I’m sure you can remember the huge buzz that went around when Ebay first launched and people could easily sell almost anything that wanted. It meant that you didn’t have to have you own physical shop to make money buying and selling, and people could find items online that they may not have been able to find elsewhere. Ebay is still going strong but now with the rise in social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, the online trading markets are stronger than ever.
Facebook first saw the potential in allowing people to advertise items on their site a very short time after they launched. They termed their new section ‘Facebook Marketplace’ and it soon became very popular, with many people even setting up their own shops to trade their goods. There are of course some well established sites such as Craig’s List and Gumtree that provided successful online trading abilities, but the enhanced social element of the newer sites has meant they have come under strong pressure from the competition. They encourage a more discerning buying process whereby you can do some background research on the seller, request more information, or even ask the opinion of some experts in the field. For example, before you make that commitment to buy one of those second hand bikes you can request more pics, query your friends about it, or ask those people who are hanging out in the cycling community section if you are making the right choice, and if not, what is the right one?
Moreover, people now even have the ability to actually seek out items that they are looking for via sites such as Twitter. For example an extreme sports enthusiast might post on their twitter profile that they are looking for 7’6” surfboards, and because of the potential size and power of the networks here, they will likely find multiple people very quickly who have suitable surfboards for sale