How to sell on Facebook Marketplace: A guide for businesses

Why is Facebook Marketplace essential for businesses?

Facebook Marketplace was designed to help people on Facebook sell products to each other. As the platform became more popular, Facebook added additional features that made it easy for businesses to use Facebook Marketplace as an online sales channel, too.

Today, Facebook Marketplace for businesses is an ideal channel for attracting customers on Facebook who may not find your e-commerce site or may not know to look for your products in-store. As a result, you can create a new revenue channel with relatively little effort, while at the same time maximizing the investment you've already made in growing your brand on Facebook.

That said, one of the advantages of online marketplaces and channels is they give you broad access to massive customer bases. Facebook Marketplace is already one of the most popular places people go shopping, with 63.5 million people making at least one purchase through Facebook in the last year.¹ By using Facebook Marketplace, you can connect with customers where many of them already spend a significant amount of their online time.

Sell on Facebook Marketplace as a business

Selling on Facebook Marketplace can be a core component of an omnichannel sales strategy that enables customers to buy from your brand according to their preferences.

The more selling channels for small business you can leverage, the more likely you'll be able to meet your revenue goals.

Steps to sell on Facebook Marketplace

Below are simple steps to take before you can start selling on Facebook Marketplace:

• Check that your business is eligible to list on Marketplace. Marketplace is only available to businesses located in the United States. In addition, some products are prohibited from being sold on Facebook, such as alcohol, adult products, and healthcare products.
• Create a Facebook Business page for your business. Once that is set up, log into the Commerce Manager to either create a shop or a catalog. A shop is used to sell physical goods, while a catalog is used for items like hotels, flights, destinations, vehicles, or home listings.
• Connect to Marketplace. Once you create a shop or catalog, you can connect your account to Marketplace to sell products there. To sell your products on Marketplace, in Commerce Manager go to Settings > Business Assets > Sales Channels and connect Marketplace to your account.

You can adjust various settings in Commerce Manager, including:

• Checkout. You can decide if you want to allow checkout through Facebook, through messaging via Messenger or WhatsApp, or if you want to redirect users to your website.
• Product syncing. If you already sell online through platforms like Shopify or BigCommerce, you can sync your Facebook shop with the platform to import and sync products.
• Shipping and returns. Determine your shipping options, customer service information, and return policy.
• Add items. Once your shop is set up, you add items to your catalog by either manually adding in content or syncing it through a product data feed.

What are the benefits of selling on Facebook Marketplace?

With Facebook Marketplace, you can:

• Sell the way you want. You can list a single product, only your bestsellers, or create an entire online storefront that includes all your products.
• Increase your brand visibility. Listing on Marketplace helps you attract customers looking for products like yours when they are on Facebook.
• Reduce your marketing costs. Listing products on Marketplace is free, giving you a low-cost way to increase your ecommerce exposure. You'll only have to pay a fee once a product sells. Check the selling fees page for the most up-to-date information.
• Increase customer engagement. Customers can message your business through Facebook Messenger, allowing them to ask questions and build trust in your brand.

Tips for selling on Facebook Marketplace

If you already sell online, then many of the same tips and strategies you use on other platforms apply to Marketplace. Here is a checklist for sales success:

• Create a descriptive and accurate headline for your product.
• Use keywords in your content to show up in search.
• Make sure your product description includes high-quality content and product dimensions, so customers know exactly what they're getting.
• Add quality photos of your product from every angle.
• Compare your product pricing to others offered on Marketplace and other platforms to ensure your pricing is competitive.
• Respond quickly to customer questions or customer support requests that come through Messenger or WhatsApp.
• Utilize Facebook's ad platform to expand your reach and find new customers.

Choose PayPal to accept Marketplace payments

Small businesses can make it easy for customers to pay the way they want by offering PayPal as a payment option on Facebook Marketplace.

When you choose PayPal to accept Marketplace payments, you help customers feel more comfortable with their purchase while making it simple to their preferred payment methods.