How to sell on Facebook marketplace for beginners (2023)

If you want to start selling on Facebook Marketplace but are unsure where to begin, you’re not alone. Countless small business owners are in the same boat because they know how beneficial it is to sell items on Facebook.

To give you some insight, Facebook is the biggest social networking platform worldwide, with over three billion monthly users. So, not only do you have access to the largest audience available for your marketing campaign, but it’s also one of the most effective online advertising and selling tools.

If you’ve been thinking about shifting your business venture by selling on social media, there’s no better place to start than here. Without further ado, this is how to sell on Facebook Marketplace, 2023.

Index

• What is Facebook Marketplace?
• Why sell on Facebook Marketplace?
• Benefits vs. drawbacks of selling on Facebook Marketplace
• How to set up Facebook Marketplace – A deep dive
• How does Facebook Marketplace differ from other social selling platforms?
• Facebook Marketplace rules
• Tips for selling on Facebook Marketplace
• Frequently asked questions: How to sell stuff on Facebook
• Final thoughts on how to sell on Facebook Marketplace

What is Facebook Marketplace?

If you’ve ever had a Facebook profile in recent years, you must have heard of this online marketplace that everyone’s been raving about. From Facebook: “Marketplace is a destination on Facebook where people can discover, buy and sell items. People can browse listings, search for items for sale in their area, or find products available for shipping.”

So, as you can tell, the platform is not just a means to connect with loved ones or remember your friends’ birthdays – it’s also an online store. And a very efficient one at that. Facebook Marketplace uses your location to generate a list of goods, from cars to couches, that are available for sale near you.

What’s more, you can also list items that you’d like to sell to local buyers. It’s a win-win for small-business owners and consumers looking for unique, locally made or second-hand items.

Why sell on Facebook Marketplace?

There’s a reason why Facebook Marketplace consistently tops the list of best online-selling platforms. It’s one of the quickest and easiest ways for beginners to start selling online in South Africa. It allows you to sell directly to your customers and within your local community.

Regarding marketing, going the social media route is the best option for small start-up businesses that want to create ad campaigns and reach bigger audiences without breaking the bank. Any start-up or small company/brand can grow their business thanks to Facebook Marketplace. This will be covered in the next section.

Benefits vs. drawbacks of selling on Facebook Marketplace

Let’s look at some advantages and disadvantages of selling products on Facebook Marketplace.

Benefits vs. drawbacks of selling on Facebook Marketplace

Let’s look at some advantages and disadvantages of selling products on Facebook Marketplace.

Benefits

• You have access to a vast Facebook audience. It’s no shocker that this would be one of the first benefits to bring up since a more extensive audience means more potential customers. While more users discover your account and shop, they’ll also share it with their peers.
• Your Facebook page can earn your trust. One of the most essential elements of online selling is having trust between the buyer and the seller. A well-polished, highly rated, and interactive Facebook page can help sway interested shoppers to trust your business.

Potential customers can see the effort you’ve put into your page, such as posting consistently and engaging with users in the comments. This shows the customer that you care about their needs and your business.

• You can sell various items. Facebook Marketplace has grown exponentially, so it makes sense that business owners would want to sell even more products. This is possible through a Business Page that helps you build and establish your brand on the platform. As long as an audience or need exists, you can sell whatever is possible.

• You can start a Facebook group to better engage with your audience. Engagement keeps any small business active and buzzworthy – but it can also help you build solid relationships with your customers. These groups give you the tools to create an interactive community among existing and potential customers.

This is how you can promote new products, discuss certain things you’d like them to know, and learn more about what your target audience expects/desires from your business.

• Facebook Marketplace is cost-effective. A sense of relief should be washing over you right now. As any new small business owner, the last thing you want is to spend a ton of money on marketing when you have a free yet effective option such as this. There are no costs linked to listing and publishing your items.
• Facebook helps you determine your target audience. When shopping on Facebook Marketplace, consumers will be exposed to products based on their location, interest, and search history. Facebook will automatically help you find your target audience according to geography and interests.

Drawbacks

• While Facebook Marketplace is free, you do need to organise and pay for your own payment collection. The only thing you may have to pay for is your payment collection method, as the app does not offer integrated payment methods. For your payment collection, you can choose between cash, EFT, or an online payment gateway.
• Facebook has yet to offer any delivery options. Due to this little drawback, you must choose and manage how to deliver your products. One of the most economical and time-efficient options is utilising a courier company. Otherwise, you can drop your products off personally if you’re delivering close by. Collection is also an option.
• Like any other shopping platform, Facebook Marketplace has some security concerns. These include the risk of fraud or scams cooked up by dishonest sellers looking to make a quick buck. As a seller, you have to put in the effort to make your customers feel secure, like communicating effectively and responding rapidly.
• Facebook Marketplace does not have the best quality control. Sellers are not subjected to any qualifications or checks to ensure their products meet a certain standard. This makes it possible for some sellers to produce disappointing products for their shoppers.

How to set up Facebook Marketplace – A deep dive

As you can see, there are way more benefits to using Facebook Marketplace for your small business than not. It’s free to use, and your only costs will be delivery and payment collection – so what’s holding you back?

Right, you’re not quite sure how to set it up. If this is the case for you, the following section will give you the insight you need to start.

This is a beginner’s guide, so we’ll cover this process step-by-step.

Step 1: Set up your account on Facebook Marketplace and check compliance

If you already have a personal Facebook account, you’ll automatically have access to its Marketplace. You’ll find the “Marketplace” tab on the left-hand side of your homepage.

If you don’t already have a Facebook account, you can start by going to Facebook.com and clicking “Create New Account”. Fill in all your details, such as name, birthday day, and more, then select “sign up”. After that, your account should be set up and ready.

Step 2: Create a Facebook Business Page

This step is crucial, as you don’t want to promote your business and sell goods from a personal account. Having a professional-looking business page ensures that you can access budget-friendly advertising tools, extensive free marketing opportunities, and a way for customers to find and follow your small business.

Step 3: Set up checkout on Facebook

Now that your Facebook Business Page is set up, you can change your checkout method on Facebook’s Commerce Manager.

Before you begin, ensure you have an active shop and commerce account. Look at these commerce account permissions and the eligibility requirements for your preferred checkout method to ensure you meet Facebook’s standards for selling.

Here’s how you can change your checkout method:

• Go to “Commerce Manager” and choose your shop.
• Click “Settings” in the left-hand menu.
• Choose “Checkout Method” and find the one you want to update, then click the gear wheel icon.
• You’ll now see details about each checkout method in the dropdown.
• Click “Change” on the top-right corner.
• Follow the steps and provide all the necessary information about your business to help set up your shipping, customer service, and payout preferences.
• Click “Confirm”.

Step 4: Link your Facebook Business Page to your Instagram Business Account

Linking your Facebook and Instagram accounts will help you reach more potential customers and boost engagement and sales. If you’re also interested in selling on Instagram, you can link to a Facebook page to benefit from all its marketing tools and traffic.

The two platforms generated over five billion monthly users, so why not combine them to grow your small business?

If you’re linking to Instagram from Facebook, you can follow these steps:

1. Log into Facebook and click “Pages” on the left-hand side of the homepage.
2. Select “Your Facebook Page” and click “Settings”.
3. Choose “Linked accounts” in the left column.
4. Select “Instagram” and start syncing your accounts.

Step 5: Figure out what to sell on Facebook Marketplace

What you decide to sell on Facebook ultimately depends on your brand, business ideals, advertising objectives, and target audience. However, here’s a list of a few items that sell quickly on Facebook if you’re looking to start a small business:

• Fashion Apparel
• Electronics
• Mobile & Accessories
• Furniture & Home Decor
• Property rentals
• Vehicles
• Books
• Health & Wellness Products
• Baby Care Products
• Toys & games
• Seasonal Goods
• Sports Supplies & Fitness Equipment
• Pet supplies
• Office Supplies
• Garden & Outdoor

While these might be some of the top-selling products on Facebook Marketplace, they aren’t your only options. It doesn’t matter what you’re selling if there’s a need for it. As for already established businesses, there should be a product category on Facebook Marketplace for you.

Step 6: Start selling items on Facebook

Now that your page and shop are set up, you can start selling on Facebook Marketplace. It is pretty straightforward to list items on Facebook Marketplace, and you can do this from your phone or desktop.

Once you’ve clicked “Marketplace” on the left-hand side of your Facebook Homepage, you’ll click “Create new listing”. Next, select “Choose your listing type” and choose either “Item for Sale,” “Vehicle for Sale,” “Home for Sale or Rent,” or “Create Multiple Listings.” This will depend on the product or service you’re offering.

After that, you’ll fill in all your product details and add high-quality images.

Step 7: Optimise your listing

You can start optimising your listing to improve your SEO and increase the chances of your listing showing up when a customer searches for it (or similar products). The more visible your products are to customers, the more likely they are to click on them and potentially make a purchase.

The first thing you’d want to optimise is your product’s title and description, ensuring you include the most relevant keywords. Including more detailed information and keywords will improve the chances of customers seeing your product. It also helps to add plenty of related product tags since these act as additional search terms that couldn’t fit the title or description.

Step 8: Advertise your products on Marketplace

If listing items alone isn’t enough to give you the desired results, you can take it a step further by investing in Marketplace ads. These are paid ads that pop up when people shop on Marketplace.

Here’s how to create an ad for Marketplace:

• Locate “Ads Manager”, choose your ad objective, and click “Continue”.
• Choose a destination and define your target audience.
• Choose either “Automatic Placements” or “Edit Placements”. We recommend automatic placement ads as these can also appear on other compatible placements on Facebook, Audience Network, Instagram, and Messenger.
• Set your Budget and Schedule.
• Choose a creative format for your ad.
• Set up your ad and click on “Place Order”.

How does Facebook Marketplace differ from other social selling platforms?

Facebook allows sellers to advertise their products without getting involved in price and shipping processes between vendors and shoppers. You can sell the same products you would on most other social platforms as long as there’s a target audience for it.

The only difference could be in the prominent audience that uses each app. For example, Pinterest appeals more to mature women, YouTube has a bigger male audience, TikTok caters more to a teen audience, and so on.

Facebook Marketplace is ideal for beginners who want to sell locally since the platform doesn’t provide delivery and payment solutions. This is the case for Instagram, Pinterest, and WhatsApp. You can link these platforms with payment getaways and deliver through courier services or personally, if it’s not too far.

We’ve already covered the Facebook Marketplace rules for selling, but you can check the terms and conditions of any social platform on their official website. The risks of selling on social media, regardless of the app, include not being able to control messaging about your business, damage to its reputation, and cyber attacks.

Facebook Marketplace rules

Before creating a Facebook Page, ensure that the physical goods you want to sell comply with Facebook’s merchant agreement and commerce policies. As long as you meet these requirements, you can sell just about anything on the Marketplace. Below are a few more Facebook advertising policies to consider:

1.   Do not sell any of the following items

• Recalled products
• Animals
• Weapons, ammunition, and explosives
• Digital products or subscriptions
• Illegal, prescription, or recreational drugs
• Adult products and services
• Medical and healthcare products
• Gambling services
• Real, virtual, or fake currency
• Ingestible supplements
• Tobacco products and related paraphernalia
• Misleading, deceptive, or offensive items

You must sell physical items

This includes anything that isn’t a physical product, like news, jokes, and “in search of” posts. Services like housekeeping, beauty treatments, or event tickets can only be sold by Facebook’s partners. These are well-known companies in their respective fields that Facebook has added to its partner directory.

3.   The descriptions must match the items

This rule is crucial if you don’t want Facebook to think you’re misleading buyers. Ensure that photos of your products match the title and description, and be honest about your product to gain the trust of potential buyers.

Tips for selling on Facebook Marketplace

Before you start selling on Facebook Marketplace, consider these nifty tips for getting it right.

Account setup

When setting up your account, try to “colour in” your business profile so that you seem more like a real person. Including information in your bio about your business, such as goals, inspiration, and good-quality profile pictures and content, will help you appear more trustworthy.

Here’s how you can appear legit and trustworthy to buyers:

• Engage politely and consistently with Facebook users who comment on your page and message you for more product information. Be relatable and friendly, and never respond with sarcasm or frustration, as this can push people away.
• Post excellent content, and hire a photographer if you’re not handy with a camera. Showcasing your products with great lighting, professional photography, trendy concepts, and innovative ways like 360-degree views seems like you’re putting in the effort. All the creativity and hard work will help you earn buyers’ trust.
• Don’t use slurs, promotional language, misleading phrases, and excessive exclamation marks in the descriptions and titles of your listings. These can make you seem unprofessional and untrustworthy.

Listing setup

When creating your listings, you want to attract buyers and make selling easy. You can do this by writing clear and concise product descriptions, using high-quality images of your items, and featuring your newest or best-selling products first.

Ensure that your product title is enticing yet simple enough to pique customer’s interest. Don’t appear desperate or hasty, which can deter buyers. Again, avoid adding punctuation, special characters, typos, and misleading or promotional phrases such as “free shipping” or “50% off”.

Secure your payments

When selling on Marketplace, you want payments to go as securely and as smoothly as possible. One way is to prompt your customers to message you to place an order by adding “DM to order” in your descriptions. This enables you to send them a message with a link to your online store, such as Netcash Shop, to direct customers to the site and make purchases.

Selling on Marketplace without a website

If you want to start selling on Marketplace but have no website, you can add the Payment Requests feature of Netcash eCommerce Payment Gateway. You’re able to send secure payment requests to buyers who DM you using their email or mobile phone number, directing them to the secure payment gateway to pay via multiple online methods.

Aside from being able to receive payments without a website, this payment request feature quickly confirms orders and payments safely online without requiring banking details.

Frequently asked questions: How to sell stuff on Facebook

If we haven’t answered everything for you, look at the following FAQs regarding selling on Facebook Marketplace.

When to post on Facebook Marketplace?

There’s no set time for when you need to post to sell on Facebook Marketplace. However, if you want to catch the most traffic, the best time to post on Facebook is between eight a.m. and noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

How to sell on Facebook Marketplace locally

Selling on Facebook Marketplace locally simply means selling to buyers within your country of residence. The moment you need to start shipping items is when it’s considered selling internationally.

How to post on Facebook Marketplace without an account

Users can search and view profiles on Facebook via search engines like Bing or DuckDuckGo. However, you need an account when posting items or anything else on the platform.

Who should sell on Facebook Marketplace?

Anyone can sell on Marketplace if their goods meet the commerce policies. It’s a platform for those who want to sell extra furniture, second-hand items, hand-made goods, Amazon products, and items from their ecommerce store.

Final thoughts on how to sell on Facebook Marketplace

“Is Facebook Marketplace the right fit for your business?” is the final question that needs to be asked. And to give you a quick answer: Yes. If you’re a small business owner who’s never tapped into the potential of Facebook Marketplace, you can start by following the above beginner’s guide.

Facebook Marketplace is a great idea for new vendors who want to sell locally. It’s also ideal if you already have an online shop but want to start expanding onto social media platforms. It’s time to reach new audiences and boost your sales!

Next Read: How to make money on Facebook.