Welcome to Facebook Marketplace, where you can easily buy and sell stuff online. It’s a convenient place to connect with people looking for what you have or vice versa. But there’s something important to know – fees. In this guide, we’ll talk about Facebook Marketplace selling fees, what they mean, and how they can affect your selling experience.
Whether you’re new to selling things online or have some experience, let’s explore together how these fees work on Facebook Marketplace.
What is Facebook Marketplace?
Facebook Marketplace is a place on Facebook where you can buy and sell stuff. It started in 2016 as a way to trade used things, kind of like Craigslist or eBay. But now, even businesses, especially those selling handmade items, use Facebook Marketplace to sell their stuff.
Anyone who has a Facebook account can use the Marketplace. Just log in, and on the computer, look on the left side. If you’re on your phone, find it in the menu. Or you can go to facebook.com/marketplace in your web browser.
How Does Facebook Marketplace Work?
Facebook Marketplace is an easy way to sell stuff online, but you have to stay involved. If you’re doing local pickup or delivery, keep an eye on your listings to chat with interested buyers. If you’re shipping, just watch for orders and send the stuff when you get one.
Now, let’s talk about the basics of using Facebook Marketplace. To sell something, go to Marketplace and click the “Create new listing” button. You can list one thing or several at once.
If you want to sell lots of things together, you can do it by typing or using a special sheet. They give you a paper with spaces to fill in.
Here’s what you can write:
Title: You have to put this in. Just regular words, up to 150 letters.
Price: This is a must. It has to be a number.
Condition: Also necessary. Pick one of these—New, Used – Like New, Used – Good, or Used – Fair.
Description: You don’t have to do this, but if you want, write some plain words, up to 5000 letters. Category: You don’t have to, but if you want, say what kind of listing it is.
After you write your things, you can choose how you want to give them to people. Some kinds only let you do local pickup, but for others, you can also send them.
Things that cost between $1 and $500 in certain kinds can be sent through shipping:
- Antiques and collectibles (not covered by Purchase Protection)
- Appliances
- Arts and crafts
- Auto parts
- Baby and kids
- Bags and luggage
- Books, movies, and music (no digital sales allowed)
- Clothing and shoes
- Electronics and computers
- Furniture
- Garden
- Health and beauty
- Household
- Jewelry and accessories
- Mobile phones
- Musical instruments
- Pet supplies
- Sports and outdoors
- Tools
- Toys and games
- Video games
If you make your own listings, you’ll see a “Shipping available” note for some categories.
Things that can be sent will show a “Buy now” button in the marketplace, not the usual “Message seller” option. But if you can’t send your item or want to sell it nearby without fees, you’ll need to talk to people who are interested.
You can also put some things from your Facebook Shop on Facebook Marketplace. Just remember, Marketplace items only show up within a certain distance (1 to 500 miles) from your shop. This means your stuff won’t be seen everywhere, but it might make sending things cheaper.
Guide to Facebook Marketplace Selling Fees
Want to sell on Facebook? When you sell things online, there are usually different fees involved. Let’s chat about what these fees are, whether they’re part of buying and selling on Facebook Marketplace, and how much you might have to pay.
Selling Fees
When you sell stuff online, the website often asks for a fee, and on Facebook Marketplace, it’s 5% or at least $0.40. If your thing is $8 or less, the fee is $0.40 flat. If it’s more, like $20, you pay $1 extra. For a $50 thing, it’s $2.50 extra.
These fees only count if you’re shipping the items, not for local pickups. Also, the fees are for each thing you ship, so if you send a few things together, the fee might be less.
Chargeback Fees
A chargeback happens when a person who bought something disagrees with the payment and talks to their bank or credit card company. This can be because of different reasons, like if someone stole their card, they didn’t get what they bought, they didn’t like it and the seller couldn’t help, they got charged many times, or the thing they got was very different from what they were told.
If this happens on Facebook Marketplace, you’ll have to pay an extra $20 fee along with what the thing cost originally, and you won’t get back the money you paid to sell it.
Facebook will tell you about the problem and take the fees from your account. You have 10 days to say why you think the problem is not your fault.
The card company will check both sides and decide if they believe the buyer or you, the seller. If they believe you, the money for the thing and any fees will go back to your account. But if they believe the buyer, you have to deal with those fees.
Insertion/Listing Fees
Putting things up for sale online sometimes costs money. Some websites ask for money each time you put something up for sale, and this can be a problem, especially for businesses with many different things to sell. Small businesses or people selling just a few items might find it hard to pay these fees. For example, on Etsy, sellers need to pay 20 cents for every item they put in their Etsy shop.
But on Facebook Marketplace, you don’t have to pay any fees to put things up for sale. You can put up as many items as you want, one by one or all together, without having to pay any fees—except if you sell something that needs to be sent to the buyer.
Subscription Fees
Some online stores ask sellers to pay a fee every month just to have a shop. It’s like a rent for being on those websites.
But on Facebook Marketplace, there’s no fee like that. Businesses can sell things whenever they want and take breaks without paying anything. They don’t need to stop or pay fees to start selling again.
Shipping Fees
When some websites help you send out things, they usually charge extra for shipping, and it’s your job as the seller to pay for it.
But on Facebook, they don’t have their own way of sending things, so it’s all up to you to get the stuff ready and send it out. That means there are no fixed fees you have to pay for shipping on Facebook Marketplace—unless you decide to use a prepaid label.
However, not everyone can use prepaid labels. So, you get to pick how much you want to charge for shipping. You can either cover the cost (take it from what the buyer pays), or you can ask the buyer to pay extra for shipping.
Ad Fees
Now, let’s talk about ad fees. Using ads is up to you, but it’s a big part of selling. You can show off your stuff in Facebook Marketplace by using ads. This helps people looking for things like yours find your business.
But, it’s not free. There are costs for doing this. Even with the costs, using ads in Facebook Marketplace can be a good way to sell more and make more money.
To use Marketplace ads, you need to sign up for something called Meta Advantage+. This is the only way to get your ads in Marketplace.
Then, you can make ads for your stuff. These ads will show up in Facebook Marketplace with a “Sponsored” label. Look at the example below to see how your ad could look:
When people look at things on Marketplace, the first item in each row is usually an ad. This is where you can try to put your own stuff.
If you do this, your ads can send people to your product pages on your website. You won’t have to deal with Marketplace or other fees from selling on Facebook. Instead, you just need to think about the costs for your ads because they are sponsored.
You can choose to do both—put some things only on Marketplace and also show them in ads. Or, you can decide to use your money only for ads, so the only fees are the ones on your website or wherever you sell stuff.
These ads are simple. Just use good pictures of your products, add the product name, and your stuff can stand out from what’s on Facebook Marketplace.
Conclusion
So, to wrap it up, knowing about Facebook Marketplace selling fees is really important for selling stuff smartly. When you get how these fees work, you can plan your selling in a way that helps you make more money. Whether you’re a pro or just starting, understanding these fees helps you sell better. It’s not just about what you sell but also how you handle the costs to make the most money.
So, learn about Facebook Marketplace selling fees, and enjoy selling your stuff with confidence!