[vlucas]

Good for Facebook.

My wife has been buying and selling things on individual Facebook groups for years before this official marketplace.

Selling on Facebook is hands down a vastly better experience than selling things on Craigslist in every way - especially if you live in a market that is too small for a designated Craigslist area.

Our real world experience:

1) Hyperlocal - Our city of 40k-50k is 40 miles from the nearest Craigslist area (OKC). Facebook groups and now the marketplace ensures we don't have to drive 30 minutes or more to meet someone. Most people buy things that are either very close to them (i.e. already in the same city), or are more willing to drive to where you are.

2) Related to (1) - Since it is more local (we usually meet at a Walgreens or supermarket parking lot that is only a few blocks away), we can easily sell more items that are lower in value (like kids clothing, etc.). This is something that just isn't worth the hassle on Craigslist.

3) Way fewer scammers and spammers since you have to use your real name.

4) You know who you are meeting and what they look like (again - real name, single account requirement).

5) Built-in messaging allows you an easier way to communicate meeting details privately without having to give your phone number or email address.

6) You can easily block and report people who are problematic and they will never see your posts or be able to buy your stuff or message you again.

In short, Facebook has allowed us to sell a lot of things on a much more regular basis than Craigslist ever would, with much less hassle and spam/scammers.

[bluedino]

3) Way fewer scammers and spammers since you have to use your real name.

4) You know who you are meeting and what they look like (again - real name, single account requirement).

5) Built-in messaging

This also means someone can harrass the crap out of you for whatever reason they want regarding the item.

[bdcravens]

True of most transactions I'd think. You meet in person, they can see your license plate. Communicate via text, they have your number. Selling something larger than can fit in your car? They come to your house. Many people won't buy something of any real value without some degree of accountability.

I think the surface area of a world where transactions are 100% anonymous is quite small.

[vlucas]

... which is why I also included (6), which you conveniently left off your blockquote.

Ending harassment on Facebook is as easy as blocking them. Done.

[pkamb]

But they seem to show your full name and public Facebook picture, which opens you up to all kinds of potential real-world harassment that doesn't exist on the (if you're smart) fully anonymous Craigslist. Such as showing up to your workplace to demand their money back, or finding your contact information via a Google search.

[eatbitseveryday]

> Ending harassment on Facebook

Yes but with real information there is the external communication. I can search for names, addresses, phone numbers without FB.

It is naive to assume FB controls are valid in real life when personal info is available.

[Kluny]

Facebook has pretty good blocking controls built in already. Better, I'd say, than email and phone providers have.

[Karunamon]

Not really. Dismissing someone from your attention on Facebook is trivial.

[bluedino]

But dismissing yourself from someone else's attention isn't.

[frenchfried]

Very true, but couldn't you say that about any p2p marketplace/selling website (like Craigslist)? If someone's the harass-y type, I doubt they'd be bound by platform

[cryptarch]

They sure are bound by the amount of information you give them.

On Facebook they tend to have your picture, full legal name, social circles, place of work and where you live from the start.

I know plenty of people who use online markets pseudonomously (and also break fb policy on that), and meet in public places for the money/item exchange. It's normal here to only share first names in a trade.

[thr0waway1239]

> 5) Built-in messaging allows you an easier way to communicate meeting details privately without having to give your phone number or email address.

Your notion of "private" is a little strange. Facebook offers the illusion of private transactions by effectively robbing everyone of their privacy - in other words, that is how they established themselves as the pre-eminent and now possibly only two sided marketplace for the "common folks". This is like thanking the local thugs for keeping peace in the streets so that people can go about their local commerce in a peaceful way.

Contrast this to all the other things we actually consider private: face to face meetings, phone conversations (ok, not so much anymore), sending physical letters (again...), etc. where there is, or used to be, a somewhat reasonable expectation that the conduit facilitating your private interaction was not gathering all that information to be packaged off to the highest bidder.

Also, just wait until one day your customer realizes he/she is being targeted with ads based on stuff they bought from you and from someone else, which when combined exposes them in some way they would rather not have been. You just might wish you were merely dealing with the "spammers and scammers" instead, in which case there is usually at least the possibility of recourse.

Yes, all my criticisms can be directed at internet commerce in general. It is only FB which has had a history of leaving a lot of things unsaid in a way which makes their users feel like idiots once people realize exactly why those things were left unsaid. For e.g., I bet no one actually asked FB if they are going to show ads on WhatsApp, instead choosing to believe and then applaud the WhatsApp founders for their stance on ads. On hindsight, people are now realizing that MZ never actually gave a shit what the WhatsApp founder said or did, and was only too happy to let everyone make complete fools of themselves.

I can pull out a story here which would tell people exactly what MZ thinks of his users in general, but unfortunately I am starting to now think that MZ was spot-on with his assessment.

[jaredklewis]

Private here just means not out in the open, not absolutely private. This doesn't seem like a very "strange" way to use the word to me.

I think the OP does a good job of outlining why this is preferable to Craigslist for your run of the mill buying and selling, namely that buying from a known entity is generally preferable than buying from an unknown one.

Facebook makes a set of tradeoffs regarding privacy and monetization, and they seem to be very popular. You assign a lot of agency to Facebook for orchestrating all of this, when really they are just providing to what the market wants: a free (as in beer) social network.

/counter-rant

[vlucas]

You should never assume so much, or infer so much meaning from text on the internet. I simply meant private as in "not on the public listing".

[maerF0x0]

The real conflict of interest i see is that FB ads will have a chance to convince you to buy something else whilst viewing the local item. Eg: I'm buying a used bicycle and local bike vendor puts up ads like "DONT BUY USED, NEW SCAM FLOODING THE USA" ...

[cesis]

I actually expect the exact opposite. Local used items will appear next to brick-and-mortar ads. FB might also introduce local/used promoted listings.