Summary
These days, Facebook Marketplace is my favorite place to sell stuff I don’t need anymore, but it can still present struggles of its own. So, did spending a little money on ads make my life easier?
Facebook Lets You Promote Marketplace Listings for Money
When you take your photos, fill in all the information, and post your Marketplace ad in the hopes of selling your stuff, you’re given the option to promote the listing so that more people will see it.
The idea is that by “boosting” your listing, you’ll get more eyes on your stuff, and perhaps get access to people who are more likely to want what you’re selling, or are willing to pay more for it. I’ve been making use of this feature on some (but not all) of my listings and, by and large, it’s been a pretty good experience.
It’s Pretty Easy and Transparent
One of my main worries when running any sort of ad online is that I end up spending more than I think I will. With Marketplace listings, you get a very clear quote of how much you’ll be spending on a campaign, in your local currency. In this example, I’m posting from South Africa, which is why it has prices in Rands, but prices and currencies will vary depending on where you’re selling from.
Then you’ll be billed at the end of the campaign or when a certain threshold is reached. For me it usually works out to less than $5, and if I have to push a campaign longer than three days, it usually means something else is wrong.
Stuff I Was Struggling To Sell Got Lots of Attention
Some things sell within hours of listing. Every MacBook, iPad, or iPhone I’ve ever listed on Facebook Marketplace has sold within 24 hours with no special help from me.
Selling my used Android phones, for example, is often an exercise in futility. Being offered $100 for a $1500 flagship Samsung phone that’s only two years old is a complete waste of everyone’s time.
With the help of boosted listings I’ve managed to sell some of these hard-to-crack nuts and I know this is what helped because some of those listings were up for weeks.
Not All Attention Was Good
If you think that getting a few “is this still available” pings is bad, wait until you get dozens or even hundreds of them after listing an ad. The thing I like the least about boosting listings on Facebook Marketplace is getting spammed by people who have no intention of buying what I’m selling, or even taking the conversation further than asking for availability with the canned responses used.
Even with the fact that my ads are limited to within just an hour’s drive from my location, it does seem that coverage has a tendency to slip outside of that radius, and I’ll get messages from people (mainly scammers) who want to use shipping, something I have a hard rule against.
It Was Worth It for Big-Ticket Items
One of the biggest factors for me when deciding if I’m going to pay to promote a listing comes down to how much the item is worth. If I’m hawking a $1000 laptop, then I’m not going to worry about spending $10 on ads to make that process go faster, but spending $5 on selling a $20 video game makes no sense.
I have no trouble recommending that people try out boosting listings for themselves, but I will say that you should only spend money on this if you’re actually having trouble selling your stuff. There are other things you can do to make it more likely someone will buy your stuff:
If you’ve done the best you can with the listing as possible, and itstillwon’t sell. Well, that’s the perfect time to invest a few bucks in reaching the buyer who has been waiting for you to make their day.
