5 ms·

I think facebook does marketplace really well. Whenever I listed something it sold, and I'm talking about really trashy stuff like a $20 microwave. I get a lot

by bko 5y ago

I think facebook does marketplace really well. Whenever I listed something it sold, and I'm talking about really trashy stuff like a $20 microwave. I get a lot of noise (weird messages) but haven't seem explicit scams like you see on CL and you can sell the stuff usually within a day. They also do events pretty well. It's easy to invite people and most people my age have a neglected facebook account so you can usually find who you want to invite. You just have to make sure you don't miss seeing the event.

zip1234 5y ago
I think Marketplace quickly became a goto over Craigslist because a Facebook profile is much more trustworthy than the essential anonymity of Craigslist.
- toomuchtodo 5y ago
  Underrated comment. Facebook is an informal identity provider, which has value to market participants.
  - skeeter2020 5y ago
    or cost depending on your perspective. CL is part of the weird, old internet being used in current times, with all the good & bad that comes with that.
- silicon2401 5y ago
  Funny enough, I prefer craigslist because I don't want my personal identity involved in a simple transaction like buying electronics. It's not like you have much recourse if you get scammed on marketplace, the user can just use a fake account and delete it after scamming you
  - yCombLinks 5y ago
    Yeah, but you can quickly look at a profile and get basic verification it looks real. If it doesn't just don't transact with them. I've been 100x more confident in facebook marketplace than craigslist
    - Damogran6 5y ago
      My only experience with FB marketplace had a gal selling an iPad from the northeast…only to receive a receipt from a dude in Turkey. FB, PayPal, the bank all stopped the charges quickly enough, but it was 6 weeks of bullshit in the meantime.
    - sbierwagen 5y ago
      Profile age doesn't guarantee anything. I sold an iphone 11 on Ebay and a scammer used the credentials from a ten year old account with many legit purchases to try and run some kind of paypal payment request trick.
  - edmundsauto 5y ago
    However on the seller side, dropping anonymity is super effective at reducing scams.
  - datavirtue 5y ago
    Have you tried making a fake Facebook account recently? Not happening.
- pkamb 5y ago
  Until they very quickly ruined Marketplace by heavily promoting low quality new and "shipped to you" items rather than local used goods.
- datavirtue 5y ago
  This. Otherwise Marketplace makes a giant sucking sound. People should have a score and be excluded from it based on their shit ghosting behavior and lack of follow though.
83 5y ago
Stuff does tend to sell quickly on Marketplace but searching for items is horrendous, there are so many puzzling things about the UI. Why have a 'max distance' field I can set to 40 miles if you are going to completely disregard it and show me things from neighboring states?
raytube 5y ago
I use marketplace. It's buggy on mobile, didn't work for a year or so, there are scammers on there. I saw a flood of dodgey adverts over the last week. Reported, persisted. I still use of for marketplace and a forum.
AlwaysRock 5y ago
Marketplace and messenger are the most useful Meta apps. While I don't use it for any social media wall posting stuff I do know a lot of people my age who do. Mostly people from rural areas.
fitzroy 5y ago
Just as a counterpoint, I've sold almost 200 items on CL in the last 5 years in NYC as part of a decluttering project — everything from pro cameras to $3 adapters and cables to furniture. I have a process for when I switch from email to text, when I give my cross streets and train stop, and when I give my exact address, as well as boilerplate about cash, pickup only etc. On the other hand, I'd been looking for a used car on FB Marketplace for about 3 years and couldn't find a single listing that seemed like it was from a legit owner (i.e. someone who wasn't selling a bunch of random cars parked on the street or a dealer posting fake prices).
monksy 5y ago
They do private events for your friends you're already connected to well. However, they don't do social private groups well at all. For them it's all or nothing. Meetup, unfortunately, is still used for that. They either force you to do all private events or all public and broadcasted events. Theres no way to maintain a community or a LUG on FB.
- EdJiang 5y ago
  What sort of groups do you organize? I've been working on an app inspired by challenges I had organizing hack nights and poker games. It's kind of a cross between Facebook events and Google Calendar, and allows you to send an invite link and send text updates. Would love to hear your thoughts! https://regroup.app https://regroup.app
  - monksy 5y ago
    I organized a semi public social meetup group for my city. People should be able to see the kinds of events we do .. but also rsvp/be a member to come out. Sometimes we enjoy the abiltiy to make the location private.
    - EdJiang 4y ago
      Makes a lot of sense, esp when making events more public. Thanks for your feedback!

by bko 5y ago

zip1234 5y ago

I think Marketplace quickly became a goto over Craigslist because a Facebook profile is much more trustworthy than the essential anonymity of Craigslist.

toomuchtodo 5y ago
Underrated comment. Facebook is an informal identity provider, which has value to market participants.
- skeeter2020 5y ago
  or cost depending on your perspective. CL is part of the weird, old internet being used in current times, with all the good & bad that comes with that.
silicon2401 5y ago
Funny enough, I prefer craigslist because I don't want my personal identity involved in a simple transaction like buying electronics. It's not like you have much recourse if you get scammed on marketplace, the user can just use a fake account and delete it after scamming you
- yCombLinks 5y ago
  Yeah, but you can quickly look at a profile and get basic verification it looks real. If it doesn't just don't transact with them. I've been 100x more confident in facebook marketplace than craigslist
  - Damogran6 5y ago
    My only experience with FB marketplace had a gal selling an iPad from the northeast…only to receive a receipt from a dude in Turkey. FB, PayPal, the bank all stopped the charges quickly enough, but it was 6 weeks of bullshit in the meantime.
  - sbierwagen 5y ago
    Profile age doesn't guarantee anything. I sold an iphone 11 on Ebay and a scammer used the credentials from a ten year old account with many legit purchases to try and run some kind of paypal payment request trick.
- edmundsauto 5y ago
  However on the seller side, dropping anonymity is super effective at reducing scams.
- datavirtue 5y ago
  Have you tried making a fake Facebook account recently? Not happening.
pkamb 5y ago
Until they very quickly ruined Marketplace by heavily promoting low quality new and "shipped to you" items rather than local used goods.
datavirtue 5y ago
This. Otherwise Marketplace makes a giant sucking sound. People should have a score and be excluded from it based on their shit ghosting behavior and lack of follow though.

83 5y ago

Stuff does tend to sell quickly on Marketplace but searching for items is horrendous, there are so many puzzling things about the UI. Why have a 'max distance' field I can set to 40 miles if you are going to completely disregard it and show me things from neighboring states?

raytube 5y ago

I use marketplace. It's buggy on mobile, didn't work for a year or so, there are scammers on there. I saw a flood of dodgey adverts over the last week. Reported, persisted. I still use of for marketplace and a forum.

AlwaysRock 5y ago

Marketplace and messenger are the most useful Meta apps. While I don't use it for any social media wall posting stuff I do know a lot of people my age who do. Mostly people from rural areas.

fitzroy 5y ago

Just as a counterpoint, I've sold almost 200 items on CL in the last 5 years in NYC as part of a decluttering project — everything from pro cameras to $3 adapters and cables to furniture. I have a process for when I switch from email to text, when I give my cross streets and train stop, and when I give my exact address, as well as boilerplate about cash, pickup only etc. On the other hand, I'd been looking for a used car on FB Marketplace for about 3 years and couldn't find a single listing that seemed like it was from a legit owner (i.e. someone who wasn't selling a bunch of random cars parked on the street or a dealer posting fake prices).

monksy 5y ago

They do private events for your friends you're already connected to well. However, they don't do social private groups well at all. For them it's all or nothing. Meetup, unfortunately, is still used for that. They either force you to do all private events or all public and broadcasted events. Theres no way to maintain a community or a LUG on FB.

EdJiang 5y ago
What sort of groups do you organize? I've been working on an app inspired by challenges I had organizing hack nights and poker games. It's kind of a cross between Facebook events and Google Calendar, and allows you to send an invite link and send text updates. Would love to hear your thoughts! https://regroup.app https://regroup.app
- monksy 5y ago
  I organized a semi public social meetup group for my city. People should be able to see the kinds of events we do .. but also rsvp/be a member to come out. Sometimes we enjoy the abiltiy to make the location private.
  - EdJiang 4y ago
    Makes a lot of sense, esp when making events more public. Thanks for your feedback!