Facebook competition to eBay and The Right Corner with a service purchase-sale – Le Figaro

The social network on Monday launched a platform of purchase and sale with the use of its members.

Facebook adds a string to his bow. The social network to the more than 1.7 billion users, announced on Monday 3 October the launch of a space dedicated to the sale and purchase of products between its members. Dubbed the “Marketplace”, it enables you to broadcast a picture of the item to be sold, and the compliment of a description, as on a platform for sale online classic. The service is reserved on a first time users of the Android app or iPhone Facebook, over the age of 18 years and residing in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. The latter will see a new icon in the place of the Messenger icon. The functionality will then be extended to other countries and to the Web version of the social network.

The platform “Marketplace” on the u.s. version of Facebook.

Compete with eBay, The Right Corner and Craigslist

such A feature could be a formidable weapon for Facebook. It will allow the social network to compete head-eBay (162 million users to 22 million sellers active in the world), and The Right Corner (between 25 and 26 million visitors every month), and the structuring of the transactions hitherto carried out by means of groups Facebook-specific. The most iconic of them in France, WANTED#bonsplans, brings together more than 220,000 members.

Facebook says that around 450 million users are already using its network to sell or buy items, such as cars, furniture or even clothes.

A feature anticipated for 2014

This is now two years that Facebook is projected in online trading between individuals. In may 2015, the social network had announced the beginning of a test phase for a search engine designed to sort through all of the ads aired by its users. By structuring the course sometimes chaotic of these transactions, Facebook intends to collect a variety of information that is always wider on the consumption habits of its users, but also attract might-be futures traders. This commitment was reaffirmed in June. Facebook had announced the deployment of the location data of its members to determine their brands, and preferred supermarkets, and assess with more precision the impact of their online advertising.