Wednesday is Facebook Marketplace‘s second anniversary, and the company is revealing new technology to help it develop and enable Facebook’s 2.23 billion monthly users to buy and sell things.
Meredith Greenberg, a Los Angeles-based lifestyle blogger, earns about $500 per month by reselling items she finds on Facebook Marketplace. She takes ugly stuff and transforms them into fashionable.
“I use Marketplace to find and sell items that I restore and flip – everything from wine coolers to coffee tables to chairs,” Greenberg explained. “Meeting folks through Marketplace has also led to more custom work for me. For instance, I met a couple on Marketplace who purchased a coffee table from me. They were so taken with it that we kept in touch so I could show them additional pieces!”
“Every month, more than one-third of Facebook users in the United States shop on Marketplace for everything from new shoes to baby gear to vehicles and apartments,” according to Facebook.
According to Facebook spokesperson Erin Landers, furniture and electronics are top sellers on Facebook Marketplace, but automobile sales are becoming one of the most popular categories worldwide.
Local automobile dealership listings were added to the website a year ago, and they have helped to increase interest.
Facebook is expanding its technological capabilities.
By increasing the quality of photographs and Messenger discussions, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is assisting consumers in buying and selling more quickly. Price range suggestions and auto-categorization are two of the new features.
The Facebook Marketplace uses AI to automatically categorize items based on the photo and description, eliminating the need for the user to do so.
Facebook is also experimenting with cameras and technology that will recognize products and similar listings of interest.
Buying and selling online has been safer thanks to reporting mechanisms and a rating system, such as the introduction of badges for vendors to validate their identities.