The Philippines on Tuesday became part of the 47 countries wherein Facebook’s Marketplace service is enabled, according to Facebook’s director of product management Karandeep Anand.
Anand said that the recently launched service is aimed at streamlining the user experience of the people who use Facebook as a platform to buy and sell goods online.
“Already 550 million people buy and sell in groups on Facebook each month, we are excited to bring Marketplace to the Philippines and make it easier to discover, buy and sell goods locally,” he stated.
Anand added that the organic behavior of their users in terms of e-commerce prompted Facebook to create a safe and trustworthy service to cater to their needs.
Marketplace enables users to search for items that are relevant to their tastes and preferences, especially if the item in question is up for sale within the local community.
For users wishing to list their items for sale, they need only to take a photo of the object to be sold, add a description and set the price.
Buyers can also filter items via price and category in order to find the best deal near them.
Because sellers are Facebook users themselves, Anand said that interested parties will be able to view the sellers profiles to see if they’re dealing with a real person and vet their trustworthiness by engaging in direct communication with the seller.
Anand also mentioned that they had trust and safety in mind when they developed Marketplace.
Marketplace will empower users to flag items for sale that are potentially dangerous or abusive. Anand assured that the reporting system will protect the privacy of their users.
Marketplace will gradually be rolled out to all Philippine Facebook users after the launch. /je