You are the PM of Facebook Marketplace. You have been presented a proposal for sellers to provide a government-issued ID before they can post their products. How would you decide whether to implement this feature?

Introduction

The proposal to require government-issued ID from sellers on Facebook Marketplace presents a significant trade-off between enhancing trust and safety versus potentially creating barriers to entry for sellers. This decision could have far-reaching implications for user experience, platform growth, and overall marketplace health. I'll analyze this trade-off by examining key stakeholders, metrics, and potential outcomes to provide a data-driven recommendation.

Step 1

Clarifying Questions (3 minutes)

• What specific issues or incidents have led to this proposal?

• Why it matters: Understanding the root cause helps assess the proposal's potential effectiveness.
• Hypothetical answer: Recent increase in fraudulent listings and user complaints about scams.
• Impact: If fraud is the main issue, we might need to consider additional verification methods beyond ID.

• What percentage of current sellers would be affected by this change?

• Why it matters: Helps gauge the scale of impact on our seller base.
• Hypothetical answer: Approximately 40% of active sellers haven't provided ID verification.
• Impact: A high percentage might suggest a need for a phased rollout or grandfathering existing sellers.

• Are there any legal or regulatory considerations in different markets?

• Why it matters: Ensures compliance and identifies potential roadblocks.
• Hypothetical answer: Some regions have strict data privacy laws that might complicate ID collection.
• Impact: May require a market-by-market approach or alternative verification methods in certain areas.

• What's our current seller onboarding conversion rate?

• Why it matters: Provides a baseline to measure the impact of the new requirement.
• Hypothetical answer: Current conversion rate from sign-up to first listing is 70%.
• Impact: Helps set benchmarks for acceptable drop-off rates if we implement ID verification.

• Do we have data on user trust levels and how they correlate with purchase behavior?

• Why it matters: Helps quantify the potential upside of increased trust.
• Hypothetical answer: Users who report high trust are 2x more likely to complete a transaction.
• Impact: Strong correlation would support the case for implementing ID verification.