4 ms·

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

toomuchtodo 4y ago
Underrated comment. Facebook is an informal identity provider, which has value to market participants.
- skeeter2020 4y 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 4y 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 4y 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 4y 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 4y 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 4y ago
  However on the seller side, dropping anonymity is super effective at reducing scams.
- datavirtue 4y ago
  Have you tried making a fake Facebook account recently? Not happening.
pkamb 4y ago
Until they very quickly ruined Marketplace by heavily promoting low quality new and "shipped to you" items rather than local used goods.
datavirtue 4y 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.

toomuchtodo 4y ago

Underrated comment. Facebook is an informal identity provider, which has value to market participants.

skeeter2020 4y 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 4y 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 4y 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 4y 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 4y 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 4y ago
However on the seller side, dropping anonymity is super effective at reducing scams.
datavirtue 4y ago
Have you tried making a fake Facebook account recently? Not happening.

pkamb 4y ago

Until they very quickly ruined Marketplace by heavily promoting low quality new and "shipped to you" items rather than local used goods.

datavirtue 4y 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.