Facebook Launches 'Marketplace,' Taking On Craigslist, eBay

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Facebook launched a new e-commerce platform called ‘Marketplace’ on Monday. (Getty Images)

Facebook is making a major e-commerce push.
The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company on Monday announced the launch of “Facebook Marketplace,” a new, prominent feature that allows individual users to easily buy and sell a range of items, such as clothing electronics, household goods, furniture, jewelry, art and cars. To start, Marketplace is rolling out to users over the age of 18 in the U.S., U.K., Australia and New Zealand on iOS and Android over the next few days. Facebook plans to extend the service to its desktop site and additional countries over the coming months.
For now, Marketplace can be accessed by tapping a highly-visible shopping bag icon at the bottom of the app, alongside icons such as ”Messenger” and “Notifications.” Facebook’s massive 1.7-billion person user base and the new feature’s ease of use give it a good shot of competing with more established, peer-to-peer online marketplaces such as eBay and Craigslist. Facebook said the inspiration for Marketplace came from observing that a significant number of people were using Facebook to buy and sell products, especially within “Groups.” More than 450 million Facebook users visit Groups categorized as “buy-and-sell” each month to view items for sales from neighbors or collectors globally, the company said. For now, Marketplace is free for both buyers and sellers.
“Marketplace is a single destination where people can discover, buy and sell things in their neighborhood and community,” said Facebook product manager Bowen Pan in an interview. “The feature will also surface the most relevant items when we don’t know what we’re looking for. It’s designed for people, not big businesses.”

A preview of an item for sale on Marketplace. (Courtesy of Facebook)

The feature has been in testing since late last year and was built to be mobile-first, Pan said. Marketplace items can also appear in the news feed or be posted within groups and pages. For now, Marketplace is only built for individual users, not a store front for companies — businesses can currently use pages for that purpose. In early tests of Marketplace, Facebook found that most users started browsing without having a specific item in mind. As a result, the company wanted to make browsing highly visual, Pan said. Testing also indicated that users who were most interested in buying items on Marketplace also wanted to sell items, which encouraged the company to make both buying and selling simple.
Marketplace currently prioritizes local purchases. When users open the app, they will first see for-sale items posted by people nearby. To look for specific items, users can use a search bar at the top of the app to filter by category, item or price. Users can adjust location to view items in a different region or city. Tapping on an item image will show users more information such as a product description, location and the profile of the seller. A “Your Items” tab can be used to keep track of a user’s saved items, items for sale and any buy-and-sell messages. Buyers can also view an estimate of how quickly a seller tends to respond.
To purchase an item, users can send an offer price with or without a more detailed message. Facebook said it currently does not facilitate the delivery or payment of items in Marketplace. The company said illegal goods will be monitored through a combination of user flagging and Facebook’s own automated systems.

A preview of a message screen from the point of view of the seller. (Courtesy of Facebook)

Facebook said it expects Marketplace to complement buy-and-sell activity that already happens in groups. For example, users posting an item for sale can choose to post the item in Marketplace as well as in a group at the same time.
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