MLC Marketplace Software

MovingLabor.com ceased operations on December 31, 2024, after 20 years in business. Our proprietary marketplace software facilitated nearly 100k moves, connecting customers with professional moving help for loading and unloading their trucks. This proven, fully operational platform is now available for acquisition, along with the MovingLabor.com domain.

We are currently accepting offers from qualified buyers seeking a scalable, feature-rich marketplace solution. To learn more about the acquisition process, including pricing expectations, maintenance requirements, and next steps, please refer to the Software Acquisition Primer section.

Table of Contents

1. Platform Overview
2. Software Acquisition Primer
3. Webapps (Customer-Facing)
4. Vendor Portal
5. Admin Portal
6. All Applications
7. Maintenance and Optimization of Data
8. Technical Specifications
9. Conclusion

Platform Overview

MovingLabor.com’s marketplace software is a comprehensive, all-in-one platform designed to connect customers, moving companies, and administrators in a seamless and efficient way. Since its development began in 2011, the software has facilitated 86,068 moves with an average customer rating of 4.6, showcasing its proven success in the moving industry.

Why MLC Closed: MovingLabor.com ceased operations due to customer acquisition challenges, not because of any shortcomings in the software.

The platform consists of three integrated applications:

1. Webapps (Customer-Facing): A user-friendly interface for customers to search, compare, and book movers, featuring real-time pricing, a proprietary quality algorithm, and advanced filters for personalized results.
2. Vendor Portal (For Moving Companies): A robust tool enabling moving companies to manage services, track performance, and enhance customer engagement through customizable settings and analytics.
3. Admin Portal (For Internal Staff): A comprehensive management system for handling customer orders, vendor accounts, and operational workflows with real-time updates and reporting tools.

By automating key workflows, such as booking management and performance tracking, the software significantly reduces the need for manual intervention, saving time and resources. Built on a scalable .NET framework and hosted on AWS, the software is designed for reliability, scalability, and flexibility. Upcoming upgrades to .NET 8 and Blazor aim to further enhance functionality and user experience.

MovingLabor.com’s software is an ideal solution for companies looking to streamline operations, improve customer satisfaction, and expand their market reach.

Order Status Flowchart

A visual representation of how a new order progresses through our marketplace.

Software Acquisition Primer

This section provides critical information for prospective buyers evaluating the acquisition of MovingLabor.com’s marketplace software.

Target Buyers

The ideal buyer for this software is an established company with the resources required to operate, maintain, and potentially enhance the platform. This software is a comprehensive and proven solution designed to manage and streamline marketplace operations. Buyers should have:

• Experience running complex software systems.
• Sufficient technical and financial resources to ensure successful operation.
• A vision for leveraging the platform’s untapped potential for growth.

While this software was built for the moving labor industry, its core functionality—vendor management, booking automation, and marketplace operations—can be adapted for other service-based industries.

Pricing Expectations

The acquisition price is expected to fall between $700,000 and $2 million, depending on the specific terms and conditions negotiated with the buyer, as well as the level of interest and demand from serious buyers. This pricing reflects the platform’s extensive development history, robust functionality, and proven success in the moving industry.

Maintenance and Operational Requirements

Technical Infrastructure

• Current Monthly Costs: Our infrastructure costs approximately $500 per month on AWS, supporting both production and development environments.
• Buyer Considerations: Operating costs will vary based on your existing infrastructure. These figures can serve as a baseline for budgeting.

Development Needs

• The software is fully functional as-is and does not require immediate maintenance. However, ongoing maintenance is recommended to ensure optimal performance.
• While development is optional, there is significant untapped potential within the platform. Buyers should plan for development time if they wish to expand features or improve performance.
• The Google Maps APIs that we use will become legacy in March 2025. They will continue to work as-is and no immediate action is required, but migration to the new APIs will be required at some point.
• Estimated Development Costs: We previously allocated $3,000 to $5,000 per month for developer hours to maintain and enhance the platform. Buyers should adjust this estimate based on their goals and team structure.

Staffing Requirements

While it is theoretically possible to run the marketplace autonomously, real-world success requires dedicated staff for:

• Customer Support: Existing company staff can handle this with proper training.
• Vendor Management: A marketplace relies on maintaining a balance between buyers and sellers. Staff will be needed for vendor recruiting, evaluation, onboarding, and quality assurance.

Buyers should evaluate their staffing resources and ensure sufficient allocation to these critical areas.

Untapped Potential and Growth Opportunities

The MovingLabor.com marketplace software offers a wealth of untapped opportunities to increase revenue and expand its functionality. Some examples are outlined below, grouped by implementation effort.

Marketplace Enhancements

Nearly Complete

• Marketplace Billing: Replace the current fixed deposit fee structure with a dynamic fee system:

• Dynamic Fees: Charge fees based on the total cost of the move.
• Proportional Fees: Align fees with the size and complexity of the move, resulting in higher revenue.

Minimal Viability Required

• Upsell Additional Services to Customers: Incorporate optional add-on services — such as junk removal, truck rental, or portable storage — into the checkout process. This allows buyers to bundle their offerings, generate additional revenue, and provide a more comprehensive solution to marketplace customers. This is similar to expanding the marketplace service offerings, but with substantially less effort.

Extensible Opportunity

• Dynamic Pricing: Introduce a dynamic pricing model to capitalize on peak demand, boosting profitability and improving vendor satisfaction.

• Extend the Marketplace to Offer Full Service Moving and Related Services: Our marketplace was built specifically for moving labor, but its extensible framework allows for additional services to be offered:

• 🛈 Full-Service Moving: Approximately 40% of website visitors are seeking full-service moving, representing a large untapped market.
• Other Services: Add services like junk removal, lumpers, or transportation and storage solutions.

Monetize Vendors

Fully Implemented

• Performance Violation Recovery: Vendors currently owe a total of $20,650 for performance violations (as of 12/30/2024). Buyers could implement strategies to recover 30-40% of this over time.
• Referrals: Movers often receive customers from sources outside the marketplace (e.g., local advertising or their own website). Leveraging our referral feature (already implemented) to capture additional business opportunities is a scalable revenue driver.
• Direct Booking: Small moving companies benefit from our direct booking feature, which provides them with a unique URL displaying only their real-time pricing and availability. This feature can generate additional marketplace revenue from jobs that wouldn’t otherwise be booked through MLC.

Minimal Viability Required

• Market Franchise Opportunities: If the prospective buyer operates a franchise model, they can market and promote their franchise opportunity to the vendors—who, as moving service providers, align closely with their target audience and present a valuable lead source.
• Boosted or Sponsored Listings: Offer vendors the ability to pay for boosted or sponsored listings to improve their rankings in search results.
• Offer Affiliated Products and Services: Establish affiliate relationships with companies providing insurance, equipment, moving supplies, and trucks. Promote these products and services to vendors to generate commission revenue.

Mobile App and API Integrations

Extensible Opportunity

• Mobile App: Neither HAH nor MH have a mobile app. Updating all three applications to .NET 8+ would enable the creation of a mobile app, opening significant new opportunities in the app marketplace.
• API Integration: Allow third-party integrations for labor services or integrate ancillary services/products directly into the software, creating new revenue streams.

Other Opportunities

Fully Implemented

• White Labeling: Establish partnerships to take full advantage of our white label functionality. This typically involves a revenue share agreement, in which the marketplace receives referral traffic from the partner.

Minimal Viability Required

• Capture Full Service Leads: As previously mentioned, we estimate that 40% of our website traffic is actually looking for a full service mover. The marketplace can be expanded to offer this service, or you can capture these leads by booking them directly (for companies that offer full service) or by monetizing them as leads.
• Affiliate Revenue: Partner with companies like PODS, Penske, Budget Truck, and ABF to market their products/services and earn affiliate revenue.

Next Steps for Serious Buyers

1. Confirm Your Readiness: If you have reviewed this document, understand the investment required, and are ready to move forward, please notify Brandon Scivolette.
2. Sign an NDA: Serious buyers will be required to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement.
3. Schedule a Live Demo: After signing the NDA, we will arrange a live demonstration of the software.

• The demo will cover the functionality of all three applications (Customer-Facing Webapps, Vendor Portal, and Admin Portal).
• Technical details will be reviewed with your team.
• A Q&A session will be included to address your questions.

Webapps (Customer-Facing)

A user-friendly interface enabling customers to find, search, compare, and book movers with real-time pricing and availability, smart filtering, and automated booking management.

View all Webapps screenshots

Landing Pages

• The platform includes a multi-tier hierarchy of landing pages to allow easy navigation from broad to specific locations (e.g., state > city > company).
• Individual moving company profiles are available for further details and direct booking.
• When a customer uses the entry form on a movers public profile, that mover is shown first in the search results.

Search and Compare Movers

• Customers can search for movers based on location, availability, and the number of movers.
• Query string support allows for dynamic search parameter control, enabling seamless integration with other systems, deep linking of search results, automated testing, and valuable data analysis on user search behavior.
• Results are identified by a logical, tiered lookup to provide sufficient results while prioritizing the nearest movers. Additionally, driving time and distance data is cached and reused, reducing the number of API requests.
• Performance badges are shown for vendors that meet certain criteria. Available badges include: Top Pro, Responds Quickly, and Customer Favorite.
• Admins can view additional details, such as the calculated travel fee, driving distance metrics, response time, contact information, and algorithm score.
• Users can send an email to themselves with:

• The details of their search and a link to return to the results.
• The details of their search for a specific mover and a link to return to the results.

• If a search returns zero results it is recorded as “DNS” in the database and used to identify areas where recruiting is necessary.

Filters and Sorting

• Results are sorted using our proprietary ‘Quality Algorithm’ that factors in a large number of metrics, each with its own ranking weight designed to show the best results first.

• New vendors are boosted in our algorithm to encourage customer bookings.
• The weights used in the Quality Algorithm are dynamically adjustable through the database, enabling rapid updates and fine-tuning of search results based on business needs and performance analysis.

• Results are sortable by best match, price, reviews, and distance.

• Admins have additional sorting options

• ‘Smart filters’ dynamically adjust search results based on specific conditions. For instance, if a customer requests two movers but lists heavy items that require a larger crew, the system automatically updates the crew size and pricing to reflect the minimum movers required.
• Customers can filter results by specific criteria like equipment and if heavy items need to be moved.

• Customers in select cities- NYC, Miami, Chicago- have additional filter options, such as Insured and Addtl Insured.

White Labeling

• Partners can refer traffic with a unique URL or integrate our API for a more seamless customer experience.
• A specific white label configuration is flagged using a query string.
• The look and feel of the entire booking process, including email correspondence, can be customized to the partners requirements.
• White label traffic is logged as a referral from the partner.
• We set a cookie to track referrals from white-label partners and ensure users consistently see the partner-branded booking experience.
• Additional modifications, such as price offsets and exposing additional fields, can be configured for each white label partner.

Checkout

• Special handling for addresses on military bases with dedicated alerts and prompts for essential information relevant to the move.
• Built-in local move logic ensures the distance between customer locations is 50 miles or less.
• Idle or inactive sessions are properly handled with automatic data refreshes to ensure a seamless experience.

Inputs and Validation

• Clear input requirements (required/optional) and optional fields are collapsed by default for a streamlined experience.
• Conditional logic toggles the visibility of certain fields based on user selections, minimizing distractions and improving clarity.
• Scroll-to-top functionality for easy error correction when multiple validation issues occur.
• Visual cues (red highlighting) for required but empty fields.
• Actionable error messages provide specific guidance on how to correct invalid entries.
• Intelligent email address validation identifies and suggests corrections for common misspellings and typos, ensuring accurate contact information.
• Customer-provided addresses are validated in real time to reduce errors and improve accuracy.

Payment Enhancements

• Utilization of Stripe Elements API to shift PCI compliance to Stripe.
• DNB and rebooking customers can complete checkout using the ‘card on file’.
• Google and Apple Pay are available in lieu of a credit card. Note: Apple Pay is only shown on iOS and requires domain verification (won’t be visible on localhost).

Abandoned Cart Recovery

• If a booking is abandoned on the last checkout step, customers automatically receive an email with a link to complete the process. The link recreates their checkout session and takes them directly to the billing page, eliminating the need to reenter information. This functionality has led to a 19% increase in bookings.
• Admins can assist by manually sending a booking link to the customer, further improving conversion rates.
• Abandoned records are displayed on the Admin Portal dashboard, enabling admins to contact customers directly and convert potential bookings.
• Abandoned records are automatically updated by the system or manually by an admin with an outcome to enable more detailed reporting.

Logging Enhancements

• All search specifics are recorded in the database.
• Checkout sessions flagged for potential issues are logged for analysis.
• Responses from the Google Maps Distance and Directions API are comprehensively logged, including any errors.

Order Management

• Customers can view and manage their bookings online.
• View real-time status updates, order details, and contact information for their mover.
• When a request has been submitted but has not received a response, the customer may choose to withdraw or rebook the request.
• If an order is withdrawn, declined or expires, customers are given a quick rebooking option to minimize friction.
• A project outline to develop a two-way change request feature has been completed. We opted to wait until .NET has been upgraded before beginning development.

Completed Moves

• Submit a review (60 days) or edit an existing review (14 days).

• If the overall review score is <= 3.0 it triggers the poor review functionality

• A message is displayed to the customer encouraging them to contact the mover directly to discuss the issue (the message includes the movers contact info)
• A performance issues is automatically created for admin review and, if needed, investigation

• View photos uploaded by the mover.

Completed DNB Moves

• View the final bill and transaction history.
• Pay the balance due.

Administrative Flags

• There are a number of flags that can be triggered using query strings.
• These flags are primarily intended to enable or disable functionality, usually for the purpose of testing or troubleshooting.
• The flags exist across all environments, but are not typically used in the production environment.

Framework Modernization

The project to upgrade Webapps to the latest .NET 8 framework and leverage the power of Blazor is currently 85% complete. This substantial upgrade will modernize the front-end, resulting in a significantly enhanced user experience with improved performance and smoother user interactions.

Vendor Portal (For Moving Companies)

The Vendor Portal helps moving companies (vendors) to manage their services, availability, and performance on the MovingLabor.com platform. This interface provides full control over orders, service offerings, and business policies. There are a total of 6,342 moving companies in our database, with 1,202 currently active.

View all Vendor Portal screenshots

Apply, Track, and Onboarding

See also: Admin Recruiting

• Moving companies that want to list their services on MLC complete a multi-step application process, intended to gather all of the necessary information and speed up the review process.
• The application process includes logic to identify submissions from a person or vendor that exists in our database already, and workflows for handling each scenario.
• Applicants have limited function to the portal, allowing them to view the application status, as well as modify and resubmit.
• Once approved, full access to the portal is granted. This allows them to configure their settings and availability.
• The account settings are manually reviewed by MLC staff. If everything is in order, the account status becomes active, at which point they will show in search results and can receive booking requests.
• Our Quality Algorithm gives newly approved vendors a boost in search results so they are more visible, reducing the time it takes to receive their first booking.

View Larger Image

Dashboard

• New and upcoming moves are prominently displayed.
• See how the vendor ranks in price and rating against their competitors in the local market.
• Performance summary and statistics.
• We display dynamic suggestions to help them be more competitive and get more bookings.
• A feed showing new customer reviews.
• A recent activity feed.

Order Management

• New and upcoming requests are prominently displayed on the dashboard.
• Vendors can view and respond to new order requests, manage upcoming jobs, and view past orders.

• When declining a request a reason must be selected from the list provided.
• When declining a request due to availability the date is blocked automatically.

• Vendors can download and print a PDF version of the work order.
• Communication and private notes can be added to an order.
• Completed paperwork and job photos can be uploaded.

Performance and Reviews

• A summary of the location's performance metrics are shown on their dashboard.
• Vendors can monitor customer reviews and address performance issues through private notes or public responses.
• View performance issues that are attached to an order.
• Payment can be made online to resolve an outstanding balance due to performance issues.
• Performance badges are awarded to highlight top-performing vendors, improving visibility.
• When aspects of their performance cross defined thresholds, a warning is emailed along with tips to address the problem.

Location Management

• Vendors can add additional locations to expand their service area.
• Multiple locations are managed individually within the same account.
• The settings for each location are independent of each other.
• The user can opt-in to SMS communications for multiple phone numbers. SMS consent is handled in compliance with The Campaign Registry (TCR).

Service Management

• Vendors can customize their services by setting crew sizes, rates, travel fees, surcharges, and policies for heavy items or special requests.
• In addition to standard time and distance travel fees, vendors servicing areas with extra costs—such as toll roads, parking fees, or ferry charges—can apply a surcharge tailored to specific zip codes.
• For equipment and heavy items, the vendor can configure additional policies like:

• The minimum crew size required (for heavy items).

• Logical workflows are in place to ensure changes are validated against the crew sizes currently offered.

• Availability for same-day and next-day requests.
• Fee (if applicable).

Credentials and Media

All file uploads go through a moderation process. Uploads that are approved are displayed on their public profile.

• Upload and manage their business credentials such as licenses, insurance, and other qualifications.
• Upload images of their past work to enhance their profiles and attract more bookings.
• Upload their logo which is shown on their profile card and search listing.

Calendar and Availability

• Vendors can set their standard operating hours, override specific dates, and block unavailable times.
• The arrival window (AW) can be configured by day or by specific request types, such as same-day bookings.
• Vendors can set availability policies, like if they normally accept same-day or next-day requests.
• An iCal link is provided so the vendor may subscribe to their calendar from an external source (e.g., Google Calendar).

Referral and Direct Booking

• Links that allow them to refer customers and be credited with the referral.
• A direct booking link allows them to have their customers book them through the MLC marketplace. When a direct booking link is used they are the only mover that is shown in search results.

Security

• Secure, robust workflows have been implemented to handle password recovery securely while addressing edge cases unique to our applications.

Admin Portal (For Internal Staff)

The Admin Portal provides MovingLabor.com staff with tools to manage the marketplace, including customer orders, vendor profiles, and payments. The portal is designed to ensure smooth operations by providing complete control over the order lifecycle, vendor performance, and customer support.

Dashboard

• Grids show requests in various statuses with visual indicators to provide further context. These grids refresh every 30 seconds.
• An entry form allows them to help customers over the phone by entering search results quickly.
• A unified search is available to find records by name, phone number, email, order number, and more.

Order Management

• Admins can view, modify, cancel, or reassign orders.

• Reassigned orders retain the full history of the original order and vendor.
• When reassigning, admins specify whether the customer or vendor is responsible, select a reason, and can apply a cancellation fee (for customers) or log a performance issue (for vendors).
• If the reassignment increases the order price, the vendor may be charged for the difference.
• An order can be reassigned multiple times.

• Orders can be marked as "Do Not Bill" (DNB) based on specific criteria.
• For jobs that meet the required conditions, such as Stalled (Abandoned), additional fields are visible to admins.
• Admins can resend emails (conditional based on the status), view order-specific pages by impersonating the vendor or customer, and any action taken is logged against the admin user and not the party that is being impersonated.
• Admins can view completed paperwork and photos submitted by the mover.
• Admins can attach unshared/private documents to an order.
• View detailed payment records, including transaction amounts, dates, and statuses. Seamlessly transition to the associated customer profile in Stripe for additional information.
• Orders can be “closed” after completion. This updates the submitted order details to reflect the actual time and billable items.

• For DNB orders, this process triggers an email to the customer asking them to pay the balance due.
• Payment can be made directly via a secure checkout page.
• We populate their card on file to make the process seamless.
• An itemized receipt is sent when the balance has been paid.

Email and Reporting

• Email templates can be managed for automated communication with customers and vendors.
• Every outbound email is logged to the database.
• Outbound emails failing to send via the Mandrill API trigger database entries. The system automatically reschedules delivery attempts until successful, then updates the record accordingly.
• Email events (clicks, opens, spam reports, bounces, etc.) are captured via webhook and logged as historical events, linked to the corresponding records for admin visibility.
• Admins can generate basic reports to track performance, order volume, and vendor activity.

Calendar View

• The calendar provides an overview of current and upcoming bookings, with real-time updates.

Policy Management

• Terms and conditions policy editor for both customers and vendors.
• Updates are automatically versioned and stored in the database.
• For the vendor terms, new versions can be applied to all vendors or new vendors.

• If all vendors, existing vendors are prompted to accept the updated terms at login.

• When terms are accepted or declined, we log the event in the database:

• The policy ID for the applicable version.
• Timestamp.
• The result (accepted/declined).
• User IP address and browser information.
• The order # (for customers).

Vendor Management

Recruiting and Applicants

• To expand our service area, we proactively recruit in areas identified by "Do Not Service" (DNS) zip codes, where customer searches currently return no results.
• Prospects can be added manually and an introductory email sent to the vendor.
• A real-time grid of applicants and their statuses.
• View and manage individual applicants and the information provided. Admins can add notes, update details of their evaluation, change the application status (some changes trigger other workflows), and ultimately approve or reject the application.

Approved Vendors

• View and manage individual vendor accounts, order history, performance issues, reviews, etc.
• Make a vendor account or individual locations active and inactive.
• Impersonate the vendor, allowing admins to interact with their vendor portal account. They are able to make changes to the vendor settings, respond to new booking requests, etc.

Performance

• Vendors owe a combined total of $20,650 (unpaid) for performance issues.
• The performance landing page shows a grid of new and open performance issues.
• View and manage individual performance issues.
• Individual performance issues have options to allow for a number of scenarios:

• If the vendor owes money.
• Temporarily inactivate the vendor location.
• If the issue counts against their performance score.
• If the performance issue is visible in the vendor portal or on their public profile.

Moderation

• Review updates and changes made by vendors.
• Approve or reject each item.
• Moderation is required for new and updated: Credentials, location address changes, new locations, gallery images, and job photos.

Vendor News

• View and update vendor news content, which is shown on the vendor dashboard.

All Applications

• Key events are logged for historical context on customer, order, and vendor records. These logs are visible to administrators, aiding in performance tracking and troubleshooting.

Maintenance and Optimization of Data

• Daily Database Cleanup: Deletes records older than a defined period, with backups to a separate database for archival purposes.
• Weekly Database Cleanup: Geographic reviews, ratings, and vendor statistics are recalculated weekly to optimize cached data, significantly improving front-end website performance.
• Test Record Cleanup: Records created during testing are systematically deleted on a weekly basis.

Technical Specifications and Development Environment

Architecture

• Platform: The software is built on a .NET 4.7.2 framework (with ongoing upgrades to .NET 8 and Blazor) and utilizes Visual Basic and SQL Server.
• Front-End: The Webapps front-end also runs .NET 4.7.2.
• Hosting: All server and database resources run on AWS, providing scalability and high availability.

Integration Capabilities

Our applications can integrate with external software as long as an API is available. The APIs that our applications utilize include:

• Google Maps API: We consume a number of Maps APIs in order to get distance and time data, as well as validate street addresses.
• Stripe: Our applications process payment transactions using the Stripe API.
• Mailchimp Transactional (Mandrill): Outbound email is sent via their API.
• AWS S3: Cloud storage and retrieval of images and documents uploaded by vendors and admins.

Development and DevOps

• Issue Tracking: Jira is used for bug reporting, issue tracking, and project planning.
• Application Monitoring: Sentry is used to monitor our applications for critical issues and performance problems.
• Source Control and CI/CD: GitLab handles source control, continuous integration, and continuous deployment.
• Environment Separation:

• Development Environment: Features IP-restricted access and sandboxed APIs to allow for complete testing without real-world consequences.
• Production Environment: Fully configured for live customer interactions with data replicated from the production database.

Conclusion

MovingLabor.com's marketplace software provides a robust, all-in-one solution for moving companies, customers, and administrators to efficiently manage the moving process. Designed for immediate deployment, the platform is fully operational as-is, requiring no additional development to fulfill its intended purpose as a moving labor marketplace.

The platform's advanced technical foundation, including ongoing modernization efforts like the upgrade to .NET 8 and Blazor, ensures long-term scalability, enhanced performance, and a modern user experience. Its unique features, such as the proprietary Quality Algorithm, smart filter capabilities, and white-labeling options, position it as a highly competitive offering in the moving industry.

For prospective buyers, this software not only provides immediate value but also offers significant untapped potential for growth and revenue generation. With features like vendor monetization, affiliate partnerships, and opportunities to expand into mobile apps and full-service moving, the platform is primed to scale alongside the vision and resources of its next owner.

This turnkey platform is ideal for businesses seeking to streamline operations, maximize revenue opportunities, and establish a strong foothold in the moving services marketplace. By acquiring MovingLabor.com's software, you're not just purchasing a product—you're investing in a proven, scalable solution with a bright and profitable future.

Ready to move forward? Send an email to Brandon Scivolette.