Decide Whether Facebook Marketplace Should Require Seller ID Verification

You are the product manager for Facebook Marketplace. A proposal has reached you: before a seller can list anything for sale, they would have to submit a government-issued ID. Explain how you would decide whether to build and launch this requirement. ```hint Look at both sides of the market The requirement is imposed on sellers, but its benefit is meant to reach buyers. Work out what each side gains and loses, and which sellers the rule actually needs to reach. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - What prompted the proposal: a rise in scam reports, a legal or regulatory requirement, a public incident, or a competitor's move? - Would the rule apply to every seller in every country, or is there room to limit it by category, item value, seller volume or region? - Who would check the IDs, an in-house system or an outside verification vendor, and what would be kept after verification? - Which outcome matters most to Marketplace right now: transaction growth, buyer trust, or reducing harm? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - Pinning down the problem the proposal is meant to solve and sizing it with data first, including whether the harm actually comes from sellers. - The effects on each side: buyer trust and safety against seller friction, lost listings, privacy concerns and people who have no ID. - Alternatives and narrower versions of the rule, rather than a yes-or-no on the proposal as written. - A test design that accounts for buyers and sellers interacting across groups, with a primary metric, supply and demand metrics, guardrails and launch criteria agreed in advance. - The legal, privacy and data-security consequences of collecting and storing identity documents. ### Follow-up Questions - Your test shows seller-side scam reports dropped sharply, but new listings fell as well. How do you decide whether to launch? - Fraudsters begin using stolen or forged IDs. How would you detect it, and does it change your decision? - How would you handle countries where government ID is uncommon, or where keeping copies of it raises legal problems?