Facebook To Take On Craigslist With Classified Ads?

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According to a report in Techcrunch, Facebook could soon offer advertising services in the Craigslist mold.

The social network is testing a feature known as “Local Market,” which offers users the possibility of selling their old stuff. In the iOS app, a new button appeared in the bottom navigation bar which took users to a categorized classified ads location, writes Nathan Ingraham for Engadget.

Facebook To Take On Craigslist With Classified Ads?

Classified ads come to dedicated Facebook marketplace

Anyone who has used Craigslist will familiar with the categories, which rang from cars, furniture and antiques to clothing, electronics and books. Several Twitter users announced that the feature had been in testing for a number of weeks.

In addition to those categories you can also add filters such as “everything free” or “men’s clothing.” Set up alerts for these so-called collections in order to stay up to date with new additions.

Despite the fact that the marketplace was only live for a short time, a large number of items had been added. Local Market automatically adds items for sale in local groups, which was added by Facebook a few months ago.

Testing ongoing in certain locations

Certain users of these local groups reported that they were offered the option of cross-posting their items for sale in the Local Market. Sales have proven popular in local groups, which have grown in popularity.

The fact that interest has been high means that building a dedicated marketplace seems like a good next step for Facebook. Local Market looks as though it will have a number of different features, including recommendations, saved searches, notifications and others.

Facebook has not revealed a launch date for the feature. At the moment it looks as though the test is only live in the Australian cities of Melbourne and Sydney, in addition to Auckland, New Zealand. Techcrunch contacted Facebook for comment but the company did not reveal any information about a wider launch.

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