Even before Facebook Marketplace was available, the social network was home to numerous groups where users could buy and sell goods. When Facebook finally entered the online shopping market, it was a smart move.
Facebook Marketplace is a more secure and convenient alternative to traditional yard sales and flea markets, and it is quickly becoming a popular alternative to online shopping platforms like eBay due to its lack of seller fees.
Can You Explain Facebook’s New Marketplace?
Facebook introduced its Marketplace in 2016, and it has since become a widely used venue for consumers and merchants alike to meet and transact business. Facebook Marketplace is a safer and more user-friendly alternative to Craigslist (an American classified site where users can sell or buy products online or offline).
It’s a way for people on Facebook to sell goods and services to one another without going through any third parties. Now, unlike Craigslist, Facebook lets sellers who meet certain criteria offer nationwide delivery for certain categories of goods, giving them access to a much wider pool of potential buyers than they would have had otherwise.
Since it is so simple to search for both free and paid items in your immediate area, you can see that it is effective in the local context. People used Facebook groups for commerce prior to Marketplace’s launch.
To facilitate the buying and selling of goods amongst neighbours in your area, you might, for instance, create a neighbourhood buy-and-sell group. It’s not as straightforward as what Marketplace provides, so it loses points there.
People often think of Marketplace as a clearinghouse market for used or no longer needed household items because of its roots as a local platform for buying and selling.
Shipping options also suggest it could be useful for retail arbitrage, or the practise of purchasing high-demand items at a discount from brick-and-mortar stores and reselling them online for a profit.
The benefits of using Facebook are numerous.
It’s great for making unrestricted local sales. The fact that users can list items for sale on Facebook Marketplace without paying any fees is one of the service’s primary draws.
When selling something locally, you keep one hundred percent of the sale price; when selling something that needs to be shipped, you have to pay five percent of the sale price. You may either foot the freight bill yourself or demand that the customer cover it.
This is still a significant savings compared to other markets, even after factoring in the 5% service fee and potential transportation costs. As a fee for their services, some online marketplaces charge between 10% and 15% of the final sale price.
There are a lot of people looking for products on Facebook Marketplace, which is another factor. Although the social media giant did not release official figures, it was reported that over 800 million people around the world use Facebook Marketplace each month. The vast majority of internet users in industrialised nations have access to Facebook Marketplace through their accounts.
If you run an online store, you might be curious as to whether or not you can promote your goods on Facebook Marketplace. Facebook Marketplace wasn’t intended to be an e-commerce or dropshipping hub when it was first introduced.
As its name suggests, its primary function was to facilitate transactions between Facebook users by facilitating the sale of goods and services listed by users. In 2019, Facebook has begun rolling out a suite of features for Facebook Marketplace that will enable eCommerce businesses to sell their wares on the platform, catering to the unavoidable rise of online shopping.
Due to these advancements, American merchants now have a substantial business-to-consumer (B2C) market to explore. However, only US-based eCommerce businesses can use the official listing partner platform to sell their wares on Facebook’s Marketplace.
You can still list products on Facebook Marketplace even if you run your eCommerce business outside the US, but you won’t have access to features like Facebook checkout. Using the listing function to increase site visitors is not going to be a huge letdown.
In addition, you can only take advantage of all of Facebook Marketplace’s features by doing so through one of Facebook’s official partners. These include well-known e-commerce platforms like Shopify, currently the market leader.
A Comprehensive Guide to Selling on Facebook’s Marketplace
Step 1: Click Marketplace in the menu that runs down the left side of your homepage.
Step 2: Click “Create a new listing.”
Step 3: Choose Listing Type for your goods.
Step 4: Fill in the information about your products. Click Next, check the information to make sure it’s correct, and then click Publish to move on.
Your product is now for sale on Facebook. Putting an item up for sale and making it public is easy, right? You won’t have to spend that much time on the whole thing.
How to Make Your Sale Go Well:
1) Your item is more likely to sell if you take a good picture of it. People want to see it as clearly as possible, so get a true colour picture and describe any damage (if there is any) in the photos.
Also, think about showing the item from the front, the side, and the back. When people go to check out, they are more likely to buy if they know more.
2) People who want to buy something often haggle on Facebook’s Marketplace. Think about your bottom line before you set a price, and be willing to negotiate if someone offers a little less than the price you’ve set.
Most of the time, it’s better to be flexible and take a fair offer than to wait and ask for a few dollars more. If you decide to list your item at the lowest price you are willing to accept, make it clear in the listing that the price is not negotiable.
3) Deals on Facebook Marketplace tend to move quickly, so as you list items, it’s important to keep an eye on your messages. As soon as possible, answer the interested buyer’s questions or talk about a price.
If you don’t answer the question within 24 hours, the buyer may have bought a similar item from someone else.
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.
Selling on Facebook Marketplace: Pros and Cons
Facebook Marketplace is like a place where all of the trading and selling groups on Facebook are put together. Users can post pictures of things they want to sell, and other users can buy from them. Easy enough. Here, we’ll talk about what’s good and bad about Facebook Marketplace.
PROS:
Increased Exposure to Potential Buyers
There are over 1.85 billion active Facebook users every day, making it an ideal venue for those looking to advertise their wares to a wide audience or conduct targeted product searches. Thanks to its emphasis on proximity, it allows customers to purchase bulky items without bearing the cost of costly shipping.
If you own a business, you can attract customers by advertising specific products, providing a link to your online store, or merely revealing your physical location.
More Secure Deal
All transactions on Facebook Marketplace are completed through the user’s existing Facebook account. Even though these can be fabricated as well, you at least have the option of researching the user’s profile, Facebook activity, Marketplace history, and so on before transacting with them. (You can also report them if you think they’re up to no good.)
As a result of this transparency, transactions made through the Marketplace are safer than those made through other means. Of course, nothing can be guaranteed, and I have no evidence to back up my claim. All I’m saying is that when people put their name and photo on something, they’re less likely to engage in underhanded dealings.
Superior Performance on Mobile Devices
If you’re using the Facebook app on your mobile device, tapping the Marketplace icon will take you to a list of local listings. It’s easy to narrow your search results by specifying a radius, type, or price range for each listing.
If you just want to look through the free stuff, there’s a “free” button, too. If you have a mobile device, updating your listing is a breeze.
To maximise sales, make sure your listing looks as expert as possible. In order to improve your listing, you can simply upload and arrange up to ten photos for potential buyers to peruse.
Convenient Transportation
It is up to you to determine who will be responsible for shipping costs. The platform makes it easy and inexpensive for buyers to create and print shipping labels.
When you make a purchase, the shipping costs will be deducted from your total. Less friction will be introduced into the buying process as a result of fewer shipping disputes between sellers and buyers.
CONS:
Poor business-to-business
Due to its lack of experience in the online marketplace, Facebook is unable to offer competitive services in online sales stores or B2B service when compared to Amazon and other e-commerce websites.
Complex and Time-consuming Talks
Since Facebook Marketplace does not provide a delivery system, in-person meetings are necessary for most sales of locally-sourced goods. Confrontations over prearranged meeting places are a waste of time and potentially dangerous for both sellers and buyers.
Advice from the Pros to Improve Your Next Sale
Include labels with your merchandise: Each listing has a tag box at its end. To help people find your listing, please enter any relevant keywords or phrases here.
Tags for an electric fan could include “electric fan,” “desk fan,” “wind fan,” etc. Your chances of making a quick sale will increase as a result of its increased exposure to people who are interested in purchasing items like it.
Dropshipping is a viable option on Facebook Marketplace, even if you don’t already have an online store. You can begin direct sales on Facebook Marketplace even if you don’t have a website.
If you have the necessary capabilities, you can use Facebook’s tools, such as on-site checkout and order management tools, to process payments. You can also use a partner on Facebook’s list to keep track of your stock.
CSV function is designed specifically for people who don’t have a website or an online store to help them place orders on AliExpress, where they can find products to sell.
If you’re interested in opening your own online store to sell products, here are the steps to take.
Using the AD Manager interface, you can draught up some sponsored posts to go live on Facebook’s virtual flea market. Create ads, decide how much to spend each day, and choose where they will appear.
Choose “automatic placement” (Facebook recommendations), and Facebook will distribute your ad across Marketplace, Facebook and its news feed, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network. Labels identifying the ad’s sponsor inform consumers that they are looking at paid content.
Final Remarks
Facebook has expanded beyond its original purpose as a social networking site and an outlet for teen interest to become a serious player in the burgeoning social commerce market. Picture yourself as a shopkeeper who wants to expand their clientele, a garage-sale host who needs to make room, or a treasure hunter on the prowl for something truly special. Here, Facebook Marketplace can be of great assistance in your search.
You won’t want to stop selling on Facebook after making your first sale. Incredibly user-friendly, this marketplace simplifies the buying and selling processes for everyone involved.
To make same-day sales from home, all you need is a Facebook account. I’m hoping that this in-depth tutorial will serve as a springboard for your first sales on Facebook Marketplace.
