Marine Trader: Classifieds & Bidding Platform for a UK Marine Company
A two-sided classifieds platform with negotiation built into the core flow, plus a monetised directory tier for commercial marine traders.
The problem
A UK-based marine company needed a classifieds platform where boat owners could list vessels, buyers could browse and bid, and both sides could negotiate directly — plus a separate commercial tier for marine traders to list business directories alongside their ads.
The approach
I built a classified-ads system with:
- Boat listings with search and filtering
- In-platform chat between buyers and owners
- A counter-offer / negotiation flow, not just fixed-price bidding
- A separate trader role, letting marine businesses list a directory profile alongside their listings
- Subscription-based access tiers gating the trader and directory features
Stack
Laravel, React, MySQL, Tailwind CSS, real-time messaging (WebSockets)
Outcome
Delivered a two-sided marketplace with negotiation built into the core flow rather than bolted on, plus a monetized directory tier for commercial traders — turning a simple classifieds site into a small B2B revenue stream for the client.
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Tell me what you're building or what's broken. I'll come back with a straight assessment of scope, approach, and timeline.
