Building a marketplace app with Adalo
An app where people list things and other people browse, search and buy or book them.
Marketplaces live or die on discovery. The data model has to support search, filtering and categories from day one, because retrofitting them means rebuilding every list in the app.
What this kind of app usually needs
- Listings with photos, a price and a description
- Search and category filters so people can find things
- Separate experiences for the person listing and the person buying
- Messaging or enquiries between the two sides
- Payments or an enquiry flow, depending on what you sell
The parts that take the most work
Search and filtering
Adalo has no drop-in search. You assemble it from an input, a list and filters, and combining filters incorrectly empties the list.
Listing photos
Sellers want several photos per listing. Adalo handles single images well; multi-file galleries need hosted upload handling.
Buyer and seller roles
One user record with role flags and visibility conditions beats duplicating screens per role.
Tools that help
Plan search and filter behaviour for Adalo lists.
Open toolClean and validate CSV data before importing into Adalo.
Open toolMulti-image and video uploaders you can embed in Adalo.
Open toolDesign navigation structures for Adalo apps.
Open tool