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After providing a platform for people to stay connected with family and friends, Facebook is now testing its e-commerce venture Marketplace, a platform to connect buyers and sellers directly.
Facebook Marketplace was launched in 2016 and it charges no fees to buyers or sellers. Mostly second-hand products are traded through the platform, similar to OLX or Quikr.
“In India, we are seeing more and more people who are using social media to buy and sell goods. With the marketplace, we are making the experience a lot easier and, therefore, encouraging the behaviour and adding to the economic activity locally,” a The Economic Times report quoted Karandeep Anand, director — product management, Facebook.
Around a quarter of its two billion users visit the Facebook buy and sell groups each month. This includes families in a local neighbourhood to collectors around the world. Any user older than 18 can buy or sell product on the platform.
Currently, the service is available in the US, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand and United Kingdom.
There's no particular date for India launch as of now. “The goal of the test is to start learning. As we learn, we will understand whether the product meets the needs, finds it engaging. As we learn, we will start rolling it more broadly,” Anand said to ET.
Facebook is working on a mechanism to make the experience safe for the users. People can only see the information that a user publicly shares on Facebook. One can use Facebook Messenger or communicate via Marketplace to avoid spam and phishing. Although the trade of items such as weapons, guns or any explicit material is banned, but if a user finds it listed, he or she can report to remove that.
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