Elbold connects event hosts with verified DJs, photographers, caterers, decorators and more across the UK. List your services free, receive enquiries from customers actively looking to book, and build your reputation on a platform designed specifically for UK event professionals.
20 founding places available. No credit card required. Free to start. Cancel anytime.
Why Now
The 20 Founding Vendor places exist because Elbold is building something that requires trust from both sides: customers and professionals. The vendors who join now help establish the platform standard, and in return receive permanent advantages that no later applicant can access.
When the founding period closes, new vendor applications enter a standard queue. No priority placement. No Founding Vendor badge. No early access to features. The window is specific and finite. This is not a marketing tactic.
Customers searching for event professionals in your area will see whichever vendors appear at the top of their results. Those positions belong to whoever applied first.
Platform Comparison
Most event professionals use social media and maybe one or two directories. Here is how they compare. Honestly.
ElboldFounding Vendor | Social MediaInstagram / Facebook | DirectoriesBark, Poptop etc. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to list | Most charge monthly | ||
| Customers actively searching to book | Followers ≠ buyers | ||
| Payment protection on every booking | You chase invoices | Varies by platform | |
| Independently verified professionals only | Anyone can post | Usually self-reported | |
| Verified reviews from real bookings | Unverified testimonials | Often unverified | |
| Permanent priority placement | Algorithm-controlled | Paid upgrades required | |
| Founding Vendor badge | |||
| Dispute resolution if something goes wrong | Rare exceptions | ||
| Business analytics and revenue tracking | No business data | Not available | |
| Client CRM for off-platform contacts | DMs, not a system | Not available |
Comparison reflects typical platform policies. Individual platforms vary.
Already Have a System?
Every vendor who joins Elbold already runs their business somehow. Here's an honest answer for each one — what stays, what Elbold adds.
These have contracts and invoicing Elbold doesn't build yet. Keep it for that. Use Elbold for the marketplace profile, verified reviews and off-platform contact tracking it doesn't do.
Your Elbold availability calendar protects you from a marketplace-driven double-booking. Run it alongside your existing scheduling tool, not instead of it.
Your Elbold page already does more than most self-built vendor websites — verified badges, structured reviews, SEO, a booking flow. It can be your only website.
Keep posting. Put your Elbold link in the bio — that's where a follower becomes a booking with a paper trail behind it.
Keep messaging there. Log the contact in your Elbold CRM so it doesn't disappear when the chat scrolls away.
This is exactly what the CRM is for. Your contact history stops depending on a notebook you could lose.
List on both — most vendors do. What Elbold offers that a lead marketplace can't: reviews that are structurally impossible to fake, because every one is gated to a real, confirmed booking.
What You Get
Everything you need to be visible to early customers when Elbold launches, with placement advantages that stay with you permanently.
Revenue analytics, client CRM, direct contact tracking, lead funnel reporting, availability calendar and booking intelligence are already live — real tools for running your business, not just a listing. Founding Vendors access every tool as it ships, before any vendor who joins later.
Creating your profile and receiving enquiries costs nothing. Elbold earns a fair, transparent 10% commission on marketplace bookings — charged only when you've been paid — so our incentives are aligned with yours. Paid plans unlock deeper business tools whenever your business is ready for them.
Customers browsing Elbold see your Founding Vendor badge alongside your listing. Verified vendors with complete profiles typically receive more enquiries than incomplete listings at comparable prices.
Your profile appears at the top of search results and category pages ahead of every vendor who joins after you. Customers typically contact the first 3–5 vendors they see. That set is yours.
Every booking on Elbold goes through Stripe. Your payment is protected, released to you after completion, and covered by our dispute resolution process. You never chase invoices.
Founding Vendor is not a time-limited promotion. It stays on your profile permanently, distinguishing you from the vendors who joined after the launch period closed.
Long-Term Value
Every booking you complete builds your review history. Every client you manage through the CRM stays attached to your account. Every month of revenue data makes your analytics more meaningful.
When you leave a social media platform, you lose your followers. When you leave Elbold, you'd lose your verified reviews, your booking history, your client relationships, and the placement advantage you built by joining early. All of which took real time to earn. That's not a lock-in tactic. That's what it means to run a real business on a real platform.
Revenue analytics, lead funnel data, seasonal demand trends, and client CRM are already live in the Vendor Dashboard, and growing every quarter.
Vendor Standards
Elbold is a curated platform. We review every application, and we maintain standards after approval. That's what makes the verification badge meaningful, and what protects the platform for every vendor on it.
Our full Vendor Standards document is published and publicly available. We believe vendors should know exactly what we expect, and exactly what happens if standards are not met.
Read the Vendor StandardsThe Process
Four steps. Free throughout. No commitment required.
We individually verify every vendor before they appear on the platform. Customers know that means something.
Every booking is paid through Stripe. Your earnings are protected and released to you after the event completes.
Your profile is free. There is no contract and no minimum term. If Elbold does not work for your business, you can leave at any time.
20 founding places · Applications open now
Apply in under 5 minutes. We review within 24–48 hours. Your profile goes live immediately upon approval. Once the 20 founding places are filled, new vendors join a standard queue.
No credit card · Free to start · A real business dashboard from day one · Cancel anytime