Facebook Rolls Out Marketplace to Let You Buy and Sell Items

The social media tech giant, Facebook keeps on introducing new features. This time Facebook launches a peer to peer marketplace. Basically it’s like a craigslist now in your Facebook app.

Facebook Rolls Out Marketplace to Let You Buy and Sell Items. It allows you browse a relevancy-sorted feed of things to buy from people who live near, and rapidly list your own stuff for sale. Incorporation with Facebook Messenger will let you barter or organize a meet-up. And you know more about who you’re dealing with than on unidentified sites like Craigslist thanks to Facebook’s profiles.

Facebook Rolls Out Marketplace to Let You Buy and Sell Items

Marketplace has launched in the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand on mobile. Once it becomes prevalent it could roll out worldwide. There’s an unfortunate lack of a two-way rating system which helps dishearten cheating and bad behavior.

Facebook is staking big on Marketplace, seeing its taking over a key spot in the navigation tab bar and substituting the Messenger shortcut in Facebook for iOS. That primary location could make Marketplace the digital form of instinct purchases at the checkout counter.

Also Read: GSMA Marketplace: An e-Commerce Platform to Promote Technology

Facebook Marketplace has three main features:

1. Browse To Buy: Marketplace unlocks to a filtered feed of things you can buy from your community.
2. Sell Your Stuff: Instead of having to set up a new profile, you can easily take a photo of your item, add a narrative, set a base price, and post your listing.
3. Search Your Surroundings: Along with browsing specific categories like Household or Electronics, you can also look for something explicit and filter what you see by location, category, and price or via a map.

Craigslist prospered in the US by being the lowest common commerce denominator. It was dead-simple, malleable, and hurled long before many opponents. No one has been able to fight the home for peer-to-peer selling away from Craigslist.

“I think the prevalence of Craigslist shows there’s a great need for a local commerce product.”

Said Marketplace product manager Bowen Pan.

But Facebook might have the best opportunity for three reasons; Trust, Convenience and Thrill.

On Craigslist you don’t have any information about the buyer or seller you’re meeting outside what they say in their citation and your direct communication. But it’s not the case with Facebook. People generally only go to Craigslist when they want something specific. Marketplace will be one tap away inside Facebook, instead of getting repressed in the More tab.

Craigslist and many other p2p business platforms are too engrossed on driving tons of text listings onto a page. Some were made for the web before everyone always had a camera handy. Marketplace was built-mobile first on top of photos, and is relevancy-sorted to make browsing effective and rewarding.

Now the questions arise whether Facebook will give Marketplace the positive love to flourish, and if it can keep the experience safe. This will be revealed with time.