Facebook unbundles Marketplace with new Seller app and verification

Meta is rolling out a standalone application called "Seller" for people who frequently list items on Facebook Marketplace. The move separates the commerce function from the main social network, giving vendors a dedicated space to manage inventory, chat with buyers, and track sales performance.

Marketplace is a critical growth engine for the aging social network, drawing more than 1.1 billion active users and hosting over 430 million monthly listings. By building a tailored app, Meta aims to professionalise this base and prevent casual sellers from migrating to specialised classified platforms.

Alongside the new app, the company is introducing "Facebook Verified," a free system separate from its paid "Meta Verified" subscription. Users take a selfie to prove they are human, earning a white-circle checkmark that appears on their profiles across Marketplace, Dating, and Groups. This directly targets the trust deficits and bot-driven fraud that often deter users from peer-to-peer digital commerce.

The company is simultaneously testing an immersive, full-screen video feed that opens immediately when users launch the Facebook app. This format, previously trialled on Instagram, will initially launch in "video-heavy" international markets before reaching the US next year. Users who prefer the traditional feed can easily disable the new interface.

These product launches reflect a deliberate strategy at Meta to unbundle its core platform into highly specialised applications. After releasing the Reddit-style Forum app in May and the coding app Pocket this month, the company is betting that targeted tools drive higher engagement than a single, cluttered feed.

Meta also plans to integrate artificial intelligence into the Seller app to automate routine tasks. The AI will help vendors write product descriptions and search through community groups to answer buyer questions, lowering the barrier to entry for small-scale traders.

For European markets, these shifts carry distinct implications. A verified, AI-assisted local commerce tool could significantly tighten Meta's grip on the informal economy. Meanwhile, deploying the full-screen video format outside the US first suggests the continent is once again being used as a testing ground for behavioural shifts that prioritise passive entertainment over traditional social networking.