Did you know according to the latest Facebook Marketplace statistics shared by BusinessDit, over 1.1 billion Facebook users in 70 countries are now using Facebook Marketplace, which has 51.19% of the online market share for social commerce?
In the following blog on “How Facebook Marketplace Works’’, we are going to tell you everything regarding Facebook marketplace with its working for your online branding solutions.
First, let’s begin and understand what is Facebook Marketplace?
The marketplace is a professional destination on Facebook where people can discover, buy and sell items. People can browse listings, search for items that are for sale in their area ,or find products available for delivery.
While individual people can list items for sale, businesses can use Marketplace to either:
- Advertise your shop or items on Marketplace to reach more people, even if your business doesn’t post directly on Marketplace.
- Display new or refurbished items from your Facebook Page shop on Marketplace for free and let customers purchase without leaving Facebook (limited to eligible sellers).
- Set up a shop with your business Page and sell as a business on Marketplace. Note: This feature is limited to eligible sellers and items.
All listings on Marketplace must comply with their Commerce Policies (which list what you can sell on Facebook) and our Community Standards (such as images and descriptions).
Keep in mind that:
After 30 January 2023, Marketplace will no longer support the ability to create property or rental listings along the ability to create vehicle listings using a Facebook business Page.
How Does the Facebook Marketplace Work?
Now it’s time to brief you about the working the of marketplace so that you can also work on your online branding solutions.
Buy something on Facebook Market To
In order to purchase something from the marketplace you can send a message to the seller to arrange a sale.
- From your Feed, click Marketplace in the left menu.
- Click on an item you want to buy.
- The seller can be messaged in two ways that is to either click Message to send a custom message to the seller or send a message that says, “Is this article available?”.
To see items, you want to buy and your conversations with sellers, click your account, and then click your listings.
Sell Something:
When you sell something on Marketplace, you create a public listing that can be seen by anyone on Marketplace, Feed, search and other places on or off Facebook so make sure all listings on Marketplace and similar groups must follow their Commerce Policies.
- From your Feed, click Marketplace in the left menu.
- a Click Create new listing, and then click Item for sale.
- Click Add photos to upload a photo of your item from your computer.
- Enter the info about your item.
- To mark an item as Free, you can enter 0 as the price.
- Click Next.
- Ensure you’ve entered the required information that’s required.
- Click Publish to post your Marketplace listing.
Filtering:
When you hunt for something on Marketplace, do the sorting by
- Distance from your location
How far is the seller/vendor it from your place?
- When the listing was created (new listings).
To find items on Marketplace, you can search for something specific or browse by category. You can also sort and filter your results and change the location of the items you’re looking for.
How to filter results on Marketplace?
- From your Feed, click Marketplace in the left menu.
- Type something in the search box at the top, then press Enter or Return.
- Click Sort and choose how to sort your search results.
Facebook Marketplace Notifications
- Click your profile picture in the top right of Facebook.
- Select Settings & privacy, and then click Settings.
- Click Notifications in the left menu.
- Click Marketplace.
- Click On or off next to a notification type.
Secure Marketplace:
A marketplace should be trustworthy and safe enough for both the seller and buyer; therefore, to maintain the security, a few steps have been suggested by Facebook Community.
Buy and Sell Responsibility
If you observe any suspicious activity, then immediately revoke the transaction, report the listing or person and call the local authorities.
To promote your safety, Facebook community encourages you to review tips for buying and selling responsibly and use it accordingly.
Meet – in- Person
If you have planned to meet someone in person, we recommend arranging your meeting in a public, well-lit area. Create and share your meeting plan with a trusted friend or family member through Messenger.
Clean and Disinfect Items
We suggest you clean and disinfect any item you intend to sell or even when you buy an item, make sure to clean it before bringing it into your home.
Which Items are Not Allowed on Facebook?
Buying or selling of the following is prohibited on Facebook.
- Adult Products
Lubricants or condoms, which do not focus on sexual pleasure or sexual enhancement are allowed to be sold, whereas on the other hand sex toys, sexual enhancement, sexually oriented adult products such as pornography, or used or worn underwear, and images of nudity including partial child nudity, even if not sexual in nature must be avoided.
- Alcohol
Books or DVDs about alcohol and alcohol-related items, including glasses, coolers and wine bottle holders can be sold. On the other hand, sale of alcoholic beverages and kits for making alcohol are prohibited.
- Body Parts and Fluids
Hair extensions and wigs are allowed, but not body parts, human tissue, teeth and etc.
- Digital Media and Electronic Devices
No promotion of buying or selling of devices that facilitate or encourage streaming digital content in an unauthorized manner or interfering with the functionality of electronic devices.
- Discrimination
You must not wrongfully discriminate or suggest a preference for or against people because of a personal characteristic, included but not limited to, race, ethnicity, color, national origin, citizenship, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, family status, marital status, disability, or medical or genetic condition.
- Documents, Currency, and Financial Instruments
No buying or selling of real or fake documents, currency, financial instruments and virtual currency.
- Gambling
Do not promote buying, selling or facilitation of online gambling for money, including digital currencies. Online gambling includes gaming, betting, lotteries, raffles, casino, fantasy sports, bingo, poker and sweepstakes in an online environment.
- Land, Animals, and Animal Products
Avoid promoting the buying or selling of animals or animal parts, or land in ecological conservation areas.
- Medical and Healthcare Products
Medical and healthcare products and services, be it medical devices, or smoking cessation products containing nicotine are strictly prohibited.
Facebook Rating
To share your review and help other people on Marketplace, you can rate buyers and sellers you’ve interacted with, therefore based on your suggestions, Facebook has changed to a much more improved way of 5-star rating system to work on Marketplace.
Buyer ratings are no longer visible to the public so that ratings are kept fair and prevent people from being pressurized into giving dishonest and fake ratings. These ratings further help keep their Marketplace community safe.
How New Ratings Work?
To help prevent misleading ratings, you can rate a seller once you’ve bought something from them or had a conversation with them. This means that ratings may come from people who haven’t purchased any products from the seller they’re rating.
We hope you understood how Facebook Marketplace works and the products that you can list there as online branding solutions.
Good Luck with your venture.
