Facebook Replacing Messenger Tab With E-Commerce 'Marketplace' in iOS App

[MacRumors]

Facebook is launching a new user-to-user e-commerce service called "Marketplace" this week in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand (via The Verge). The new buying and selling service will replace the Messenger tab in the main Facebook mobile app for iOS and Android.

According to Facebook Marketplace project manager Bowen Pan, almost 450 million people use the social network's various other services, like group messaging, to buy and sell items already, so "with Marketplace, Facebook is now giving users a more formal process to conduct these exchanges."

When users tap on the new Marketplace icon, Facebook will use an algorithm to present each user with items it believes they will be interested in. This data is accumulated based on previously liked pages, and will even factor in a user's viewing, purchasing, and selling history on Marketplace after they've used the service for a while.

When an item is discovered, users can send the seller a message, or place an offer on it to see if the seller accepts. When users want to unload something of their own, the process will include taking a photo of the item, naming and describing it, setting a sell price, and confirming a current location. The company said search queries can be set to nearby (for person-to-person exchanges), or wider to other cities with the option to ship the item.

"We saw a lot of people were really just looking at coming to Marketplace without necessarily anything in particular they were looking for," Pan says. "They were just on Marketplace to casually browse through. This really mirrors an offline experience where you can go to a Sunday market or maybe the mall. You don't know exactly what you want but you want to browse." In that sense, Marketplace feels like a hybrid between eBay, Craigslist, and Amazon.

The company said it "does not plan" to charge users fees for using Marketplace when selling items, and Pan said that a desktop version is coming but the company's focus is getting the service right on mobile as of now. On the safety and privacy side of things, Marketplace will continue Facebook's rules against selling drugs, explosives, animals, firearms, and alcohol, but in terms of specific financial security, "Facebook does not have the same kinds of protections or guarantees as, say, eBay," according to The Verge.

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"We have built the tools to allow our community to report on any items that may violate our policies," Pan says. "It has well as a whole host of flags that people that can put out for people that may not be acting in the best faith. Once we see a flag, we have a team that will promptly review these and take action." Still, Facebook won't take responsibility if you get ripped off, and it certainly will not get involved if someone decides to assault you and steal your item at the designated meeting place.

The company thinks that because users will be conducting these transactions under their real identities, it will prevent potential scams that other services might face because of their anonymity. "People on Facebook represent their real selves," Pan said. "We think knowing who you're transacting with is very important." Facebook said the Marketplace tab will start showing up on the mobile app "over the next few days."

Article Link: Facebook Replacing Messenger Tab With E-Commerce 'Marketplace' in iOS App

 

[JohnMaldaner]

I've had that "feature" for some time now. There appears to be no way to eliminate it or deactivate it. At least now the parameters you set for the scope of the search for active sales is working. I have set mine to the minimum allowed, 2 miles from my home, in hopes of not getting any activity. Previously, my setting would default to a minimum scope after a few minutes, thereby garnering many active sales, of which I have no interest.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

How about a button that takes me straight to my friends list or a button that takes me straight to my profile or something?

Why do I need a button that takes me straight to an ebay knockoff?

 

[samden]

I've had that "feature" for some time now. There appears to be no way to eliminate it or deactivate it. At least now the parameters you set for the scope of the search for active sales is working. I have set mine to the minimum allowed, 2 miles from my home, in hopes of not getting any activity. Previously, my setting would default to a minimum scope after a few minutes, thereby garnering many active sales, of which I have no interest.

I'll have to give this a shot. So tired of always having a badge on Facebook only to open it up and it's for the marketplace.
[doublepost=1475502398][/doublepost]

How about a button that takes me straight to my friends list or a button that takes me straight to my profile or something?

Why do I need a button that takes me straight to an ebay knockoff?

*Craigslist knockoff, FTFY

 

[mattburley7]

just recieved the marketplace icon on the bottom and messenger icon moved to the upper left.

i still dont have the play icon though on the bottom or anywhere for that matter

 

[RMo]

So...how do I get to the Messenger app from the Facebook app? Are they keeping this somewhere but just making it less prominent? When they took the built-in Messenger feature out and forced you to use a separate app, at least they kept the button/tab at the bottom that would display your unread count and launch the Messenger app when tapped (and with the "back to previous app" feature in recent versions of iOS, launching it this way made it so easy to go back to the Facebook app that it almost wasn't as annoying as it could be).

EDIT: I see someone said the Messenger icon has now moved to the upper left. Perhaps they could have put Marketplace somewhere like that instead of trying to trick us into tapping on it by putting it somewhere we're used to having something else--something that a lot more people probably use.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

People complain about Messenger and Facebook as separate apps, but I love it this way. I don't have Facebook installed in fact.

 

[cerote]

So they finally remove a useless icon after how long?

And give it a few months and this new button will get its own app.

 

[C DM]

So they finally remove a useless icon after how long?

And give it a few months and this new button will get its own app.

Well, it provided a quick link to go to messages even if it wasn't within the same app. In fact it still seems like it's there except at the top left before the search bar that is at the top.
[doublepost=1475525377][/doublepost]

People complain about Messenger and Facebook as separate apps, but I love it this way. I don't have Facebook installed in fact.

And that is certainly one of the bigger benefits of the separation.

 

[CarlJ]

I see someone said the Messenger icon has now moved to the upper left. Perhaps they could have put Marketplace somewhere like that instead of trying to trick us into tapping on it by putting it somewhere we're used to having something else--something that a lot more people probably use.

But they want you to get into the Marketplace - I'm sure they think "well, some folks will get here by accident, but then they'll find out how wonderful it is, and they'll buy and sell lots of things!" Because marketing types always think like that.

 

[C DM]

just recieved the marketplace icon on the bottom and messenger icon moved to the upper left.

i still dont have the play icon though on the bottom or anywhere for that matter

I don't even have the marketplace icon (nor the play icon), just 4 icons at the bottom (now that the messenger one has been moved up to the top).

 

[FelixDerKater]

Just another ad.

 

[JackieInCo]

I just saw this. Luckily, I am jailbroken so I was able to downgrade the app through the app store to get back to the previous version without the marketplace icon. I then disabled updates for this app so it will never be updated.

 

[kcjms83]

"People on Facebook represent their real selves..."
Are you freaking kidding me??!!