10 Tips For Successfully Selling On Facebook Marketplace
Are you wondering how to sell your items in a Facebook Buy and Sell group? It is so straightforward, and when you follow this list of tips for successfully selling your items in a Facebook Buy and Sell group, you will increase your odds of selling your item quick and hassle-free.
Several friends had been sharing their success with selling in local Facebook buy and sell groups with me for quite some time but not until just a few weeks ago did I take the plunge.
I waited so long only because I have had great success simply selling to my friends using an album labeled “Virtual Yard Sale” on Facebook.
I sold what didn’t sell there on either Craigslist or eBay and seemed to get rid off 80 percent of our stuff that way. I figured why try something else when what I am doing is already working so well. At least until my friend told me she had made over $300 in one month by selling on Facebook buy and sell groups, then I thought “this is a sell what you already own income stream I have to try out and write about.”
Over the course of two days, I put around a dozen items on one of the local Facebook groups in my area and sold two large items for a total of $100 (a large air conditioner and a boys BMX bike). I was hoping to sell more but was pleased to sell what I did and found the whole process to be extremely simple.
10 Tips For Selling In Facebook Buy And Sell Groups
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1. Facebook buy and sell groups will give you a smaller audience than eBay or Craigslist will
(Update with the introduction of Facebook Marketplace the reach of your items is much larger than it once was. I now think Facebook Buy And Sell Groups give you just as much exposure as Craigslist –if not more)
The group I joined had roughly 700 to 800 people in it. Which is larger than my personal Facebook page where I tend to sell a lot of my no longer needed items but still a lot smaller than the audience you will find on Craigslist or eBay. However, it takes very little time to load up a picture and type a few details about it in the status section, so I think the ease of listing outweighs the smaller audience.
If your item doesn’t sell, you can always go on to listing it elsewhere.
2. You need to have instant and constant access to Facebook
Before you list an item make sure that you have both the Facebook app and the Facebook messaging app downloaded to your Smartphone. Make sure you also go to your smartphone’s settings and allow notifications. You could also do this on a tablet if you for some reason don’t own a smartphone.
People want instant access to you to answer questions and set up pick up should they want the item. If you are the type of person who just gets on Facebook once in the evening and once at night, do not try and sell on a Facebook buy and sell page.
3. Take good pictures
I noticed that the items selling the best were those that had good clear photos with not a lot of background noise going on.
Make sure you clean-up your item before you take a picture of it. Here are my best tips for prepping an item for sale so that you get top dollar.
4. Put all the information you can in the status line
You don’t have to write a 1000 word essay about your item but do cover all the facts that a buyer would want to know such as size, how old it is, any damage you know of, the price you want for it, and anything else that applies to the item you are selling.
Having a detailed status line will save you from answering questions over and over again since people don’t seem to scroll up to read others questions and your answers to them.
5. Once it sells take the photo down as soon as possible
People get annoyed when you leave things up that have sold already and since some groups are people could remember you and just start ignoring your posts if you are known for not deleting after you sell, meaning you will soon not sell at all.
6. Read the rules of the group
I looked into three different groups and read all their rules before deciding on the one that suited me best. Knowing the rules will help keep you from being blacklisted and unable to sell or buy.
7. Always pick a public place for pick up
For safety reasons always pick a public place to meet the person. If the item you are selling is large have someone help you load it into your vehicle before you even post it and then suggest to the person buying it that they bring someone along to help unload it from your vehicle into theirs.
8. You can sell items both big and small
What I like about the Facebook buy and sell groups is that you can sell something as small as a toaster to something as large as a camper. Since people are local they are more willing to look at both small and large items since they are not going to spend a lot on gas to pick the items up.
9. Be flexible with pick up but not too flexible
If the person says they are going shopping in an hour and would you meet them outside of Walmart and you had an errand to do there anyways go ahead and meet them there. But if Walmart is the other side of town and you have no reason to go there today, and you are selling an item that is so small that driving to Walmart would eat half your profits, suggest perhaps you could meet them somewhere closer to your home (but still public).
10. Try more than one group
I had a lot of my items go unsold, but I tried just one local group in my area, and I know of three. The next time I have a few days with not much going on I am planning to try out the other groups and see if I can sell my unsold items there.
There is, of course, some overlap of people between the groups, but there is also different people in each group with different wants and needs.