By Abdi Ali
Published August 26, 2021
Facebook Marketplace, a virtual destination where people can discover, buy and sell items from others in their local communities, has been rolled across 37 sub-Saharan African countries
Previously available only in Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa for people to transact by tapping on the Marketplace icon to browse and search for items, Facebook Marketplace has now been launched in Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Eswatini, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Namibia, Niger, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Western Sahara and Zimbabwe.
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“Increasing the availability of Marketplace to 37 more countries and territories in Sub-Saharan Africa reinforces our ongoing commitment to helping connect communities and support buying and selling through one simple online destination,” says Kojo Boakye, Facebook’s Director of Public Policy in charge of Africa “As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to impact people and businesses, the expansion of Marketplace will provide more people with a convenient destination where they can discover new products, shop for things they want, or find buyers for the things they want to sell.”
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Listing an item for sale, Facebook says, is just as easy as browsing for one on Marketplace. Sellers can share a photo of an item, enter a product name, description and price, confirm their location and select a category. They can also choose to post their listings to Facebook Buy and Sell Groups. Interested buyers will find the item they are looking for and message the sellers directly through Messenger. They can decide on the payment method depending on their own preferences.
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