Not just for your parents: Facebook's buy-and-sell platform drawing back millennials

A historic, 400-kilogram anchor that was dragged up from the bottom of the ocean off of Newfoundland’s Cape St. Mary’s bay sits propped up against a tree in front of Tyler Stapleton’s house in an undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Tyler Stapleton

A historic 400-kilogram anchor that was dragged up from the ocean floor off Cape St. Mary’s in Newfoundland sits propped up against a tree in front of Tyler Stapleton’s house.

The two-metre-tall anchor, believed to be from a century-old shipwreck, was salvaged by a fisherman in the 1980s. But last year, the 31-year-old Stapleton, who works as a navigation officer on a cargo ship, snapped it up on Facebook Marketplace.

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Bought for $400, it now sits proudly on display outside his 142-year-old home in St. John’s, N.L., not far from the steps composed of three large marble slabs that he got for free on the site.

“You can find some real treasure on there,” Stapleton said of Facebook's selling platform.

He is one of many millennial and generation Z Canadians who feel the social media platform they had largely disengaged from is bringing them back and keeping them hooked through Facebook Marketplace.

Allie MacIsaac, a 29-year-old public servant living in Ottawa, said she scrolls the buying-and-selling platform for deals several times a day.

“I joke about Facebook Marketplace being a hobby to me,” she said in a recent interview, adding that with the high cost of living, she's looking to find deals and buy things second-hand.

MacIsaac has used it to buy a bicycle, clothes, home furnishings, and most recently, a large, pink dog crate for her puppy that cost just $20.

“I love to scroll and see what’s out there. At this time of year a lot of my searches are for gift ideas, for people who would appreciate a special second-hand or thrifted gift,” she said in a recent interview.

Kevin Ouellette, a 27-year-old teacher living in Cole Harbour, N.S., said he and his partner have relied heavily on Facebook Marketplace to live affordably.

“It’s something that’s become kind of fun, a bit exciting. Like, which one of us can find the weirdest or coolest thing?” he said in a recent interview.

“We really like finding a good deal, we are very frugal … so I spend a ton of time on there," he said, adding that he has bought furniture, a snowblower, a lawn mower and guitars on the site. Ouellette has also used the platform as a seller, finding buyers for a freezer and a number of lawn mowers he fixed up.

But selling can be a nuisance, he noted, as you can be inundated with messages asking “is this available?” And once you make a deal, you then have to sort out a pickup or delivery plan, all while looking out for potential scammers.

Devon Cole, a 28-year-old midwifery student in Toronto, agrees that selling can be a struggle. When she and her roommate posted a range of furniture for sale, they got over 100 messages.

“There were so many people who would message that they wanted something and then they didn't ever follow up. But luckily there were so many people messaging with interest, that we were able to sell everything,” she said, adding they were able to make $500 from the furniture sales.

Cole has also had some success selling brand name clothes, like Lululemon, but she prefers to use Marketplace as a shopper. It’s where she was able to buy two stethoscopes she needed for midwifery school for $100 less than if she had bought them new.

“I really wasn’t expecting to be able to find those, and it worked out so well,” she said.

MacIsaac, who works in social media, also said the major draw to Facebook is Marketplace, as well as Facebook groups she's in for her neighbourhood, job hunting and "buy nothing" groups — where people post items they want to give away for free.

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She’s given away furniture on the buy-nothing group, and just last week she found a "perfect" entryway console that was being given away by a neighbour. “It was exactly what I was looking for, and within three hours (of the Facebook post) it was in my house."

She said these groups, especially during hard financial times, are leading to "a resurgence of Facebook."

“For people my age and maybe people in their early to mid 20s, there was kind of a sense like, ‘Oh, Facebook is for our parents,’” she said. Many of her cohort gravitated toward Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok.

"But now, people are using it to find deals, for connections and job searching .… It’s pulling all the millennials back in there."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 7, 2024.