Marktplaats: an API partner programme across three verticals.
From 2014 to 2018 I managed the API partnerships behind the professional listings on Marktplaats, first in automotive, then in jobs and real estate. The programme handled more than €15M a month in API-driven transactions.
- Client
- Marktplaats · eBay Classifieds Group
- Role
- Manager API Partnerships, Verticals
- Period
- Oct 2014 – Oct 2018
The programme
Professional listings reached Marktplaats, then part of eBay Classifieds Group, through multi-listing tools and partner platforms connected to its API. In automotive that meant car dealers’ stock; later it meant vacancies from job platforms and homes from estate agents. From 2014 to 2018 I managed those API partnerships for the verticals, in the Netherlands and Belgium.
Between partners’ engineers and ours
I was the bridge between partners’ technical teams and Marktplaats’ own developers. I translated commercial requirements into API integrations, and integrations into features that shipped. The programme handled more than €15M a month in API-driven transactions.
In automotive, where the programme started, I expanded the vertical, with double-digit revenue growth and a stronger market lead.
Two new verticals: jobs and real estate
With the programme proven in automotive, the brief was to extend it into jobs and real estate. I built the business case and brought it to life: connecting new API partners, feeding listings from job platforms and estate agents into Marktplaats, and introducing new features for both verticals along the way.
Two verticals stood up next to automotive, each with its own partner base and a growing supply of listings.
17+ contracts, one new revenue model
The API partners’ commercial terms had grown ad hoc, on revenue models that no longer reflected the channel’s value. I led the renegotiation: a new revenue setup across the whole partner base, which moved Marktplaats to direct invoicing with the advertising customers behind the multi-listing tools.
Negotiations with 17+ API partners ran in parallel over a year. Every partner signed by year end, and Marktplaats took ownership of the channel.
What this means for your project
- API integration projects managed from both sides: the partner’s engineers and your own.
- Contract and pricing negotiations with many technical partners at once.
- A business case carried through partner onboarding to features that shipped.
“He can chew on a data analysis or legal contracts for days to make sure he doesn’t miss a single detail. I highly recommend Quintin to any ambitious company.”
