Facebook first introduced the Marketplace application in mid 2007 as a way for people to post classified listings on the site. Now Facebook has launched its new, updated Marketplace. This time the Marketplace is powered by a company with a funny name, Oodle. Despite the name they are a big online classifieds company founded by former Excite and eBay executives. Oodle has built a completely new version of the Marketplace focused on giving people a place to buy, sell or give things away to the people they know.
This Facebook Marketplace Guide is a practical Step-By-Step Guide for all of you who want to learn how to sell your items effectively on the new Facebook Marketplace. Using the Facebook Marketplace you can sell, give away, buy, ask or search for anything you want. You can also use the Marketplace to support your favourite charities by selling your unwanted goods for a good cause. Additionally, you can see what your friends are buying and/or selling.
Facebook users can post their Marketplace listings free of charge. Your listings will be viewable to millions of Facebook Marketplace users worldwide. If you have previously used the old Facebook Marketplace, you should see it bookmarked in the lower left hand corner of your monitor. And, if you had active listings in the old Marketplace, you should be given the option to transfer them to the new Facebook Marketplace. If you have not used the Facebook Marketplace application before, you can find it here: Facebook.com/marketplace.
Ok, let's get down to business. As I mentioned, this is a
Step-By-Step Guide how to sell in the Facebook Marketplace effectively
So, here we go:
Step 1 - Take a Photo
Grab your digital camera and take a nice close-up picture of the item that you wish to sell. It is best to shoot against a light, solid background. Transfer your photo to your computer as a JPG-file. If your item is something that can't be presented with a photo, don't worry, you can still get it listed.
Step 2 - Log On
Log on to your Facebook account and fire up the Marketplace application. Just click the Applications menu in the lower left hand corner of your screen and choose Marketplace. You are greeted with the Marketplace welcome screen.
You have four main options at your disposal:
Sell It Sell for a Cause Give It Away and Ask for It
In this guide we are concentrating on the Selling-for-Money side of things, so you may leave the screen as it is and write a short description of your item in the box where it says "Sell something to make extra cash." When you click the box it will change into "Yourname" is selling. Write your main headline for the listing here. After writing your headline description, click the blue Post-button.
Step 3 - Write Your Advertisement
After you have written your headline for the listing you are presented with a new screen with more options related to your listing. Write a punch line type of a description in the box "Why are you selling it". You could write "I need money to buy more stuff." but, even though it might be the case, I don't think it would get your listing noticed. Consider this space as your sub headline for the ad. Write this description like you were working in an advertising company. Or, if you feel more conservative, just describe your item as funky as possible. You have two lines to hit the point.
Next, state your asking price in the Price-box. You know what its worth.
Write your location. This is a must. Just write in your city.
Choose a category for your item. At the time of writing this book, there are only the following 13 categories available:
Baby & Kid Stuff Books & Magazines Cars & Vehicles Clothes & Accessories Collectibles Computers & Accessories Electronics Furniture Home and Garden Musical Instruments Sporting Goods, Bicycles & Equipment Tickets Everything Else
If you can't find a suitable category for your item, you can always choose Everything Else, however it is not a very good category to be listed under.
In the next box you can provide a wider description of your item. Here you have more room than just two lines. Describe your item with as much detail as you can. You know, size, colour, condition,.. those sort of things. But, don't stress yourself too much with this; you can always change it later. Once you have created the best advertising text ever, hit the Browse-button to locate your photo from your computer, USB stick or where ever you think you saved it in Step 1. Yes, I know, I can never find my images either. Don't panic though, you have time to locate it; the screen isn't going anywhere.
You found it? Good! Actually, you can upload two photos if you wish. For instance if you are selling a book, it is a good idea to upload both front and back covers. You can upload even more images later on, but for the sake of this exercise, one is enough.
Tick the Terms of Use-box and click the Submit-button.
Step 4 - Rather Unnecessary Step
The next screen has your details on it and your only option is to click the Continue-button. I really don't know why this screen exists, but since it does all we can do is click the button.
Step 5 - Publishing
Next you will get a screen asking if you want to publish this listing in your own Facebook profile. This is a good idea. You will get a choice for a Full, Short or a One Line description. I would recommend you'd choose the Short-option. You may tick the Always do this for Marketplace-box if you wish to use this same option every time you list something. So, if you wish to publish this listing on your profile, click the Publish-button, but if you only want it to appear in the Facebook Marketplace, choose the No, Thanks-button.
Step 6 - Promotion
This step is your first chance to advertise your new listing. This is also a good idea. You can Recruit Friends to Promote your Listing in their News Feed. You can add up to 5 of your friends by clicking on their pictures. You can also choose them by writing their names in the Find Friends-box. Once you have chosen your friends who might be interested in promoting your listing, click the Send Request-button; or if you don't want to bother your friends this time, choose Skip.
Step 7 - Personal Marketing Message
You will be presented a confirmation screen with your details. You can add a personal message to this post by clicking the blue Add Personal Message-hotlink. If you don't want to add your personal message, just click the Send-button. You also can cancel this message altogether by clicking Cancel.
Step 8 - Done!
Congratulations! You have listed your first item on the Facebook Marketplace. Listings take approximately 30 minutes to be included in the search index.
You will be presented with the screen titled "Manage My Listing: Active". Here you can review your listing and, if you wish to make any changes click the Edit Details-hotlink in the light green bar. You can also delete your listing as well as promote your listing with a Facebook Ad. I will not get into details how to produce Facebook Ads in this book. That topic, among many other good ones, will be fully covered in my Facebook Advertising Guide.
That's it, you've done it! Good work! Thank you for reading so far.
Additional, Good to Know Stuff:
Editing Your Listing
You can easily edit your listings after you have published them. Just click the Edit Details-hotlink on the screen mentioned in the Manage My Listing -page, and you will get pretty much the same screen as when you were writing the listing in the first place. You can change every detail of your listing here as well as upload more images if you wish. It is a good idea to show as many images as you can.
After you have made your changes in this panel click the Submit-button to get your listing updated. You will again be presented with a useless confirmation screen as seen. Just ignore it, and click the Continue-button.
Next, you will be asked if you wish to publish this updated listing on your Facebook profile as in Step 6. You may choose to publish again, or you may just click the No, Thanks-button.
Finally, you will see your updated listing on the "Manage My Listing"- screen.
Managing Your Facebook Marketplace Listings
You can easily manage all of your Facebook Marketplace listings in one convenient location. If you click the My Listings-hotlink in the Marketplace menu, you will see your current listings. This is your place to manage all your listings. You can add more listings, edit them and after you have sold your items you can delete them.
As I mentioned earlier, you can also sell your items for a cause or you can give them away for free (don't know why, but you can). You can also find something you need for yourself. These functions are not covered in this book, but I'm sure you'll manage them with the principles covered here.
Ok, I hope you enjoyed this Facebook Marketplace Guide. I wish you luck in selling your stuff through Facebook. I sold my first item, an awesome Jimi Hendrix Wah-Wah guitar pedal in just 3 days.
Best regards,
Kris Olin, MscBa, marketing
This Facebook Marketplace Guide is also available as a fully illustrated PDF-version
You can download it FREE: http://www.facebook-advertising-marketing.com
Kris Olin is a Web Designer from Brisbane, Australia specialised in Web 2.0, SEO, Digital Publishing, Social Media Marketing and Internet Promotion Strategies. Kris also does company consultations, training and provides website hosting solutions. Website: http://www.krisolin.com