Facebook is testing a new feature that makes it more like Craigslist
The company is testing a feature called "Local Market," based on screenshots sent to AdWeek that illustrate a new way for people to buy and sell things on the site.
Earlier this year, Facebook launched For Sale Groups that let users list prices and pick-up locations for products they wanted to sell. Local Market looks like a new way to search for all different categories of goods nearby without staying within specific groups.
The Local Markets section evidently has categories like Household, Sporting, Toys, and Books, and if users see a product they're interested in, they can click "message to buy" to contact the seller.
Business Insider reached out to Facebook for comment and more information.
The move aligns with Facebook's ecommerce strategy so far. The company recently announced that it's expanding its "Shop" section to curate items that businesses are selling from their Pages.
At the time, Facebook said that it was "exploring" the idea of also listing content being sold in Groups in this section, and it looks like Local Markets could be this concept starting to play out.
It also jibes with Facebook's recent decision to allow strangers to message each other without having the conversation filter into the rarely-accessed "Other Folder" of Messages. Without that change, the "message to buy" feature likely wouldn't function as intended.
If you've seen this feature floating around your Facebook app, we'd love to see your screenshots - jdonfro@businessinsider.com