PRD Template for Marketplace Products

Example: "Freelance graphic designers spend an average of 15 hours per week on unpaid activities: searching for projects, writing proposals, and negotiating rates. Only 8% of proposals result in a paid engagement. On the buyer side, businesses posting design projects receive an average of 47 proposals, making selection overwhelming — 62% of buyers report spending more than 3 hours reviewing proposals for a single project. Current platforms optimize for proposal volume, not match quality."

Example: "Primary: Increase match rate (proposal-to-engagement conversion) from 8% to 20% within 90 days by improving matching algorithm. Supply: Reduce average time-to-first-engagement for new sellers from 21 days to 7 days. Demand: Reduce average time from project posting to hiring decision from 5 days to 2 days. Marketplace health: Maintain supply-demand ratio between 3:1 and 8:1 (proposals per project). Revenue: Increase GMV per active buyer by 15% through better repeat matching."

Example: "As a buyer posting a logo design project, I want to receive 5-8 curated proposals from pre-qualified designers (instead of 47 unfiltered proposals) so that I can make a hiring decision within 1 day. Acceptance criteria: proposals ranked by match score; each proposal shows designer portfolio, completion rate, average rating, and estimated delivery time; buyer can shortlist, message, or hire directly from the proposal view. As a seller, I want to see only projects that match my skills and rate range so that I spend time on proposals with a realistic chance of winning."

Example: "FR-1: Matching algorithm must consider: skill match, price range compatibility, availability, historical success rate, and geographic/timezone relevance. FR-2: Search must support filtering by category, price range, rating, response time, and completion rate with results ranked by match quality. FR-3: Escrow payment: buyer funds held until milestone acceptance; automatic release after 14 days if buyer does not respond to delivered work. FR-4: Review system: double-blind reviews (both parties submit before either sees the other's review); reviews cannot be edited after submission. FR-5: Dispute resolution: 3-step process — direct messaging, mediation by platform, binding decision with evidence review."

Example: "TS-1: Identity verification: government ID verification via Stripe Identity for all sellers before first payout; optional for buyers but required for projects over $5,000. TS-2: Fraud detection: automated monitoring for fake reviews (review velocity, IP correlation, behavioral signals); manual review queue for flagged accounts. TS-3: Content moderation: AI screening of all listing descriptions and messages for prohibited content, contact information exchange (to prevent off-platform transactions), and policy violations. TS-4: Dispute resolution SLA: initial response within 24 hours; resolution within 7 business days; full refund if platform fails to resolve within 14 days."

Example: "Liquidity: Percentage of buyer projects that result in a completed engagement. Baseline: 34%. Target: 55%. Match quality: Average buyer satisfaction score for matched sellers. Baseline: 3.6/5. Target: 4.2/5. Supply health: Average time-to-first-engagement for new sellers. Baseline: 21 days. Target: 7 days. Demand retention: 90-day repeat purchase rate. Baseline: 28%. Target: 40%. Revenue: GMV growth month-over-month. Target: 15%. Take rate: Effective take rate. Target: 12-15% blended."

Example: "Phase 1 (Weeks 1-4): Core listing and search functionality. Milestone: 100 seller profiles seeded (manual outreach). Phase 2 (Weeks 5-8): Matching algorithm and proposal flow. Milestone: Match rate exceeds random baseline by 2x on test data. Phase 3 (Weeks 9-12): Payment escrow and review system. Milestone: End-to-end transaction flow tested with 20 real transactions. Phase 4 (Weeks 13-16): Demand acquisition — launch with curated buyer cohort. Milestone: 50 completed transactions with 4.0+ average satisfaction. Phase 5 (Weeks 17-20): Trust and safety systems. Milestone: Fraud detection live, dispute resolution SLA met."

Example: "Risk: Sellers and buyers exchange contact information and transact off-platform to avoid fees. Likelihood: High. Impact: High (revenue leakage). Mitigation: Detect contact information in messages via NLP; lock communication to platform until first transaction complete; provide enough value (payment protection, dispute resolution, reviews) that on-platform transactions are clearly safer. Risk: Supply-side flooding — too many low-quality sellers dilute match quality and frustrate buyers. Likelihood: Medium. Impact: High. Mitigation: Seller vetting process (portfolio review, test project); quality score that affects search ranking; automated deactivation for sellers below quality threshold."

Example: "Integration 1: Stripe Connect — split payments between marketplace and sellers; managed payouts; 1099 tax reporting for US sellers. Integration 2: Stripe Identity — government ID verification for seller onboarding. Integration 3: Twilio — in-platform messaging and video calls between buyers and sellers. Integration 4: SendGrid — transactional emails for match notifications, payment confirmations, and review requests. Integration 5: Algolia — search and discovery with personalized ranking per user."

Example: "Q1: What take rate balances revenue with seller retention? Industry ranges from 5% (low-friction, high-volume) to 30% (high-trust, curated). Decision owner: CEO. Needed by: Week 2. Q2: Should we allow sellers to set their own prices or use platform-determined pricing? Seller-set maximizes flexibility but creates price dispersion. Decision owner: Head of Supply. Needed by: Week 3. Q3: How do we handle disputes where both parties provide contradictory evidence? Binding arbitration, buyer-favored, or case-by-case? Decision owner: Head of Trust and Safety. Needed by: Week 4."