Facebook is launching a new user-to-user e-commerce service called "Marketplace" this week in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand (via The Verge). The new buying and selling service will replace the Messenger tab in the main Facebook mobile app for iOS and Android.

According to Facebook Marketplace project manager Bowen Pan, almost 450 million people use the social network's various other services, like group messaging, to buy and sell items already, so "with Marketplace, Facebook is now giving users a more formal process to conduct these exchanges."

pdp_us
When users tap on the new Marketplace icon, Facebook will use an algorithm to present each user with items it believes they will be interested in. This data is accumulated based on previously liked pages, and will even factor in a user's viewing, purchasing, and selling history on Marketplace after they've used the service for a while.

When an item is discovered, users can send the seller a message, or place an offer on it to see if the seller accepts. When users want to unload something of their own, the process will include taking a photo of the item, naming and describing it, setting a sell price, and confirming a current location. The company said search queries can be set to nearby (for person-to-person exchanges), or wider to other cities with the option to ship the item.

"We saw a lot of people were really just looking at coming to Marketplace without necessarily anything in particular they were looking for," Pan says. "They were just on Marketplace to casually browse through. This really mirrors an offline experience where you can go to a Sunday market or maybe the mall. You don’t know exactly what you want but you want to browse." In that sense, Marketplace feels like a hybrid between eBay, Craigslist, and Amazon.

The company said it "does not plan" to charge users fees for using Marketplace when selling items, and Pan said that a desktop version is coming but the company's focus is getting the service right on mobile as of now. On the safety and privacy side of things, Marketplace will continue Facebook's rules against selling drugs, explosives, animals, firearms, and alcohol, but in terms of specific financial security, "Facebook does not have the same kinds of protections or guarantees as, say, eBay," according to The Verge.

"We have built the tools to allow our community to report on any items that may violate our policies," Pan says. "It has well as a whole host of flags that people that can put out for people that may not be acting in the best faith. Once we see a flag, we have a team that will promptly review these and take action." Still, Facebook won’t take responsibility if you get ripped off, and it certainly will not get involved if someone decides to assault you and steal your item at the designated meeting place.

The company thinks that because users will be conducting these transactions under their real identities, it will prevent potential scams that other services might face because of their anonymity. "People on Facebook represent their real selves," Pan said. "We think knowing who you’re transacting with is very important." Facebook said the Marketplace tab will start showing up on the mobile app "over the next few days."

Top Rated Comments

RMo Avatar
112 months ago
So...how do I get to the Messenger app from the Facebook app? Are they keeping this somewhere but just making it less prominent? When they took the built-in Messenger feature out and forced you to use a separate app, at least they kept the button/tab at the bottom that would display your unread count and launch the Messenger app when tapped (and with the "back to previous app" feature in recent versions of iOS, launching it this way made it so easy to go back to the Facebook app that it almost wasn't as annoying as it could be).

EDIT: I see someone said the Messenger icon has now moved to the upper left. Perhaps they could have put Marketplace somewhere like that instead of trying to trick us into tapping on it by putting it somewhere we're used to having something else--something that a lot more people probably use.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ArtOfWarfare Avatar
112 months ago
How about a button that takes me straight to my friends list or a button that takes me straight to my profile or something?

Why do I need a button that takes me straight to an ebay knockoff?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

AirPods Pro 3 Mock Feature

AirPods Pro 3 Just Months Away – Here's What We Know

Friday April 18, 2025 5:16 am PDT by
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
iphone 17 air dummy unbox therapy

iPhone 17 Air's Extreme Thinness Demoed in New Video

Tuesday April 22, 2025 10:22 am PDT by
Apple plans to release an all-new super thin iPhone this year, debuting it alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We've seen pictures of dummy models, cases, and renders with the design, but Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy today showed off newer dummy models that give us a better idea of just how thin the "iPhone 17 Air" will be. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be ...
iphone 17 dummies sonny dickson

iPhone 17 Air Almost as Thin as Its Buttons, New Images Show

Thursday April 24, 2025 2:14 am PDT by
If you missed the video showing dummy models of Apple's all-new super thin iPhone 17 Air that's expected later this year, Sonny Dickson this morning shared some further images of the device in close alignment with the other dummy models in the iPhone 17 lineup, indicating just how thin it is likely to be in comparison. The iPhone 17 Air is expected to be around 5.5mm thick – with a thicker ...
ipad air windows 11 arm

M2 iPad Air Runs Windows 11 ARM via Emulation, Thanks to EU Rules

Tuesday April 22, 2025 5:01 am PDT by
A developer has demonstrated Windows 11 ARM running on an M2 iPad Air using emulation, which has become much easier since the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) regulations came into effect. As spotted by Windows Latest, NTDev shared an instance of the emulation on social media and posted a video on YouTube (embedded below) demonstrating it in action. The achievement relies on new EU regulatory...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday April 17, 2025 4:12 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
iOS 18

iOS 18.5 Includes Only a Few Changes So Far

Monday April 21, 2025 11:00 am PDT by
Apple seeded the third beta of iOS 18.5 to developers today, and so far the software update includes only a few minor changes. The changes are in the Mail and Settings apps. In the Mail app, you can now easily turn off contact photos directly within the app, by tapping on the circle with three dots in the top-right corner. In the Settings app, AppleCare+ coverage information is more...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 13 New Features

Wednesday April 23, 2025 8:31 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...