Home
Social networking
Social networking News
Facebook Marketplace Launched, Lets Users Buy and Sell With Their Local Community

Facebook Marketplace Launched, Lets Users Buy and Sell With Their Local Community

By Agence France-Presse | Updated: 3 October 2016 19:18 IST

Highlights

The new service is available in limited countries
It's currently only available on the iPhone and Android app
A desktop version will be launched soon

Facebook on Monday launched a new online Marketplace allowing members of the huge social network to buy and sell with each other.

The new feature puts Facebook squarely in competition with local online selling platforms led by Craigslist, and offers an alternative to marketplaces like eBay.

Facebook said the new program formalises what some members have already been doing in Facebook Groups for years.

"Facebook is where people connect, and in recent years more people have been using Facebook to connect in another way: buying and selling with each other," said product manager Mary Ku in a blog post.

"This activity started in Facebook Groups and has grown substantially. More than 450 million people visit buy and sell groups each month -- from families in a local neighborhood to collectors around the world."

The new feature helps facilitate this with "a convenient destination to discover, buy and sell items with people in your community," Ku said.

Marketplace will display photos of items for sale based on proximity, and users can adjust their location and search for specific items or categories such as clothing, household items or electronics.

The new feature will be rolling out to over-18 users in the United States, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand in the coming days on the Facebook app for iPhone and Android, with additional countries and a desktop version in the coming months.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.