Facebook Launches a Marketplace for Local Buying and Selling

Facebook has launched a marketplace that will give people the chance to buy and sell items locally. Facebook will be introducing a shop icon at the bottom of the app that will allow users to search and list item on sale in their neighborhood. The company has made it clear that it will not be involved in the payment or delivery of items but merely act as a platform where buyers and sellers can sell and post goods.

Whenever a person touches the shop icon, they will be taken to an algorithmically generated home page of items that Facebook believes you might be interested in. This is based on the pages you have liked and after some time, your buying and selling activity within the marketplace. When users find an item they are interested, they can message the seller and also place an offer. For those selling, they can simply upload a photo, describe the item, set a price and confirm their location.

Users of this icon can browse categories of items, get a list of nearby listing, and also expand their radius of their query to cover a larger distance. They also can change their location to find items in other regions. Facebook basically wants the marketplace to feel like a mobile-first initiative.

Facebook has noted that it has more than 450 million already visiting Facebook groups that have items to sell and buy each month. The service will be rolled out in United States, Australia, Britain and New Zealand for Android and iPhone users over the next few days. The company has also indicated that the feature will be available on the desktop version in the coming months.

Facebook gets most of its revenue and profits from online ads that are tailored to user data. By introducing this new feature, it hopes that people will spend more time on the app, which will result in increased revenue from advertisers.

Kaynak