Celebrating Five Years of Facebook Marketplace with More Ways to Buy and Sell

This month marks five years of Facebook Marketplace and we’re celebrating with more features to help people shop affordably, easily and responsibly ahead of the holidays.

Marketplace was introduced in 2016 after we realized people were connecting through Groups to buy and sell. We set out to make this experience better for people, and five years later Marketplace is now visited by more than 1 billion people globally each month. Connection remains at the heart of Marketplace, whether it’s connecting people with the things they love, finding new ways to shop sustainably, or discovering a passion for the thrill of the sale.

You can create a saved search on Marketplace to get notifications when new listings match your criteria. So if you searched for a bicycle on Marketplace but didn’t find the right one, you can save your search to get notified when new bicycles that meet that criteria pop up for sale.

In addition to shopping for items locally, buyers and sellers can take advantage of expanded shipping options on Marketplace and within Buy and Sell Groups. Shipping is rolling out in Great Britain for person-to-person, non-professional sales over the coming weeks and is also available within Buy and Sell Groups in the US.

With shipping, sellers can reach even more buyers, and shoppers can browse for items near and far, and purchase using Facebook Pay. Plus, many purchases made with checkout on Facebook are covered by Purchase Protection.

Whether you’re looking for vintage boots or home décor accents, shopping secondhand is an easy and eco-friendly way to save money and discover unique or sold-out items.

• Top searches: As of September, the top searches on Marketplace in the US include desks, couches, patio furniture, campers and boats.
• Most popular categories: And the most popular categories on Marketplace in the US include household items, furniture, baby and kids items, women's clothing and shoes, as well as cars, trucks and motorcycles.
• Sustainable style: Another trend we’re keeping our eyes on? The demand for clothing. Over the summer, we saw a 60% increase in interest for clothing on Marketplace in the US. Supply also increased during this time, with the number of clothing listings for sale rising by 20%.

As part of our commitment to make Marketplace a trustworthy place to shop, we’ve introduced more ways to buy and sell responsibly:

• Create and share a meetup plan: Create a meetup plan for an in-person transaction — including location, time and date — and share it with your friends via Messenger to let them know where you’re headed and encourage safer meetups. This feature is available most places Marketplace is live.
• Meetup preferences: Sellers can let buyers know how they prefer to exchange an item locally, such as a public meetup or via door dropoff or pickup to minimize in-person transactions.

You can learn more about buying and selling responsibly on our website. Here are a few of our top tips:

1. Meet in a public, well-lit area: Arrange your meeting in a public, well-lit area. If you choose to meet at someone’s home, consider bringing another person with you and let others know where you’re going.
2. Verify the item. Make sure the item is what you want before you pay for it. Beware of payment scams and avoid transactions requiring you to pay with gift cards. Understand what’s covered by Purchase Protection.
3. Protect your personal information. Don’t share personal information such as your password or bank account information to make or accept a purchase.
4. Report suspicious items and activity. If you think a buyer, seller or product violates Facebook’s Commerce Policies, you can report them.

We're inviting everyone to show off their favorite finds from Marketplace over the years. You can follow and tag @FacebookMarketplace on Instagram for a chance to be featured on our page.