By How to Start a Profitable Business on Facebook Marketplace (2023 Guidelines)
Do you desire to run an online business, selling goods and services to earn an income? If so, setting up an e-commerce website could have been a better option, but the costs run into hundreds of dollars.
The alternative is to use the Facebook marketplace platform to start your business. It is an indigenous online marketplace exclusive to Facebook users.
In this article, we walk you through the process of using your Facebook marketplace business account to make sales.
How Does the Facebook Marketplace Work?
Table of Contents
According to Meta (Facebook), the Facebook marketplace is a platform that “connects your products to your local community.” Think of it as a medium through which your prospective customers in your current location will see your products and patronize you.
Do I Need a Facebook Marketplace Account?
On the contrary, you don’t need a Facebook marketplace business account to sell on the platform. Provided that you have an existing Facebook account, you can start listing your products for sale.
What Can I List on Facebook Marketplace?
The Facebook marketplace platform favors physical goods, but if you offer services, it can also be possible to list them there.
How to Sell as a Business on Facebook Marketplace
We are now going to give you a rundown of the steps to take if you wish to list your products for sale on the Facebook marketplace.
1. Choose What to Sell
The fact that the Facebook marketplace is open to anyone on Facebook doesn’t mean that it is open to all kinds of products.
Facebook places a premium on the types of products one can sell on the platform. For emphasis, products or items that don’t have a wide appeal may not be up for listing. Examples of these items are adult products, alcohol, prescription drugs, body fluids and explosives.
Note that the product requirements tend to differ by location. So, look up the types of products that are available for listing in your region. You may want to check out these fast-selling e-commerce products to see if they are in high demand in your area.
2. Listing Your Product on the Facebook Marketplace
Now that you have picked the type of products to sell, it is pertinent to list these products for your target market/audience to sell them.
To do that, click on “Create Listing” to start setting up the products.
The following are some of the requirements on how to list on the Facebook marketplace as a business:
Item’s Photos
Since most of the listings on the Facebook marketplace are physical products, it is expected of you to publish the pictures.
You need to have the following in mind too:
- Photo Quality: the pictures should be clear. You also want to prioritize using real-life images of the products.
- Maximum Uploads: you can upload up to ten (10) pictures to the Facebook marketplace for each product or item.
Product Itemization
You need to itemize the product to give a piece of accurate information for the buyers to know what they are getting.
The itemization includes the following:
- Title: what name would you like to use for the item?
- Price: the Facebook marketplace platform automatically converts the amount you tagged to the products to the local currency of your location. It is also possible to make a manual change of these currencies.
- Category: how best would you classify the products or items? The broad list of categories on the Facebook marketplace includes Home & Garden, Family, Entertainment, Electronics and Clothing & Accessories.
- Condition: there are 4 different ways to specify the condition of the items you are listing for sale on the Facebook marketplace. These are the New, Used – like new, Used – good and Used – fair. The idea is to use these parameters to inform the buyers about how good or functional the items are.
- Description: use this to describe or tell the prospective buyers what they need to know about the items you listed on the Facebook marketplace.
- Availability: you don’t want to list products that wouldn’t be purchased because the intending buyers are not sure if it’s available or not. Although this is an optional parameter, you want to use it to state whether you are selling just one product or multiple items.
- Product Tagging: do the items have different variants or product codes? If so, you should use product tags to enter the popular keywords for these items and the SKU to specify the product lines or codes.
- Location: where are the items located? Most of the time, it is in your current location, so fill in the information appropriately.
- Meetup Preferences: this states the delivery methods for the items. You can choose public meetup, door pick-up or door drop-off.
- Hide from Friends: don’t want your friends to know that you are selling something on the Facebook marketplace? If so, toggle the “Hide from Friends” button to hide the listings from your friends and contacts, both on Facebook and Messenger.
Distribute the Listings
It is one thing to just list the items on your Facebook marketplace and another to increase publicity.
One of the best ways to advertise your business on the Facebook marketplace is to distribute your listings. Once you’ve completed the previous steps, you will be asked to choose some of the Facebook groups to list the items.
Facebook brings up suggestions of groups you are currently active on and where you can list the items with a touch of a button.
To list these items in the suggested groups, all you have to do is to tick the boxes against each of the groups.
Afterward, click on the “Publish” button for your items to go live on the Facebook marketplace.
Benefits of Using the Facebook Marketplace as a Business Owner
The major upside to using the Facebook marketplace is that it helps you to market your items almost for free. It is a nice way to cut down on your ad spend, especially if you are marketing on a shoestring budget.
Another benefit to using the Facebook marketplace is that the platform suggests your listed products or items to the persons who are likely to be interested in buying them.
Final Words
If you have always wanted to sell on Facebook, using the Facebook marketplace is a great place to start. Let us know how the tips in this article helped you to start a business on the Facebook marketplace.
