Facebook Marketplace is the sales channel of this social network, where people interact to buy and sell items. You can talk to your potential customers and share all the details they need about your product or business. Filtering the results, you access to make purchases by location, category and price.
You may have seen the Facebook Marketplace icon while browsing the social network. If you were wondering how this tab of the platform works, today we answer your questions. Throughout this article we will know everything about it.
Despite the fact that some people see it as obsolete, Instagram and Facebook are “the most popular social networks in Argentina, both with a participation of more than 85% of internet users,” according to the .
In this context, Facebook Marketplace can be a great platform to showcase your products. So, it’s time to meet her!
What is Facebook Marketplace?
Facebook Marketplace is a space within the social network where people can advertise new or used products for sale. There are no costs to register these items, nor fees charged by the market, as on platforms like Mercado Libre and OLX, for example.
Through this functionality of the social network, it is possible from your personal profile or pages that you manage, such as your business.
How does the Facebook marketplace work?
Unlike other marketplaces, there is no internal system for payments and shipping of products. When a user is interested in an item, they communicate with the seller through Messenger, the messaging system integrated into Facebook.
All contacts are concentrated in a board within the platform, but it is necessary to combine purchases and sales manually.
If you are thinking of increasing sales on Facebook Marketplace with your own virtual store, take a look at what we offer below:
Buying and selling on Facebook: what can be sold?
Through Facebook Marketplace, you can sell products, vehicles and advertise properties for sale or rent. According to the , it is not allowed to publish ads for:
- Alcohol
- Digital media and electronic devices
- Jobs
- Land, animals and animal products
- Products for adults or with sexual connotation
- Medical and health products
- Body parts or bodily fluids
- Documents, currencies and financial instruments
- gambling
- Hazardous products and materials
- Human exploitation and sexual services
- Products and offers that are misleading or that incite violence or hate
- ingestible supplements
- Prescription products, drugs and related
- Defective or stolen products
- Subscriptions and
- Third Party Infringement
- used cosmetics
- Weapons, ammunition and explosives
In addition, the sale of events, tickets and gift cards is restricted.
Is Facebook Marketplace free?
Yes, the Facebook marketplace is free since we can both buy and publish products to sell without the need for a separate subscription or subscription.
In other words, if you were wondering how to activate the Facebook marketplace, it is already available when you create your initial user. In this way, you can start any buying and selling process immediately.
How to access Facebook Marketplace?
To enter Facebook Marketplace, access the social network and look for the icon with a kind of tent:
In the Android app, this item is found in the menu on the right, by touching the three horizontal lines. On iOS, at the bottom of the screen. When accessed from the desktop, the Marketplace icon is in both the left menu and the top section of buttons.
You can also directly access the Facebook sales platform through the .
To find out how to have your marketplace on Facebook and sell, we’ll get into that in the next section!
How to sell on Facebook Marketplace?
We continue advancing in the universe of the and the time has come to get to know the tool in depth in order to use it.
🏪 Bonuses! At the end of this section we leave you our specialized guide on how to sell on Facebook so you can continue learning about the subject. Let’s get started!
The process to publish a product and sell through Facebook Marketplace is very simple. I followed this guide step by step:
- Go to Facebook Marketplace.
- Click the “➕ Create Post” button.
- I chose the post type among the three available types:
- Item for sale.
- Vehicle for sale.
- Property for sale or rent.
- Complete the requested fields with photos, title, price, category, condition (new or used), detailed product description and location.
- You can also optionally complete the availability fields (a single item or several in stock) and labels to favor the visibility of your publication.
- Select if you want the ad to appear in the groups you participate in on Facebook.
- Finish by clicking the “Publish” button.
To help you in all the aspects that we are mentioning, we leave you with a free e-book to write super attractive product sheets:
In the case of vehicles, other information will be requested such as the type of vehicle, year of manufacture, brand, model and whether the transmission is automatic or manual.
Regarding real estate, it is necessary to inform if it is available for sale or rent, what type of property, number of bedrooms, bathrooms and parking spaces, for example.
For online stores that want to , this is a feature that can help your business get more sales.
Delve into this with our specialized guide:
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Advantages and disadvantages of Facebook Marketplace
So far we have known the fundamental aspects of the Facebook marketplace. Let’s move forward to be clear about the main advantages and disadvantages of this sales channel. Thus, you will be able to decide assertively if it is the most strategic option for your business.
Advantages of the Facebook marketplace
1. Facebook Popularity
In the first place, we can mention as a positive point the scope that Facebook still has in Argentina. As we saw at the beginning, it continues to be one of the most used both nationally and regionally.
In this sense, selling through Facebook and your own online store will enhance your marketing strategy. The visibility of the social network will bring quality traffic to your e-commerce site, the two channels complement each other and feed each other!
Take your brand to the next level!
2. Local business
Facebook Marketplace tends to benefit local businesses. This is because ads are shown based on proximity to the seller, so this factor can promote smaller businesses that are closer to the consumer.
📲 Bonus resource! We approach you to discover unique sales opportunities.
3. Facebook Marketplace is free
We already said it, but we can’t fail to mention it among the advantages of Facebook Marketplace: it’s free!
There are no costs or fees for buying and selling on Facebook. In this way, you do not need a considerable initial investment of money to start a business and this can be a good way to take the first step.
4. Interaction with clients
The fact that users have the chat with your business at hand, allows them to clear up doubts and gain confidence to make the purchase. For your part, it is an opportunity to share your brand DNA and give even more information about the product you are selling.
🏆 Professional tip! Although it is key to be available to answer, in some cases it is difficult to answer all the questions in a timely manner. For this there are that can alleviate the volume of queries, for example, about availability, sizes, colors, etc.
Disadvantages of the Facebook marketplace
1. Platform Limitation
Although there is no cost, the resources of the platform end up being limited. As there are no integrated means of payment and shipping, the seller has to talk to each of the potential customers for the purchase and sale on Facebook.
Manual order billing and delivery processes must also be considered. Although they are points that can be overcome at the beginning in a micro-enterprise, one usually brings it integrated to facilitate your growth.
2. Inconspicuous brand
One more aspect that detracts from the Facebook marketplace (and any marketplace) is that, as happens with other platforms where several sellers advertise their products, their brand is not visible.
Customers rarely realize what company they are buying from, see their logo or remember their name. This decreases the chances of a second purchase and makes the loyalty process difficult.
3. Dependency on another business model
As is often the case when you are completely dependent on another company to implement your business model, you are limited to the policies and changes of that channel.
For example, if Facebook starts charging high fees or even decides to end its marketplace. If you only sold there, you would have to start all over again.
In this context, having your own sales channel can solve the problem. In this scenario, you can use Facebook Marketplace as a complementary tool to your .
5 tips to sell much more
When selling through Facebook Marketplace, there are a few things to pay attention to in order to gain the trust of buyers. Let’s move on to the key tips to increase sales on Facebook Marketplace.
1. Pay attention to photos and descriptions
When we talk about , it is important to keep in mind that people know the products through the photos and descriptions that you present.
Therefore, write full texts about the look and uses of the items you are selling. Also, use good resolution photos, where the colors are faithful to reality and show the product from different angles.
With all this information, you will gain the trust of the potential client and it will be more likely that you will be able to make the sale.
💡 More information: for your online store and increase sales?
2. Active customer support
Sales on Facebook Marketplace depend on the contact between buyer and seller to be completed. So, it is important to provide a good .
To achieve this, we share some essential points:
- Respond quickly to messages
- Write correctly and speak closely
- Be attentive and try to clear all doubts of the buyer
3. Put the customer at the center
Here it is about keeping in mind the needs and convenience of the buyers at all times. This means, for example, offering different means of payment or delivery of products.
One of the reasons people buy…
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