Oodle Takes over Facebook's Classifieds

We recently wrote about the surge in online classifieds, and how it can be a significant force for online retailers. One of those sites, Oodle, has just agreed to take over the struggling Facebook Marketplace. Just like attempts to monetize everything else in the social networking world, classifieds have proven difficult. But Oodle looks to change that, by turning friends into marketers, and sales pitches into recommendations.

"In many cases, finding good homes for items we are no longer using is more important than selling them at the highest price," Oodle CEO Craig Donato said in a statement. "For example, when I have extra tickets to a concert, I'd prefer to give them to a friend or sell them at face-value to someone I work with. We're focused on making this simple to do with Marketplace."

Oodle stands to gain even more traction in the online classified marketplace. They already are one of the fastest growing (up 93% this year) and Oodle also handles classifieds for MySpace. In short, if you're not already listing with Oodle, now is the time to get involved. The new release of Facebook Marketplace is set for the first quarter of 2009.