Facebook Marketplace is rolling out new Meta AI features, including one that automatically replies to messages from interested buyers, Facebook announced Thursday. The social network is also using AI to help sellers list items faster and summarize profiles, and is giving sellers the option to offer shipping on their listings.
The company says that since sellers receive a lot of buyer inquiries, it’s making it easier to respond to initial messages with auto-replies powered by Meta AI. Now, when buyers inquire about an item’s availability, sellers can use Meta AI to automatically draft replies using information from their listing, such as the description, availability, pickup location, and price. Sellers can enable, preview, and edit these auto-replies during listing creation.
This new feature is designed to address a common pain point for sellers, who often don’t want to spend excessive amounts of time responding to initial or redundant messages, such as asking if an item is available when it’s already marked as available. One seller had even created their own AI tool last year to handle these initial inquiries from interested buyers.
Facebook Marketplace also now lets sellers list their items automatically using Meta AI. After uploading an image of an item, Meta AI can create a draft listing, fill in the details, and suggest a price based on similar items in the area.
Additionally, buyers will now see a summary of a seller’s Facebook profile at the top of their Marketplace page, including how long they’ve been on Facebook and their number of friends. The overview also includes a summary of their Marketplace activity, such as listing history, the types of items they sell, and their seller ratings.
Sellers can now also expand their reach by offering shipping on their listings, Facebook says. And they can generate prepaid shipping labels and easily track every order from a simple dashboard.
The new AI features join Facebook Marketplace’s existing Meta AI integrations, including a tool that helps buyers ask the right questions when making a purchase, as well as AI-powered insights for vehicle listings.
