Application receives varied responses

Facebook Marketplace is similar to eBay and Craigslist, but may be more convenient for college students looking to buy and sell belongings.

Facebook Marketplace is an application available on Facebook that allows users to post items they want to sell. Users can also post items they want to purchase.

“I think for the most part, (Facebook Marketplace) is effective,” said Danielle Maggiore, graduate student in the community counseling program. “It depends on what you’re selling and what time of season you’re trying to sell in.”

Even though some students may consider Facebook Marketplace to be effective, some have problems with scamming. Laureen Tanner, sophomore international relations major, said she has gotten responses from people who are interested in buying her “Rock Band” for Wii.

“I’ve gotten responses, but they’re mostly spam,” she said. “You know it’s not real. They ask for a PayPal account or something so they can send the payment to your PayPal. They try to get you to send the thing you’re selling to them before they pay you.”

Roger Nock, sophomore electronic media production major, has been trying to sell a sound system on Facebook Marketplace.

“I actually had two people scam me,” he said. “It seems like that’s big on Facebook and Craigslist, where they try to get you to send it to them and not pay you.”

Despite the problems with scamming on Facebook Marketplace, students still think the application is good for selling and buying things like textbooks.

“It’s a great place for students to sell books,” Maggiore said. “I’ve put my books on there in the past.”

Maggiore said it’s important to post listings for books at the right time, though, or else they won’t sell.

“Either the books didn’t work for the class or I put the posting up too late, like two weeks into the semester,” she said.

Tanner also said she thinks that books are the best thing to sell on the application.

“I’ve seen textbooks do really well, but real things, like ‘Rock Band,’ don’t work so well,” she said.

Although Tanner hasn’t sold her “Rock Band” video game yet, she said she’s gotten a decent offer from a user on Facebook Marketplace.

Facebook users can access Facebook Marketplace through the applications section on their homepage at www.facebook.com.

Contact student finance reporter Kristina Deckert at [email protected].