Facebook Marketplace is rolling out new Meta AI features, including one that automatically responds to messages from interested Facebook buyers was announced Thursday. The social network also uses artificial intelligence to help sellers capture items faster and summarize profiles, and gives sellers the option to offer shipping on their listings.
The company says that since sellers receive many buyer inquiries, it makes it easier to respond to initial messages with automatic responses powered by Meta AI. Now, when buyers inquire about an item’s availability, sellers can use Meta AI to automatically compose responses using information from their listing, such as description, availability, pickup location, and price. Sellers can enable, preview, and edit these auto-responders during listing creation.
This new feature is designed to address a common pain point for sellers, who often don’t want to spend too much time responding to initial or unnecessary messages, such as asking if an item is available when it’s already marked as available. One seller even had it they created their own AI tool last year to handle those initial inquiries from interested buyers.
Facebook Marketplace also now allows sellers to list their products automatically using Meta AI. After uploading an image of an item, Meta AI can create a rough list, 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 how many friends they have. The overview also includes a summary of their Marketplace activity, such as their 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 create prepaid shipping labels and easily track each order from a simple dashboard.
The new AI capabilities join Facebook Marketplace’s existing Meta AI integrations, including a tool to help shoppers ask the right questions when making a purchase, as well as AI-powered insights for vehicle listings.
