Online flea market to develop mobile app

People have always sold various items in flea markets. But it is very rare to see products such as high performance cars, private commercial jets and even residential apartments. It is surprising enough that the flea market in question only exists in a virtual capacity, on Facebook.
The Macau Flea Market (澳門跳蚤市場 in Chinese) was established as a Facebook group around a year ago, and has already accumulated more than 98,000 members. It recently attracted attention from the media after one member put up an advertisement late last month, selling a Bombardier commercial jet.
The member claimed that they bought the jet for RMB350 million and was now selling it for RMB150 million. They also claimed that the owner could apply for a flight route within the mainland in 3 to 6 months after paying RMB30 million.
Some members left jocular replies in response, with one posting a picture showing a US fighter jet being sold on mainland online trade platform Taobao. It is not clear whether any deal was struck, as the post later disappeared, but Gigi Leong, one of the group’s founders, said that they were not surprised by any of these posts and were able to get a good laugh out of them.
She told the Times that she and her husband partnered with another couple to establish the group. She said they discussed the idea for less than 20 minutes before making the decision. “I feel that there are too many restrictions in other [online trade] platforms. I think that Macau lacks a consumer-to-consumer platform for buyers to sell their things or to get what they want,” she said.
Moreover, Ms Leong believes that “flea market” is only a name and the products sold in their market do not necessarily have to be inexpensive.
In terms of the management of the Facebook group, Leong said that they usually avoid intervening in negotiations between buyers and sellers. Even if they receive complaints regarding a certain buyer or seller, they would recommend the parties involved resolve the disputes by themselves. There are also occasions that their Facebook accounts were maliciously reported, causing them to be suspended by Facebook. Their group, however, was never shut down.
Leong believes that there is room for more online platforms like theirs that target Macau consumers. As for the group’s future development, Leong said that they are trying to develop a mobile phone application that will eventually replace the current Facebook platform. She said that Facebook has its own restrictions and they do not want the existence of the group to depend on the existence of the social network. She also revealed that the future mobile application will include other functions, but did not disclose them specifically. JPL