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Facebook Marketplace Expands Beyond Kenya to 37 Other Countries in Africa

BY Soko Directory Team · August 25, 2021 09:08 am

KEY POINTS

The expansion of Marketplace will provide more people with a convenient destination where they can discover new products, shop for things they want, or find buyers for the things they want to sell.

Facebook has announced the launch of Marketplace to 37 countries and territories in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Currently available in Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia, and Nigeria, the platform has been extended to  Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, and Eswatini.

Others include Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Namibia, Niger, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome, and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Western Sahara, and Zimbabwe.

Facebook Marketplace is a convenient destination where people can discover, buy and sell items from others in their local communities, simply by tapping on the Marketplace icon or visiting https://www.facebook.com/marketplace to browse and search for items or filter by distance or category.

Commenting on the launch, Facebook Director of Public Policy Africa Kojo Boakye said that increasing the availability of Marketplace to 37 more countries and territories in Sub-Saharan Africa reinforces the platform’s ongoing commitment to helping connect communities and support buying and selling through one simple online destination.

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“As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to impact people and businesses, the expansion of Marketplace will provide more people with a convenient destination where they can discover new products, shop for things they want, or find buyers for the things they want to sell,” said Boakye.

Discovering things on Facebook Marketplace is simple. To get there, people can look for the Marketplace icon in the Facebook app and they can browse listings that interest them and filter them by distance or category. They can also use the search box to find exactly what they are looking for.

Listing an item for sale is just as easy as browsing for one on Marketplace. Sellers can share a photo of an item, enter a product name, description, and price, confirm their location and select a category.

Users can also choose to post their listings to Facebook Buy and Sell Groups. Interested buyers will find the item they are looking for and message the sellers directly through Messenger. They can decide on the payment method depending on their own preferences.

Tips on buying and selling responsibly on Facebook Marketplace

  • Commerce Policy: Items, products, or services sold on Facebook must comply with Facebook’s Community Standards as well as the Commerce Policies. Sellers are responsible for complying with all applicable laws and regulations.
  • Choose Your Preferred Payment Method: Buyers and sellers may offer or accept cash, Cash on Delivery (COD), or person-to-person (P2P) payments. If you choose to pay electronically using bank transfer or money order solutions, avoid payment links and log in directly through the payment method’s website. Keep in mind that personal checks or bank drafts can be counterfeit.
  • Meeting in person: If you’re meeting someone in person, arrange your meeting in a public, well-lit area. If you choose to meet at someone’s home, consider bringing another person with you or share your meeting plan with friends or family.

Soko Directory is a Financial and Markets digital portal that tracks brands, listed firms on the NSE, SMEs and trend setters in the markets eco-system.Find us on Facebook: facebook.com/SokoDirectory and on Twitter: twitter.com/SokoDirectory

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