Facebook’s Marketplace Wants to Become the New Craigslist - Dispatch Weekly

October 3, 2016 - Reading time: 4 minutes

Facebook has launched Marketplace a buy and sell local community platform, not unlike Craigslist, only more modern and with massive clientele potential.

450 Million People on the Buy and Sell Facebook Groups

Selling products online has become more popular with more than 450 million people visiting the buy and sell groups on Facebook each month. This includes families, collectors and local neighborhoods each month.

Like Craigslist, the products on Marketplace are sourced from your local community making it simpler to find items to pick up.

You can visit Marketplace by clicking on the shop icon at the bottom of the Facebook app to start discovering everything from: bikes, couches and skateboards.

Craigslist: the Statistics

According to statisticbrain.com:

The number of Craigslist daily queries worldwide: 50,000,000
Number of page views Craigslist gets every month: 20 billion
Number of Americans who use Craigslist each year: 50 million

Locally Sourced Products

Items can be filtered by location, category and price. There is an array of categories from: Apparel, Household and Electronics. You can switch cities or locations by adjusting the region.

You can save and bookmark items to keep an eye on potential products. Once decided on an product you can directly message the seller to make an offer which allows seller and customer to sort out their own arrangements for pick up and payment.

Post Items in 4 Steps

Take a photo of your item, or add it from your camera roll
Enter a product name, description and price
Confirm your location and select a category
Post

Marketplace Available in Four Countries

This week, Facebook will launch Marketplace in: US, UK, Australia and New Zealand for those aged 18 and over. Facebook aims to expand to other countries, becoming available on the desktop version of Facebook in the coming months.

Would you use Facebook’s Marketplace to buy and sell new products in your local area or has Craigslist-like sites had their day?

DW Staff

David Lintott is the Editor-in-Chief, leading our team of talented freelance journalists. He specializes in covering culture, sport, and society. Originally from the decaying seaside town of Eastbourne, he attributes his insightful world-weariness to his roots in this unique setting.

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