Immigrants are driving a surprisingly strong US economy, and it hasn't come at the expense of American workers, Nobel laureate Paul Krugman says

  • Immigrants are helping to prop up a strong US economy, Nobel economist Paul Krugman wrote in a New York Times op-ed.
  • He argues that their positive labor-market impact hasn't come at the expense of American workers.

"Are immigrants taking jobs away from native-born Americans? No," Krugman wrote.

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Immigrants are the secret force driving a surprisingly strong US economy, Nobel laureate Paul Krugman wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed .

The premise of his argument is a comparison of the current US economy with Congressional Budget Office forecasts made before the pandemic. He finds that both real GDP and employment have exceeded those projections.

Krugman notes that the CBO itself has attributed economic growth upside to immigration , particularly as it pertains to the labor market. And while more nativist segments of the population might argue this immigrant-driven expansion is coming at the expense of American-born workers, Krugman disagrees.

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He cites the chart below, which shows that native-born unemployment hasn't increased amid the recent spike in immigration.

Krugman also poses another question about whether the immigration surge has put downward pressure on wages by increasing the sheer supply of labor. But he also debunks that notion.

"Many (although not all) academic studies find that immigration has little effect on the wages of native-born workers, even when those workers have similar education levels," he said.

Krugman argues that's because immigrants are complements, not substitutes, for the existing American labor force. They bring their own set of skills and knowledge, and they even compete for different kinds of jobs than US workers, he says.

He also pointed to data that shows that, even with the influx of foreign-born workers — who he says are probably less educated, especially the undocumented portion — the low-wage end of the American workforce have actually seen changes in their real wages increase."

"Immigration appears to have been a big plus for US economic growth , among other things expanding our productive capacity in a way that reduced the inflationary impact of Biden's spending programs," Krugman wrote.

Watch: Musk visits border, calls for Trump-style wall

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New york’s $4.4b shoplifting shadow economy revealed — fueled by ebay and facebook marketplace .

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A shoplifting epidemic costing retailers in New York state $4.4 billion a year is creating a shadow resale economy that ranges from eBay to bodegas, The Post has learned.

Shoplifting in New York City alone rose 64% from June 2019 to June 2023, according to the Council on Criminal Justice .

In 2022, the total estimated loss to shops in the state was $4.4 billion, Gov. Kathy Hochul said in February.

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And retailers and law enforcement told The Post that the need to sell the stolen goods has created a sprawling underground economy.

Thieves and middlemen are selling shoplifted goods on resale sites such as eBay and Facebook Marketplace and filling warehouse spaces at illegal pawn shops.

A raid in Queens found a space stuffed with apparently stolen goods — and a garbage bag full of removed security tags.

They are even “boosting” perishable items such as Häagen-Dazs ice cream directly to bodegas.

In one scam, they shoplift high-value items from national chains, have them returned at another branch out of state for credit and then sell the credit note for cash outside the branch.

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At the most damaging levels, thieves are directed by Dickensian organizers with “shopping lists,” telling them exactly what to go after. 

“They get shopping lists for items that include cellphones, power tools, handbags,” a law enforcement source who specializes in fraud told The Post.

“They bring stolen goods to [illicit] wholesalers in the five boroughs.”

A shoplifter stealing from a supermarket

The middlemen buy items for pennies on the dollar — “There is no underlying cost,” said the fraud specialist — and sell the goods.

“Members of the booster crew get their cash,” the source said.

“Then the dealer, if you will, distributes them through his own network, via storefronts, if he has them, or he puts them online and sells to consumers through Facebook Marketplace.”

NYPD officers lead away a suspected shoplifter in handcuffs in a supermarket

To seem like typical users of online marketplaces, the law enforcement source added, fences “sell one, list the next one and keep doing that all day. Or else they maintain multiple online identities.”

A report by the National Retail Federation and private security firm K2 in April 2023 found evidence of widespread use of Facebook Marketplace, which allows users to list items for sale directly, and Craigslist.

The report looked for listings of items typically targeted by organized retail theft rings — such as Tide pods, diapers and items listed as “new with tag” — and found that in New York, 26% of listings for those items had the hallmarks of “organized retail crime.”

Authorities in Suffolk County announcing their bust of a shoplifting and fencing ring

Facebook Marketplace did not respond to a request for comment.

An eBay spokesperson told The Post, “eBay is committed to providing a secure online shopping experience. We have zero tolerance for criminal activity.”

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said he had busted a super-size version of such an operation. 

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“We surveilled the boosters and saw them transporting their goods to EZ Cash Pawn & Jewelry in Brentwood,” said Tierney.

“The goods, which seemed to be stolen locally, would be kept in a room behind the pawnshop. It looked like a Home Depot warehouse.”

Mug shot of Carlos Ulloa, owner/operator of EZ Pawn

It was stuffed with items including DeWalt power tools, KitchenAid mixers, Singer sewing machines and Ninja Foodie Delux pressure cookers. There were also building supplies — and designer clothes and purses.

Court documents show they were sold on eBay and another website, Tradesy, a now-defunct marketplace for luxury goods.

As to how the thieves find the fences, Tierney said, “Based on our investigation, boosters learn of locations to fence stolen goods via word of mouth in the criminal community.”

Some fences run their own shops, where they mix stolen, counterfeit and discontinued items, presenting an extra challenge to law enforcement.

Ad on the now defunct Tradesy for a stolen scarf, valued at $330

“There will be a cash register and racks of clothing. But the clothing is mostly stolen. Mixed in will be counterfeit and discontinued pieces from legitimate companies. That makes it more challenging for us,” the source said.

Shoplifters also coordinate to use return policies to profit.

“Home Depot has been trying to combat this for a long time,” said the law enforcement source. “The criminal will shoplift a power saw that sells for $600. Because people might be on the lookout for him, he’ll drive to Pennsylvania.

“Then somebody with a fake driver’s license will return it to Home Depot there for credit. We’ve seen it where there are hundreds of thousands of dollars, per driver’s license, in returns.

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“And when Home Depot gets onto that license, they switch.”

Some thieves will sell their credit slips for cash outside the stores where they made the fraudulent return. “They’ll sell $600 of Home Depot credits for $400 in cash,” the source said.

They will even go back into the Home Depot branch with the person they sold it to in case staff ask for ID when the credit slip is being used. “They’ll be, like, ‘This is how confident I am,'” the source said.

Cross-state travel is part of the pattern, Tierney told The Post.

“In a 2022 arrest, when a group cleaned out $94,000 worth of purses from a Balenciaga store in East Hampton, a defendant was wearing an ankle bracelet from a prior arrest in another jurisdiction,” he said.

Stolen clothing and suitcases in the storage space of a busted fence

In other cases that law enforcement had dealt with, said Tierney, “Shoplifters would start in New Jersey, begin driving, and basically shoplift their way to Suffolk County to deliver the goods.”

But often the illegal sales are far more direct: When city supermarkets get hit, the shoplifters turned around stolen food without missing a step.

“Shoplifters steal bacon and steak from us; then they are down in the subway, selling them to people,” Victor Collelo, meat and fish director for Morton Williams Supermarkets in New York City, told The Post.

“A girl who worked for me told me about getting her hair done in the Bronx. A guy was in there, taking orders from people, asking what kind of food they wanted. Then he was going to Morton Williams and stealing it.”

John Catsimatidis standing in front of supermarket shelves containing water, chips and sauces

With other perishable items, thieves have to turn them around quickly.

“Shoplifters steal all Häagen-Dazs from our supermarket and take it four blocks away to the nearest bodega,” John Catsimatidis, CEO of Gristedes and D’Agostino, told The Post. 

Dominick Albergo, Catsimatidis’ head of security, said, “The shoplifters come in with a garbage bag, put 30 containers into the bag and take off.

“Then we find them in the bodegas and tell the bodega owners that if we find them again, we will go to the precinct and have them locked up.

“The good news is, at that point, most of the bodegas got nervous about buying stolen goods.”

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Car expert warns drivers over ‘new Facebook Marketplace scam’ – there’s ways to avoid getting caught out

  • Karim Camara
  • Published : 20:22 ET, Mar 18 2024
  • Updated : 7:51 ET, Mar 19 2024
  • Published : Invalid Date,

A CAR expert has issued an urgent warning to drivers over a "scam" on Facebook Marketplace.

Harry Automative claimed drivers need to be aware of selling vehicles on the site, because thieves are using it to steal motors.

Car thieves will arrange a viewing on Facebook Marketplace to find out where you live

The car expert told his viewers what had happened to Nyle Ryatt , who had his £9,000 BMW stolen from his drive.

Nyle, 29, posted details about his BMW 3 series on Facebook Marketplace and found a potential buyer who was "very interested".

The buyer arranged to take a look at the car at his home in Four Oaks, Sutton Coalfield , on March 9 but never showed.

The same buyer then rang to apologise and "pleaded" to see the car the following day, Nyle claimed.

The next day, when Nyle's brother visited to celebrate Mother's Day, he called to warn him his prized motor was no longer parked on the driveway.

This method has become popular among car thieves, according to the car expert.

He said: "They're using it for cars that have been ordered from abroad - sort of stolen to order and then shipped out of the country."

The car expert admitted it is hard for car sellers to look out for these scams as they most likely receive hundreds of genuine messages from people looking to buy their motors.

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Harry Auto added: "This is something that is quite hard to look out for because you got people coming to you, messaging you who look genuine and wanting a viewing of the car.

"So you're more than happy to give out your address because you think they are going to buy the car."

The expert advises sellers to stay vigilant and be aware of these scams happening on Facebook Marketplace.

Sellers should ask questions of their buyers and get to know them before giving them their address.

Police launched a probe into Nyle's motor, but he believes the car was stolen to order.

Nyle told  BirminghamLive : "I had the vehicle for sale on Facebook Marketplace and a potential buyer was very interested. He was supposed to come Saturday but was a no-show.

"He then phoned me, apologised that he had been called to work and pleaded with me to see it on Sunday.

"I reluctantly agreed. Sunday morning I was lying in bed.

"I texted the man to make sure he was coming.

"He replied ‘yes I'll see you in a few hours’."

The car had been fitted with a crooklock but Nyle added that whoever took the car managed to break the lock and drive off.

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A spokeswoman for  West Midlands  Police said: “We’re investigating after a BMW 3 series was stolen from Bickley Avenue on March 9 to 10."

The Sun has contacted Meta for comment.

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Car expert warns drivers over ‘new Facebook Marketplace scam’ – there’s ways to avoid getting caught out

  • Karim Camara
  • Published : 0:22, 19 Mar 2024
  • Updated : 0:22, 19 Mar 2024
  • Published : Invalid Date,

A CAR expert has issued an urgent warning to drivers over a "scam" on Facebook Marketplace.

Harry Automative claimed drivers need to be aware of selling vehicles on the site, because thieves are using it to steal motors .

Car thieves will arrange a viewing on Facebook Marketplace to find out where you live

The car expert told his viewers what had happened to Nyle Ryatt , who had his £9,000 BMW stolen from his drive.

Nyle, 29, posted details about his BMW 3 series on Facebook Marketplace and found a potential buyer who was "very interested".

The buyer arranged to take a look at the car at his home in Four Oaks, Sutton Coalfield , on March 9 but never showed.

The same buyer then rang to apologise and "pleaded" to see the car the following day, Nyle claimed.

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The next day, when Nyle's brother visited to celebrate Mother's Day , he called to warn him his prized motor was no longer parked on the driveway.

This method has become popular among car thieves, according to the car expert.

He said: "They're using it for cars that have been ordered from abroad - sort of stolen to order and then shipped out of the country."

The car expert admitted it is hard for car sellers to look out for these scams as they most likely receive hundreds of genuine messages from people looking to buy their motors.

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Harry Auto added: "This is something that is quite hard to look out for because you got people coming to you, messaging you who look genuine and wanting a viewing of the car.

"So you're more than happy to give out your address because you think they are going to buy the car."

The expert advises sellers to stay vigilant and be aware of these scams happening on Facebook Marketplace.

Sellers should ask questions of their buyers and get to know them before giving them their address.

Police launched a probe into Nyle's motor, but he believes the car was stolen to order.

Nyle told  BirminghamLive : "I had the vehicle for sale on Facebook Marketplace and a potential buyer was very interested. He was supposed to come Saturday but was a no-show.

"He then phoned me, apologised that he had been called to work and pleaded with me to see it on Sunday.

"I reluctantly agreed. Sunday morning I was lying in bed.

"I texted the man to make sure he was coming.

"He replied ‘yes I'll see you in a few hours’."

The car had been fitted with a crooklock but Nyle added that whoever took the car managed to break the lock and drive off.

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A spokeswoman for  West Midlands  Police said: “We’re investigating after a BMW 3 series was stolen from Bickley Avenue on March 9 to 10."

The Sun has contacted Meta for comment.

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Upstage Launches Small Language Model on AWS to Help Businesses Around the World Build and Scale Generative AI Applications for the Korean Market

SEOUL, South Korea— March 21, 2024 — Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com company, today announced that leading South Korean artificial intelligence (AI) startup Upstage has launched its flagship SOLAR MINI Small Language Model (SLM) on the world’s leading cloud. SOLAR MINI is a versatile model that can be easily customized and fine-tuned to perform a wide range of language tasks in both Korean and English (Thai and Japanese will be available soon) such as understanding, summarizing, translating, and predicting new content. The model makes it easier for Upstage’s customers to get started with generative AI without having to train their models from scratch, and launch new applications that are tailored to industry-specific use cases.

Starting today, SOLAR MINI is available on Amazon SageMaker JumpStart , a machine learning (ML) hub offering foundation models, and on AWS Marketplace , AWS's curated digital catalog that makes it easy to deploy solutions from third-party software vendors. Upstage users can finetune SOLAR MINI leveraging domain-specific training data, which is already being used today by South Korean and global companies such as Metaverse Entertainment, Quora, ConnectWave, and Qanda.

“Upstage’s SOLAR MINI on AWS is a powerful solution that helps enterprises of all sizes to easily embrace generative AI at the local level,” said Jeongwon Yoon, country director, worldwide public sector, AWS Korea. “Language models are evolving rapidly and Upstage is at the forefront of this innovation, taking advantage of AWS’s secure and scalable stack to expand its AI offerings and provide organizations across industries with the tools they need to easily deploy generative AI to their applications.”

Language models enable generative AI services by providing context, memory capabilities, and text generation. Compared to large language models (LLMs) that are in the hundreds of billions of parameters, SLMs are lightweight and use less than 20 billion parameters. With a smaller training dataset of 10.7 billion parameters, SOLAR MINI can run inference (the process of using a trained machine learning (ML) model to make predictions based on new input data), at lower costs.

“From day one, we’ve designed Upstage to become a global AI player,” said Sung Kim, CEO of Upstage. “As Upstage’s preferred cloud provider, AWS has supported us in every step of this journey with programs like AWS Activate to access credits and technical support to rapidly scale our business. Today, we are thrilled to deepen our relationship with AWS to launch our SOLAR MINI model on Amazon SageMaker JumpStart, which opens up new possibilities for companies around the world to use the Korea’s most versatile LLM. Upstage is committed to redefining the AI landscape and delivering the most reliable and innovative AI solutions for corporate applications.”

Upstage selected AWS for its computing power and cost effectiveness to train SOLAR MINI, leveraging Amazon SageMaker , a service that enables developers to develop and deploy ML models. Upstage’s advanced data pre-processing (steps taken to prepare and clean input data before it is used for training) and finetuning techniques, including Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG; the process of optimizing the output of a large language model), were used to train the model using data provided by the 1 Trillion Token Club , an industry-wide alliance founded by Upstage that is devoted to developing a large-scale language model that specializes in Korean. Consisting of a variety of high-quality, copyright-free Korean training data from texts, books, news articles, reports, and theses, the data evolved SOLAR MINI’s understanding of cultural nuances while ensuring higher accuracy in responses, preventing “AI hallucinations” that generate false or inappropriate answers.

In December 2023, SOLAR MINI was recognized as the top open-source large-scale SLM AI model by global AI platform HuggingFace’s Open LLM Leaderboard , scoring a 74.2 for its excellent design, encompassing the model’s reasoning, common sense inference, hallucination prevention, contextual understanding, and factual accuracy. This recognition demonstrates that SOLAR MINI performs as well as or better than bigger models, resulting in significant cost savings for graphics processing units (GPUs) that provide the horsepower to perform complex language tasks efficiently.

Accelerating generative AI innovation across all industries Ecommerce solutions provider ConnectWave has built a private LLM by training its proprietary data of 1.4 billion products with SOLAR MINI to automate ecommerce modernization, delivery tracking, inquiries, and return consultations for its price comparison websites Danawa and Enuri. “By seamlessly integrating Upstage's advanced model with our dataset on AWS, we successfully crafted a customized, private LLM specifically designed for ecommerce applications,” said Kyung-sung Sohn, Senior Vice President of ConnectWave.

Education technology provider Qanda is working with Upstage to give students the tools they need to improve mathematics proficiency. Using SOLAR MINI, Qanda is developing a specialized language model that can solve problems and formulate descriptions and derivatives through mathematical reasoning. “Our partnership with Upstage is accelerating the development of state-of-the-art models and bringing newfound capabilities into the hands of our students,” said Min-gyu Cho, Head of Business of QANDA (Mathpresso).

In October 2023, AWS announced plans to invest KRW 7.85 trillion ($5.88 billion) in cloud infrastructure in South Korea by 2027 to meet the growing customer demand for cloud services. This investment is estimated to contribute KRW 15.06 trillion ($11.28 billion) to South Korea’s total gross domestic product (GDP) by 2027 and support an estimated average of 12,325 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs in South Korean businesses each year.

About Upstage Established in October 2020, Upstage is a leading AI startup in Korea with a mission to democratize cutting-edge AI technologies under the slogan "Making AI Beneficial." Specializing in Large Language Models (LLMs), its language model Solar has consistently dominated the HuggingFace Open LLM Leaderboard, surpassing even GPT-3.5 in benchmark scores. Setting a gold standard for reliable private LLMs, Upstage Solar is a small language model (SLM) that provides a cost-effective and powerful AI solution, prioritizing maximum data security and mitigates AI hallucinations. Upstage’s Document AI solution stands as a paragon of efficiency and precision, leveraging its Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology that has excelled in prestigious international AI OCR challenges. By optimizing document processing, the solution significantly reduces costs and time compared to manual methods, supported by pre-trained models with minimal data. Additionally, Upstage plays a pivotal role in comprehensive AI education, cultivating skilled professionals well-versed in AI technologies. In March 2024, Upstage opened its US branch in Silicon Valley, California, which will become a central hub to expand its global footprint. Upstage plans to expand its overseas presence in North America with Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia to follow in the long term.

About Amazon Web Services Since 2006, Amazon Web Services has been the world’s most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud. AWS has been continually expanding its services to support virtually any workload, and it now has more than 240 fully featured services for compute, storage, databases, networking, analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, media, and application development, deployment, and management from 105 Availability Zones within 33 geographic regions, with announced plans for 18 more Availability Zones and six more AWS Regions in Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and the AWS European Sovereign Cloud. Millions of customers—including the fastest-growing startups, largest enterprises, and leading government agencies—trust AWS to power their infrastructure, become more agile, and lower costs. To learn more about AWS, visit aws.amazon.com.

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One Big Reason Gen Z Is Still on Facebook: To Save Money

For a generation that loves thrift-shopping, Facebook isn’t a place to socialize online — it’s the best place to score some deals.

Two women standing holding a vacuum cleaner and a brown laundry hamper.

By Melissa Rohman

In December, Ellicia Chiu and Cher Su had just a few boxes in tow when they moved into a walk-up apartment in New York’s Lower East Side neighborhood. Before their move, from Los Angeles, the two friends knew that they would need to furnish their new apartment with small kitchen appliances, décor and furniture. But instead of purchasing new items, they knew it would be more affordable to find secondhand items on Facebook Marketplace, the social network’s buy-and-sell service.

“I only use Facebook for Marketplace,” said Ms. Chiu, 24, who added that she spent most of her social time on TikTok and Instagram, which is owned by Meta, Facebook’s parent company.

For many 20-somethings who don’t have a lot of disposable income, Marketplace is a place to get deals on items they wouldn’t normally be able to afford.

“As someone who’s in their young 20s, I want to have nicer things but I don’t have the financial means to get there yet,” said Ms. Chiu, who added that she preferred Marketplace over other sites because its interface was easy to use, making it easier to find deals on furniture.

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Over the past decade, Facebook has declined in popularity with Gen Z as a social site, a 2022 Pew Research Center survey found. Instead, younger people are spending more of their social time on Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

“Facebook Marketplace is often referred to as ‘the internet’s garage sale’ and is a modern-day counterpart to eBay and Craigslist,” said Yoo-Kyoung Seock , a professor of textiles, merchandising and interiors at the University of Georgia, who studies consumer behavior among Gen Z and millennials and environmental sustainability in the textile industry. “The platform’s remarkable success is largely due to the trust users place in it, which is a result of its unique connection to Facebook’s social network.”

For a generation that is environmentally conscious and prefers to shop secondhand , Marketplace has become popular.

“Young people, including students and young professionals, are increasingly drawn to used goods,” Dr. Seock said. Faster inflation has also made secondhand purchases a practical choice, she added.

Launched in 2016, Marketplace has over a billion monthly active users and is the second most popular online site for secondhand goods, behind eBay, according to a 2022 survey by Statista, a company that provides market data. Meta doesn’t say much about Marketplace as a business, how its demographics may differ from Facebook overall and whether it has a vision to grow the platform in its annual reports. Meta did not respond to questions about whether it has long-term business goals for Marketplace or if it was aware of the platform’s popularity among Gen Z. Some buyers say they prefer Marketplace over Craigslist, which was popular among older generations searching for used goods, because unlike Craigslist users, Marketplace buyers and sellers have profiles with ratings that make them more trustworthy and messaging is built-in on Facebook, making communication easy.

Marketplace is free for buyers to use. Although sellers can encounter transaction fees , many of them avoid it by selling locally and asking buyers to bring cash when picking up their purchase. Ms. Chiu said she usually paid using Venmo, though she would bring cash if a seller insisted.

Ms. Chiu and Ms. Su said their favorite Marketplace purchase was a couch from West Elm, which the seller had for less than a year. The couch cost $1,200 at retail, and they purchased it for $145. Ms. Chiu said the seller had warned her that the couch had cat scratch marks, but when she and Ms. Su showed up to look at it, they didn’t see many scuffs.

Some of their other favorite Marketplace finds include a Zojirushi rice cooker (retail price: $150; purchased on Marketplace for $50), a Dyson vacuum (retail price: $470; purchased on Marketplace for $135) and an IKEA NORDEN extendable table (retail price: $350; purchased on Marketplace for $150).

In total, Ms. Chiu and Ms. Su said they spent approximately $1,400 on more than 30 items purchased from Marketplace and estimated that they saved more than $3,000.

Not all of Ms. Chiu’s and Ms. Su’s purchases have been successes: Ms. Chiu once bought a plant from a seller that she discovered had root rot when she tried to repot it. Buyers have to work out returns with sellers on Marketplace, and Ms. Chiu’s plant seller later offered her a refund of 50 percent of the price she had paid, which she accepted. Ms. Su said she once bought a bookshelf that fell apart once she was home. She was not able to get a refund.

Ms. Su said that she was aware of Marketplace scams and tried to avoid them. “There are many scammers that try to ask for personal information when messaging about items — so beware of that too!” she warned. (Meta provides users with guides on recognizing and avoiding scams.)

Sebastian Ramos, a junior at DePaul University in Chicago, also uses Marketplace to buy and sell items, and he even once got a free couch (estimated retail price: $1,300). He has also purchased acrylic vinyl record shelves (estimated retail price: $45; purchased on Marketplace for $10) and sold his used Nintendo 3DS (retail price: $200; sold on Marketplace for $150).

Mr. Ramos, 21, said he did not use Facebook for social media, but he enjoyed purchasing secondhand items on Marketplace to save money and also because he liked shopping at thrift stores.

“You don’t have to pay more for a new thing when you can find something that has been used, or even slightly used, for a lot cheaper,” he said.

Sarah Williams, who lives in Kenosha, Wis., is an executive assistant and a new mom. Shortly after she and her husband found out that they were expecting a baby last year, Ms. Williams said Marketplace was the first place she started looking to buy baby items.

The first item on her list was a light-toned wooden crib. But the cribs that she found online were listed for $1,200 and were out of her budget.

“The prices were just absolutely ridiculous,” Ms. Williams, 24, said.

After a rigorous two-week search online, she found a crib she liked that a woman who lived near her had listed on Marketplace. After messaging back and forth through Facebook Messenger with the seller, Ms. Williams and her husband drove to the woman’s house to inspect the crib. They bought it for $300 — 75 percent less than the original price — after they saw that it was in good shape.

“It was a very nice exchange, and it felt very personable,” Ms. Williams said.

Ms. Williams said she hoped to find other mothers on Marketplace who had items they no longer needed because their children had outgrown them.

Like Ms. Williams, Ms. Chiu and Ms. Su said that being able to network and meet new people when picking up their Marketplace purchases had been an enjoyable part of their moving experience and settling into their new home.

“That’s what Facebook started as, and it’s cool that Marketplace is also fostering that,” Ms. Su said.

Inside the World of Gen Z

The generation of people born between 1997 and 2012 is changing fashion, culture, politics, the workplace and more..

For many Gen-Zers without much disposable income, Facebook isn’t a place to socialize online — it’s where they can get deals on items  they wouldn’t normally be able to afford.

Dating apps are struggling to live up to investors’ expectations . Blame the members of Generation Z, who are often not willing to shell out for paid subscriptions.

Young people tend to lean more liberal on issues pertaining to relationship norms. But when it comes to dating, the idea that men should pay in heterosexual courtships  still prevails among Gen Z-ers .

We asked Gen Z-ers to tell us about their living situations and the challenges of keeping a roof over their heads. Here’s what they said .

What is it like to be part of the group that has been called the most diverse generation in U.S. history? Here is what 900 Gen Z-ers had to say .

Young people coming of age around the world are finding community in all sorts of places. Our “Where We Are” series takes you to some of them .

IMAGES

  1. I just bought a boat on Facebook market place that’s listed for $500

    facebook marketplace motorboat

  2. Buying a 64-Person Lifeboat Off Facebook Marketplace

    facebook marketplace motorboat

  3. 7 % I Bought A 64 Person ENCLOSED LIFE BOAT Off Facebook Marketplace

    facebook marketplace motorboat

  4. JON BOAT BUYING GUIDE

    facebook marketplace motorboat

  5. Will This OLD FaceBook MarketPlace Boat Actually Make it? (TIME IS

    facebook marketplace motorboat

  6. Facebook Marketplace For Boat Dealers & Boat Brokers

    facebook marketplace motorboat

COMMENTS

  1. New and used Outboard Motors for sale

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  2. New and used Boats for sale

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  3. Outboard Motors for sale in Minneapolis, Minnesota

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  4. ‎New and used ‎Outboard Motors‎ for sale

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  5. New and used Evinrude Outboards for sale

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  6. New and used Boats for sale

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  8. New and used Outboard Motors for sale

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  9. New and used Sailboats for sale

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  12. Facebook Marketplace: Buy and Sell Items Locally or Shipped

    2004 Ford F150 SuperCrew Cab · Lariat Pickup 4D 5 1/2 ft. Bartlesville, OK. $950$1,500. El Camino. Independence, KS. $700. 2014 Jeep commander Jeep. Bartlesville, OK. Buy or sell new and used items easily on Facebook Marketplace, locally or from businesses.

  13. Hertz's CEO to Step Down as Car Renter Unwinds Bet on EVs

    Hertz Global Holdings Inc. is replacing its chief executive officer in the wake of a disastrous bet on electric vehicles that the company began unwinding in recent months.

  14. New and used Evinrude Outboards for sale

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  15. New and used Evinrude Outboards for sale

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  16. Buy and Sell in New York, New York

    Marketplace is a convenient destination on Facebook to discover, buy and sell items with people in your community.

  17. New and used Cars for sale

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  18. Watch:

    An image of a chain link. It symobilizes a website link url. Copy Link Immigrants are the secret force driving a surprisingly strong US economy, Nobel laureate Paul Krugman wrote in a recent New ...

  19. New and used Boats for sale

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  20. eBay and Facebook Marketplace fuel NYC's shoplifting economy

    A shoplifting epidemic costing retailers in New York state $4.4 billion a year is creating a shadow re-sale economy that ranges from eBay to bodegas, The Post has learned. Shoplifting in New York ...

  21. Car expert warns drivers over 'new Facebook Marketplace scam'

    Car thieves will arrange a viewing on Facebook Marketplace to find out where you live. The car expert told his viewers what had happened to Nyle Ryatt, who had his £9,000 BMW stolen from his drive.. Nyle, 29, posted details about his BMW 3 series on Facebook Marketplace and found a potential buyer who was "very interested".. The buyer arranged to take a look at the car at his home in Four ...

  22. Tata Motors to Build $1.1 Billion Vehicle Plant in India's South

    Tata Motors Ltd. is planning to spend 90 billion rupees ($1.1 billion) on a vehicle factory in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

  23. South African Banks Caught in UK's Sweeping Auto Finance Probe

    Investec Plc has set aside funds to pay for possible compensation and other costs linked to its auto finance business in the UK as regulators continue with an industrywide probe into whether such ...

  24. What Went Wrong With Facebook Marketplace?

    Banks and Users Warn of Scammers on Facebook Marketplace Complaints about Meta's online flea market are rising, but there are ways to avoid scams. ILLUSTRATION: Rachel Mendelson/The Wall Street ...

  25. Why Can't GM Build Electric Cars? Fires and Cut Corners at Battery

    General Motors Co. is racing to fix problems in its electric vehicle business to make good on promises Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra made five years ago. It still has a long way to go. Fresh ...

  26. Motor baru dan bekas dijual

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  27. Car expert warns drivers over 'new Facebook Marketplace scam'

    A CAR expert has issued an urgent warning to drivers over a "scam" on Facebook Marketplace. Harry Automative claimed drivers need to be aware of selling vehicles on the site, because th…

  28. China's MG Motor Venture Bringing Electric Sports Car to India

    A joint venture between China's SAIC Motor Corp. and India's JSW Group plans to roll out a high-end electric sports car in India to capture a bigger slice of one of the few large markets where ...

  29. Upstage Launches Small Language Model on AWS to Help Businesses Around

    SEOUL, South Korea— March 21, 2024— Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com company, today announced that leading South Korean artificial intelligence (AI) startup Upstage has launched its flagship SOLAR MINI Small Language Model (SLM) on the world's leading cloud. SOLAR MINI is a versatile model that can be easily customized and fine-tuned to perform a wide range of language tasks in ...

  30. For Gen Z, Facebook Is a Marketplace

    Launched in 2016, Marketplace has over a billion monthly active users and is the second most popular online site for secondhand goods, behind eBay, according to a 2022 survey by Statista, a ...