Facebook Is Channeling eBay With Its Latest Commerce Play

Like Facebook but ever wondered why it can’t be a more eBay-like bazaar where one can easily buy, sell and trade stuff?

Wonder no more, as the social network is beefing up its For Sale Groups feature to make it easier for those very activities to transpire. Currently, 850 million people are rolled into at least one Facebook group.

While groups can be for or about anything — pop culture, diseases, etc. — For Sale groups have been getting a bit of extra attention since they were added a year ago. Steadily, additional tools have been introduced to better facilitate commerce.

Which is not to say FB doesn’t have quite a hill to climb, since only 5 percent of polled regular Internet users say they see social media as the natural starting point of a shopping journey.

“Why should you leave [Facebook] just [to] go buy something?” said Brian Solis, an analyst at Altimeter Group, who added that Facebook is hoping users will spend more time and money on its sites.

To make the commerce platform more appealing, at this phase, it is essentially free to use. There are no listing fees or transaction fees. Keeping it cheap makes sense, considering this new push put them squarely in competition with the much more digitally experienced commerce entity eBay, which currently has 800 million items listed globally.

“EBay is one of the easiest, safest and most efficient ways to sell online. Our simplified selling process provides pricing guidance to help sellers get the most out of what they own,” said Vincent Payen, eBay’s head of consumer selling.

Richard Jenkins, an eBay seller of comic books who recently started selling on FB as well, describes what he makes on the social network as “a drop in the ocean” compared to the revenue he brings in via eBay. But FB does have roughly 10 times eBay’s active user base, and some think its slow but steady push here might make the difference.

Then again, commerce plays on FB are not exactly unprecedented and don’t have the greatest track record. In 2009 FB rolled out Marketplace, but it fizzled shortly thereafter for not offering enough options and not having enough range.

This time, however, they are working harder to tailor the product better.

“We’re really just thinking about how we connect this all together to make it easier to buy and sell,” Deborah Liu, FB’s head of platform, said.

Facebook separated Groups onto its own app last November.

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To check out what else is HOT in the world of payments, click here.

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