Best API software you can integrate into your online marketplace platform

To create a marketplace platform, it is crucial to meet the needs of both vendors and consumers. For this purpose, engineers have to deliver modules for data analytics, online payments, order, shipping, and inventory management, especially when delivering a solution to e-commerce or manufacturing industries.

Thanks to API marketplace software, companies can significantly reduce project costs and streamline development.

This article describes the leading third-party services that you should consider when making or extending a marketplace system. Let’s get started.

What is API marketplace software?

An application programming interface (API) lets online marketplace developers connect diverse computers and programs. To implement the necessary functionality, software engineers can either build their own API from scratch or use an off-the-shelf solution provided by a third party.

With the view of safeguarding information, an API generally involves authorization credentials, this way minimizing the risk of attacks on the server. When transmitting data, an API employs cookies, query string parameters, and HTTP headers to create additional security layers.

Top API marketplace software you should consider

Payment gateways

1. Braintree

A payment gateway acts as a third-party virtual terminal, which allows for verifying customer identity and authorizing transactions. With a payment gateway solution you will protect merchants from issues such as insufficient funds and expired cards. Thanks to a gateway system, users do not have to send payment details to each individual vendor, which improves information security.

Acquired by PayPal in 2013, Braintree is a popular gateway service that enables organizations to accept payments in either apps or websites. As of today, Braintree is available in more than 45 countries and regions while offering support for over 130 currencies.

By integrating Braintree, you will offer a multitude of payment methods:

- credit and debit cards (e.g., Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express)

- electronic wallets (i.e., Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay)

- PayPal

- Venmo

- bank directs (e.g., SOFORT, Trustly, iDeal, Bancontact)

- ACH Direct

Aiming to achieve security, Braintree contains features like 3D Secure, AVS (Address Verification System), and CVV (card verification code check). The gateway also provides compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).

Many world-famous marketplace platforms have adopted Braintree, for example, Airbnb, Grubhub, and Uber.

In our online marketplace development company, we often integrate Braintree as it supports a variety of payment options while being available across the globe. In addition, Braintree doesn’t have a minimum payment processing amount, unlike many other gateway solutions.

2. Stripe

Stripe is among the most popular payment gateways globally. Being available in 44 countries, this third-party service supports over 135 currencies. The solution allows for performing transactions via payment cards (i.e., Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB, Diners Club), electronic wallets (Google Pay, Apple Pay), and bank directs (e.g., iDEAL, SOFORT, Afterpay).

By integrating Stripe API, marketplace developers can enable online payments in both web and mobile applications. It also contributes to automated fund management.

Treating security as a top priority, Stripe employs machine learning to identify, assess, and prevent various risks. Furthermore, Stripe contains features such as 3D Secure and proxy detection while ensuring compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.

Many world-known marketplace platforms use Stripe to process transactions, for example, Amazon, Lyft, Instacart, and Booking.com.

3. Authorize.net

Founded in 1996, Authorize.net is a payment gateway that permits vendors to accept credit and debit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express), PayPal, digital payments (Apple Pay, Visa Click to Pay) as well as electronic checks. However, merchants have to be based in the USA, Canada, Australia, UK, or Europe.

Authorize.net lets customers enter card and shipping details directly on a web page while many other gateways require users to register for carrying out a money transfer.

To ensure security, the gateway solution includes Advanced Fraud Detection Suite (AFDS) for identifying and preventing suspicious transactions. Coming up with 13 fraud filters, AFDS enables sellers to set minimum transaction limits, payment velocity settings, and other parameters to protect against fraud.

When building a marketplace, software experts need to integrate an API into a website. It is noteworthy that Authorize.net can be used for mobile marketplace apps, too. The service provides engineers with software development kits (SDKs) for iOS and Android operating systems. Furthermore, its Virtual Terminal is able to process manual transactions.

There is a range of payment gateways, each having its own competitive advantages. To learn how to pick a solution that will meet business needs, read our article “5 Steps to choosing a payment gateway for an online marketplace platform.”

Data analytics

4. Mixpanel

Mixpanel is a data analytics tool, which is perfectly suited for online marketplace development. This solution allows vendors to monitor user behavior in real time to segment the audience, identify shopping habits, and discover reasons for churn.

Employing Mixpanel, it is possible to find out which actions customers perform after registering on a marketplace platform and before making a purchase. With this tool, merchants define the top user flows when interacting with the app and visualize feature stickiness.

Additionally, Mixpanel lets you conduct A/B testing and analyze the results. It is worth remarking that Mixpanel is compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). G2.com named Mixpanel a Top Rated Analytics Solution in 2021. At the moment, the service is used by 26,000 organizations—involving Airbnb and Uber—across different sectors.

In our practice, we used Mixpanel when creating an e-commerce fashion marketplace. for a Swiss company. Thanks to this tool, sellers managed to define which groups of consumers show the best conversion and retention rates, explore why users churn, as well as segment the audience. With Mixpanel, vendors boosted customer engagement and increased sales, bringing marketplace owners higher profit.

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