FACEBOOK LAUNCHES "MARKETPLACE"

If you’ve watched the movie The Social Network, you’ll find out what Facebook is today isn’t what Mark Zuckerberg envisaged it’ll become from the start. It was initially just a site for rating the hotness of female students!


Fast forward to 2016 and Facebook is now the biggest and leading social networking platform. Millions of people use the platform to connect with friends and family in various ways.

One of such ways is through buying and selling. According to Facebook, 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.

In order to make it even simpler for people to buy and sell on the platform, Facebook has announced the launch of Marketplace, a place to find, buy and sell items with people in your community – think of it as OLX!

Marketplace is a place to find things in your community to buy and a place to sell things you don’t need anymore (those things that are sellable of course). It’s that simple!

On Marketplace, you find photos of items people near you have listed for sale, and you can find something specific by using the search option at the top of the app.

You can also browse what’s available in a variety of categories such as Household, Electronics and Apparel. You have the option of using the built-in location tool to search by region.

If you finally find an item you love to buy, simply tap on the image of the item to see more details from the seller, including a product description, the name and profile photo of the seller, and their general location. You can also save the item to find it later.

How about payments? That is between you and the seller to work out -‘nothing concern Facebook there o’. Simply send the seller a DM from Marketplace indicating your interest and make an offer. How the product gets delivered and whatnot is between you and the seller!

If you’re looking to sell an item, just do the following: 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; and Post.

After posting, your item will be seen by anyone looking in your area and they can message you if they want to buy.

To visit Marketplace, just tap on the shop icon at the bottom of the Facebook app and start exploring.

Marketplace will be rolling out to everyone over 18 years old in the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand on the Facebook app for iPhone and Android in the next few days.

In the coming months, Marketplace will be available in more countries, and a desktop version of the app, with more features and options, will be available on Facebook too!