How to create a service platform. How to make an auction online

In this article, we will demonstrate the process of creating a float for auction services based on our Falcon Space platform. I can assure you that after reading this article to the end, you will clearly understand the main milestones of creating such a product, as well as see our implementation of the marketplace of services.  

The main idea of the service platform

Such a platform unites suppliers and customers in a particular industry. 

It is important for the customer to find the best offer from a reliable, trusted supplier. 

It is important for the contractor not to be 'thrown' when providing services, and they may be interested in the platform as a whole, as a new channel for attracting customers. 

Marketplace offers tools for interaction between buyers and contractors

For example, this might be an auction. Buyers create a project that they need to do, and suppliers offer their prices for doing this work. The buyer eventually chooses one of the offers and works with this supplier. 

Key blocks of the service platform

Project Auction

The customer publishes the project. The project is published in the catalog and service providers offer their solutions and prices. The customer chooses the appropriate one.

Customer's Account

The customer's workplace, where they can manage their projects/orders, edit their profile, and work with notifications and metrics. 

Supplier's Cabinet

The supplier processes orders and searches for new projects. Tracks notifications. Edits its public page.

At the entrance, the performer sees his dashboard and basic data on his activities on the site. The data composition and display format can be changed to suit your needs. Add new reports, show other numbers, etc.

Moderation

All content generated by users of the site must be checked and controlled. Edit your profile. Working with notifications and metrics

Arbitration

If there are disputes on the order, then the internal arbitration of the site enters into operation. It determines how much the order is completed and decides how much to pay to whom on the order. All this is possible only when the money is frozen on the site's account.. 

Finance

If the money passes through the platform, the site will integrate with the payment gateway for accepting money.

You can withdraw money in semi-manual mode. The system must take into account all transactions that are made: replenishment of the balance, freezing of funds on the customer's balance when the order is processed, transfer to the contractor's balance, etc.

Supplier Catalog

The ability to find a suitable contractor for all possible filters and contact them. Offer him a project directly. Or order its services from the ready-made works store.

Order execution process

The order progress may differ drastically from one site to another. And it depends on the specifics of the industry.

You need to make this process so convenient that you can link either suppliers or customers to the service. Otherwise, there will be a very high risk of working around the site.

One of the parties should be as interested as possible in working through the site

Our demo on the site of services

The Demo can be viewed hereauction.web-automation.ru

Do not rush to go and watch - I propose that we walk together here, and then you will be able to click on the demo buttons on your own. The main page is a landing page that can be made in any style. The demo is just an example of how it might look. 

Search for projects

The contractor can search for new orders and submit their own requests for them.

If the customer writes something or chooses a supplier, they will receive a notification (you can set up push notifications or notifications in telegram - all this is in the box).

The order attributes can be different. The box provides the ability to change the data fields and the location of elements on the page.

View my bids

The supplier can view the projects where he has already placed bids, change or cancel these bids..

My projects

If a supplier is selected somewhere on the project as a contractor, it will appear in this section.

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Here he can interact with the customer on the order: through the comments system or the built-in chat.

Balance

The contractor must be able to view the transaction history and its current balance, as well as submit an application for withdrawal of money from the system, which will be processed by the administration

My profile

In the profile, the supplier specifies their personal data, as well as data about their professional skills. You can change the fields and add your own business logic.

The client will have a similar history - he can change his profile, view projects, create a new project, and correspond with performers. 

I will not give screenshots of the customer's account here, you can see the pages on the live demo. To do this, you need to get out from under the Supplier and create your own Customer user on the main page in the Demo - " Service Platform-Customer".

Note

For each page, you can configure your own page introduction wizard. This is very important if the page interface involves a lot of elements, and it is difficult for a person to understand it immediately on the first visit to the site.

The main page can be any

A separate landing page is made, made up and implemented in the engine. It is important that the landing page is made adaptively and on the Bootstrap 4 layout. In this case, it will be easier to adapt it and later change it in the project..

Update may 2020. We made sample home page for an auction. 

What is included in the solution

The main parts of the solution we offer: 

• The Falcon Space box Itself. Falcon space is more of a platform for creating business applications, rather than a specific solution for a business task.
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• Solution of the auction. This is an add-on for basic auction functions with the ability to develop them to suit your needs. The solution can be further developed and adapted to your needs.
• Configured hosting (or VPS server), domain, SSL. We can configure the application on your Windows Server, or host it on a hosting service (for example, on Reg.ru, tariff win 0 - this is more than enough).

Expansion points

An important point is that we assume that any boxed solution can and should be adjusted to suit your needs. Therefore, we implement the basic solution and Refine the solution to the desired state through project work.

Any solution on Falcon Space contains multiple expansion points: 

• You can create new accounting objects (essentially new tables in the database)
• You can create new pages with forms and tables.
• You can change the business logic of existing pages, change the appearance of pages, and customize the project's styling.you can integrate with external systems via the universal API

All this allows us to say with confidence that you can implement almost anything on the Falcon Space solution. In extreme cases, JS components are created for the project.

The main ideology of the platform is to take a ready-made solution and adapt/develop it to your needs

I like everything. Let's get started!

No need to rush. Creating a marketplace is a risky business with a lot of pitfalls. 

It is necessary to work out to the maximum business risks of the project. Determine the composition of the first version. This determines the initial budget and timing of the system implementation project. 

The most important thing is to determine the consumer and what is important to them. 90% of projects are done without taking into account feedback from the consumer. And as a result, after the launch, no one needs them, and there are no people who are willing to pay and spend time on the product.

First, work out the marketing to the maximum, and only then take up the implementation of our Falcon Space auction solution.

How much can a service platform cost?

'I want to make an analog of Wildberries, but for Kazakhstan. How much can it cost?' Don't be like these characters. This shows your complete incompetence and superficial approach to such a complex project.

At the beginning of the project, there is a lot of uncertainty, and implementation details are not spelled out. There is not all the necessary information for a more or less accurate assessment. 

The cost is determined based on a specific volume (i.e. a detailed list of all system features). 

What can I do to get an initial project evaluation? 

1. Define the structure of all pages (divide them into offices/roles and specify a list of pages for each)
2. Define briefly the features for each page
3. Prescribe all necessary integrations with external systems

Such a document will already allow you to get a more or less accurate estimate (with a spread of +/-30%) for the budget and deadlines.  for the price of the auction box of services, you can find information on the page Ready-made solution Site-auction. 

See also Prices for the Falcon Space box.

What does the workflow look like?

Working on a web project

What else should you consider in your project?

Design

If a unique design is critical for your project, it makes sense to create a front page: the main page, promo pages to attract an audience. In general, our system already has a good concise design by default. You can customize it for yourself-colors, sizes, font, etc.

Promotion

Think about promotion from the very beginning of the project. This will reduce the number of possible reworkings of existing functionality. Involve the promoter in the project at the earliest stage. The Falcon Space System has many SEO features by default, and you just need to use them correctly in your project.

Filling

Consider this expense item. At the beginning of operation, you will need to fill in the catalog. This can be done manually by filling the folder, or by filling the folder from an external source-via Excel or the API. In any case, this requires additional costs, which are better to immediately take into account in the project budget.

Volume 

The smaller the first version for implementation , the smaller the budget, the faster the project will be implemented, and the faster you will get feedback from the consumer. Try to remove all secondary features from the first version of your product.

What we do and don't do

• We are the developers of the Falcon Space platform. We regularly improve the platform and create various business solutions on it.
• We provide all the technical side of the project: support the project, configure hosting, server, create new functionality for the project.
• We don't do design.
• We don't do promotion.
• We do not write texts for client projects. We are not translators.
• We realize your project vision in the form of a web application.

By the way, do you make a mobile app?

If we talk about native mobile apps (those that are installed via the AppStore and Google Play) - we do not make them. Our platform is fully responsive to mobile devices. 

Falcon Space also supports PWA technology. This practically blurs the difference between a mobile app and a website:

• You can create an icon on the phone screen and launch it as an app.
• There are geolocation functions, camera access, and some other functions.

Advantages of PWA: 

• This is significantly cheaper than making, in fact, three different apps: a website, IOS, and Android. The budget is reduced at times.
• You can make changes faster. In a native app, updating requires the user to reinstall the app on their phone. On PWA, changes will be applied instantly to all users, since data is requested from the server.
• There Is no unnecessary padding in the AppStore form. Long moderation, the possibility of refusing to publish.
• PWA is easier to install on your phone. Just a click on the button (on IOS it is a little more difficult-Share/Add to my homescreen)-it is difficult to force the user to install something on the phone for security reasons, taking up space on the phone.

It's time to start the demo.

Please follow the demo link to see our solution for the service platformauction.web-automation.ru