5 applications to help sell your junk on Facebook

As a Facebook user, I've recently begun to enjoy one of the side effects of its growing user base: selling stuff. Historically, I've often flocked to Craigslist to fence off my aging electronics. I live near a college town, and lately I've noticed it's become a whole lot easier to find buyers since the launch of the Facebook marketplace and the f8 apps platform. Here are five really solid applications on Facebook to get rid of your unwanted goods and maybe even make a buck on the side.

Facebook Marketplace. This is my personal favorite, since it's free, and you can use it to both sell and find things to buy. Since sales are attached to people's presumed real identities, your chances of avoiding fraud and any other criminal activities are a little better than on Craigslist or eBay. You can add your own item, complete with a handful of pictures, or list things you're looking to purchase. It's very much like Craigslist, although you have the option of limiting listings by network. For example, say I want to sell my ugly tan couch, but I don't want to people at work to see it and make fun of me. I can limit viewership to just the networks I want, or open it up for everyone on Facebook to see.

Swap Roll, as the name would suggest, is a big virtual swap meet for books, movies, music, and games. You haggle for things you want with what you have. If it can't find somebody who has what you're looking for on the Facebook network, it will give you links for the items on Amazon.com. The stuff you've got resides on your profile both as a minifeed news item and in a box. People who want your stuff can just click each item to offer you something in return. This is one of those ideas that's really great, it just needs a bunch of users to give it traction.

Surkle, like Swap Roll is another swapping tool. Unlike Swap Roll, however, it provides you with a swap system that removes the need to meet or trade items in person. It also lets potential swappers see how many others are vying for your goods, including what they're offering in return. Like eBay, each item is given a limited lifespan of trade time, and swappers have tools for leaving positive and negative feedback.

eBay to Go. This widget is nearly identical to the one we wrote about a couple months ago. It lets you add one or more eBay auctions to your profile in the form of a slick looking widget. Other Facebook users can bid on the items, or take a look at whatever else you're selling if you set the widget to simply display your newest items. This widget isn't quite as handy as Facebook's own marketplace, but it's the best-looking of the lot and gives you eBay's entire user base. It's also helpful if you need to get the word out, since your friends can put it on their own profiles, too.

See also: the eBay Auctions Facebook app

JunkDepot is a catch-all classifieds service that takes your listing and posts it to your Facebook profile, Google Base, and Edgeio. It's also hooked up with Rapleaf so others view and vote on your online reputation. Unlike some of the other classified services on Facebook, you can browse for items to buy on a large Google map, and sort them by geographical region or by the groups you're in.

These are just a few of the classifieds services listed on Facebook right now. There are currently about 50 in the category. If these don't suit you, there are always some absurd ones you might enjoy.