UniTrade: C2C Marketplace Platform for University Students

Overview

UniTrade is a C2C marketplace platform designed for university students to securely buy and sell products within a campus-oriented community.

The platform is built on Odoo 17 and extends the existing Odoo Website and eCommerce ecosystem through multiple custom modules covering seller verification, marketplace products, payments, escrow, chat, reviews, notifications, disputes, delivery, and administration.

Users can browse and purchase products directly, while users who want to become sellers must complete student identity verification using their university student card.

Problem

Students frequently buy and sell second-hand items such as electronics, books, fashion products, academic equipment, and other daily necessities.

However, transactions through general social media platforms often lack structured product management, verified seller identities, payment protection, order tracking, and dispute handling.

UniTrade addresses this problem by creating a campus-focused marketplace with a stronger trust layer through student verification and structured transaction workflows.

C2C Marketplace

UniTrade uses a Consumer-to-Consumer marketplace model.

A registered user can act as a buyer immediately and can become a seller after completing the verification process.

The main marketplace workflow includes:

User registration and account verification.
Product discovery and search.
Product detail and seller information.
Shopping cart and checkout.
Payment processing.
Seller order fulfillment.
Buyer confirmation.
Review and rating.
Escrow release and seller payout.

Seller Verification

Users who want to sell products must complete a seller verification process.

The verification workflow includes:

Student card upload
Student identity validation
NIM validation
OCR-based text extraction
Verification status management
Admin approval or rejection

Google Cloud Vision is integrated to perform OCR on uploaded student cards.

The extracted information helps simplify the verification process before the application is reviewed by the administrator.

Product Marketplace

Verified sellers can create and manage marketplace products.

Product information includes:

Product name
Category
Price
Product condition
Stock
Location
Product photos
Description
Seller information

Users can browse products and apply several filters to find relevant items.

Search and Filtering

The product discovery system supports filtering based on:

Keywords
Product category
Price
Product condition
Location

This makes product discovery easier compared with unstructured selling through social media or messaging groups.

Wishlist

Users can save products they are interested in through the wishlist feature.

This allows buyers to revisit products later without having to search for them again.

Wishlist functionality is implemented through a dedicated Odoo module to keep marketplace responsibilities separated.

Buyer and Seller Chat

UniTrade provides an integrated communication system between buyers and sellers.

Users can communicate directly regarding a specific product without leaving the marketplace.

The chat system supports:

Buyer-seller conversations
Product-related conversations
Image attachments
Chat reporting
Spam protection
Seller presence information

This helps keep transaction-related communication connected to the marketplace context.

Payment Integration

UniTrade integrates Midtrans as its payment gateway.

Supported payment flows can include:

Virtual Accounts
QRIS
E-Wallet payments

The backend communicates directly with the Midtrans API to create payment transactions and receives payment updates through webhook callbacks.

Payment webhooks are validated before the system updates the internal order status.

Escrow System

UniTrade implements an internal escrow workflow to improve transaction protection.

After a payment is successfully completed, the transaction value is recorded within the internal escrow flow instead of being immediately considered available for seller payout.

The general flow is:

Buyer completes payment.
Payment status is confirmed.
Funds enter the internal escrow workflow.
Seller processes the order.
Buyer confirms the item has been received.
Escrow becomes releasable.
Seller requests payout.
Administrator processes the payout.

This approach provides an additional protection layer for marketplace transactions.

Review and Rating

After completing a purchase, buyers can provide feedback about the purchased product.

The review system supports:

Star rating
Review comments
Review tags
Review photos
Review reporting
Helpful feedback

Reviews help future buyers evaluate products and sellers before making purchasing decisions.

Refund and Dispute

UniTrade also includes workflows for handling transaction problems.

The dispute module can manage situations involving:

Refund requests
Buyer evidence
Seller responses
Transaction disputes
Administrative decisions

This workflow helps provide a more structured resolution process when a transaction does not go as expected.

Notification System

A dedicated notification module provides marketplace activity updates.

Notifications can be generated for events related to:

Accounts
Seller verification
Orders
Payments
Reviews
Chat
Marketplace activities

This keeps users informed about important changes without requiring them to manually check every section of the application.

AI Customer Service

UniTrade includes an AI-assisted customer service module.

Google Gemini is integrated to provide an LLM-based customer service experience that can help users understand common marketplace information and support flows.

The architecture also separates the AI customer service functionality into its own Odoo module so it can be maintained independently from marketplace transaction logic.

Admin Dashboard

Administrators have access to operational features for managing the marketplace.

Administrative workflows include:

Seller verification queue
User management
Seller management
Payment monitoring
Payout management
Refund and dispute handling
Review management
Customer service
Audit information

This allows UniTrade to support marketplace operations beyond the public-facing storefront.

Modular Odoo Architecture

UniTrade is developed using multiple custom Odoo modules.

Major modules include:

unitrade_theme
unitrade_seller
unitrade_product_ext
unitrade_payment
unitrade_delivery
unitrade_dispute
unitrade_chat
unitrade_notification
unitrade_review
unitrade_wishlist
unitrade_cs_ai
unitrade_admin

Each module separates specific business responsibilities while remaining integrated within the same Odoo application.

Frontend

The frontend extends the Odoo website system using:

QWeb templates
OWL components
JavaScript
Tailwind CSS

Custom interfaces were developed for areas such as:

Homepage
Marketplace
Product details
Authentication
User profile
Shopping cart
Checkout
Seller dashboard
Chat
Notifications
Customer service
Admin dashboard

Backend

Business logic is implemented using Odoo and Python.

Backend responsibilities include:

Authentication workflow
Seller verification
Product management
Payment processing
Midtrans webhook handling
Escrow management
Seller payout
Chat
Reviews
Notifications
Disputes
Administration
External API integrations

PostgreSQL is used as the underlying database through the Odoo ORM.

External API Integration

UniTrade integrates several external services:

Midtrans for payment processing
Google Cloud Vision for student card OCR
Google Gemini for AI customer service
Mapbox for location and map-related functionality

API credentials are configured through Odoo system parameters rather than being embedded directly into application source code.

Deployment

The application supports containerized development and deployment using Docker Compose.

The development infrastructure includes:

Odoo 17
PostgreSQL
Mail service
pgAdmin
Frontend asset builder

A production configuration is also prepared for running Odoo behind a reverse proxy and exposing the application through a custom domain.

Tech Stack

Odoo 17, Python, PostgreSQL, QWeb, OWL, JavaScript, Tailwind CSS, Midtrans API, Google Cloud Vision API, Gemini API, Mapbox, Docker, Docker Compose, and REST/Webhook integrations.