Classifieds vs marketplace vs directory: which website do you need?
Classifieds sites, marketplaces and directories all show listings. They differ in who posts, who pays and where the deal happens, which tells you which one to build.
In this guide
- On a classifieds site, people post their own ads and close the deal between themselves
- On a marketplace with checkout, the buyer pays on your site and you keep a share
- On a directory, businesses keep a listing for months and pay to be found
- Listivo runs classifieds sites and directories, but not payments between users
- Real estate agencies fit MyHome better, and car dealers fit Vehica
Classifieds vs marketplace vs directory is a choice about three things. Who posts the listings, who pays you, and where does the deal happen? Answer those, and you know which features your site needs and how it earns.
One used bike shows the difference. On a classified ads website, its owner posts an ad and meets the buyer. A marketplace with checkout takes the buyer's money and keeps a share, and a directory lists the bike shop, not the bike.
What is a classified ads website?
A classified ads website is a board where people post their own ads. They sell a phone, rent out a room, or offer a job or a service. Visitors find an ad through categories and filters, then message or call the person who posted it.
Payment and handover happen between the two of them, in cash, by bank transfer or on pickup. Your site never touches the money of the deal. Each ad runs for a set time, often a few weeks, and then ends.
So you earn from visibility, not from the deal. Users pay for a package to post, for featured days, for a bump up back to the top or for a monthly plan for shops. OLX, Gumtree and Craigslist are classifieds sites, and How to make money with a classified ads website covers each income in detail.
What is a marketplace website?
A marketplace website is a listing site with checkout, so it takes the payment itself. The buyer pays on your site, you keep a commission, and you pass the rest to the person who offered the item. Etsy, eBay and Airbnb work this way.
What checkout adds to your work
- A cart and a checkout for buyers
- Payouts to every person who sells through you, minus your share
- Refunds, and a way to settle disputes when a deal goes wrong
- The rules your country sets for a site that holds other people's money
The word causes confusion, because many classifieds sites call themselves marketplaces. The money never passes through them, though. If nobody pays through your site, you are building classifieds, whatever you call it.
What is a directory website?
A directory website lists businesses or people, not single things for sale. Each listing describes a plumber, a clinic or a restaurant, with its place, contact details and reviews. It stays live for months or years, and the business keeps it up to date.
Visitors search by category and place, compare a few listings, then call or message the business. The deal happens at the business, outside your site. You earn from businesses that pay to be listed, to show up first or to keep a monthly plan.
Yelp and Yellow Pages are the familiar models. A niche directory can charge businesses every month, because one new customer is worth a lot to a plumber or a clinic. How to create a directory website with WordPress walks you through the build.
Classifieds vs marketplace vs directory, side by side
Who posts, who pays and where the deal happens
| Classifieds | Marketplace with checkout | Directory | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who posts | Anyone, private users and shops | People and shops who sell | Businesses, or you for them |
| What one listing is | One item, job, room or service | One item or service to buy | One business or professional |
| How long it stays | Weeks, then it ends | Until it sells | Months or years |
| Where the deal happens | Between people, off your site | On your site, at checkout | At the business |
| Who pays you | Users, for packages and extras | A share of each sale | Businesses, often every month |
| Payments between users | No | Yes | No |
| Hardest part at the start | Getting the first ads | Payouts, refunds and disputes | Getting businesses to list |
| Built into Listivo | Yes | No | Yes |
Classifieds fit listings that end, a directory fits businesses that stay, and a marketplace with checkout fits deals paid on your site.
In short, directory vs marketplace is a question of money. A directory sends the customer to the business, and a marketplace takes the payment itself. Classifieds work like a directory of single items, posted mostly by private users.
Four questions that pick the model for you
Answer them in order. The first yes tells you which website to build.
- Are all the listings yours, as an agency or a car dealer? Then you need a real estate website or a car dealer website for your own stock, not a site where others post.
- Do people pay each other through your site? Then you need a marketplace with checkout.
- Does each listing describe a business that stays the same for years? Then build a directory.
- Does a listing end when the thing is sold, rented or filled? Then build a classifieds site.
Many real sites mix two models. A classifieds site often has shops with business accounts, and a directory can carry job ads. Pick the model that most of your listings follow, and add the rest later.
Each model also has its own slow start. Plan it with How to get the first ads on a new classifieds website or How to get businesses to list on your directory.
Build it on a ready WordPress theme
A ready WordPress theme gives you listing pages, search and filters on day one. The right one depends on who posts and what they post.
Which theme fits your site?
All three are free to try for 7 days, on a website of your own.
A real estate agency or agent that shows its own listings
Classifieds or a directory where users post their own listings
A car dealer, or a car portal where dealers post their cars
How Listivo runs a classifieds site or a directory
Listivo is a WordPress theme for classifieds sites and directories where users post their own listings. Each category gets its own form and filters, so a car asks for make and model and a flat asks for rooms. Users manage their listings in a panel of their own.
For classifieds, users pay you for packages, featured days and bump ups. Visitors reach the user behind an ad in the chat on your site, or by WhatsApp and Viber.
For a directory, change the word ad to listing or business on every page, and turn on business accounts. Businesses then pay a monthly plan through Stripe, and visitors leave reviews with stars and photos.
See a classifieds site and a directory
Click through both and open the one closest to your idea.
If your idea needs payments between users
Some ideas only work with checkout, such as handmade goods shipped across the country or rooms booked by the night. For those, look for a platform built for payouts and bookings, not a listing theme.
Many other ideas can start as classifieds. Let people pay each other on pickup, and earn from packages and featured ads. That tests the demand before you build payments, refunds and payouts.
Test the demand with classifieds on a real Listivo site
Get your own Listivo website with the demo you pick and the full WordPress admin, ready in a minute.
Try Listivo free Free for 7 days. No card needed.Before you pay for any theme, test it against your model with our checklist for choosing a classified ads WordPress theme.
Rather have us build it?
If you chose classifieds or a directory, the theme's authors can build the whole Listivo site for you.
Custom Website
Photos, your logo and a few words are enough. We design and write the whole website, and you pay only when you approve it.