eBay helps social media powerhouse boost marketplace sales

Facebook is getting in on the “daily deals” game.



The social media giant is teaming up with eBay to bolster third-party sales. Through the collaboration, Facebook’s Marketplace service — a section on its mobile app — now features a selection of inventory from eBay’s Daily Deals program, according to TechCrunch.



The deals will encompass products across the consumer electronics, fashion, and home & garden categories. Approximately 100 new items will be posted daily, and deals can be shared via SMS or Facebook Messenger — which will link to the deal via eBay’s ShopBot app. A countdown reveals how long the deals are available, and each item also displays the percentage off, the report said.



The Marketplace launched last fall. Originally created as a way to aggregate the social network’s “for sale” postings across various “buy and sell” groups, it’s intended to deliver an easier, more centralized way to search and shop for items from local sellers. Users can also list their own items, and chat with buyers or sellers via Marketplace’s integration with Messenger. But it has morphed into a peer-to-peer marketplace — not a source for deals from third-party websites, like eBay, according to TechCrunch.



Further extending the breadth of the Marketplace, Facebook announced on Monday that it is rolling out the service to 17 new countries across Europe, including Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. These will join six other countries — Australia, Canada, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand and the U.K. — that recently launched the service.



In May, more than 18 million new items posted for sale in Marketplace in the United States, and that number continues to grow, according to Facebook.



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