Building a Custom Order Mechanism for Trading Events in Medusa

In our latest project, the client wanted to create a platform where users could trade products, making each order a shared experience rather than a standard purchase.

Traditional e-commerce workflows couldn’t support this vision, as they lack the flexibility needed to handle multiple participants, random pairings, and manual approval.

To solve this, we decided to create a custom order mechanism for trading events.

Building this required reengineering the backend to support dynamic event creation and user management.

Medusa, as a flexible commerce platform, offered exactly the tools we needed to bring this idea to life. Its modular, open-source architecture allowed us to create the trading process with user pairing, event management, and shipping configurations.

In this article, we’ll show you how we customized this Medusa project to create an interactive and user-driven trading experience.

Defining the trading event workflow

Each trading event begins when a user initiates an order for a trading item. This order doesn’t immediately progress to payment and shipping, instead, it enters a queue as an “open trading event.”

For the event to proceed, at least three users must join by listing their products for exchange within the event. Medusa allowed us to set up a custom order status and tracking system to manage and monitor user participation dynamically.

We customized Medusa’s workflow to fulfill each event. Once the required number of participants is reached, the system shifts the event’s status, prompting the admin to review the trade.

By structuring the event, we could guide users from initiation to participation, simplifying what could have been a complex, multi-step process.

Order validation process

Once three or more users are participating, the admin steps in to verify and approve the event.

Medusa’s admin dashboard, with customize capabilities, made it easy to add this manual review step. The admin interface was extended to allow easy verification and approval of trading events, ensuring that each event met the participation requirements and followed the desired trading guidelines.

This step helped maintain quality control, as each event could be manually reviewed and approved before moving to the next phase.

Automated users matching logic

With the trading event approved, the next challenge was pairing users for the exchange.

Rather than using a preset order fulfillment logic, we developed a custom script to randomly match participants. Each participant is assigned a partner with whom to exchange their products

This flexibility in Medusa enabled the custom matching logic to be treated as part of the order lifecycle, allowing the trading event to proceed smoothly and ensuring the random matching process remained transparent to users.

Order processing and shipping instructions

After pairing, each participant receives shipping instructions generated by the system, directing them to send their product to their matched partner.

Medusa’s cart and order modules provided an ideal foundation to support custom instructions for each participant's shipment.

By using Medusa, we could generate these shipping details directly in the admin dashboard, where store operators could also review them if needed.

This setup kept the instructions clear and consistent, making the process smooth and easy for users.

To wrap up

Creating this trading experience required us to break away from conventional e-commerce order flows and design a system to handle dynamic events, track user participation, and manage unique fulfillment steps.

With Medusa, we developed a custom solution that met the project’s needs and set up a foundation for future growth. This example shows how Medusa development can be used to build unique e-commerce solutions tailored to specific business needs.

If you want to create e-commerce experiences that stand out, our team has the expertise to bring your vision to life. Whether it’s a custom order mechanism, advanced user interactions, or complex integrations, we specialize in crafting solutions that fit your unique requirements.