Marketplace — Complete Feature Decomposition¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Exhaustive feature tree for marketplace platforms. Each node is a scope item that can be independently included or excluded during scoping.
1. Authentication & Accounts¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Dual-role authentication system for buyers and sellers.
See: dual-authentication.md
1.1 Buyer Registration¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Buyer account creation and management. INCLUDES: Email + password registration, social login (Google, Apple), email verification, profile basics (name, email, address). OPTIONAL: Phone number verification, profile photo.
1.2 Seller Registration¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Seller account creation with verification. INCLUDES: Email + password registration, business information (company name, CoC/KVK number, VAT ID), bank account details (IBAN for payouts), identity verification (delegated to PSP). OPTIONAL: Business document upload, manual review queue, seller onboarding wizard, seller agreement acceptance.
1.3 Dual-Role Accounts¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Users can be both buyer and seller. INCLUDES: Role switching in UI, separate dashboard per role, unified login credentials. OPTIONAL: Separate notification preferences per role.
1.4 Seller Verification¶
SCOPE_ITEM: KYC and trust verification for sellers.
INCLUDES: Identity verification via PSP (Mollie (NL, PRIMARY) / Stripe (US, secondary) handles KYC),
business verification (CoC/KVK lookup), payout account verification.
OPTIONAL: Enhanced verification (proof of address, professional
certifications), verified badge display, trust score system.
See: dual-authentication.md
1.5 Session & Security¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Secure session management. INCLUDES: JWT sessions (NextAuth.js), secure cookies, CSRF protection, rate-limited login attempts, password reset flow. OPTIONAL: MFA (TOTP), WebAuthn/passkey, session device management.
2. Seller Onboarding¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Guided onboarding flow for new sellers.
2.1 Onboarding Wizard¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Step-by-step seller setup. INCLUDES: Business information form, payout details, first listing creation guide, terms acceptance, verification status tracker. OPTIONAL: Video walkthrough, onboarding checklist with progress.
2.2 Seller Profile¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Public-facing seller profile page. INCLUDES: Business name, description, logo/photo, location, rating summary, listing count, member-since date. OPTIONAL: Custom banner image, social links, response time indicator, verified badges, portfolio/gallery.
2.3 Seller Dashboard¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Seller operations centre. INCLUDES: Sales overview (revenue, orders, views), active listings, pending orders, recent messages, payout history. OPTIONAL: Analytics (views, conversion, top listings), performance benchmarks, seller tier/level display.
3. Listings¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Product or service listing system.
3.1 Listing Creation¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Create and publish listings. INCLUDES: Title, description (rich text), category selection, price (fixed), images (up to 10, drag-to-reorder), publish/draft. OPTIONAL: Variants (size, colour, material), SKU, inventory count, video upload, custom attributes per category.
3.2 Listing Media¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Image and media management for listings. INCLUDES: Image upload (presigned URL to S3), client-side resize before upload, server-side processing (thumbnail, medium, large), image alt text, primary image selection. OPTIONAL: Video upload (MP4, max 60s), 360-degree view, image watermarking.
CHECK: Max image size: 10MB before client resize, 2MB after. CHECK: Supported formats: JPEG, PNG, WebP. CHECK: Image CDN with on-the-fly resizing (Sharp or Imgproxy).
3.3 Listing Categories¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Hierarchical category system. INCLUDES: Category tree (up to 3 levels), category assignment per listing (single or multi-category), category-specific attributes (e.g., "brand" for electronics, "material" for clothing). OPTIONAL: Category suggestion based on listing title (ML), category management UI for admin.
3.4 Listing Search & Browse¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Discovery of listings by buyers.
See: search-discovery.md
INCLUDES: Full-text search, category browse, filter by price/location/
rating, sort by relevance/price/date/rating.
OPTIONAL: Map view, saved searches with alerts, recently viewed.
3.5 Listing Moderation¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Content quality and policy enforcement.
INCLUDES: Automated pre-publish checks (required fields, image count),
admin review queue for flagged listings, listing status workflow
(draft, pending review, active, suspended, removed).
OPTIONAL: AI-assisted content moderation (image NSFW detection,
text policy violation detection), automated approval for
verified sellers.
See: trust-safety.md
3.6 Listing Lifecycle¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Manage listing status over time. INCLUDES: Active/inactive toggle, automatic deactivation after expiry period, sold-out status (if inventory tracked), listing renewal. OPTIONAL: Seasonal availability, scheduled publish/unpublish, listing duplication (clone and edit).
4. Transactions¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Payment processing, escrow, and payouts.
See: transactions.md
4.1 Checkout Flow¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Buyer purchase experience. INCLUDES: Cart or direct-buy, order summary, shipping address, payment method selection, order confirmation. OPTIONAL: Guest checkout (no account required), promo/discount codes, multi-seller cart (split into sub-orders per seller).
4.2 Payment Processing¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Secure payment collection. INCLUDES: Credit/debit card (Visa, Mastercard), iDEAL (Netherlands), Bancontact (Belgium), platform as payment facilitator via PSP. OPTIONAL: PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Klarna (buy-now-pay-later), SEPA Direct Debit, Sofort (Germany).
4.3 Split Payments¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Automatic payment splitting between platform and seller. INCLUDES: Platform commission deduction (percentage or fixed), seller receives remainder, PSP handles fund routing. OPTIONAL: Multi-party split (platform + seller + referrer), tiered commission (lower % for higher volume sellers), dynamic commission per category.
4.4 Escrow / Delayed Payouts¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Hold funds until delivery confirmed. INCLUDES: Funds held by PSP until release trigger, buyer confirmation of receipt, automatic release after configurable period (default 14 days). OPTIONAL: Milestone-based release (for services), partial release.
4.5 Seller Payouts¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Transfer funds to seller bank accounts. INCLUDES: Automated payout schedule (weekly or on-demand), payout history with line-item detail, payout to verified IBAN. OPTIONAL: Instant payouts (higher fee), payout threshold (minimum balance before payout), payout currency conversion.
4.6 Refunds¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Handle buyer refund requests. INCLUDES: Full refund (reverse entire payment + commission), partial refund, refund reason tracking, refund status notifications. OPTIONAL: Automated refund for return-shipped items, seller-initiated refund, credit/voucher instead of cash refund.
4.7 Dispute Resolution¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Handle conflicts between buyers and sellers. INCLUDES: Dispute creation by buyer, evidence submission (both parties), admin review and decision, refund or release based on decision. OPTIONAL: Automated dispute escalation timeline, mediation step before admin decision, dispute analytics.
4.8 Platform Fees¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Revenue model implementation. INCLUDES: Per-transaction commission (configurable percentage). OPTIONAL: Listing fees, subscription tiers for sellers, promoted listing fees, featured placement auction.
5. Messaging¶
SCOPE_ITEM: In-platform communication between buyers and sellers.
5.1 Conversation System¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Threaded messaging tied to listings or orders. INCLUDES: Message thread per buyer-seller pair (per listing or order), text messages, read receipts, message history. OPTIONAL: Image attachments, file attachments, voice messages.
5.2 Notification Integration¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Alert users of new messages. INCLUDES: In-app notification (badge + notification centre), email notification (configurable: instant or digest). OPTIONAL: Push notification (if PWA or mobile app).
5.3 Message Safety¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Prevent abuse and off-platform transactions. INCLUDES: Contact detail masking (hide phone/email in messages), report message functionality, automated flagging of suspicious content (links, phone numbers, email addresses). OPTIONAL: AI content moderation, rate limiting (max messages/hour).
6. Reviews & Ratings¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Reputation system for trust building.
6.1 Review Submission¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Buyers review sellers after transaction. INCLUDES: Star rating (1-5), text review, review tied to completed order (verified purchase), review window (e.g., 30 days after delivery). OPTIONAL: Aspect ratings (communication, shipping, product quality), photo reviews, seller response to reviews.
6.2 Review Display¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Show reviews on seller and listing pages. INCLUDES: Average rating, rating distribution (bar chart), individual reviews with date, verified purchase badge. OPTIONAL: Helpful votes on reviews, review sorting (newest, highest, lowest), review filtering by rating.
6.3 Review Authenticity¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Prevent fake and manipulated reviews.
INCLUDES: Only verified purchasers can review, one review per order,
review edit window (48h after submission, then locked).
OPTIONAL: Fake review detection (pattern analysis), review removal
by admin with reason, seller review of buyer (mutual rating).
See: trust-safety.md
7. Admin Panel¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Platform operator administration interface.
7.1 Dashboard¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Platform overview for operators. INCLUDES: GMV (Gross Merchandise Value), transaction count, active sellers, active buyers, new registrations, platform revenue. OPTIONAL: Trend charts, conversion funnel, geographic breakdown.
7.2 User Management¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Manage buyer and seller accounts. INCLUDES: User list with search and filter, user detail view, account suspension/reactivation, role management, impersonation (view as user for debugging — with audit trail). OPTIONAL: Bulk actions, user segment tagging, email to user.
7.3 Listing Management¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Moderate and manage listings. INCLUDES: Listing queue (pending review), listing search, listing approval/rejection, listing removal with reason notification, category management. OPTIONAL: Bulk approve/reject, content policy violation tagging.
7.4 Transaction Management¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Oversee platform transactions. INCLUDES: Transaction list with status filter, transaction detail (payment, payout, refund history), manual refund trigger, dispute management queue. OPTIONAL: Revenue reports, payout reports, fee adjustment per seller.
7.5 Content Management¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Manage platform content pages. INCLUDES: Homepage featured listings/categories, static pages (about, terms, privacy policy, FAQ), announcement banner. OPTIONAL: Blog/news section, email template management.
7.6 Configuration¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Platform-wide settings. INCLUDES: Commission rate configuration, category tree management, listing field configuration, notification template management. OPTIONAL: Feature flags, A/B testing configuration, SEO settings.
8. Seller Analytics¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Data and insights for sellers.
8.1 Sales Analytics¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Revenue and order metrics for sellers. INCLUDES: Revenue over time, order count, average order value, top-selling listings, refund rate. OPTIONAL: Revenue forecast, comparison to previous period, category performance breakdown.
8.2 Listing Performance¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Visibility and conversion metrics per listing. INCLUDES: Views per listing, conversion rate (views to purchase), search impression count. OPTIONAL: Search ranking position, competitor comparison, price suggestion based on market data.
8.3 Customer Insights¶
OPTIONAL: SCOPE_ITEM: Anonymised buyer behaviour data. INCLUDES: Repeat customer rate, geographic distribution of buyers, peak buying times. CHECK: Customer insights must be aggregated and anonymised (GDPR).
9. SEO & Marketing¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Search engine optimisation for marketplace pages.
9.1 Technical SEO¶
SCOPE_ITEM: SEO foundation for public pages. INCLUDES: Server-side rendering (Next.js SSR), semantic HTML, structured data (Schema.org Product/Offer/AggregateRating), XML sitemap generation, robots.txt, canonical URLs, Open Graph tags. OPTIONAL: AMP pages for listings, hreflang for multi-language.
9.2 Landing Pages¶
SCOPE_ITEM: Category and location landing pages for SEO. INCLUDES: Category landing pages with meta description, location-based landing pages (if location-relevant). OPTIONAL: Seller spotlight pages, curated collection pages.
Feature Inclusion Matrix¶
| Feature | Product Mkt | Service Mkt | Rental Mkt | B2B Mkt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Auth & Accounts | Required | Required | Required | Required |
| 2. Seller Onboarding | Required | Required | Required | Required |
| 3. Listings | Required | Required | Required | Required |
| 4. Transactions | Required | Required | Required | Modified* |
| 5. Messaging | Required | Required | Required | Required |
| 6. Reviews & Ratings | Required | Required | Required | Optional |
| 7. Admin Panel | Required | Required | Required | Required |
| 8. Seller Analytics | Optional | Optional | Optional | Optional |
| 9. SEO & Marketing | Required | Required | Required | Optional |
*B2B transactions often use invoicing instead of card payments.