How to Build an App Like LetGo: Cost Features, Development Roadmap

Apps like LetGo are peer-to-peer marketplaces that enable users to buy and sell used items locally through mobile apps. They focus on simplicity, speed, and geolocation to connect nearby buyers and sellers. If you're looking to build an app like LetGo, it’s important to understand the core mechanics. Below, you’ll find a simplified yet core flow of apps like LetGo:

• User sign-up. Quick registration via email, phone, or social accounts.
• Item listing. Sellers upload photos, add a title, price, and short description.
• Local discovery. Listings are shown based on the user’s location with filter options.
• In-app chat. Buyers contact sellers through built-in chat without sharing personal info.
• Deal finalization. Users arrange local meetups or deliveries to complete transactions.
• Reviews and moderation. Users rate each other, and the platform handles moderation.
• Monetization. Paid listing boosts, featured ads, or optional delivery/payment services.

LetGo-like apps offer a modern, mobile-first approach to buying and selling, featuring in-app chat, image listings, and user ratings. Compared to outdated platforms like Craigslist, they’re more secure, user-friendly, and engaging. Building an app like LetGo helps meet today’s demand for convenience, trust, and a seamless user experience in the secondhand retail market.

Apart from facilitating an effective, easy, and seamless buying and selling experience for your users, it's important to benefit financially too. Now we’ll discuss common business models for LetGo-like apps you can incorporate within your own solution.

Freemium model

The freemium approach allows users to list and browse items for free while offering paid features to enhance visibility. Sellers can pay to "bump" their listings or get premium placements in search results, increasing the chances of a quick sale. This model keeps the app accessible for everyone while generating revenue from power sellers. For example, OfferUp charges users for promoted listings to reach a wider audience of potential buyers.

Subscription model

With the subscription model, users, particularly frequent sellers or small businesses, pay a recurring fee to unlock advanced features. These can include unlimited item promotions, ad-free browsing, performance analytics, or access to premium support. This model ensures predictable revenue for the platform. If you want to create an app like LetGo, offering subscription plans can provide steady income while delivering real value. Shpock, for instance, offers “Shpock+” subscriptions with benefits like spotlighted listings and seller dashboards.

Advertising model

For apps with large, active user bases, displaying third-party advertisements can become a primary revenue stream. These can be banner ads, interstitials, or native promotions placed within the app flow. It allows free access for users while still monetizing engagement. 5miles, a U.S.-based resale app, monetizes through in-app ads using platforms like Google AdMob.

Transaction fee model

Many modern resale apps earn revenue by taking a percentage of each completed sale. When buyers make payments through the platform, a small commission (often around 10-15%) is deducted before the seller receives their funds. This creates a performance-based model where the platform profits only when users succeed. If you’re considering how to build an app like LetGo, incorporating a transaction fee model ensures the platform grows as your user base makes more sales. Vinted and eBay are prime examples, as they both charge fees on in-app transactions.

Logistics and delivery fee model

To facilitate long-distance or contactless sales, some platforms integrate delivery services directly into the app. Buyers pay for delivery, and the platform earns a margin or referral fee from logistics partners. This model adds value for both parties, convenience for buyers, revenue for the platform. Carousell has integrated with local delivery providers like NinjaVan to streamline item shipping.

B2B access model

Some platforms monetize by offering special tools and audience access to small businesses and retailers. Features might include verified storefronts, analytics dashboards, or branded listings. This model is often layered on top of others, creating a hybrid monetization strategy. Facebook Marketplace enables verified businesses to reach audiences with direct product listings and promotion tools.

To help you better understand what it takes to build a robust and reliable LetGo-like solution, we’ve compiled a concise list of steps to develop a buy-and-sell type of app based on the marketplace software development process we use at Cleveroad.

Before you begin to create an app like LetGo, you need to understand the current landscape. This includes identifying direct and indirect competitors (e.g., Craigslist, OfferUp, Facebook Marketplace), analyzing their core features, revenue models, and target demographics. Also, assess what devices and platforms your target audience prefers (e.g., Android vs. iOS). You should investigate local compliance requirements, such as tax regulations for sellers, and online consumer protection laws. This research will help you define your product-market fit and prioritize feature sets based on actual user expectations and legal conditions.

Choosing the right development partner is the first thing you have to do to build app like LetGo, as the platform’s quality highly depends on the vendor’s expertise level. A qualified partner should have a proven track record in marketplace development, with expertise in building real-time listing systems, integrating secure payment gateways, enabling location-based search, and ensuring smooth communication between buyers and sellers.

Start your search by browsing verified directories like Clutch and GoodFirms, where you can filter vendors by industry and read reviews from companies that have launched similar platforms. This helps ensure your team can meet deadlines and align with your product vision and business model. Also go through the chosen vendor’s portfolio to check their experience of delivering marketplace and eCommerce projects.

At Cleveroad, we assist businesses in marketplace industry in launching digital platforms that connect users and service providers in seamless, value-driven ways. One of our recent projects is El Tab – a mobile subscription-based platform that brings together London’s pubs and new visitors through a smart digital experience.

El Tab partnered with Cleveroad to build a mobile app that acts as a marketplace-like environment, where users can purchase drink subscriptions and discover new bars and pubs across the city. On the other side, it provides partner venues with exposure to new clientele and an opportunity to grow foot traffic without traditional advertising.

To support this business model, we developed a cross-platform mobile application using Flutter, integrated with Apple Pay and Google Pay to offer seamless in-app purchases. The platform includes a simple, intuitive UI/UX to ensure fast onboarding, push notification functionality to alert users about available drinks and venues, and a custom admin panel to manage user subscriptions and partner pubs efficiently.

As a result, El Tab received a scalable and user-friendly solution that bridges customers and pubs in a way that benefits both parties. The app not only simplifies drink discovery through geo-targeted suggestions but also helps businesses attract a steady stream of new visitors through a well-crafted, modern mobile experience.

Here’s what Oliver Carew, founder of ElTab says about our collaboration:

Once you’ve selected a development partner, the next essential step is defining the technical and functional requirements of your marketplace platform. At Cleveroad, we guide you through this during our structured Solution Workshop and Discovery Phase, a collaborative process where our business analysts, solution architects, and UI/UX designers work closely with your team to shape a product vision that reflects your business goals.

We identify and prioritize core marketplace features, including user registration, product listings, in-app chat, search and filtering, geolocation, and secure payment processing. We also define third-party integrations (e.g., Stripe, Google Maps, Firebase), platform-specific compliance requirements, and user safety measures. Based on the desired scale, we help you determine a suitable architecture, whether monolith or microservices, and plan for growth, moderation, and personalization capabilities.

By the end of this phase, you receive a full package of UX wireframes, system diagrams, a detailed feature list, and a Software Architecture Document (SAD), along with a proposal outlining timeline, team, and cost, ensuring you’re fully prepared to create an app like LetGo with clarity and confidence.

Note: At Cleveroad you receive a Solution Workshop for free.

User experience can make or break a marketplace app. Cleveroad's UI/UX design services start with user flow diagrams and wireframes created in Figma. Once flows are validated, we build high-fidelity mockups and interactive prototypes. To build an app like LetGo, the UI/UX design team should prioritize simplicity, visual hierarchy, accessibility, and responsiveness for different screen sizes. At Cleveroad, we also conduct moderated usability testing with real users and iterate based on session recordings and heatmaps to optimize the overall experience.

Selecting the right technology stack is a step that directly impacts your marketplace app’s performance, scalability, and user experience. Your tech choices will vary based on platform (iOS, Android, web), feature complexity (real-time chat, geolocation, payment handling), and growth expectations. This is where your development partner plays a vital role.

At Cleveroad, we help clients determine the most suitable stack during the Discovery Phase. We evaluate business goals, functional needs, and budget to recommend the optimal combination of tools. For LetGo-like marketplace apps, we build solutions that support fast content uploads, real-time data syncing, personalized feeds, smooth browsing, and high concurrency.

Below is the typical tech stack we use to create app like LetGo:

With this stack, your LetGo-style platform will be capable of handling everything from real-time messaging and product listing uploads to secure payments and localized discovery.

We recommend to start developing a marketplace app like LetGo from Minimal Viable Product (MVP). MVP development services help you create a lightweight version of your app that includes only the core features necessary to test your idea and solve a key user problem. Instead of heavily investing upfront in a full-scale platform, building an MVP lets you validate your concept with real users, reduce time-to-market, and avoid wasted resources.

Throughout the development, we follow Agile software development with 2-week sprints. We kick off with sprint planning and finalize sprint goals tied to functional deliverables. Our engineers implement backend APIs, frontend interfaces, and integrate all third-party services while adhering to OWASP security standards.

QA engineers conduct unit, integration, regression, and UAT testing using tools like Postman, TestRail, and JMeter. Code is peer-reviewed via GitFlow and continuously deployed through the configured CI/CD pipeline. You receive updates and stakeholder reports through Jira and Confluence.

After final QA sign-off, Cleveroad prepares your app for deployment to the App Store and Google Play, ensuring compliance with each platform’s guidelines. We set up observability using Datadog, Sentry, and AWS CloudWatch to track app health and user behavior. Post-launch support includes bug fixing, performance tuning, and feature updates based on analytics. Cleveroad also offers SLA-based support and dedicated post-release maintenance teams. This ensures your product evolves to meet user demands, adapts to market feedback, and avoids costly overhauls down the road.

To follow an existing LetGo model is undoubtedly the best way to create your mobile app. However, don't forget that it should be original and contain some particularities. Therefore, you need to analyze competitors in your domain and identify the uniqueness that will give you a market advantage.

Now let’s see what basic functionality to include to your own LetGo like app.

Bear in mind that the search should be conducted based on the customers' location. So, add an option to extend or constrict the search band. It’ll be easy to perform as almost all modern smartphones have a built-in GPS utility. To enhance the functionality, implement auto-suggestions, keyword relevance ranking, and sorting options (e.g., newest listings, closest proximity, lowest price). Consider including fuzzy search and typo tolerance for a better UX. Location-aware indexing using geohashing or Elasticsearch ensures faster and more accurate queries.

All the best apps to sell stuff locally have this feature. It increases users’ reliance on your service and simplifies the identity verification process. Besides, they don’t need to enter their data manually because all information will be pulled automatically from a social network.

Additionally, social sign-in (via Google, Facebook, Apple ID) improves onboarding speed and helps you gather essential demographic data. Include two-factor authentication (2FA) and data encryption to maintain account security.

The personal data of sellers and buyers will be shown, as well as all items for sale, a list of addresses and cards. Users also must be able to remove their profile and delete a card.

Ensure profiles show transaction history, reviews, and current listings. Add a user rating system to boost transparency and trust. Give users full control over their data in line with GDPR or CCPA compliance. Profiles should also enable quick switching between buyer/seller roles.

Advanced filters are needed to make the search process easy and fast. You can divide all goods by categories, groups, price, size, location, and other criteria to minimize shoppers' search time. Introduce toggle switches, sliders, and checkbox-based filters for intuitive usability. Allow users to save frequently used filter sets. Real-time filtering with AJAX enhances speed, while backend indexing ensures efficiency. It’s a must-have for how to build an app like LetGo successfully.

Each listing can have two options: choose a good from the list (by color, smell, and other details) if the seller has some similar goods with different variations or enter one's own one. Also, it would be nice to add a size chart here. Let sellers upload multiple images, set price ranges, define shipping options, and provide SKU codes. Include listing templates for repeat sellers. Structured product input fields (like dropdowns and presets) reduce friction and keep listings uniform.

This feature allows taking photos in the app and uploading them immediately. A pleasant addition that the sellers would appreciate is the opportunity to edit photos, cut them down, adjust brightness, and contrast. Incorporate basic AI image enhancement for auto-background blur or light correction. Allow tagging of products directly on photos (especially useful for multi-item images). Optimize image compression to balance quality and load speed.

This is one of the most popular and useful features for such apps. With it, it's much easier for users to discuss deal' details and communicate. Secure messaging with end-to-end encryption is a must. Support multimedia (images, voice messages), message read status, typing indicators, and optional anonymity. Include transaction-based locking where chat opens only after buyer interest. You can also add report and block functions for safety.

If you want your app to work in multiple countries, it must support relevant currencies and languages. Integrate geolocation-based auto-language switching and region-specific pricing. Use services like Google Cloud Translation API and Open Exchange Rates for real-time updates. Always allow users to manually override settings. This is crucial if you want to create app like LetGo with a global reach.

It's a cost-effective feature that'll allow your users to stay informed about all the news, updates, changes, and receive notifications of new messages in the chat.

Use Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) or OneSignal to manage delivery. Segment push notifications by user preferences (e.g., new offers in their area or price drops on saved items). Interactive push notifications with quick actions (like replying to messages or marking favorites) increase engagement.

Implementation of advanced functionality can help you attract more sellers and buyers to turn to your marketplace app, offering convenience and an innovative approach. Here is what advanced LetGo-like functionality you can assess:

Smart recommendations boost sales and user retention by suggesting relevant items based on browsing, buying, or location history. Integrate machine learning algorithms like collaborative filtering or content-based filtering to tailor suggestions in real time. This AI-driven personalization increases user engagement and average order value. You can also use visual similarity models (e.g., TensorFlow) to recommend products that look similar to what the user previously viewed or searched.

Enable sellers to upload a photo, and let the system auto-categorize the item or suggest relevant tags using AI-based image classifiers. Within your secondhand marketplace app, this simplifies the listing process and ensures consistency across the platform. Technologies like Google Vision AI or Amazon Rekognition can be used for visual parsing. Image recognition also helps detect inappropriate content or duplicates. Incorporating this reduces friction and enhances data accuracy when you create app like LetGo with scalability in mind.

Price suggestion engine helps sellers set competitive prices by using AI to analyze current listings, historical data, and regional trends. The system can recommend a price range during product upload. This improves listing accuracy and speeds up time to market. By reducing guesswork, sellers feel more confident, and buyers see more consistent pricing across categories. A strong price suggestion engine is key to maintaining a healthy seller ecosystem.

An analytical dashboard enables sellers to monitor their performance through metrics like listing views, conversion rates, and average response time. AI can provide actionable insights, like the best time to post or which listings need optimization. Visual dashboards built with libraries like Chart.js or D3.js help sellers grow faster. This feature enhances seller retention and platform value, especially important when your goal is to create app like LetGo that supports long-term business growth.

The cost to create app like LetGo can vary significantly based on a range of factors. These include:

• Features and their complexity
• Platform choices (iOS, Android, cross-platform)
• UI/UX sophistication
• Compliance and legal requirements
• QA effort
• Selection of advanced technologies
• Number of integrations, etc.

Even though there are multiple conditions on the way, for a mid-sized buy-and-sell marketplace app, you can expect a budget in the approximate range of $110,000 to $185,000+.

Based on our experience building marketplace solutions for various domains, we've put together an approximate breakdown of what goes into the development process. Here’s a sample estimate to give you clarity on what’s involved:

Note: These numbers reflect our internal experience with developing similar apps and can vary depending on whether you're targeting a basic app or a full-scale marketplace app with advanced features like AI search suggestions or predictive analytics. Feel free to contact us as our team can guide you through LetGo-like app pricing based on your specific case and unique requirements.

Cleveroad is a professional web and mobile software development company with headquarters in Estonia, Central Europe. For over 13+ years, we have been helping businesses in eCommerce and Retail deliver custom software solutions that boost their overall performance and customer experience. And if you already have a marketplace idea, we will gladly help you infuse life into it.

By cooperating with us, you'll receive the following benefits:

• Experience in creating a wide range of marketplace solutions, including types like B2B, B2C, P2P, C2C, D2C, omnichannel retail, specified administrative software and more
• Seamless implementation of integrations like with Google Maps, Google Pay, ApplePay, SAP ERP, Xero, and other retail tools ensures smooth operations.
• Implementation of advanced technologies as AI, ML, VR/AR, and predictive analytics to deliver smarter and more personalized shopping journeys
• Marketplace development expertise with full-cycle services like API development, CI/CD, cloud migration, smart contracts, and E2E testing

Our portfolio includes a bunch of software development projects in marketplace software development. We would like to tell you about our recent case – Trading app matching sellers with buyers, available on iOS and Android.

Safaqat, a client from the MENA region, came to Cleveroad with a startup idea to create a Client-to-Client (C2C) marketplace platform that would help users sell their goods faster by introducing an innovative dual-ad system: demand ads (posted by buyers) and supply ads (posted by sellers). This unique approach was meant to differentiate the platform from existing competitors by intelligently matching listings and streamlining the selling process.

To bring this concept to life, we developed native mobile applications for iOS and Android, as well as a powerful admin panel to manage users, ads, and partner interactions. Our team designed and implemented two distinct UI/UX flows to support both Arabic (RTL) and English interfaces, ensuring cultural alignment and ease of use for users across MENA and global regions.

The marketplace’s core features included a fast-loading search engine, advanced filtering capabilities, and a smart recommendation engine that matched supply and demand ads by key parameters such as category, price, and location. We also added in-app localization support, robust listing management tools, and the ability to boost or moderate listings on demand, ensuring full platform control and enhanced user engagement.

As a result, Safaqat received a fully localized, scalable, and user-centric C2C marketplace platform. The sophisticated ad matching logic and intuitive interface helped reduce time-to-sale, creating a streamlined experience for both buyers and sellers. The admin dashboard empowered the client to maintain operational control while paving the way for rapid expansion into new verticals and regions.