Meta launches Facebook Seller app for Marketplace power sellers
Meta’s free Seller app gives Facebook Marketplace sellers listing tools, buyer messages, analytics and an AI-assisted product scanner.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Meta has launched the Facebook Seller app, a free standalone tool for people who sell on Facebook Marketplace and want more than the main Facebook app offers.
The app, called Seller, rolled out Friday and is aimed at Marketplace sellers who regularly post items, track listings and respond to buyers, according to Meta. Users can download it and sign in with their Facebook account, the company said.
Facebook Marketplace has become one of Facebook’s stickiest features, giving the social network a buy-and-sell hub that functions separately from the feed, groups and other parts of the platform. Meta said it does not take a cut of Marketplace transactions and instead makes money from ads tied to the service.
What is the Facebook Seller app?
Seller is a standalone app for managing Facebook Marketplace sales. Meta says it lets sellers create listings, handle existing posts, answer potential buyers through an in-app inbox and review analytics from past listings.
The app also adds a product-scanning feature. According to Facebook, sellers will be able to use a smartphone camera to scan an item, after which AI will automatically fill in listing details.
For frequent Marketplace users, that means Meta is separating seller chores from the broader Facebook experience. Instead of hopping through the main app to post, edit and message, sellers get a dedicated place for those tasks.
Why Meta is giving Marketplace sellers their own app
Facebook head Tom Allison told The New York Times that Seller is meant to serve Marketplace sellers in the way video editing tools serve content creators.
Allison also told the newspaper that Meta is testing more standalone products for Facebook’s heavy users, including Marketplace sellers and Facebook Groups administrators.
That push has already shown up elsewhere. In May, Facebook released Forum, a separate app made for Facebook Groups power users, according to Meta. Seller applies the same idea to Marketplace, one of the platform’s major utility features.
Meta says Marketplace has strong usage among younger Facebook users. The company said one-third of young adults who use Facebook also use Marketplace.
The scale is not small, either. Meta said more than 420 million items are listed on Marketplace each month.
What tools are included in Seller?
Meta says the Seller app includes several tools built around the selling process:
- A listing tool for posting new items to Facebook Marketplace.
- A dashboard for managing active listings.
- An in-app inbox for replying to interested buyers.
- Analytics for older listings.
- An AI-assisted scanner that can help generate listing details from a product scan.
The app is free to use, according to Meta, matching the current Facebook Marketplace model. The company said sellers can access it with their existing Facebook login.
This story draws on original reporting from Mashable.