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This guide adds identity verification to a Sharetribe marketplace without code. New users get a verification link by email, and verified users are approved or given posting and transaction rights automatically. It is written for marketplace operators: everything happens in Sharetribe Console, the ProofAge console and Zapier. Typical uses:
  • Service marketplaces (home services, tutoring, childcare, coaching) can ask providers to verify before they publish a listing.
  • Rental and peer-to-peer marketplaces (vehicles, equipment, spaces) can ask customers to verify before they book.
  • Age-restricted marketplaces can confirm that users are old enough before they buy or sell.
The setup has three building blocks: your marketplace’s access control settings, a ProofAge workspace, and the ProofAge app for Zapier, which connects the two. This page explains how the pieces fit together, how to go live and what to check when something doesn’t work. The step-by-step instructions, with screenshots, are on two pages:

1. Send the verification link

Set up your marketplace and ProofAge, then build the Zap that emails every new user a link.

2. Grant access after verification

Build the Zaps that approve verified users and email declined ones, then test every case.

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What you need

Each verified user uses 6 Zapier tasks and each declined user 4 (one per action step that runs; trigger and filter steps are free).

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How it works

The setup uses three Zaps:
ProofAge sends results to Zapier instantly, so a verified user gets access a few seconds after the decision. The only wait is at the start. Zapier checks Sharetribe for new users on a schedule (every 2 minutes on the Professional plan these Zaps need), so the verification email arrives within 2 minutes of sign-up. The result is never shown on the verification screens themselves. When the person finishes, ProofAge always sends them to the same “we’ve received it” page, and the result arrives by email. That way nobody can try the check over and over to learn what gets through.

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1. Set up your marketplace

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1.1 Access control

Decide what new users can do before they are verified. In Sharetribe Console, go to Build → General → Access control and tick the options you want. For example:
  • Approve users who want to join. New users can’t do anything until they are approved. Zap 2 approves them as soon as ProofAge verifies them.
  • Restrict posting rights and/or Restrict transaction rights. New users can sign up and browse, but can’t post listings or start transactions until Zap 2 grants these permissions.

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1.2 Content pages

With the Pages editor, create two simple pages. One section with a title and a paragraph is enough for each:
  • Verification received (verification-received): where ProofAge sends users after the last verification screen. It thanks them and says the result will arrive by email. It must not say that the verification succeeded, because the result isn’t known yet.
  • Verification failed (verification-failed): linked from the email users get when their verification is declined. It explains what to do next, such as replying to ask for a new link.
There is no “verification successful” page. The email that tells users they’re verified links straight to your marketplace.

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2. Set up ProofAge

Create a ProofAge account at app.proofage.net and create a test workspace. A workspace holds your verification settings: which check runs (ID document with selfie and liveness, or selfie age estimation), the minimum age, and where users go after the last screen. In a test workspace nothing is charged and you choose each result yourself, so you can test every scenario without a real ID. Then connect ProofAge to Zapier. You don’t need to copy API keys: Zapier asks you to sign in to ProofAge and choose a workspace.
The ProofAge app for Zapier is in beta and available through an invite link, which the first step page gives you. Once it is listed in Zapier’s App Directory, you’ll find it by searching for “ProofAge”.

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3. Connect ProofAge and your marketplace with Zapier

The first Zap starts when a new user joins your marketplace (Sharetribe → User Events → User created). It creates a verification in ProofAge (ProofAge → Create Verification), with the user’s Sharetribe ID as the External Reference, so the result can be matched to the right account later. Then it emails the user the verification link. Full steps: Send the verification link.

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3.2 Grant access after a successful verification

The second Zap starts when ProofAge approves a verification (ProofAge → Verification Completed, Status Approved). It uses the External Reference to find the user in Sharetribe, then approves the user (Sharetribe → Approve User) and/or grants them permissions (Sharetribe → Update Permissions) and sends a confirmation email. A third, shorter Zap does the same for declined verifications: it emails the user a link to your “verification failed” page. Full steps: Grant access after verification.

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4. Go live

First test the whole flow in your Test environment, as described in Test the whole flow. When everything works in Test:
  1. In Sharetribe Console, create an Integration API application in your Live environment and add a second Sharetribe connection in Zapier with its keys.
  2. In ProofAge, create a live workspace with the same settings and add a second ProofAge connection in Zapier for it (“Workspace name (Live)”).
  3. In each Zap, switch every Sharetribe and ProofAge step to the live connections.
  4. Replace the Test addresses with your live domain: the Redirect URL in Zap 1, the links in the emails of Zap 2 and Zap 3, and the Redirect URL of the live workspace.
  5. Publish each Zap.
Keep the test connections: they’re useful for trying out changes later.

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Troubleshooting

The ProofAge console shows every verification and whether its result reached Zapier, and Zapier’s Zap history shows every run. Start there.