Meta Muse Makes Marketplace Better. How I Set It Up to Help Me Shop Online

I have a to-buy list that I never seem to tackle. It’s got the kinds of “adult” items that aren’t necessarily fun to shop for, unlike clothes. Things like furniture, appliances and office equipment. But there are three items I need right now: an ottoman, an air purifier and a humidifier. 

Our old ottoman broke, but I’m happy about it. It was dragged along from two previous apartments, and I’ve been wanting to replace it. The air purifier is also necessary, given we’re on the fifth floor and dust tends to cling to everything. With the radiators burning old dust, we’re constantly sneezing. I also promised myself I’d buy a humidifier last winter, so that’s also on the list. 

In an effort to snag all three items second-hand, and given that Facebook Marketplace is basically a sport in my area, I put Meta Muse up to the task. I’ve used Muse for shopping and tech support before, but ran into roadblocks with payment and account verification. I had higher hopes using Muse for Marketplace, given it’s a Meta product. 

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Getting Muse set up

I’d previously used Muse from the chat interface, but this time I went to Ideas in the sidebar and clicked on the specific Marketplace prompt. It’s a recurring task rather than a one-off search. 

Meta/Screenshot by CNET

First, I gave it some parameters around what I was looking for, how far I could travel and what I wanted to pay: “I’m looking for three items: an ottoman, an air purifier and a humidifier. Ideally, in Montclair, NJ, but happy to travel to Manhattan for the air purifier or humidifier if needed. Price-wise, I’d like to pay around $150 for the ottoman, $50 for an air purifier and $50 for a humidifier.”

It immediately surfaced a few options, all within the price range, then noted that it would sweep Facebook Marketplace every 4 hours for new options, which is genuinely helpful.

Meta/Screenshot by CNET

It even found the air purifier brand I had in mind, and surfaced one that was listed the day before by a five-star seller. For the humidifier, Muse found one in a town that’s hard to get to, so I gave it clearer geographical preferences. 

The chat function was helpful, as I was able to ask Muse which brands and models were most expensive and what they retail for, with links to cross-check. What was also cool was Muse’s seller notes. It found a good humidifier in Manhattan, but warned that the seller is new. 

I replied by instructing the agent to keep scanning locally as I wasn’t in a rush to buy the humidifier. 

I told Muse I was ready to buy the air purifier, and it drafted a message to send to the seller. I made a few edit requests, connected my Messenger to the AI agent, and then Muse took over. I opened Messenger and saw that it had sent the message. Muse checks in every 30 minutes to see if the seller has replied, then notifies me.

Meta/Screenshot by CNET

While I was waiting, I gave Muse more context around the ottoman. I was after a midcentury style, about the height of a standard lounge and large enough for two people to rest their feet on. 

Muse surfaced plenty of options, but this search was less straightforward as it concerned a style choice, too. I pulled one example from the search that I liked and asked Muse for more options like it. 

I quickly got through all of the inventory within a 5-mile radius, so I asked Muse to keep monitoring. It would notify me, or I could check in on the Goals tab or click on the Muse avatar and “Upcoming,” which lists every scheduled task.

Meta/Screenshot by CNET

I assigned Muse to do one more search – to see if my town had any affordable espresso machines or plastic-free coffee brewers. I have my eye on a model, but it’s $400, so I wanted to see what Muse could find. 

I loved being able to follow up every find with “Tell me more about this product.” I instructed Muse to send another seller message with the coffee machine it found. 

I was on a roll at this point. One last search: an air fryer, but non-toxic. Within minutes, I found one I liked, and Muse messaged them, too. 

The verdict on Muse in Marketplace

I was pleasantly surprised by Muse’s Marketplace sweep. It was a much more dynamic experience, being able to narrow the search via the chat function, versus an endless scroll in Marketplace.

Muse scans active searches every 4 hours, which means I’m not missing listings. If a product sells or the seller doesn’t respond, it automatically searches for alternatives. To have this running in the background is super helpful. 

It checks before replying to a seller, but I’d rather those messages be in my own voice anyway, and avoid sharing sensitive information with Muse (like my phone number or address). Muse did inform me of some price drops, but it wasn’t for the products I liked. 

I saw a seller reply before Muse told me they did (as the agent scans every 30 minutes), so I took over the conversation manually from there. I was able to arrange a pickup — and my list of boring things to buy at last had one checkmark thanks largely to using Muse on Marketplace.

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Amanda Smith is a freelance journalist and writer. She reports on culture, society, human interest and technology. Her stories hold a mirror to society, reflecting both its malaise and its beauty. Amanda's work has been published in National Geographic, The Guardian, Business Insider, Vice, News Corp, Singapore Airlines, Travel + Leisure, and Food & Wine. Amanda is an Australian living in the cultural center of gravity that is New York City. See full bio