Facebook Marketplace: 4 tips to boost your sales

How often do you browse items on Facebook Marketplace? To those non-active users, it might be shocking news – there are actually 800 million people shopping on Facebook Marketplace every month. So if you are in the retail business, Facebook Marketplace should be counted as one of your must-have marketing tools.

Not sure where to start? SleekFlow will now share with you the tricks and best practices of selling on this e-commerce platform.

What is Facebook Marketplace?

Everyone knows Facebook but probably not Facebook Marketplace. While Facebook, the global leading social media platform, has now become one of the most important tools in our daily lives to stay connected with our loved ones and the world without the restrictions of borders, it also provides a platform that opens doors for businesses to reach potential customers and thrive.

Marketplace, which is currently available to users of 18 or older in dozens of countries and regions, is an easy and convenient way to buy and sell in your area. People can look through listings or search for items near you to find basically everything, from clothes, TVs, cars, and even real estate, whether they”re used items or brand-new products. All they need to do is look for the Marketplace icon from the Facebook app or the Facebook webpage and start shopping.

Why should your businesses use Facebook Marketplace?

The pandemic has accelerated the growth of e-commerce, benefiting giants of the industry like Amazon. With numerous options available for businesses to ride on the trend of online shopping, Facebook Marketplace is still a platform that you should never overlook as it offers an opportunity to reach an active and growing community.

A massive number of active users

Embodied in Facebook, Marketplace helps you easily reach millions of people who browse and buy items on the platform. When you sell on Facebook Marketplace, all information is accessible in a place, from product description to pricing, which stimulates purchase. Let”s admit it – people are lazy. The all-in-one-place feature would unquestionably attract more users, and as the community continues to grow, your businesses will generate more sales and revenues.

Real-time communication

Apart from the chance to connect with millions of future customers, real-time communication with Messenger can be another reason why you should start listing on Marketplace. People sometimes are cautious about online shopping and tend to seek more information and clarification before checking out.

Messenger facilitates communication between businesses and prospective buyers, allowing you to have the ability to directly respond to questions or inquiries from interested buyers in real-time before they lose interest or decide to move along and browse other products. Better customer service and experience also means they are more likely to come back.

And it is free of charge. Period.

Do you want to explore other real-time communication tools? Check out the Live Chat software.

Can every business use Facebook Marketplace?

Independent sellers and businesses are permitted to sell on Marketplace as long as they adhere to the Commerce Policies.

According to Facebook, some items are prohibited and they are:

Digital products or subscriptions
Weapons, ammunition, or explosives
Animals
Illegal, prescription, or recreational drugs
Tobacco products and related paraphernalia
Ingestible supplements
Adult products and services
Real money gambling services
Real, virtual, or fake currency
Misleading, deceptive, or offensive items
Recalled products

You should also consider which categories that your products fall into so that you can reach the right customers. Categories include Clothing & Accessories, Electronics, Entertainment, Family, Hobbies, Home & Garden, and more.

As orders must be shipped within three days and received within seven days, it is crucial for brands that make handmade goods to modify the amount available to solve any issues with supply and demand.

How to list items on Facebook Marketplace?

Listing items on Facebook Marketplace is easy. First of all, you need a Facebook account. Once you finish the registration and login, go to Marketplace and look for the button “Create New Listing”.

Next, you will be asked to choose a listing type. You can choose from “Item for sale”, “Vehicle for sale”, “Property for sale or rent” and “Job opening”. If your product is neither vehicle nor property, just click “Item for sale”.

Now here comes the most prominent part. You will need to provide information about your product, including title, price, category, condition, description, and up to 20 photos. As you create your listing, you can preview how it will appear to others on the Marketplace. You can “Save Draft” to take a break before filling in all the information.

After everything is done, you can click “Next” and choose where you want your listing to be seen. By default, Facebook marks the Marketplace option so you can either select more groups to publish your listing or just click “Publish” directly to share your product in the Marketplace.

How to increase your sales on Facebook Marketplace?

We have now introduced all the basics you need to know about Facebook Marketplace, but it is important for you to go further and outcompete your peers.

Boost your listing

To reach more potential buyers for your Marketplace item, you can boost your listing, which then turns into a Facebook ad so more people can see it, which may help you to sell your item faster. It does not only help you increase reach by showing your items to additional people beyond the Marketplace feed and drive traffic to your listings and connect with people nearby for local listings to find your audience.

See how to leverage Facebook Business Manager for ads placement!

Include compelling visuals

We are all visual animals. High-quality photos which are clear, crisp, and well-lit would undoubtedly help you stand out from the crowd. It does not necessarily mean that you need to hire a professional photographer (of course, you can do it if budget allows). Still, you should take photos from various angles to ensure that the potential buyers have a complete picture of what you are selling to avoid any misconception. A neutral background also helps to minimize distractions and highlight your item.

Offer free delivery

The reason why e-commerce is prospering is that people can buy products without moving an inch as long as they have a device with an Internet connection in hand. No one wants to travel to pick up products, no matter if it is heavy furniture or a small item. By offering local delivery for free within a reasonable range, you can possibly boost your sales. Offering to ship internationally might even increase the pool of prospective buyers.

Post in groups

Buyers sometimes look for insights from groups. If you post your listing in active local selling groups, your listing will get immediate attention. Joining these groups also gives you an idea of what people are selling and how much in your area. Price setting is always because pricing too low would cut your profit but pricing too high would cost your competitiveness.

Every business starts with a conversation. To fully utilize the potential of Facebook Marketplace, you need a helping hand, there are many prominent CRM platforms to consolidate all your social channels on one platform. Marketers can therefore easily manage incoming messages, potentially inbound leads, at ease.

“ It helps us to do segmentation, kind of like a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System. By segments, we can send the right messages to the right students. For instance, we can send some free trials to the students who have just registered.” – Ronald, SleekFlow user, the founder of AfterSchool.

Check out Ronald’s success story at That’s why I SleekFlow.

Take SleekFlow as an example. SleekFlow is an Omni-Channel Social Commerce Platform that helps companies manage communication channels such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Line, Live Chat, SMS, and Email all in one place.

Facebook Marketplace offers instant communication via Messenger while SleekFlow is taking it to the next level because it makes it all into one. With invented features exclusively on SleekFlow such as auto reply, internal notes marked in inbox, a list of saved quick replies, it helps interacting with customers becomes a pain-free process.

Facebook Marketplace is probably not the only platform that you are using to promote your products. That is why a tool is needed to integrate with all your customer relationship management (CRM) and eCommerce platforms to better map, monitor, and improve your customer journey. Relevant customers’ information is also shown on the side to help you understand customer behavior with integrated activity logs by tracking past purchases, loyalty points, and more automatically.

Facebook Marketplace: the ultimate guide to sell and reach potential buyers on the e-commerce platform

What is Facebook Marketplace?