a website. As a result, they have to work on several use cases. The number of development stages and subsequent costs may also vary accordingly.
Website And Feature Complexity
Multiple features, such as shipping, chatbots, and payment gateways, are necessary when you create a website like eBay. Each of these impact development costs by about 30%. In other words, it costs around $15,000-$30,000 to implement essential features; additional features cost extra.
Marketplace Scale
There are various services that any website needs, such as hosting, backup, and file storage. These services will greatly affect development expenses and generally fall in a $5,000-$10,000 range. Considering these parameters before developing multi-vendor marketplaces is crucial because they determine their size.
Technologies Used
For your site to perform well in the marketplace, you must implement the right technology stack. Your choice depends on your discussion with the website development company you hire regarding the development process. Both of these – your technology stack and development process – will directly influence the final cost by about $30,000-$50,000.
For instance, the platform you choose to develop your marketplace will have a different development process, resulting in modified development costs.
User Interface And User Experience
The development of marketplaces like eBay requires an understanding of user experience and user interface design. In the end, how smoothly your platform’s user interface works will determine how well your site performs. In general, you can expect to spend between $10,000 and $30,000 on a custom design.
To Conclude
A full-fledged marketplace like eBay will cost around $60,000-$120,000 to develop. The factors discussed above will help you understand what decides the final cost when you build a website like eBay.
Each of the well-established marketplaces you see today comes from humble origins. However, technologies have advanced significantly since then, so you will need professionals who understand your business requirements and deliver the product you need.
With this, you will be able to make an informed decision when you decide to hire an eCommerce development company for an online marketplace project. Look for one that will be transparent regarding cost, explaining each expense involved in the development process.
Founded in 2007, SparxIT is a leading technology solutions company based in New York, United States. They provide design and development services for web and mobile apps. They also provided consulting services to clients seeking business and technology-related consultation on their project ideas.
