Why do People like Buying on Facebook? 5 Things that Have Made Facebook Marketplace Successful

When it comes to selling things online, there’s no shortage of places where you can do that. Amazon, eBay, custom-made websites, and other marketplaces are readily available and attract hundreds of users every day. That’s why when Facebook came up with the idea of having its own custom marketplace within the Facebook app, many thought it would turn out to be a total failure.

However, Mark Zuckerberg and the company have proved their doubters to be wrong again. In 2021, Facebook Marketplace had over 1 billion monthly active users worldwide and is now one of the most widely used places for selling and buying items online.

This turn of events has left many wondering what it is that has made Facebook Marketplace such a success? Do people just love buying on Facebook, or is it something else?

In this article, we will take a look at all of the reasons why Facebook Marketplace has become such a success and why you should consider using it as both a seller and a buyer.

Let’s get started

5 Reasons People Enjoy Buying on Facebook Marketplace

Even though platforms like TikTok and Instagram have been steadily growing in popularity, Facebook remains the social media network with the highest number of active followers – 2.912 billion as of January 2022, which is why it may seem totally normal for Facebook Marketplace to be an incredibly popular platform amongst people who just want to get rid off items they don’t use. However, popularity isn’t the only key ingredient that makes Facebook Marketplace so successful. Below, we will take a look at five reasons why this shopping platform has become a favorite of so many.

It’s Easy to Create Listings on Mobile

Many popular marketplaces either lack mobile apps or have ones that aren’t very userfriendly. That’s definitely not the case with Facebook Marketplace, as the function is integrated within the Facebook app itself. The process of uploading listings is straightforward and requires only a few steps:

• Go to the “What are you listing” field and select “Items for Sale.”
• Then take some or upload some high-quality photos of the product you want to list
• Fill in all the other details such as price, description, and category
• If you want to attract buyers quicker, you can add the listing to any “for sale” groups or place ads with it.

And that’s it – four steps, and your listing is uploaded. The whole process takes under 2 minutes and is very easy to do, unlike some websites that have a slower interface, and this simple task ends up taking around 30-40 minutes.

It’s Easier to Browse Through Offers on Your Phone

Sometimes people don’t go looking for a particular product, just like browsing current offers. The Facebook app gives them the opportunity to do so at any time, no matter where they are, because the function is integrated into the application. One minute you can be scrolling through the news feed, and the next one, you’re on Marketplace looking at what people near you are selling. This makes this app extremely user-friendly, and it leads to unintentional sales, as sometimes people will buy a product on impulse, even without having planned on looking for it.

It’s Considerably Safer

Some marketplaces like Craiglist offer total anonymity to both buyers and sellers, and while that’s good in some situations, it also has a ton of downsides. The most major one is that you can fake anything – from the product, you’re listing to your name and address- which can lead to extremely unfortunate situations.

However, Facebook Marketplace is directly tied to buyers’ and sellers’ Facebook accounts, and while those can be fake as well, at least you have the opportunity to go through the person’s profile, check their previous activity on Marketplace and so on (there’s also an option to report if something looks fishy). Because of this kind of accountability, Facebook Marketplace is considered to be safer by most users. Now, there are no guarantees that something won’t happen even on that platform. However, the chance is smaller.

There’s More to Choose From

As we already mentioned, Facebook has something like 2.2 billion active users, and that’s an insane number. Having this many people on the platform also means that there are tons of offers to choose from whenever you’re looking for a particular product. There’s also a chance for you to find several offers for the same item, which gives you the opportunity to pick the best or the cheapest one, depending on what you’re looking for.

You Don’t Have to Give Out Personal Information.

Buying on Facebook can also be lucrative because it enables you to hide some personal details. When you’re talking to strangers, you may feel uneasy about sharing personal information like your phone number or e-mail address. That’s why it’s good that Facebook allows communication without you having to reveal any private information about yourself. Communication happens through the Messanger app, which gives you the option to make a phone call without having someone’s number. Essentially, the only information that the seller is getting about you is the one that you chose to share on your Facebook profile.

It Keeps Improving

Facebook, now known as Meta, is one of the biggest companies globally, so they’re always looking for new ways to improve their services. That applies to Facebook Marketplace as well. With each passing year, the platform gets better and better, and so we’re likely to start seeing some AI integration that will make product suggestions even more personalized. All in all, if we had to give just one reason as to why people love buying on Facebook, it would probably be – “because it’s easy and accessible.” All of us have the Facebook app installed either way, so why not use the marketplace function as well, right?