When a seller brings a buyer, the seller gets the credit.
Sellers share their listings. Buyers install and land on the listing, and the purchase is credited to the seller who shared it.
- Who runs it
- Marketers, product
- Time to set up
- One app release
- Plan
- Growth, for the link API
A share link on every listing.
Your app makes each listing a share link with the listing and the seller in its data. The seller shares it wherever they like, and the source tag captures where.
- Made through the API, so every listing has one.
- Sellers see their promotion work.
The buyer lands on the listing.
With the app, it opens on the listing. Without it, the store, then the same listing after install, with who's selling it.
- Works on iPhone and Android, after a fresh install.
Buyers per seller.
Buyer installs per active seller, and the share of first purchases that came from a seller's share. If that share is meaningful, you have a supply-side growth channel.
- Installs and first purchases per seller.
- With webhooks on Growth, your backend can credit sellers as it happens.
One-time setup, then it's all yours.
Your developer creates listing links through the API and opens the listing from the link's path. A webhook on install tells your backend which seller to credit.
LinkTrail.onLink(link => {
// link.customData = { seller: "s_4471", via: "instagram" }
openListing(link.path, link.customData.seller);
});The full walkthrough: Marketplace listings: crediting the seller for the buyer they brought
A two-sided marketplace has a growth loop hiding in plain sight: sellers, hosts and creators promote their own listings, and every buyer they bring is a buyer you didn't pay for. But if the buyer installs and lands on the home screen instead of the listing, the seller's effort evaporates — and you have no way to see which sellers are bringing demand at all.
What problem does this solve?
Two things at once. The buyer has to land on the listing after install, or the seller's promotion fails at the last step. And the install has to attribute to the seller, so you can see supply-side acquisition as a channel, rank sellers by the demand they bring, and decide whether it's worth rewarding.
How do you set the links up?
Each listing gets a share link with the listing and the seller in the payload. The seller shares it wherever they like; the source tag captures where. The payload is what makes the buyer land on the listing and the seller get credit.
{
"deepLinkPath": "/listings/l_20815",
"customData": {"seller": "s_4471", "src": "seller-share", "via": "instagram"}
}What does the seller get out of it?
- Their promotion works. A buyer who installs lands on their listing, not the home page. That alone changes seller behaviour once they notice.
- Optionally, a seller dashboard showing buyers they brought — attribution surfaced back to the supply side. Sellers who can see it, do more of it.
- Optionally, a reward. But the sharing use case shows why to be careful: a reward invites gaming, and the fraud rules will have work to do.
How does seller attribution flow from listing to install?
The install webhook carries the seller from the payload, and the first purchase carries it too if you send the seller on the event. Feed both into your own systems and the seller's contribution is a column in your data, not a report you have to build.
Which metric should you watch?
Buyer installs per active seller, and the share of first purchases that were seller-attributed. If the second number is meaningful, you have a supply-side growth channel and should treat it like one — with its own goals, its own tooling, and its own line in the plan.
Which teams own a marketplace listing link?
- Growth marketers
- Mobile product teams
Which LinkTrail features does a marketplace listing link need?
- Deferred deep linking
- Per-link source and placement tagging
- Post-install events
- Webhooks on install and event
Marketplace questions.
Does the buyer need the app already?
No. Without it, the link goes via the store and still opens the listing after install.
How does the seller get credit?
The seller's ID travels in the link's data. When the buyer installs and purchases, the install and the purchase event are credited to that link, and on Growth a webhook can tell your backend straight away.
Do sellers have to make links themselves?
No. Your app creates a share link for each listing through the LinkTrail API, so sharing works the same for every seller.
If you're doing this, you'll probably want these.
Referral programme
Friend invites a friend. The friend lands inside the invite after installing, the referrer is credited, and suspected fake installs are flagged so you can check them before you hand out a reward.
Shared content
When someone shares a recipe, a listing or a workout, the friend lands on that thing, not your home screen.
Affiliate payouts
Pay partners per install, with fake installs flagged before the invoice, not after.
Make your first listing link.
Free for your first 5,000 users. No card, no sales call.