Facebook is testing an online marketplace in Auckland

Facebook is testing an online marketplace in Auckland and Sydney.

Facebook is testing a new marketplace that allows Auckland users to click a 'buy & sell' button to pawn their fare.

The new button will have appeared at the left hand side of many Auckland Facebook users' newsfeeds, and clicking on it allows people to browse for goods being sold on 'groups' on the social media site.

Like Trade Me, items for sale are broken into categories - including 'clothing,' 'beauty and health,' 'household items,' and 'baby and children.'

Users can also post items for sale on Auckland groups by clicking the 'sell something' tab and adding a title, price, category, location, description and photo - much like on popular online trading sites Trade Me or eBay.

Australian tech website EFTM reported that, as was the case with previous methods of buying and selling through Facebook, there was no clear buyer protection for users of the site, though PayPal could be utilised.

Because there is no charge for selling items through Facebook, EFTM speculated the move was aimed at taking traffic from sites like eBay.

Mashable Australia reported that the marketplace feature was also being tested in Sydney.

Previously, people posted items for sale on Facebook buy and sell groups in the same way they would write a status update.