Facebook has a large audience of over 1.65 billion people and for some, it is the only internet they know. Naturally, they would be inclined to sell stuff on the website and since there was no official way to sell goods on the platform, people resulted to creating sale groups which were markets in their own right.
We saw this feature last year when it was released as a beta test to some iOS users under the “Local Market.” It was a proper market with sub categories which allowed people to browse for items or services. The feature now has been spotted in Android as Android Police reports where it sports a new name: Marketplace.
The Marketplace icon sits predominantly between the video and notification icons which when tapped, ushers you with the “Buy and sell things in your neighbourhood” banner. It appears to require your location info for it to populate items that are being sold in your area. At the bottom, there are three tabs: Explore, Selling and Buying which of course is self explanatory. In addition, there is a button at the bottom left to toggle your location and on the right to take a photo of an item you would want to sell. On the selling tab, you will be able to see messages from interested buyers and on the buying tab, you will be able to keep tabs of items and also chat with the sellers.
This is a really cool addition to the Facebook experience and dedicated platforms like OLX should be worried of such a move by Facebook. Facebook has the audience to make such an endeavour successful and we have to wait and see if this feature will be released to everyone in the future.
