Facebook Takes on Craigslist

Yesterday Facebook announced it’s own way to buy and sell used items through it’s app, called Marketplace.  The writing has been on the wall for this for quite a while.  There are several “online yard sale” groups just in my rural area alone.  These groups are SO busy daily, that if I were to turn notifications on for any of the groups I’m a member of, my phone would literally not stop notifying me all day long.  A while back Facebook made it easier to post how much items were that are for sale on these yard sale groups, it was only inevitable that Facebook would do this sooner or later.

The way Marketplace will work is that when you open it up, it will pull up the most recent items for sale in your area.  You can search at the top, and filter your results by location, category or price.  They will also have some categories that you can browse through like Household, Electronics, and Apparel.  You can also use the built-in location tool to adjust the region you’re looking in, or switch to a different city altogether.

Once you find something you like, it will be like craigslist or your local classified ads, where you arrange payment and pick up of the item, and typically meet them in person to handle the exchange. Facebook will not facilitate the payment or delivery of items in Marketplace.

Selling something should be just as easy too, and can be handled directly from your phone.  Just snap a picture of the item, upload it, list the price and description, choose a location and category, and you are done!

One man’s trash is ALWAYS another man’s treasure!  This should be rolling out via the regular Facebook app on iphone and android devices over the next few days for users in US, UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Check out Facebook’s video announcing the new service!

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