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I think it's a step in a good direction, though at this stage the whole FB marketplace vibe definitely suits peer-to-peer selling than traditional retail businesses, just from what I've observed anyway.
I do know that there are some sellers with FB stores that do quite well, so there is obviously potential for businesses to set up successfully there - I can't really speak to the BSS groups, I joined a couple as I have some personal goods I thought to try and sell, but I was frustrated by the strong focus on locality; eg I have a few DVDs, mostly recent TV series that I don't really want to hang on to, which are items that are really easily posted, but all the groups I found either had less than 50 members or concentrated on very specific locales, often just a couple of suburbs, with everyone working on pick-up only. I never listed any of my items there because it was rare for people not to haggle on price, so the two main things (pick up and haggling) are the things I most want to avoid :D. (Unless what you've listed is already a massive bargain, even if you list a good price and say it's not negotiable, the first comment would be "Would you do [some figure that is at least 50% less than the asking price]? Can pick up today...." 
).
I'm actually more interested in where Pinterest is going with their foray into an integrated marketplace as I think it would suit me and my stuff more (at the moment, you can create a "shop", but it's really just a catalogue of linked items you have in a different set up, like an eBay store.
@digital*ghost wrote:I think it's a step in a good direction, though at this stage the whole FB marketplace vibe definitely suits peer-to-peer selling than traditional retail businesses, just from what I've observed anyway.
I do know that there are some sellers with FB stores that do quite well, so there is obviously potential for businesses to set up successfully there - I can't really speak to the BSS groups, I joined a couple as I have some personal goods I thought to try and sell, but I was frustrated by the strong focus on locality; eg I have a few DVDs, mostly recent TV series that I don't really want to hang on to, which are items that are really easily posted, but all the groups I found either had less than 50 members or concentrated on very specific locales, often just a couple of suburbs, with everyone working on pick-up only. I never listed any of my items there because it was rare for people not to haggle on price, so the two main things (pick up and haggling) are the things I most want to avoid :D. (Unless what you've listed is already a massive bargain, even if you list a good price and say it's not negotiable, the first comment would be "Would you do [some figure that is at least 50% less than the asking price]? Can pick up today...."
I'm actually more interested in where Pinterest is going with their foray into an integrated marketplace as I think it would suit me and my stuff more (at the moment, you can create a "shop", but it's really just a catalogue of linked items you have in a different set up, like an eBay store.
I suppose it gets down to what you classify as a business. If it is simply an entity that buys stuff to onsell and make a profit, many of these platforms could sustain a business.
If the intention is to buy stuff to sell at a profit which MAKES REASONABLE $$$$ PER HOUR, then it is very difficult to run viable businesses on these other platforms. The huge advantage ebay has over notice board style sites is the inbuilt efficiency. In the majority of sales, buyers purchase items and pay for them without any communication at all. This is highly efficient and results in productive use of a sellers time.
In contrast the notice board style sites rely on numerous tyre kickers and potential buyers contacting the seller for each item sold, haggling over price, arranging a suitable payment method and then often resulting in the seller waiting around for the buyer who may or may not show up to view or pick up the item. This is a highly inefficient use of a sellers time, usually resulting in very low $$$$ profit per hour and a totally unviable business model. ( even though they may " sell stuff " )
It could only be classed as viable if the seller only values thier time at a few dollars per hour.
If they are hobby sellers, selling items that intrest them to fellow enthusiasts, that could be a very legitimate, but different thing. In this scenario the seller usually enjoys a chat with buyers about thier shared interest, networks with other enthusiasts and gains social interaction along with a few dollars profit. Nothing wrong with that, but not really a business as such.
The only way I can see to make a viable business on the notice board style sites is to sell very high priced items such as cars or boats where you make several thousand dollars on each sale and can spend a couple of weeks working through the time wasters to eventually reach a genuine sale.
