Services · Ecommerce development · Marketplace online stores
Codeeo takes on marketplace ecommerce website development Dubai operators rely on to sell other merchants' products from one storefront. Vendors apply and get verified, upload stock under your listing rules and ship their own orders, while shoppers pay once at a single checkout. Behind that sits the part most templates get wrong: a payment flow that splits each order between sellers, deducts your commission and VAT correctly, and pays every vendor on a schedule they can check for themselves.
We build the web store, the vendor centre and the finance back office as one system. The aim is simple: every dirham a buyer pays can be traced to a seller payout, a fee, a refund or tax, without a spreadsheet in between.
200+ companies servedFrom a first store to an ADX listed developer
What the marketplace store includes
A single-brand shop answers to one stock list and one bank account. A marketplace answers to dozens or hundreds of vendors, each with their own prices, delivery promises, return terms and payout expectations, and a buyer who expects all of it to feel like one shop. That is why we start with the money and the rules, then design the storefront around them.
Before any screen is drawn we agree who the merchant of record is for each sale, whether the marketplace or the vendor issues the tax invoice, when a vendor's share becomes payable, and what happens to it during a return. The answers decide which payment provider fits, how the checkout behaves and what each vendor sees in their dashboard. With those settled, the store, vendor tools and finance reports all read from the same order ledger, so customer service, vendors and your accountants are never looking at different numbers. It also means a Dubai vendor asking where their money is gets a precise answer in seconds.
Sellers apply through a branded form, upload their trade licence, VAT registration where applicable, bank details and brand authorisation letters, then wait for review. Your team approves, rejects or requests changes, and expiry dates on licences trigger reminders so a lapsed seller is paused before they take another order.
Only verified, current sellers can list and get paid.
Category templates force the right attributes, such as size charts for fashion or warranty terms for electronics. Restricted categories need approval, duplicate listings are merged into one product page with several offers, and image and title rules keep the catalogue tidy in both Arabic and English.
A catalogue that looks like one shop rather than a hundred.
Shoppers add items from different vendors to one cart and see delivery charges and dates per seller before paying. The order is split into vendor sub-orders automatically, each with its own fulfilment status, tracking number and returns window, while the buyer still sees a single order number.
Buyers check out once; each seller only sees their own part.
Cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay through a UAE acquirer, Tabby or Tamara for instalments where the provider supports marketplace use, and cash on delivery if your couriers can reconcile it. 3-D Secure, saved cards held by the gateway and clear Arabic and English error messages reduce failed payments.
Familiar payment options with card data kept off your servers.
Commission can vary by category, vendor or campaign, with fixed fees for listing or fulfilment if you charge them. Funds are split through a licensed payment provider that supports marketplace settlements, so the platform is not holding customer money in its own account in a way that would need a payments licence.
Your fee is taken automatically and correctly on every order.
Vendor balances move from pending to available after delivery and the return window, then pay out weekly, fortnightly or on request. Each vendor downloads statements listing orders, commission, refunds, chargebacks and VAT, and your finance team can export the same figures for reconciliation.
Vendors trust the payout because they can check every line.
Buyers open a return or complaint against a specific sub-order, the vendor responds within set deadlines, and unresolved cases escalate to your team. Refunds reverse the vendor's share and your commission according to your policy, and chargebacks are recorded against the right seller.
Disputes follow a written process instead of long email chains.
Depending on your model, the vendor or the marketplace issues the tax invoice, and your commission is invoiced to vendors separately. Records are structured so they can feed an accredited e-invoicing provider as the UAE B2B e-invoicing rules come into effect for your business.
Tax documents that match the ledger and survive an FTA review.
Sellers manage stock, prices, promotions, orders, shipping labels and returns from one login, with team accounts for their warehouse and finance staff. Bulk upload by spreadsheet or API suits larger vendors, and low-stock alerts stop overselling.
Vendors run their shop on your platform without calling support.
Your team sees every vendor, order, payout and dispute with role-based access, audit logs and approval steps for refunds above set limits. Reports show sales by seller and category, commission earned and payout liabilities, so cash planning is based on facts.
Full control of the marketplace without direct database access.
Who this is for
Dubai marketplaces start from very different places. Some are new brands built around a niche the big platforms serve badly, others are retailers who want third-party sellers on the store they already run, and others bring together wholesale traders who have sold by phone and WhatsApp for years. The checkout, vendor rules and payout setup differ for each, so we start by understanding which of these you are.
A curated marketplace for home décor, modest fashion, pet supplies or local makers wins on taste and trust. We design the storefront around discovery and seller stories, tighten listing standards, and include sellers holding a Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism e-Trader licence or a trade licence, with the right documents captured for each type.
Clear seller standards matter more than seller numbers at launch.
You already sell your own stock online and want to add third-party ranges without hurting service. We add vendor onboarding, commission and payouts to your existing store or migrate it to a platform that supports both, so first-party and vendor products sit side by side with clear delivery promises. Customer service gets one view of first-party and vendor orders, so a buyer calling about a late parcel gets an answer on the first call.
Traders around Deira, Al Ras and the free zones often sell to shops and contractors across the region. A B2B marketplace needs tiered and quantity pricing, request for quote, company accounts with several buyers, credit terms through a financing partner and invoices that work for business purchasers. Buyers can reorder from past purchases, approve orders internally before payment, and download statements for their own accounts team.
B2B invoices fall under e-invoicing rules, so we plan for them early.
Companies set up in an ecommerce or trading free zone such as Dubai CommerCity or DMCC often want to sell into the UAE and the wider GCC. We plan cross-border shipping, duties messaging and currency display with you, while your advisers confirm what your licence permits you to sell and where. Product pages can show where an item ships from and an honest delivery estimate for Dubai, other emirates and GCC addresses.
How we work together
Most marketplace owners start with a fixed scope first release covering one or two categories and a pilot group of sellers, then move to a monthly plan for new features and growth. Larger operations sometimes take a dedicated team of developers, a tester and a product manager. Planning workshops can take place at our Dubai office, which helps when founders, finance and operations all need to agree the money rules in one room. Our team of 80+ across Dubai, Riyadh and Karachi has delivered 200+ projects across the UAE and the US.
A defined build with a deadline
We agree what the product has to do, write it down with a price and a date, and build exactly that. Changes are priced before they are made, not discovered on the invoice.
A product that keeps evolving
Named engineers who work your hours, join your standups and stay on the codebase. You direct the backlog; we own the quality of what ships.
Something live that needs looking after
A monthly block of hours for improvements, fixes and the small requests that otherwise wait months. Unused hours carry for a quarter.
Technology
Depending on scale and catalogue complexity, we build on WooCommerce or Magento with marketplace extensions, Shopify with a marketplace app, or a custom headless platform with a Next.js storefront. The choice follows your commission model and payment provider, not the other way round. Hosting sits in a region you approve, with backups, monitoring and security patching agreed before launch, and payment card data stays with the gateway.
01Web
02Commerce
03Data and cloud
04Marketing and tracking
It depends on how custom the money flow is and how many categories launch first.
A marketplace on an established platform with standard commission and a single payment provider moves faster than a custom headless build with tiered commission, B2B pricing and several couriers. Payment provider onboarding and vendor agreements often take longer than the code, so we start them in parallel. We agree the first release in discovery, write down what is included, and set dates once the provider and the rules are confirmed.
Schedule a free consultation and get a written recommendation, with costs, before you commit to anything.
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