Facebook launches local Marketplace

Facebook has launched Marketplace to let people buy and sell items across a variety of categories including apparel, household, and electronics locally, in a move that could rival sites such as eBay.

With more than 450 million people already visiting Facebook ‘buy and sell groups’, the social media network said it made sense for it to “help people make more of these connections” in one convenient destination, Marketplace.

To visit the Marketplace, users just need tap on the shop icon at the bottom of the Facebook app, and then they can list or search for items on sale near them or by using the built-in location tool they can adjust the region, or switch to a different city altogether.

Facebook will not facilitate the payment or delivery of items and will not take a cut from any transactions if users are interested in the item they simply send the seller a direct message and make an offer.

The new service will be rolled out in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand for iPhone and Android users over the next few days. With additional countries set to be included over the coming months, as well as making Marketplace available on the desktop version of Facebook.