How a Client Request Became My Best Acquisition Channel

A Seller Wanted a Website

One of my GPS sellers, someone I have a good relationship with, came to me with a request. He wanted a website to sell GPS trackers online. He realized that in this day and age, you need an online presence to sell hardware.

What he probably did not realize is how expensive it would be to pay me to build him a custom website.

So I did something different. Instead of building him a standalone site, I built a seller marketplace inside my platform. Each seller gets their own catalog page with their products, their pricing, and their branding. No custom development needed.

The Free Plan Problem

Here is the thing most people do not talk about. Some customers just want the GPS hardware. They do not want a paid tracking subscription. They just want to buy the device and go.

That is why I introduced a free plan. Buy the GPS, get one year of tracking on a basic platform. Simple.

Most tracking platforms forget to mention that "free" means free for one year. I made that obvious upfront. No surprises.

The GPS I sell requires hardwiring, so customers can choose to include installation as a service or just buy the hardware outright. Flexible, transparent pricing.

How the Marketplace Works

The structure is straightforward. Sellers get their own catalog page where they list products and set prices. Customers land on the page, pick their plan, and choose options.

The combinations are flexible. Some customers want a professional tracking platform. Based on the plan they select and the duration they commit to, they get a discount. Others just want the free tier. Both are fine.

Customers fill in their booking info: email, delivery address, quantity. This creates an order. Payment depends on location. If you are in the US, you get card payment. If you are in Senegal, you get Orange Money and Wave.

The seller shares the URL directly with their audience. The pages are not indexed on Google. This is intentional. The seller drives the traffic through their own marketing.

Why I Am Not Charging Commission

I am not charging the sellers anything. No commission. No fee to set up their page. Nothing.

Here is why: the sellers are going to market hard to sell their GPS products. Some of their customers are going to discover my tracking platform at the same time. That is the win.

Most of them will take the free plan. I expect that. But a few will see the value of professional tracking. They will want driving behavior analytics, smart tracking features, fleet management tools. And because they want to save money, some will commit to a yearly plan.

That is the real acquisition channel. The seller does the marketing. I get the customers who want more.

Bootstrapped Thinking vs VC Thinking

I was not fully comfortable with the free plan at first. Free attracts a different kind of customer. One that I am not specifically targeting right now.

If I was a VC-funded company, this would be a no-brainer. Go for market share. Be in the top five. Grow the user base at all costs.

But I am not VC-funded. I am bootstrapped. I am going for a small number of customers who truly value tracking. Quality over quantity.

That said, I might change my mind. The marketplace structure is solid. Sellers get their own catalog. Customers get flexible pricing with local payment options. And I get a distribution channel that costs me nothing to maintain.

The Takeaway

Sometimes the best features come from client requests you almost said no to. This seller wanted a website. I gave him something better: a page inside a marketplace that sells for both of us.

If you are building a SaaS, look at what your users are asking for. There might be a distribution hack hiding inside a support ticket.

Let me know what you think about this approach. I am still iterating on it, but so far, I am happy with this decision.