Would You Buy or Sell on Facebook Marketplace?
EBay, Craigslist and the other online marketplaces have some new competition...Facebook Marketplace, just announced by Facebook. In the announcement, Facebook noted people have already been using Facebook as a place to buy and sell, mostly using the Groups feature, so this is making the online buying and selling official and one more way to access items by fellow Facebookers.
"Facebook is where people connect, and in recent years more people have been using Facebook to connect in another way, buying and selling with each other," said the announcement: "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."
They further said, "today we’re introducing Marketplace, a convenient
destination to discover, buy and sell items with people in your
community. Marketplace makes it easy to find new things you’ll love, and
find a new home for the things you’re ready to part with. We’ll
continue to build new options and features to make this the best
experience for people."
To use the feature, it said, just "tap on the shop icon at the bottom of the Facebook app and start exploring." The items will be local to you, from users in your community, so some have compared it to more of a Craigslist than an eBay, as there will most likely be local pickup.
What do you think of the idea of buying and selling via Facebook? Do you do it now? Do you use the Groups feature or do it another way? Is this something you think you will use? Post a comment here!
eBay May Reside in Social Networks, Says CEO Wenig
Could we be shopping from eBay from within Facebook Messenger soon, or Facebook itself?
At a recent re/code conference, eBay CEO Devin Wenig said eBay may change in that it will be wherever people spend their time outside of eBay. "So we may reside in big social networks. We may reside in big social messaging networks." And, he added, it may be conversational; "it may take various forms. Go to a site, go to a domain."
"I want to see eBay ubiquitous where people spend their time," he said.
Wenig also spoke about how eBay users are starting to see content curation on the site. "The home page of eBay is now curated; there's something called 'eBay Today.' It's interesting collections of items. We tell stories about those items." And what one person sees won't be the same thing another person sees, or any of the other 160 million or so people on eBay. "And if you start shopping and browsing, you'll see recommendations that I would call pretty good," he added.
"To me, that's part of the big platform revolution that's not often spoken about," said Wenig. "The Internet of Things" ends up being about pictures and devices. He says he thinks of it differently. "I think of it as an Internet that comes to you, rather than an Internet that you go to."
What do you think of the idea of shopping on eBay from within, say, a Facebook or Facebook Messenger? Post a comment here!