Historically speaking, the Fediverse has lacked apps related to money, trade, or commerce. Although there’s a growing number of small businesses, services, and contractors within the space, the network has largely been missing a shared marketplace for people to buy or sell things.

Flohmarkt (German for “Flea Market”) is a new platform that hopes to serve that need. The premise is simple: What if we built our own Craigslist, eBay, or Facebook Marketplace? The project is still relatively young, having only started in March 2023, but it exists today as a platform that anyone can use.

The overall experience is reminiscent of eBay, Etsy, or Facebook Marketplace, in that individuals can reach out to one another to sell or exchange listed items.

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One extremely interesting here is acknowledging a limitation of today’s Fediverse: not every instance admin or user can use an integrated payment system. Instead, this platform allows users to privately message each other directly to handle the transaction out-of-band. What’s cool about this is that these interactions are not just limited to Flohmarkt members; Mastodon users can reach out about listings directly.

  • @[email protected]
    4•5 days ago

    Love the idea. Many people claim keeping FB because of the Market place. This could be a grassroot push to get these spaces back in public hands as well. Go Ferdiverse!

    • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝OPEnglish
      2•4 days ago

      Yeah, I was talking to someone trying to figure out their escape plan from Facebook and Marketplace was a key sticking point. I’ve suggested they move as many of their friends and family as they can to Friendica and try Flohmarkt as well as Marketplace. There’s nothing wrong with not going for a complete clean break instantly but getting at least one foot in the Fediverse and starting to wean yourself off the Big Web is the most important thing. It definitely feels like FM has the potential to be a big help in that - we just need more instances.

  • verity_kindle
    4•5 days ago

    I need this in my life, my area of the US doesn’t even rate our own craigslist. ELI5, how do I start using flohmarkt on Android mobile? I looked at the codeberg page and the blog link and I honestly don’t know what I’m seeing. I’m so used to clicking “download this app” that I need help to break out of that mindset.

    • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝OPEnglish
      3•5 days ago

      Yeah, the Codeberg page is for people wanting to spin up an instance. You should be able to interact with Flohmarkt through, for example, a Mastodon app.

      To get started you need an instance near you buy the list of instances doesn’t include anything in the US.

      If you aren’t up for starting an instance, it might be an idea to suggest to those running American instances that they might want to add this to their offering. Try, for example, midwest.social or discuss.online. Then report back on progress.

        • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝OPEnglish
          2•5 days ago

          As I note here, there are actually three UK instances. I think Flohmarkt works on a radius so you get largely served local goods, not sure how well it’ll work for you but happy hunting.