Facebook Marketplace Newbie - should I be selling on FB groups as well?

Tunstallstoven

Hi

I've used eBay and Gumtree to sell and buy for many years. But as someone with a Facebook account which is very, very seldom used, I only just recently started buying from there after someone recommended it to me. FB has never been much on my radar...

I now want to start selling on there too, and my plan was to just list things on the Marketplace much like I do on Gumtree etc. I've just been reading about it though and it seems the other option is to post on Groups as well. That's a new one on me. If I were to post things just on the Marketplace, would I be missing loads of potential buyers? Do buyers sometimes look for things just in these groups and not on the Marketplace?

Please excuse the ignorance. It really is all very new to me and any pointers would be most welcome.

Many thanks

ballisticbrian

Well I can only tell you from my limited experience; join a few local groups with plenty of members, when you post in one of them, it offers to put it up on marketplace automatically. The down side is, if you have a lot of items, there's no way to manage the listings at a top level, and you can end up not knowing which items are in which group or on marketplace. Conclusion, I just keep facebook for those large pic up items. If anyone knows how to over come those issues, great I'd like to know.

lindens

yes there are specific Collectors groups just for reselling eg Disney etc. search for those niches

soolin

I'm currently a heavy user of marketplace, for all those difficult to post items and collection only things that I will not use ebay for. I list on marketplace and then it gives me an option of other places to list as well- and I choose the appropriate groups. One post and I can post to half a dozen places. Also, when it sells on marketplace and you mark it sold, it marks it sold across the other groups as well. I suppose in all I have joined about 40 unique selling sites, and tend to cross post in a maximum of 6 at a time.

I've also started listing proper stock as well, things that can be posted- and currently around 70% of my Facebook sales are posted out and not collected. I am very very careful though to make sure if I sell something on facebook that I remove it from ebay before confirming the facebook sale, I'd rather apologise to a facebook user and say the item has gone, rather than risk not being able to fulfil my ebay orders.

The one thing that drives me crazy about facebook is there strange algorithm for banning items , with no real reason. They usually tell you the item is in breach of the animal or firearm policy which is nonsense. So far this month alone I have been prevented from listing a man's suit, a Royal Doulton figure of a lady, a framed picture of the African landscape and lots more , too many to mention.

I get a lot of sales though, last weekend I had as many facebook sales as I did on ebay, and it was a good weekend on ebay as well! I've got 2 from the weekend still to be collected- but I've already told them that as they failed to turn up I will re offer the item, and I have one person who seems incapable of using any form of online payment system, and I am beginning to think they are winding me up- so again I've just this minute told them that as they are unable to find a way they can pay, the item is now being re offered.

Spoonie_Turtle

We've had items such as hand cream and a watch that were initially in breach of Facebook rules :huh: but it's simple enough to appeal and once a human looks at it it's normally fine!

soolin

Spoonie_Turtle wrote: »

We've had items such as hand cream and a watch that were initially in breach of Facebook rules :huh: but it's simple enough to appeal and once a human looks at it it's normally fine!

I appeal everything and despite selling on there for a couple of years now have never even had an acknowledgement to my appeals .

Spoonie_Turtle

soolin wrote: »

I appeal everything and despite selling on there for a couple of years now have never even had an acknowledgement to my appeals .

Oh that's such a shame! We've never had any message or active acknowledgement but when checking on the item see that the red violation notice has gone. Really bizarre for them not to act - though if they don't make money from Marketplace I suppose there's no real incentive for Facebook to be diligent about allowing stuff.

in_the_Cotswolds

Hello,
This may seem like a stupid question. I don't have a Facebook account do I need one to sell on Facebook Marketplace?
I have a lot of items to sell from phones to coats/clothes basically having a clear out. I tried Ebay and Gumtree but my items just attracted potential scammers. They were high end goods phones, iPhone and a Macbook etc.
Thought I might try somewhere different. I did have a Facebook account however it drove me up the wall with "friend" notifications. :mad: It lasted about 2 weeks before I closed it.

soolin

in_the_Cotswolds wrote: »

Hello,
This may seem like a stupid question. I don't have a Facebook account do I need one to sell on Facebook Marketplace?
I have a lot of items to sell from phones to coats/clothes basically having a clear out. I tried Ebay and Gumtree but my items just attracted potential scammers. They were high end goods phones, iPhone and a Macbook etc.
Thought I might try somewhere different. I did have a Facebook account however it drove me up the wall with "friend" notifications. :mad: It lasted about 2 weeks before I closed it.

Yes you need a Facebook account, and strangely, not all Facebook users can use marketplace. You will find the usual potential scammers on there, you won't escape them either. I used to try selling on Gumtree and only ever got scammers , at least on Facebook the majority of buyers are real.

There are an awful lot of time wasters though, set limits and times, if someone messes you around always promising to come 'tomorrow' and not turning up, tell them not to bother and re offer. What I do is give them my post code, which identifies my road, and tell them that when they actually confirm in the morning of the day they are coming, I will only then give them the house number. That way if they don't confirm they can't just turn up un announced.

Bobo_Brazil

in_the_Cotswolds wrote: »

Hello,
This may seem like a stupid question. I don't have a Facebook account do I need one to sell on Facebook Marketplace?
I have a lot of items to sell from phones to coats/clothes basically having a clear out. I tried Ebay and Gumtree but my items just attracted potential scammers. They were high end goods phones, iPhone and a Macbook etc.
Thought I might try somewhere different. I did have a Facebook account however it drove me up the wall with "friend" notifications. :mad: It lasted about 2 weeks before I closed it.

Yes, FB market place is linked to your profile so you need to have a facebook account to list stuff.

Also while it's not a requirement it seems like an unwritten rule, is that your profile has to be active, visible, with stuff going on it. Potential buyers will check you out onine. I tried fb marketplace some time ago as a test, and to see if it would get different results from ebay, so listed half a dozen items, had lots of views and couple of enquiries via messenger but zero sales. The same stuff listed on ebay a few weeks later sold for the same price, or in 2 cases significantly higher than I had advertised it for.

After one item was removed from the FB market place, one enquirer did tell me, the reason they were reluctant to buy was because they were suspicious of my profile, didn't have a lot of stuff going on in it. I maintain something of a low profile on line, my facebook is locked down tight and has zero pictures of me or anyone I know, this is because a friend of mine's account was attacked in a horrible manner. She had to go to the police as she was told pics of her children would be screengrabbed and sent to child **** sites, all because she had posted something about voting the way someone else didn't like.
So in terms of sales on line, it's ebay, or sometimes gumtree is OK. For me FB market place is not where its at.

in_the_Cotswolds

Thank you for your replies. I think I'll leave it and try the usual, Gumtree, Shpock maybe Village.