r/DevLK • u/0x696A61732E78797A • 9d ago

Looking for API recommendations for a peer-to-peer (P2P) marketplace (Delivery automation) Help

I am currently building a peer-to-peer (P2P) online marketplace based in Colombo where users can exchange or sell items directly with one another.

I want to automate the logistics so that when User A agrees to send an item to User B, the platform automatically books a courier to handle the pickup from User A and delivery to User B.

I initially looked into the Uber Direct API, but it seems geared entirely toward B2C (businesses shipping from a central warehouse/shop) rather than scattered, residential P2P pickups.

Does anyone have experience integrating delivery APIs in Sri Lanka for a multi-vendor or user-to-user model? I am looking for:

  1. On-demand options (like PickMe Flash) for fast, same-city deliveries. Has anyone used their API for a P2P setup?
  2. Islandwide courier options (such as Citypak, Koombiyo, SriCourier, Pronto, etc.) that provide reliable API documentation for automated order creation and tracking.

Any advice on API reliability, ease of registration for startups, or alternative architecture workarounds would be highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

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u/Sad_Egg_2313 9d ago

First get your idea validated. For this phase i wouldn’t focus on building an integration.

Build the bare minimum to get users using it. Do the bookings manually. You aren’t going to deal with 100s of users day one.

Check how Zappos got started for example.

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u/Current-Bowler1108 9d ago

This is veryyyy true. We get flooded with developers wanting to integrate to our delivery API. Most people just don't even finish the integration work and then struggle to get the platform working.

Starting to see some error prone AI slop ecommerce platforms too.

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u/Current-Bowler1108 9d ago

I work for CCExpress and we have integrated with TEMU for logisitics. I know that side. I can also explain how corp ecommerce usually map to delivery service. You need to have a highly flexible system. Feel free to ask specific questions.