Marketplace MVP · 2026
Designing the moments that make resale feel risky.
I worked with a teammate on Passiton, a marketplace MVP for buying discounted gift cards and selling unused ones. I focused on the design and frontend experience, where pricing, proof and disputes have to be understood before anyone can trust the exchange.
PASSITON / LIVE MVP SCREEN
An unused gift card still has value. But in a resale transaction, the buyer cannot inspect that value the way they would inspect a physical product.
A listing needs to answer practical questions before someone commits: How much do I save? When does the card expire? What does the seller actually receive? And who handles it if the code does not work?
We approached Passiton as a two-sided product. A simple storefront would only solve half the experience. The seller's submission flow and the uncomfortable post-purchase states needed equal attention.
02 / THE DESIGN RULE
Put the facts next to the decision.
Price, expiry, review status and fees should be visible at the point where somebody acts on them. Anything the MVP cannot genuinely verify should be described as a limitation, not dressed up as reassurance.
03 / KEY DECISIONS
Each flow reveals a different kind of uncertainty. The interface puts those points in view rather than hiding them behind a generic shopping experience.
01 / DISCOVERY
Shoppers can filter by brand, category and discount, then compare a card's face value with its asking price. On the detail page, expiry and where the card can be used sit close to the purchase action.
The goal was to make the deal legible without asking someone to calculate the saving or hunt for the conditions.
02 / SELLING
The selling form updates a live listing preview as the seller changes the brand, amount and price. A fee breakdown makes the example payout concrete before the card's private code and photo proof are submitted.
For a card listed at 900 kr, the MVP's illustrative 5% fee leaves 855 kr. The arithmetic belongs in the interface.
03 / VERIFICATION
Sellers generate a code that expires after 30 minutes, write it on paper and photograph it beside the gift card balance and current date. The image stays private. A submitted listing remains pending until manual review.
This confirms that the evidence was submitted for review. It does not establish identity, prove the balance is real or stop a code being used later. The interface makes that distinction explicit.
04 / AFTER PURCHASE
We prototyped a simulated 48-hour buyer review period. In the demo, a buyer can confirm an order or open a dispute, exchange private messages with the seller and escalate the case for admin review.
The demo records state changes. It does not collect, hold, release or refund money, and it never delivers a gift card code.
04 / BUILD & TRADEOFFS
Passiton is a working frontend MVP with account flows and database-backed features, but it is not a transactional marketplace.
Responsive catalog and product pages, live seller preview, Supabase Auth, private photo storage, review statuses and simulated order/dispute flows.
Payments, payouts, automatic balance validation and actual card transfers. Demo data also powers the catalog.
A manually reviewed photograph is weaker evidence than a verified balance. Real transactions would require stronger safeguards, an approved payment flow and legal review.
05 / WHAT I WOULD TEST NEXT
That is the question I would put in front of buyers first. I would test whether people understand the difference between reviewing a photo and verifying a gift card's actual balance, then look at how much verification friction sellers will tolerate.
We do not have validated transaction or usability outcomes to claim yet. What this MVP gives me is a concrete system to test, including the states that are easy to ignore when designing a polished storefront.