Some very interesting and important context that eBay left out - Meta is doing this in response to the European Commission's November 2024 decision imposing a €797.72 million fine for breaching EU antitrust rules by tying its Facebook Marketplace to its social network and imposing unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers. ( @ittybitnot - that answers your question about what's in it for them 😂)
https://about.fb.com/news/2024/11/our-response-to-the-european-commissions-decision-on-facebook-mark...
Update on January 8, 2025 at 3:00 AM PT:
While we disagree with and continue to appeal the European Commission’s decision on Facebook Marketplace, we are working quickly and constructively to build a solution which addresses the points raised. Today, we will launch a test in Germany, France, and the US that will enable buyers to browse listings from eBay directly on Facebook Marketplace while completing their transaction on eBay. This could benefit people using both platforms. eBay sellers will gain exposure to Facebook’s audience while people using Marketplace will be able to discover a broader array of listings from the eBay community.
Who knows what the terms of the deal between eBay and Facebook are, but that could mean if the decision is reversed as Meta continues their appeal, things could change and this partnership may not be long-term.
And if you're wondering why the US would be included if the concern is the EU Commission ruling - there's an ongoing FTC case against Meta for pretty much the same thing headed to trial in April 2025, and eBay specifically came up during discovery, so odds are this is their attempt to get out ahead of it and show they are making efforts to address those concerns.
Other than that, these listings aren't exactly a "new" thing - eBay's official Facebook page previously had a Shop section with items featured that if you clicked on them, led to eBay for checkout, just like this describes and the only reason they stopped was Facebook forced Shops to start using onsite checkout in 2023.
Those listings were used primarily to promote focus vertical categories - ie. sneakers, trading cards, luxury fashion and accessories, auto parts, refurb electronics and home goods - and I expect that will likely be the same with the new listings.
I also suspect the one way that average sellers outside of those verticals will be able to increase their chances of being included will be to shell out for cost per click Off Site ads.
So the benefits are clear for Meta and eBay, and Wall Street seems to love the idea with eBay's stock popping ~5% on the news, but the benefits for average sellers who aren't willing to pay to play are less clear.
I'm sure eBay would simply say that more buyers coming to the site benefits everyone in a "rising tide lifts all boats" kind of way, but that's what they said about the "enthusiast buyer focus vertical" strategy too and that doesn't seem to have worked as well as eBay would like everyone to think.
