7 ratings put it on the German shopping bestseller chart: an equestrian influencer opened a €0.99 resale shop for her fans
What it is A German-language equestrian resale marketplace app for selling saddles and boots and finding riding partners, with an AI assistant. You have to pay €0.99 a month to use it.
Why it took off It was built by equestrian influencer Leonie Steinhauer and her daughter. She posted repeatedly on TikTok asking fans to "send a download screenshot and I'll follow you back," and it launched in the days when her appearance on the German edition of Die Höhle der Löwen drew criticism and peak attention. Germany and Austria's shopping bestseller charts have a low bar, so a few dozen or hundred subscribers are enough to chart.
CHow you could follow If you have traffic in a niche hobby community (or can partner with a creator who does), you could build a community tool or resale marketplace tied to that creator's identity in a small-language market. Give the web version away free to build posts, sell the app as a cheap subscription, and get users through the creator's own videos and "screenshot for follow-back" tactics.
- Data (updated daily) · Launched 2026-10-14 · German ratings 7 · Charted in 11-08 stores 2
iOS · best category chart rank · by store GermanyAustriaData 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Lower rank is higher; gaps mean it wasn't charted that dayiOS · Ratings count · Germany Data 2026-10-28 → 2026-11-08 (12 days, 12 observations). Apple doesn't publish download counts; rating growth is a proxy for downloads.
Pferdeflohmarkt ("horse flea market") is a German-language app for selling secondhand tack and finding riding partners. Three weeks after launch it ranked #29 on the German shopping bestseller chart and #14 in Austria, with only 7 ratings worldwide. It charted not because the product is strong. Its maker is an equestrian influencer with 60k followers, and the launch landed the day after she was on TV and criticized. This piece covers how it took off, where the money came from, how many free alternatives surround it, and what you can take from it.
A TV show, and an app that launched the next day
On Oct 12, 2026, VOX aired episode 6 of season 20 of "Die Höhle der Löwen" (the German "Dragons' Den"). Leonie Steinhauer, 26, and her mother Ines Frey pitched HyEx, a hyaluronic acid repair product, asking for €250K for 25.1%. Investor Carsten Maschmeyer skipped the product and started with her lips: "You're a beautiful woman, but I think it's too much, it looks unnatural." No investor made an offer.
The next day, Austria's "heute" ran the headline "I nearly cried." Leonie posted a response on TikTok: "I went on the show to have people judge my product, and instead I heard twice what they thought of my looks." The video got 303K views and 32K likes, and the comments mostly backed her (TikTok, 11-06).
On Oct 14, the day after the broadcast, Pferdeflohmarkt went live on the App Store, listed under developer Ines Frey. The app has no connection to HyEx, and as far as the coverage I can find goes, the show never mentioned it. But those days were also the busiest stretch of Leonie's account all year. Whether the timing was deliberate can't be known from the outside. My read is that it was.
What it is
A secondhand marketplace for the horse world only. Take photos, fill in the details, and list a saddle, a saddle pad or a pair of riding boots in three steps. The other half is "Reitbeteiligung", finding someone to share a horse or help with riding and care. There's an AI assistant called Pearl that identifies items, suggests prices, answers sizing questions, and pushes alerts for new messages and listings. Pearl is the name of Leonie's pony.
The store page says: "A monthly subscription of €0,99 is required to use app features." Private sales carry a 10% commission, with no listing fee (App Store, German store). A web version at pferde-flohmarkt.com launched first and is free to use.
Where the users came from: almost entirely her own followers
Leonie's TikTok @dressurponypearl has 63K followers and 4.28M total likes. Her Instagram @falbenponypearl has about 44K followers. Her videos paved the way for the app almost the whole time, before and after launch (TikTok views, 11-06):
| Date | Video | Views |
|---|---|---|
| 10-01 | "Do you want an app?" | 62K. Comments ask "what's it called", "is it free", "how is it different from BillyRider" |
| 10-03 | "Post your flea market profile and I'll follow you back" | 165k |
| 10-10 | "Have you signed up for the flea market yet?" | 61k |
| 10-13 | Responding to the show | 303k |
| 10-15 | "Screenshot that you downloaded the app and I'll follow you" | 66k |
Two rounds of "screenshot it and I'll follow back" were the most direct conversion tool: fans paid €0.99, and in return their idol followed them back. Many of the riding-share listings on the web are tagged "Kinder & Jugendliche (unter 18)", which matches her audience. For a teenage rider, €0.99 is pocket money.
I found no record of paid ads (the ad libraries not showing anything doesn't mean none ran), and no media article about the app itself. Nobody has mentioned it on X in the last two months.
How 7 ratings got it onto the bestseller chart
| Metric | Metric | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Rating | 7 ratings, 4.4 stars; none added since 10-30 | App Store,11-06 |
| German shopping bestseller chart | 10-28 to 11-06 between #29 and #53 | App Store charts |
| Austrian shopping bestseller chart | #13 to #30, with zero ratings in Austria | App Store charts |
| Overall chart | Never charted | App Store charts |
The #15–#50 band in the German/Austrian shopping category is a low bar. On the same day, neighbors on the chart included a kosher food scanner, a parcel tracker and a digital wallet, all small utilities. A €0.99/month subscription just needs a few dozen to a hundred payers to hold a spot here (estimate; Apple doesn't publish revenue).
All 4 visible reviews are 5 stars, and 3 of them were posted on Oct 19, the same day v1.1 shipped. One says "worth the money, it's really different from other apps", another "well designed, easy to use". Reviews this clustered in time and this close to marketing copy could be friends or fans asked to write them. Unverified.
The rating count has been stuck at 7 for a week. My read: new users have mostly stopped arriving, and its chart position is propped up by the first wave of fans auto-renewing. Whether it stays on the chart after the first renewals come due in mid-November is the number to watch next.
Who it competes with: free options, each several orders of magnitude bigger
| Competitors | Scale | How it differs |
|---|---|---|
| Kleinanzeigen (formerly eBay Classifieds) | 4M ratings in Germany, #40 on the overall free chart | General classifieds, with horse gear and riding-share categories, free |
| Vinted | 1.36M ratings in Germany, #15 on the overall free chart | Lots of riding gear sold there, with buyer protection |
| ehorses | 5,557 ratings in Germany, around since 2011 | Mainly horse sales, with equipment and riding-share sections, free to list |
| BillyRider | Its website says 195K riders | Vertical secondhand for equestrians, permanently free. Leonie herself has a seller profile there |
| Facebook group "Pferdeflohmarkt…" | Not verified | Free. "Pferdeflohmarkt" was already the common name for these groups and offline markets |
| Horsify, HorseDeal, EquiShare and others | All small | Matching only for riding-share or horse care |
(App Store Germany, company websites, 11-06)
Within what I could find, it's the only app in this niche that asks users to pay a subscription first. The 10% commission is also hard to collect: buyers and sellers agree terms in the app and then transact in person. The product itself (an AI assistant, with secondhand and riding-share in one place) is mostly offered by others too. People pay because it's "Leonie's app", not because it beats Kleinanzeigen.
Comments already include people complaining "you still have to pay ". Her response on Instagram: if you want it free, keep using the web version; the app is the version with "other new features". The free web version collects listings, the paid app collects fan money, and splitting it this way limits the reputational risk. The cost is obvious too: most people stay on the web.
If it were you
The takeaway: this isn't an opportunity in "horse secondhand marketplaces". It's a case of a creator opening her own shop. It's worth studying, but someone without an audience of their own can't really copy it.
Who it fits: developers who already have a creator running a niche hobby community, or who can partner with one. Horse riding, diving, skiing, fishing, models and crafts all work, ideally in smaller language markets like German, Dutch or Nordic, with 50K+ followers whose audience actually buys and sells secondhand gear.
Who it doesn't fit: anyone without an in-niche audience who wants to take users from Kleinanzeigen, Vinted or Facebook groups with the product alone. Free competitors several orders of magnitude larger are already there, and a €0.99 subscription won't stop anyone.
How to build it: partner with a creator and make the tool "her app", tying the name, the assistant and the visuals to her. Launch the web version free first to collect listings, then set a subscription priced like pocket money. The tool itself doesn't take much work; this app is basically a web app on Supabase. The developer's real job is closing the partnership.
How to get users: entirely through the creator's own videos. Tease it and ask "do you want it", then post "screenshot your signup and I'll follow back", and after launch "screenshot your download and I'll follow back". The days the creator is on TV, trending or in a controversy are the launch window.
How early you need to be: this model has no time window. You can do it anytime. It only depends on when you find the right creator. Nobody is copying Pferdeflohmarkt yet.
What would show I got it wrong: if after the first renewals in mid-November it holds a spot in the top 50 of the German shopping bestseller chart and ratings start climbing again, then it's not just fans paying to support an idol. Secondhand horse gear as a category may have real paying demand, and it's worth re-examining whether you can do it without a creator. If it drops off the chart and ratings stay at 7, the creator brought a wave of traffic that didn't stick.
Research notes: competitor table, acquisition evidence, full research report
- Competitors
Name Where Launched Scale How it differs from this one BillyRider Web Many years ago (unverified) Its website says 195K riders; 7585 followers on IG Vertical secondhand for equestrians, permanently free, no AI, no subscription. Leonie herself is a BillyRider seller ehorses iOS 2011-12 5557 ratings in Germany, #93 on the Shopping free chart Mainly horse sales, with equipment and riding-share sections. Free to list, with paid pinning Kleinanzeigen iOS 2010-08 4M ratings in Germany, #40 on the overall free chart General classifieds with horse, gear and riding-share categories. Free, with far more traffic Vinted iOS 2013-04 1.36M ratings in Germany, #15 on the overall free chart General secondhand fashion with buyer protection, lots of riding wear sold there Facebook secondhand groups / IG @flohmarkt_reiter Other — Not verified Free and decentralized. "Pferdeflohmarkt" was already the common name for these groups and offline markets EQUESTRIAN Flohmarkt- und Service-App iOS Not verified Small Free with no transaction fee, the opposite of its paid model Horsify / HorseDeal / reitbeteiligung.app / Betty / EquiShare Web Mostly 2024–2026 All very small (HorseDeal CH has 4 ratings, EquiShare 5) Only matching riders with horses or horse-sitting; no secondhand tack sales - Where users come from
- Verified The founder's own TikTok/IG creator accounts: @dressurponypearl has been posting app teasers, sign-up guides and download tutorials since 10-01, with 6–165k views per video (TikHub); IG @falbenponypearl posts in parallel
- Verified "Show your sign-up/download screenshot, I'll follow back" incentive: 10-03 "Postet hier euer Flohmarkt Profil und ich folge euch zurück", 10-15 "Macht ein Screen vom Download der App und ich folge Euch"
- Verified Personal attention driven by a TV show: 10-12 On VOX's "Die Höhle der Löwen," the episode where a mother and daughter pitched HyEx had Maschmeyer comment on her appearance, which heute.at and others reported on; her response video got 10-13k views; the app launched 303 on 10-14
- Verified Free web version to build supply first: pferde-flohmarkt.com went live in October, with many ZIP-code-sorted rider listings on the homepage; most are tagged as minors
- Inferred Paid acquisition: none found; our ad library doesn't cover this product
Pferdeflohmarkt (iOS id6810263031) research report
Research date 2026-11-06. Data from our appstore library (app_day / app_profile, from 2026-10-28), Apple's lookup API, TikHub (TikTok), and Jina web search and page scraping. All inferences are labeled.
Bottom line
This is a "creator's own storefront" built by German horse-riding creator Leonie Steinhauer (TikTok @dressurponypearl, 63k followers, 4.28M likes in total; Instagram @falbenponypearl, about 44k followers) and her mother Ines Frey (the developer account on the App Store, owner of cosmetics company Jivala). Users are Leonie's fans, brought in one TikTok at a time. The launch was timed two days after mother and daughter appeared on VOX's "Die Höhle der Löwen" (the German "Dragons' Den"), an episode that pushed Leonie's visibility to a peak. At 0.99 €/month with mandatory subscription, plus the low bar of Germany and Austria's Shopping Top Grossing charts, a few dozen to a few hundred subscribers are enough to put it on the category grossing chart. The product's differentiation (the AI assistant Pearl, the combined secondhand tack and horse-sharing) is not why it took off. The rating count has stalled at 7, so there's no sign it will grow on its own.
1. Data profile
| items | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Launched | 2026-10-14; v1.1 released 2026-10-19 | Apple lookup |
| Developer | Ines Frey (individual developer account, only this one app; website pferde-flohmarkt.com) | Apple lookup / developer page id6810263033 |
| Pricing | Free to download, but "0,99 €/month subscription required to use app features"; 3rd-party sales carry a 10% commission; no listing fee | App Store description |
| Rating | 7 ratings, averaging 4.43; 10-28 of them are 5, 10-30 to 7 in the 7 days after, with 0 new | appstore.app_day |
| Germany Shopping Top Grossing | Ranged between #10-28 and #11-06 from 29 to 53 (best was #11-06 on 29) | appstore.app_day(de,genre 6024) |
| Austria Shopping Top Grossing | #13–#30 (best #11-06 on 14); Austrian rating count is 0 | appstore.app_day(at) |
| Overall chart | Never charted on any overall chart (free, paid, or grossing) | appstore.app_day |
| Reviews | 4 visible reviews, all 5 stars; 3 of them landed on 10-19, one saying "das Geld lohnt sich" | data card recent_reviews |
How to read these numbers: Charting on Top Grossing means real people paid 0.99 €, but the #14–#50 band on the German and Austrian Shopping grossing charts is already crowded with small tools: on the same day (11-05), nearby were KosherScan, TrackPack, Pass2U, Thrifted, BierNot!, and similar (appstore.v_chart). The bar is low. The rating count is stuck at 7, which suggests new downloads have largely stopped. Our inference: its chart position is mostly sustained by renewals from the first wave of fans, with only a trickle of new paying users each day (unverified; Apple doesn't publish revenue).
2. Who built it: a creator and her mother, with the product as a storefront for their own traffic
- Leonie Steinhauer (age 26): German equestrian content creator, Instagram @falbenponypearl, bio reads "Die mit den 3 Barbie Pferden… Deep Pearl", contact email [email protected]; TikTok @dressurponypearl, display name PEARLANDBARBIE, 63k followers, 4.28M likes in total, 490 videos (TikHub 2026-11-06). Her horse is called Pearl, and the AI assistant in the app is also called Pearl, directly tying it to her personal brand.
- Ines Frey (age 58): Leonie's mother, owner of cosmetics company Jivala; the developer account uses her name (reported by web.de and tvmovie.de). The developer address on the data card is Berlin, while media reports call them a "Munich startup"; the two accounts don't match.
- Lead: Leonie has a seller profile on competitor BillyRider (billyrider.de/profile/leonie-steinhauer-148715). She was already a regular on the secondhand tack platform before building her own.
3. Where users came from: timeline (evidence of growth tactics)
| Date | Event | Data | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-29 | TikTok "Zeige mir eure Pferde" (interactive post, warm-up) | 34k views | TikHub |
| 2026-10-01 | TikTok "Habt ihr Lust auf eine App" (teasing an upcoming app) | 62k views, 7300 likes; comments are all asking "what's it called", "where do I download it", "is it free", "how is it different from BillyRider" | TikHub videos and comments |
| 2026-10-03 | TikTok / IG "Postet hier euer Flohmarkt Profil und ich folge euch zurück" (you sign up and post a screenshot, I follow back) | TikTok 165k views, 23k likes | TikHub;IG reel DeBzvFqI1ZV |
| Early October | Web version pferde-flohmarkt.com went live first (Netlify + Supabase), free to use | Image timestamps on the homepage rider listings range from 10-17 to 10-27, with many listings tagged "Kinder & Jugendliche (unter 18)" | Web page text |
| 2026-10-10 | TikTok "Seit ihr schon beim Pferdeflohmarkt angemeldet?" | 61k views | TikHub |
| 2026-10-12 | VOX "Die Höhle der Löwen" Season 20 Episode 6: mother and daughter pitched a different product, HyEx (a hyaluronic acid repair cosmetic), asking €250k for 25.1%; no investment. Carsten Maschmeyer commented on Leonie's lips being "unnatural" on camera, and German and Austrian media wrote about it the next day | heute.at 10-13 "Influencerin bei 'Höhle der Löwen' bloßgestellt", swp.de, tvmovie.de, web.de | Web |
| 2026-10-13 | TikTok "Habt ihr die Sendung gesehen?" (responding to the show) | 303k views, 32k likes, comments overwhelmingly on her side ("Männer…", "Wie respektlos") | TikHub |
| 2026-10-14 | App Store launch | Day 2 after the episode aired | Apple lookup |
| 2026-10-15 | TikTok "Macht ein Screen vom Download der App und ich folge Euch" (download screenshot for a follow-back) | 66k views | TikHub |
| About 10-15 | IG "Die App hat ganz andere Features… If you want to use it free, keep using the web version; for new features, download the app" (answering the "you have to pay?" objection) | — | IG reel DehKP4LomIg |
| 2026-10-19 | 3 5-star reviews appeared the same day, v1.1 released the same day | — | Data card / lookup |
Conclusion: The source of users is confirmed as the creator's own traffic, plus a "sign up or post a download screenshot for a follow-back" incentive, plus personal visibility from a TV show. HyEx and this app are not directly connected, and the show didn't mention the app (no reporting found). But the episode pushed Leonie's accounts to a recent peak of 300k views between 10-12 and 10-13, and the app launched the next day to catch that wave. We infer the launch timing was deliberate (unverified). Not found: Meta or TikTok ad spend (our ad library only tracks products on its list, so absence there doesn't mean none), media coverage of the app itself, X discussion (x-radar results for "Pferdeflohmarkt" over the last 60 days: 0), ASO investment.
4. Why people pay
- The price is a "fan support price": 0.99 €/month, pocket-money level for her teenage girl fans. Many listings on the web version are tagged "Kinder & Jugendliche (unter 18)", matching her audience profile.
- Paying for a "follow-back": both 10-03 and 10-15 videos explicitly promise a follow-back for a sign-up or a download screenshot. For fans, 0.99 € buys interaction with an idol, not a better secondhand market.
- Comments already push back on paying ("Man muss bezahlen ", "Ist das kostenlos?"), so she keeps the free web version and positions the app as "the paid version with new features." This tier controls reputation risk, but it also means most people will stay on the free web version.
5. Competitors
| Competitors | Platform | Launched | Scale | How it differs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BillyRider | Web (+ social media) | Many years ago (exact year unverified) | Website says "Über 195.000 Reiter"; IG 7585 followers | A horse-only secondhand classifieds site, permanently free, also carrying service and property listings; no AI, no subscription. No iOS app found in our appstore library |
| ehorses | iOS / web | iOS 2011-12 | 5557 ratings in Germany; best Shopping free chart position #93 (appstore 11-06) | Mainly horse sales, with tack ads and a horse-sharing section (ehorses.at/reitbeteiligung); free listings with paid top placement |
| Kleinanzeigen (formerly eBay Classifieds) | iOS / Android / web | 2010 | 4M ratings in Germany, #40 on the overall free chart | General classifieds with "Pferde & Zubehör" and "Reitbeteiligung" categories; free; the largest traffic |
| Vinted | iOS / Android / web | 2013 | 1.36M ratings in Germany, #15 on the overall free chart | A mixed second-hand fashion marketplace where lots of people sell equestrian gear. It has buyer protection (commenters ask "Is there Vinted-style buyer protection?"). |
| Facebook groups (e.g. "Pferdeflohmarkt / alles rund um's Pferd", "Tiroler Pferde Flohmarkt") and IG @flohmarkt_reiter | Social | — | Group size unverified | Free and decentralized. This is how "Pferdeflohmarkt" was used as a generic term in the first place, and the app grabbed that generic name as its brand. |
| EQUESTRIAN(Flohmarkt- und Service-App) | iOS / Android | Not verified | Small | Pitched as "free, no transaction fees", the exact opposite of its paid model. |
| Horsify | Web | Not verified | Not verified | Matches horse owners and riders (partial leases, horse care), free listings |
| HorseDeal | Web / iOS (CH) | iOS 2024-12 | CH 4 ratings | A horse-sharing and partial-lease platform that also appeared on "Die Höhle der Löwen" |
| reitbeteiligung.app, Betty App, EquiShare (iOS 2026-06,5 ratings) | iOS / web | 2025–2026 | All small | Focused on partial-lease matching and stable logistics, not on selling second-hand gear |
| pferdig.com | Web | Not verified | Not verified | Consignment and resale equestrian gear shops with return guarantees |
Verdict: this category has lots of free alternatives, and they're several orders of magnitude bigger. It's the only one in the space that charges App users a mandatory subscription (within what we found).
6. Differentiation
- On the product side: second-hand gear and partial-lease matching in one app; an AI assistant, Pearl, that helps identify items, gives price references, and answers sizing questions; push alerts for saved searches; in-app chat for haggling. Most of this exists on Kleinanzeigen and BillyRider too, or matters little. At best it's "prettier and younger" (a commenter: "Mit Liebe designt").
- The real difference is the person: the founder is a well-known figure in this scene, and the app name, the assistant's name, and the visuals are all tied to her and her pony Pearl. For her fans, it's "Leonie's app".
- Is differentiation why it took off? Product differentiation isn't; the influencer IP is. The willingness to pay comes from fan relationships (follow-for-follow, support), not features. Feature differentiation also can't hold up a 10% commission: private sellers can agree terms inside the app, then close offline or on another platform.
7. How many people see it and whether copycats appear
- Few people know about it yet: no media coverage of the app itself turned up (the "Die Höhle der Löwen" coverage is all about HyEx and the Maschmeyer controversy); zero discussion on X; revenue is not public, and TrustMRR and similar sources don't show it. Essentially only Leonie's fan circle knows it.
- Copycats: none found. Equestrian apps that launched around the same time (HorseUp 10-01, Faird 09-30, Pferdegym 10-26) are all utility tools, not marketplaces.
8. What others can learn
- An influencer's own storefront: influencers with 50k+ vertical followers launch a niche tool or marketplace on a low-cost subscription (0.99 €/month). That lets them park cheaply on the top charts of small-language, niche categories and collect a "charted" credibility boost. The DE/AT Shopping Top Grossing bar at #15–#50 is low, which the data supports.
- "Screenshot a download or sign-up to get a follow back": a zero-cost conversion incentive that works well on teen fan bases.
- Ride a trending moment: get on TV or into a controversy yourself, then list while attention peaks. Even if the show is about another product, the traffic still lands.
- Free web plus paid-app tiers: the free web product collects supply (posts), the app charges, and the "why pay?" reputation risk gets split off.
- Transferable to other "hobby resale markets" (equestrian, diving, skiing, fishing, models), but only if you already own in-group traffic. Anyone copying without it runs into free Kleinanzeigen and Facebook groups.
9. Uncertain
- Actual paying users and revenue: Apple doesn't disclose these. Rough estimate from the DE/AT Shopping Top Grossing bar: dozens to hundreds paying (inferred, not verified).
- Paid acquisition: not covered by ad libraries; absence there doesn't mean there was none.
- Whether an Android version exists: there are traces of same-name results on Google Play search, but they aren't in our googleplay library (which only covers charted apps). Unverified.
- Whether the 10-19 3-star reviews of 5 are friends or fans prompted: timing is clustered and the wording reads like promo copy. Possible, unverified.
- Whether it retains users long-term: no new ratings in 7 days, and chart rank bounces between #29 and #53. Whether it stays on the charts after the second renewal month (mid-November) still needs watching.
Sources
- App Store:apps.apple.com/de/app/pferdeflohmarkt/id6810263031 ;lookup?id=6810263031&country=de
- Website: pferde-flohmarkt.com/
- TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@dressurponypearl (videos 7691661197048909089, 7692381039548747041, 7696091713185582369, 7696833341026274593, 7694983040950390049)
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/falbenponypearl/; reels DeBzvFqI1ZV, DehKP4LomIg
- Show coverage: www.heute.at/s/influencerin-bei-hoehle-der-loewen-blossgeste…; www.swp.de/unterhaltung/tv/die-hoehle-der-loewen-hyex-hilft-…; www.tvmovie.de/news/hyex-nach-die-hoehle-der-loewen-das-wurd…; web.de (mother and daughter ages)
- Competitors: www.billyrider.de/; www.billyrider.de/profile/leonie-steinhauer-148715; www.ehorses.de/kleinanzeigen; horsify.com/de; www.horsedeal.com/; reitbeteiligung.app/; betty-ride.app/; www.facebook.com/groups/equestrianflohmarkt/
- Our library: appstore.app_day, app_profile, v_chart (de/at, 2026-10-28 to 11-06)