One big reason why Gen Z is still on Facebook: to save money

In December, Ellicia Chiu and Cher Su had just a few boxes in tow when they moved into an apartment in New York’s Lower East Side. Before moving from Los Angeles, the two friends knew they would need to furnish their new apartment with small kitchen appliances, decor and furniture. But instead of buying new stuff, they knew it would be cheaper to find used stuff on Facebook Marketplace, the social network’s buying and selling service.

“I only use Facebook for Marketplace,” said Ms. Chiu, 24, who added that she spends most of her social time on TikTok and Instagram, owned by Meta, Facebook’s parent company.

For many twenty-somethings who don’t have much disposable income, Marktplaats is a place to get deals on items they normally wouldn’t be able to afford.

“As someone in my early 20s, I want to have nicer things, but I don’t have the financial resources to achieve that yet,” says Ms. Chiu, who adds that she prefers Marketplace to other sites because its interface is easy to use . use, making it easier to find deals on furniture.

Over the past decade, Facebook has declined in popularity as a social site among Generation Z 2022 Pew Research Center Survey found it. Instead, younger people are spending more of their social time on Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

“Facebook Marketplace is often referred to as ‘the garage sale of the Internet’ and is a modern counterpart to eBay and Craigslist,” said Yoo-Kyoung Seocka professor of textiles, merchandising and interior design at the University of Georgia, who is studying consumer behavior among Gen Z and millennials And environmental sustainability in the textile industry. “The platform’s remarkable success is largely due to the trust users place in it, which is a result of its unique connection to the Facebook social network.”

For a generation that is environmentally conscious and prefers to shop second hand, Marketplace has become popular.

“Young people, including students and young professionals, are increasingly attracted to used goods,” says Dr. Seok said. Accelerating inflation has also made buying second-hand a practical choice, she added.

Marketplace was launched in 2016 and has more than one billion monthly active users and is the second most popular online site for second-hand goods after eBay, according to eBay a 2022 study from Statista, a market data company. Meta doesn’t say much in its annual reports about Marketplace as a company, how its demographics might differ from Facebook in general, or whether it has a vision to grow the platform. Meta did not respond to questions about whether it has long-term business goals for Marketplace or whether it was aware of the platform’s popularity among Generation Z.

Some buyers say yes prefer Marktplaats through Craigslist, which was popular among older generations looking for used goods because unlike Craigslist, Marketplace buyers and sellers have profiles with reviews that make them more trustworthy and messaging is built into Facebook, making communication easy.

Marktplaats is free for buyers. Although sellers may encounter transaction costsMany of them avoid this by selling locally and asking buyers to bring cash when picking up their purchase. Ms. Chiu said she usually paid with Venmo, although she brought cash if a salesperson insisted.

Ms. Chiu and Ms. Su said their favorite Marketplace purchase was a West Elm couch that the seller had had for less than a year. The sofa retailed for $1,200, and they bought it for $145. Ms. Chiu said the seller warned her that the sofa had cat-scratch marks, but when she and Ms. Su came to take a look, they didn’t see much wear.

Some of their other favorite Marketplace finds include a Zojirushi rice cooker (retail price: $150, purchased on Marketplace for $50), a Dyson vacuum cleaner (retail price: $470, purchased on Marketplace for $135), and an IKEA NORDEN extendable table (retail price: $470). $350; purchased on Marketplace for $150).

In total, Ms. Chiu and Ms. Su said they spent about $1,400 on more than 30 items purchased on Marketplace and estimated they saved more than $3,000.

Not all of Ms. Chiu and Ms. Su’s purchases were a success: Ms. Chiu once bought a plant from a seller that she discovered had root rot when she tried to repot it. Buyers must calculate returns with sellers on Marketplace, and Ms Chiu’s plant seller later offered her a refund of 50 percent of the price she paid, which she accepted. Ms. Su said she once bought a bookshelf that fell apart when she got home. She was unable to get a refund.

Ms Su said she was aware of Marketplace scams and tried to avoid them. “There are a lot of scammers who try to ask for personal information when messaging about items – so beware of that too!” she warned. (Meta offers users guides on recognize And to avoid scam.)

Sebastian Ramos, a junior at DePaul University in Chicago, also uses Marketplace to buy and sell items, and he once even received a free couch (estimated retail price: $1,300). He has also purchased acrylic vinyl record shelves (est. retail price: $45; bought on Marketplace for $10) and sold his used Nintendo 3DS (retail price: $200; sold on Marketplace for $150).

Mr Ramos, 21, said he did not use Facebook for social media, but he enjoyed buying second-hand items on Marktplaats to save money and also because he enjoyed shopping at thrift stores.

“There’s no need to pay more for something new when you can find something that’s used, or even slightly used, for a lot cheaper,” he said.

Sarah Williams, who lives in Kenosha, Wisconsin, is an executive assistant and a new mother. Shortly after she and her husband found out they were expecting a baby last year, Mrs. Williams said Marktplaats was the first place she went to look for baby items.

The first item on her list was a light-colored wooden crib. But the cribs she found online were listed for $1,200 and were out of her budget.

“The prices were just absolutely ridiculous,” Ms Williams, 24, said.

After a rigorous two-week search online, she found a crib she liked that a woman who lived near her had listed on Marktplaats. After messaging back and forth with the seller via Facebook Messenger, Mrs. Williams and her husband drove to the woman’s home to inspect the crib. They bought it for $300 – 75 percent less than the original price – after seeing that it was in good condition.

“It was a really nice exchange and it felt very personal,” Ms Williams said.

Ms Williams said she hoped to find other mothers on Marktplaats who had items they no longer needed because their children had outgrown them.

Like Ms. Williams, Ms. Chiu and Ms. Su said the opportunity to network and meet new people while picking up their Marketplace purchases had been a fun part of their moving experience and getting used to their new home.

“That’s how Facebook started, and it’s cool that Marketplace is furthering that too,” Ms. Su said.