What Is a Lead Marketplace?

A lead marketplace is an open market where lead sellers publish inventory with the lowest price they will accept and lead buyers bid for it, so the market sets the price instead of a rate card agreed once and never revisited. Bid Capsule is a two-sided marketplace of this kind for leads, advertising positions and traffic.

How a lead marketplace differs from a rate card

When leads are sold on a rate card, the price was agreed at some point and does not move when demand moves or when the buyer's economics change. In a marketplace the seller states a floor, the price below which the lead is not sold, and buyers compete above it. In a vertical with more demand than supply the price rises. In a vertical with more supply than demand it falls toward the lowest floor anyone will accept. Either way the price reflects the market rather than a quote.

How a transaction runs on Bid Capsule

1. The seller defines inventory by vertical, geography and exclusivity and publishes the price they will accept.
2. The buyer sets the most they will pay, chooses an exclusivity tier, and funds the bid.
3. A proxy auction settles the sale at the clearing price. The winner pays what it took to beat the next bid, not their maximum. How the auction works.
4. The lead is delivered through Lead Capsule by the method the bid specified, and the buyer's prepaid balance is drawn down.
5. The seller receives the clearing price less the service fee, released after the escrow window on a set payout day each week.

What can be traded

• Real-time consumer leads, contested by buyers as they are captured.
• Inbound call transfers, qualified through a scripted IVR with a minimum call duration.
• Aged lead data, sold in the Bid Capsule lead store at price points banded by vertical, times sold and data age. How to buy aged leads.
• Advertising positions and redirect and pop traffic, in their own markets: see Ads and Traffic.

How a lead marketplace differs from lead distribution software

Lead distribution software, such as Lead Capsule, routes leads you already have to buyers you already chose. A marketplace adds the open market in front of that: strangers can find each other, price is set by auction, and the platform handles verification, delivery, billing and payouts so a deal between two parties who have never met still completes. Bid Capsule is built as a layer over Lead Capsule and Offer Capsule and uses their engines for that work.

What to check before you trade

• Exclusivity. How many companies will hold the lead in total. Exclusive versus shared leads.
• Funding. The buy side is prepaid, and a deposit is refunded automatically if no seller is found inside the window the buyer sets.
• Verification. Phone, email, address and IP checks run through Xverify before a lead routes.
• Fees. Registration is free, buyers pay only when they bid, and Bid Capsule charges a 15% service fee, or 10% for Lead Capsule and Offer Capsule customers, built into the bid. See fees and pricing.

Next steps

Sourcing inventory? See For Lead Buyers. Have inventory to sell? See For Lead Sellers. More questions are answered in the FAQ.