How to Sell on Facebook Marketplace 2024

Updated by March 18,2024

Before Facebook introduced its Marketplace, there already have been many buy-and-sell groups on Facebook. It seems like that Facebook took the right move into the online shopping market.

Compared with traditional yard sales and flea markets, Facebook Marketplace is more safe and convenient; compared with the online shopping platform, it is an increasingly popular way to sell items online because unlike eBay, it doesn't charge seller fees.

So why don’t you try it out in this quarantine situation?

What Is Facebook Marketplace?

The Marketplace was launched by Facebook in 2016 and quickly became a popular platform for people to discover, buy, and sell goods. Compared with Craigslist (an American classified site, where users can sell or buy products online or offline), Facebook Marketplace is a more secure and user-friendly platform that can be used for local sales.

It's Facebook's built-in buying and selling channel which allows Facebook users to sell items directly to each other. Now, Facebook is further differentiating itself from Craigslist by allowing eligible sellers to offer nationwide delivery for certain categories of products, which gives them a larger customer base than local-only sellers.

You can see that it works very well locally because it's easy to look at free and paid goods you're interested in around where you live. Before Marketplace, people used Facebook groups to buy, sell, trade and barter.

For example, you could set up a buy-and-sell group for your district so that people in your local community could post their items for sale and find other people's goods. It's somehow a little bit clunky though, considering that Marketplace can offer a much simpler process.

Because of its origins as a local platform for buying and selling, people tend to think of Marketplace as a clearinghouse market for household items that people used or don't need anymore.

Meanwhile, its shipping capacity implies that it is also well suited to retail arbitrage - the practice of buying in-demand products from retail stores and reselling them online at a higher price.

Why Choose Facebook?

It can be used to sell locally for free. One of the biggest reasons for selling goods on Facebook Marketplace is that people can sell goods for free through their platform.

When selling goods locally, you get 100% of the sales price; while selling an item that requires shipping, you will pay 5% of the selling price. You can choose to pay the freight yourself or collect the freight from the buyer.

Even if the 5% fee and potential transportation cost are added, this is much less than other markets. Some marketplaces charge 10% to 15% of the sales price for coordinating sales.

Another reason is that there is a large number of customers searching for products on Facebook Marketplace. Facebook did not reveal exact figures, but a report shared that the global Facebook Marketplace has more than 800 million active users every month. Most people in developed countries have Facebook accounts, and a majority of them have access to Facebook Marketplace.

As an online shop owner, you might wonder if it is possible to showcase the products from your online store on Facebook Marketplace? When Facebook Marketplace was first added to Facebook, it wasn't designed to be a platform for online shopping or dropshipping.

Its main goal was to allow Facebook users to list various items on the market and sell them to other Facebook users. With the inevitable online shopping trend, in 2019, Facebook has started adding a series of features to Facebook Marketplace to allow eCommerce businesses to sell products on the platform.

These new capabilities created a major business-to-customer (B2C) opportunity for U.S. retailers. But only the US eCommerce companies can list their products on Facebook's Marketplace with the official listing partner platform.

If your eCommerce business is outside the United States, you can still list products on Facebook Marketplace, but you won't be able to access features like Facebook checkout. It won’t be that disappointing if you take the advantage of the listing feature to draw traffic to your online store!

In addition, you can only use all functions by listing your product on Facebook Marketplace through one of the partners of Facebook. These include popular eCommerce platforms like the most popular one: Shopify.

In short, the main reasons for selling on Facebook Marketplace are the low cost and the ability to reach a large number of potential customers. With numerous users on Facebook, it will be exciting to see so much traffic to your store to increase orders numbers.

With the help of DSers, the official AliExpress white list partner, and the app in the Shopify APP Store, the process for order fulfillment can be so easy and not cumbersome anymore.

How to Sell on Facebook Marketplace - Step by Step Tutorial for Beginners

Step 1: Click Marketplace in the menu running down the left side of your homepage.

Step 2: Click Create New Listing.

Step 3: Choose Listing Type for your goods.

Note: Not every product can be sold on the Facebook Marketplace according to Facebook’s Commerce Policies.

Step 4: Fill in your products information. Click Next and make sure the information is right and then click Publish to go.

Your product is now for sale on Facebook, it’s simple to list an item and publish it right? The whole process won’t cost you that much time.

Tips for Your Successful Sale：

1) The better the photo of your item, the more likely it is to sell. People want to see it as clear as possible, so get an accurate color representation, and any damage (if any) should be clearly described in the photos.

Also, consider multiple angles of the item to show the front, side, and back. The more people know, the more likely they are to buy when they come to check.

2) It's common for potential buyers to bargain on Facebook's Marketplace. Consider your bottom line before setting a price, and be willing to negotiate if interested parties offer amounts slightly below the listed price.

It's often better to be flexible and accept a reasonable offer than to wait and charge a few dollars more. If you decide to list your item at the lowest price you are willing to accept, be sure to state clearly in the list that the price is non-negotiable.

3) Facebook Marketplace deals tend to move quickly, so it's important to keep an eye on your messages as you list items. Reply to the interested buyer as soon as possible to answer questions or negotiate a price.

If you don't respond to the query within 24 hours, the potential buyer may have already purchased a similar item from another seller.

4) Always compare the price of the item you want to list with similar ones. What do other people in the area sell? How do their items compare with yours? You have to be competitive or you won't sell.

Pros & Cons of Selling on Facebook Marketplace

Facebook Marketplace is much like the barter and sales communities that exist across Facebook, consolidated into one place. Users can post photos of things they want to sell, and other users can buy from them. Simple enough. Here, we review the pros and cons of Facebook Marketplace.

• Extended Potential Buyers Reach

With more than 1.85 billion daily users, Facebook is perfect for sellers looking to reach a large audience or buyers looking for specific items. Because it is location-based, buyers can buy large items without having to pay big shipping fees.

As a business owner, you can attract potential customers by listing individual items in stock, linking them to your website, or providing the address of your storefront.

• Safer Transaction

Facebook Marketplace is directly linked to the Facebook accounts of buyers and sellers. Obviously, these can be faked too, but at least you can look at the person's profile, see when they've been on Facebook, check their previous Marketplace activity, and so on. (If something is suspicious, you can also report them.)

Because of this accountability, the Marketplace is a more secure way to buy and sell things. Of course, there are no guarantees, and I can't point to any data to support this theory. I'm just saying that when someone sticks their name and face to something, they're less likely to make shady deals.

• Better Mobile Phone Experiencn

In the Facebook app, tapping the Marketplace icon takes you to a local list where you can immediately start scrolling through available items. You can also quickly filter listings by location or distance, category, and price.

There's also a "free" button if you just want to peruse the giveaways. It’s so easy and convenient to edit your listing if you have your phone with you.

The more professional your listing looks, the better it will sell. It's easy to polish your listing, for example, by uploading and organizing photos - up to 10 at a time - that buyers can peruse.

• Convenient Transportation

You can decide who will pay for shipping. Creating and printing shipping labels on the platform is simple and cheap for buyers.

If you pay, the shipping charges are automatically deducted from the sales. There will be fewer shipping disputes between sellers and buyers so the whole purchasing process is less troublesome.

• Not-Outstanding B2B

Compared with Amazon and other e-commerce websites, Facebook cannot provide relatively better services in online sales stores or B2B service due to it not being so experienced in the online marketplace.

• Time-Consuming Negotiation

Facebook Marketplace does not facilitate a delivery system, so most local merchandise transactions require face-to-face meetings. Arguing with scheduled meeting locations can be time-consuming and even dangerous for sellers as well as buyers.

Pro Tips for Better Sell Experience

Be sure to add tags for your products: At the bottom of each listing, there is a tag box. Here you want to put anything anyone might type into the search box to find your listing.

If it's an electric fan, the tags could be: “electric fan”, “desk fan” etc. This helps make it visible to people who are looking for similar products and increases your chances of a quick sale.

If you want to start dropshipping on Facebook Marketplace and have no online shop now, it’s viable to do so with some other Apps or platforms. Facebook Marketplace allows you to start selling directly without having a website.

If you qualify for the required features, you can use some of the tools Facebook provides, such as onsite checkout and order management tools for payment processing. In addition, you can use one of Facebook's list of partners to manage your inventory.

You can source products from AliExpress and use DSers to help with your order with its CSV function which is specialized for people who don’t have a website or an online store to sell products.

Here is a step-by-step guide to start an online store if you’re also interested in selling on your own store.

You can use the AD Manager tool to create paid ads to display on Facebook Marketplace. Design and produce ads, set daily budgets, and select where your ads will be displayed.

If you select automatic placement (Facebook recommendations), Facebook will place it on Marketplace, Facebook and its news feed, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network. Advertisements have sponsor labels so shoppers know they are advertisements.

Final Words

No longer just a place to connect with friends or engage teenagers, Facebook has entered the social commerce space and is not looking back. Imagine you're a business owner looking to increase your customer base, a seller making room in your garage, or a collector looking for a unique treasure. In this case, Facebook Marketplace can help you find what you're looking for.

After you sell your first item via Facebook, you'll be hooked. This easy-to-use platform makes shopping easy for both buyers and sellers.

All you need is a Facebook account to sell products from your home on the same day. I hope this detailed guide will help you start your sales journey using the Facebook Marketplace!