Flohmarkt is still a really young platform, but it shows promise as a way for people to create listings, and reach out to one another.

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.

…

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.

  • ᴇᴍᴘᴇʀᴏʀ 帝@feddit.ukOPEnglish
    3·
    7 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@feddit.ukOPEnglish
        2·
        7 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.