How to Sell on Facebook Marketplace

It all started like a dream.

With my first sale, I made $800. Next, I made $450. The third one brought a whopping $1,000. Then the fourth one completely blew my mind out the window. It was a $3,000 order for a set of electric sewing machines I had purchased for $1,499 at Target a few months earlier.

It’s been six months since I joined Facebook Marketplace, and as you can see in the dashboard below, my bank account is getting fatter.

I bet you, too, have been thinking of how to make money from home.You’ve seen your friends doing it, and now you can’t help but wonder how to begin. Well, dream no more.

In this article, I’m going to show you how to make money selling ANYTHING on Facebook Marketplace.

Facebook Marketplace is a buy/sell platform for Facebookers to discover, buy and sell items.

Are you a homeowner with junk from your garage you’d like to clear out, a student with some furniture you no longer use, or a retailer with an inventory of stock you’d like to put on sale? Whatever the case may be, Facebook Marketplace is the place for you to find buyers for your items.

Although Facebook Marketplace started as a local buy/sell platform, the incorporation of the “shipping” feature means your product can get shown to people outside your immediate area, too.

This opens up an opportunity to target customers from far and wide.

For example, let’s say you’re in Alabama and list your Apple Series 6 for sale on the Marketplace. Then someone in Alaska searches for the product. Facebook can show your listing to this person.

If said person chooses to contact you, you guys can agree on making a payment and delivering the item, either at a specified location or through shipping.

What can you sell on Facebook Marketplace?

You can sell practically ANYTHING on the Marketplace. (My first sales featured boxes of Nike Vapor Max sneakers.)

This includes furniture, electronics, fashion accessories, kitchen items, home décor, video games, garage junk, books, etc.

Below is a breakdown of all the product categories on the Marketplace.

• Vehicles
• Property rentals
• Apparel
• Classifieds
• Electronics
• Entertainment
• Family
• Free stuff
• Garden & outdoor
• Hobbies
• Home goods
• Home improvement supplies
• Pet supplies
• Sporting goods
• Toys & games
• Tech gadgets, smart products, etc.

Who can sell on Facebook Marketplace?

Absolutely anyone.

Entrepreneurs, retailers, SMEs, e-commerce store owners, brick-and-mortar store owners, and so on.

Create a Facebook Account or Sign in to One

With over 2 billion users on Facebook, I expect you already have an account. But no problem if you don’t. (Zuckerberg has room for newcomers.)

Visit Facebook.com and create an account today. If you already have one, sign in, and open your newsfeed.

Don’t do anything yet. Just leave it open, and continue reading the rest of the article. We will return to it shortly.

Determine What to Sell

Now, let’s talk about the stuff you want to sell on the Marketplace to make money.

Logically, if you’re selling decluttered items from your kitchen or garage, you don’t need this tip since you already have what you want to sell.

However, if you want to start a retail business on the Marketplace, it’s important to first determine what to sell, because not every product is profitable on the platform.

Below are some methods you can use to determine the best-selling products on Facebook Marketplace.

• Check other product sellers in your niche: You can find out what products sell well on the Marketplace by visiting other product sellers in your niche and checking out their product categories. Once you’re there, you can identify the best-selling products by scouring the “Top Picks” section.

• Visit similar business pages: Another way is to check the Facebook business pages of sellers in your niche. Say you’ve made up your mind to pursue products in the gaming niche. You can visit the business pages of people selling gaming consoles (PlayStation, Xbox, etc.), gaming laptops, or gaming accessories to know the types of products that are selling best.

In most cases, sellers pin their best-selling products at the top of their pages so that more users can see them.

In the example below, the seller has pinned Apple watches on his page, telling you that these are his best-selling wristwatches on Facebook.

• Try eBay’s Trending Deals category: eBay’s “Trending Deals” category has a reputation for listing popular, in-demand products across various niches. Check to see whether you can find products in the niche you’re targeting.
• Target new releases: Every niche always has the latest stuff that is just released. Keep an eye out for these kinds of products, as they normally attract lots of attention on the Marketplace. I remember selling two iPhone 12 Pro Max boxes on the Marketplace a few weeks after its release.
• Seasonal products: Target different products as different seasons unfold. For example, you can target Christmas lights when December is approaching or abayas when the Muslim festivals are near.

Sources For What to Sell

Now that you know what to sell, the next question begging an answer is where do you intend to find these products?

I’m guessing you don’t know. But you need not worry.

Below are some wonderful ideas of places you can look.

• Try retail arbitrage

Retail arbitrage is the practice of sourcing products from cheaper suppliers and then reselling them at higher prices.

To execute this method, you’ll need to search the clearance or sales sections of popular retail stores like Walmart, Amazon, Target, Kmart, Big Lots, T.J. Maxx, CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, or local grocery stores. If you search these places thoroughly, you’ll most definitely find products you can use for retail arbitrage.

Back in December 2020, I bought two PS5 consoles from a local store at $450 each. The store was celebrating its 10^th anniversary, so a lot of items were on discounts. Then I resold the items on my Marketplace account for $650 and $680.

ACTIONABLE HACK:

Try this hack to find sweet retail arbitrage opportunities:

• Use the Krazy Coupon Lady to search PRINTABLE COUPONS and ONLINE DEALS for Target, Walmart, CVS, Amazon, & Walgreens. They always upload great deals, so don’t miss out.
• If you’re scouring Walmart for deals, keep this in mind:

Walmart clearance markdowns occur on the first 5 days of every month. You can almost never expect to see a mid-month markdown. Also, if you want to beat the crowd, the best time to shop at Walmart is before noon on a weekday, and the worst time is any time after lunch.

• If you’re scouring Amazon, use HONEY.

HONEY is a free Amazon Chrome extension that will help you get the products you source at the cheapest price possible. You can’t search the entire Amazon site for the cheapest hiking boots, but HONEY can.

• Use the following cashback sites to earn money on your retail shopping.

Complete Savings

TopCashback

Quidco

I love Complete Savings in particular. You can earn up to £2,500 in cashback per year!

• Try private label products

Private label products are products manufactured by one company but sold under another brand name.

If you’re thinking about where to get products to sell on Facebook Marketplace, a private label might be a good idea to consider.

Advantages of selling private label products include:

– A chance to create a unique product and brand, which helps you stand out. Imagine if you’re selling reusable bags under the name of your Facebook page; chances are that any user who comes across such a product will be fascinated and inspired to buy.

– A chance to sell your own products: With private label products, you can easily sell something nobody else can. For example, a water bottle with free carrying bags, supplements with unexpected extras, smartphones with free accessories, etc.

– A chance to source your products for cheap: Since you can rebrand private label products to your brand name, you can easily source the products from cheaper suppliers (maybe out-of-town vendors, if possible), saving lots of money in the process.

• Try local thrift stores

I’ve seen some products priced for ridiculous amounts at thrift stores before. If you’re willing to put in the work, you can scour your local thrift store for products that are priced below their market values.

It could be used books, kitchen utensils, cutlery, clothes hangers, gaming consoles, vintage apparel, furniture, old-but-functional electronics, kids’ toys, etc.

• Try garage sales and estate sales

Garage and estate sales often happen during the spring season when homeowners are decluttering. But you can also find them when homeowners are moving houses. Whichever it is, you can always find good deals during these sales.

Constantly check these platforms for updates on garage sales and estate sales:

• Estatesales.net
• Garagesalefinder.com

List Your Products

Now that you know what to sell and where to get it from, go back to the Facebook account you created earlier, and follow the SIX-STEP GUIDE below to list your products on the Marketplace.

Step #1) On the Facebook homepage, click the “Facebook Marketplace” button on the left-hand side

Can’t see the button? Calm down, don’t fret. It’s probably hiding.

Click on “See More”, and keep scrolling down until you see the Marketplace button.

See it now? Ok, click on it.

If you’re browsing with your phone, just go into the Facebook app and tap that little icon at the top that looks like a “shop.”

Step #2) Click on the “Create New Listing” button on the left-hand side of the opening page

A new screen should pop up, asking you to choose from the following options:

• Item for sale
• Vehicle for sale
• Property for rent or sale
• Job opening

Choose “Item for sale.”

Step #3) Fill out your listing

To fill out your listing, you’ll need to provide the following information.

• Add photos
• Listing title
• Price
• Choose a relevant listing category from the drop-down list
• Select the condition of the item you’re selling from the drop-down list
• Add relevant product tags
• Add your location
• Select the number of items available

But before you do, I’d like you to read the tips below.

Tips for listing your product on the Marketplace

According to Facebook itself, there are over 800 million users of Facebook Marketplace.

That means the competition for buyers is fierce across all niches on the Marketplace.

To stand out in this crowd, you need something I call FLO (Facebook Listing Optimization) – a definitive strategy that sets you apart and makes your listings appear in front of anybody searching for related items.

Executing FLO means to:

1) Optimize your listing title and description: While filling out your listing, you’ll have two boxes to describe the product – the listing title box and the listing description box.

In each of these boxes, it’s important to add as many relevant keywords as possible.

The more relevant keywords you add into your listing title and description, the easier it will be for your product to show up when someone searches for it.

See an example:

This seller wants to list an Xbox One console. The target keyword is “Xbox One.” But look at how he’s stuffed his title and description with words like console, Xbox, etc.

2) Optimize the search tags: Besides listing and description, you’ll also get another box to fill in search tags. Ensure you fill this section up with the target keywords and any related words.

See an example:

Step #4) Choose a delivery method

You can choose between “Shipping and Local Pickup,” “Shipping Only,” and “Local Pickup Only.” In order to target both locals and remote customers nationwide, it’s always best to choose the “Shipping and Local Pickup” option.

Step #5) Choose a shipping label

Facebook offers a prepaid label that you can use for your product packaging. To access this label, you’ll need to provide the weight of your product so as to determine the corresponding label price.

Step #6) Choose where to list the product

Facebook allows you to list on the Marketplace, as well as other Facebook selling groups. It is always better to list in both areas, as it gives your products a chance to be seen by more people.

So, go ahead and search for “buying/selling” groups in your local area and join them. After checking both boxes to list on the Marketplace and selling groups, hit the “Publish” button.

Promote Your Products

Now your products are live in groups and on the Marketplace. What next?

Wait for orders to start rolling in, right?

Maybe. Maybe not.

To hasten the process, you should try to advertise your listing. Advertising a listing means you’re pushing it into places it wouldn’t have shown up ordinarily. The more places a listing shows up, the more eyes will see it.

So, how can you advertise your listing?

By turning it in to Facebook Ads.

How to promote your product listing:

• Go to “Your Account” on the Marketplace, and click on “Your Listings.”
• Choose the listing you want to promote and click on “Boost Listing.”
• Choose a daily budget and boost duration.

Your budget will determine the number of people Facebook will show your product’s ad to. As you can see in the image below, $20 will qualify you for approximately 2,500 people in one week.

• Next, choose your target audience. You can specify an audience based on demographics like age, interest, gender, location, marital status, etc.

• Finally, click the “Promote Now” button.

ACTIONABLE HACK TO GET GOOD AD RESULTS

• Write a magnetic ad headline. Don’t say “Buy the latest Adidas Yeezy Boost.” Say, “Here’s the same Adidas Yeezy Drake wore in God’s Plan video. Buy now.”
• Present social proof about the product being offered. If you’re selling a used video game, social proof can be something like you sitting in front of the console giving your friend the beating of his life.
• Always add subtitles to video ads. This makes ads more relatable for viewers.
• Use FOMO (Fear of missing out). See my best FOMO example:

Here, Booking.com highlighted a missed opportunity in their ads.

You can pull a similar stunt. Say you sell apparel. You can show in your ads how you sold the latest Dior bag for a ridiculously cheap price a few hours back.

And that should do it.

With everything we’ve discussed in this post, you’re more than equipped to start selling on Facebook Marketplace.

However, there’s no shortcut to success.

If you want to be successful on the Marketplace, you have to put in the necessary effort to identify the best products to sell, know where to source them from, and be ready to invest in Facebook ads to get eyes on your listing.

I wish you the best of luck.