According to Facebook's own data, this popular social networking site has more than 200 million active users, with more than half logging in to the site each day. One big reason people keep returning to Facebook is the site’s applications, called apps for short.
According to Facebook 70 percent of its members engage with the more than 52,000 applications currently available on Facebook.
There are a number of Facebook applications that sellers can use to promote their own eBay business to friends and acquaintances on Facebook. We look at three eBay applications that you can add to your own profile to promote your eBay business on the Facebook platform.
eBay Marketplace for Facebook lets you see what your friends are buying and selling on eBay.
(Click for larger image).Promoting EBay Items in Your Facebook Profile
eBay Auctions
Developed by Phil Tucker, this eBay Auctions app lets you show your own auction listings on your Facebook profile. Using the app, you can also browse your friends' auctions, search eBay, create a wish-list, comment on auctions and more.
Once you have installed the application, you simply need to provide your auction listing numbers to load the listing in your Facebook profile. The eBay Auctions application page also has an active discussion board where you can learn more about using specific functions of this application plus read even more tips for selling on Facebook.
eBay Marketplace
Developed by eBay Inc., eBay Marketplace lets you see what your friends are buying, selling and watching on eBay. This app lets you add to your eBay watch list—and share your finds with your friends. You can take advantage of the eBay Marketplace application to also manage your own eBay items.
An eBay news feed will highlight your eBay activity, such as notifications when you sell an item, links to the items you have for sale, and updates on new eBay feedback left for you. This information appears in the eBay Marketplace News Feed, and you will also see these notifications for any of your friends using the eBay Marketplace app on Facebook.
To use the eBay Marketplace app you need to link your eBay account to Facebook when you add the application to your own Facebook profile.
At first glance, the eBay Marketplace “review” page contains more negative reviews than positive, but if you dig deeper you’ll see positive user comments in the app discussion forum, along with helpful advice and tips for giving this eBay-developed application a try.
eBay Wall
Developed by Iter-8 Partnership, this simple Facebook application lets you and your friends post eBay listings to each other's profile. You can show what you're selling on eBay or just discuss the neat things you find on eBay. To use the eBay Wall application, you don’t need to provide your eBay credentials, and the application developer says that it supports both the U.S. and U.K. eBay sites.
This Facebook application is still being updated, and with 78 monthly active users, it appears to be a relatively new eBay Facebook application.
More Ways to Sell on FacebookThis year we’ve seen selling through social media gain in popularity, and some of Facebook’s most popular selling applications are eBay-independent. Sellers who list on eBay and other online marketplaces can expand outside of these platforms and use popular Facebook applications to generate revenue.
Facebook Marketplace (powered by Oodle, Inc.) boasts 1,903,626 monthly active users, and you can use this app to buy and sell locally through Facebook. There is also Lemonade Stand, a Facebook application based on affiliate referral earnings. You can read more about these applications in Three Ways to Make Money on Facebook.
Vangie Beal is a veteran online seller and frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com. You can tweet with her online @AuroraGG.
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