7 Tips for Selling on Facebook Marketplace (Make $1,000 a Month Selling

Have you heard of the Facebook Marketplace?

Have you used it before?

If you’ve got furniture, clothes, or other miscellaneous household items you’re looking to get rid of, this might be the best and quickest way to do so.

I’ve used the Facebook Marketplace and Bidding Groups as a side hustle for a while now.

Since becoming a full-time blogger and social media content creator, I’m at home all the time anyway and like to declutter my home during downtime!

Purging outgrown, no longer used, or no longer useful items helps me stay organized and focused on my work.

Instead of doing 52 pickup when my toddler gets into stuffed drawers, I can do other valuable things that help me grow my busines.

As someone who’s used Craigslist and had no luck on LetGo, I gave selling on Facebook Marketplace a try one day when I was looking to get rid of some framed artwork; it just didn’t suit the modern look we’re going for in our new home.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links and I could earn a small commission if you make a purchase using them. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

7 Tips for Selling on Facebook Marketplace (Make $1,000 a Month Selling Used Stuff!)

With a couple of photos, a price, and an item description, I was one click away from discovering something great…

I even sold most of the canvas art that very same day!

From then on, I was hooked!

And in about three weeks, I made approximately $1,000 selling items I was going to donate anyway.

Between summer and fall, I earned $7,000 selling used stuff and junk!

I even flipped some of it for profit – like a number of USED baby outfits I bought for $6 that sold for between $21 and $38 in Facebook bid wars groups!!

So, what was the key to my success?

There were a couple of things and I’m so excited to share them with you right now!

This guide teaches how to sell on Facebook Marketplace and lesser known – but incredibly active – bidding groups.

Let’s start with some basics first.

More ways to save and make money online:

What can I sell on the Facebook Marketplace?

Almost literally, anything!

If its taking up valuable space in your home, list it!

I had a set of mismatched IKEA glasses and was successful in selling even those.

Facebook Marketplace Categories include:

Home & Garden, Entertainment (Books, Video Games, etc)
Clothing & Accessories, Family (Baby, Pets, etc)
Electronics
Hobbies

The most important thing is to set the right price though.

Have a craft business? You can also sell handmade items on the Facebook Marketplace!

What is the right price?

It depends on whether you have the time and/or patience. Like any sort of reselling, bargaining comes with the territory.

As much as some people have really pushed my buttons (offering less than 15% of my asking price when I’ve already discounted something by over 60% off the retail price), others have been great in paying my asking price and even buying multiple items from me.

When to Use Bidding Groups

I have much better luck with selling clothing in bid wars groups!

To find Facebook bidding groups in your area, simply type “bid wars” plus your location (depending on where you’re located, the group may included other cities as well) into the Facebook search tab.

As a rule of thumb, I also like to use bid wars groups in the following scenarios:

if I’ve had no luck selling something on the Marketplace
I’m not familiar with the item I’m listing and there are not a lot of similar items on Marketplace
I’m not sure what price point to sell the item at
Clothing and accessories – especially kids and baby items

Children’s items are an especially unique category! While many items are practically worthless when used (cups, dishes, etc.), some hold their value really well (certain bouncers and brands, like GAP).

Interestingly, any kids clothing I purchased from AliExpress also tripled or more in value.

The items I mentioned in my introduction included:

A one year old birthday celebration outfit – purchased for $7, sold for $28!
A rose pattern jumper – purchased for $6, sold for $23!
A black and white striped jumper – purchased for $6, sold for $21

I start most of my auctions for $1 so you can imagine my surprise when these pieces went into serious bidding wars!

Alternatively, sometimes you’ll have no luck in a bid wars group and sell it immediately on the Marketplace – this happened to me with an IKEA lamp that had paint stains on the back of it.

At $1, no one even bid!

However, when I listed it on the Marketplace, it sold for my asking price of $15!

Experiment with both bid wars and the Marketplace to see what works best with the stuff you want to sell.

Now, let’s cover some tips for selling on Facebook Marketplace.

More ideas for moms to be productive at home:

Selling on Facebook Marketplace Tips

Use the following list of suggestions to improve how well your Facebook Marketplace listings do.

Sell stuff on Facebook faster and make pickup more convenient with these selling hacks!

(1) Take Multiple Well-Light & Quality Photos

This is an absolute must for how to sell something on Facebook Marketplace – because while your item may be flawless, your potential buyer only knows what they can see in the photograph you’ve posted.

Like Instagram and Pinterest, white backgrounds just work here too.

So, if you have a white bed sheet lying around, drop your clothing, accessories, and even kitchen items on top of it before you snap a photo.

Taking high quality photos with zero clutter in the background will get you plenty more hits than just photographing your item wherever you might have found it.

Have a photography prop kit? Incorporate it in your photos!

Sometimes the smallest additions can help get listing seen by thousands more!

I did a comparison with some dresses I listed and the results speak for themselves; the exact same dress sold in three days when I took a few clean photos whereas when I had it listed before, hanging on a lamp in our storage room, not even an inquiry as to whether or not it is available.

Finesse matters as does giving your potential buyer a look at all angles of the item. In their mind, the dress could be flawless at the front and have a stain or rip somewhere in the back.

Save your time and theirs to guarantee that your in person experience is as simple as exchanging your item for their currency.

(2) List at a Reasonable Price and Assess Your Competition

Yes, I too once paid retail for many of the things I have!

But unless you’re selling a DockATot or some other in demand item that’s hard to come by, you’re not going to get back as much as you paid for it.

Reality check!

I’ve found that most clothing sells for about 60-75% less than retail and furniture items sell for around 50% less (provided that it’s in good condition).

You can also have a look around the Marketplace and check out your competitors to see what they’ve listed at. Then, if you REALLY want to sell your item and quick, list for between 10-20% less!

(3) Make Sure Your Item is in Tip Top Shape Before Your Potential Buyer Arrives

While, it’s easy to just pull a lint covered shirt out of your closet, take five minutes to clean it up a bit.

Your Marketplace Seller Rating could be impacted by this!

Users rank each other according to the following categories:

Fair Pricing
Friendliness
Item Description
Punctuality
Reliability
Response Time

(4) Write a Detailed Listing Title

If you have a pair of Brand New Without Box (BNWB) Women’s Size 7.5 Nike Free Run Running Shoes, name your listing accordingly.

One of my pet peeves is when sellers give their listing a very generic title (i.e. Ladies Running Shoes) and list it for $1!

You’re just going to annoy potential buyers who think they’re getting the deal of the century – this is a popular Craigslist tactic, but it just doesn’t work when it comes to selling on Facebook Marketplace.

Be up front about what it is that you’re selling and how much you are expecting for it.

(5) Fill in the Item Description and List Any Extra Details or Defects Here

I sold an espresso machine with a leaky frothing wand one weekend; the buyer knew exactly what they were getting and asked me more about the leak before agreeing to come purchase and take the machine away.

Remember when we talked about your Marketplace Rating? Item Description and Reliability could be impacted here, so make sure you get a positive review in being as detail oriented as possible.

Also, if you do not intend to deliver or meet anywhere outside of your home, state this in your listing!

People are constantly looking to meet at mid-way point, transit station, and/or will even offer to give you an additional small amount of money for you to deliver it to them.

I’ve personally never done this and wouldn’t as I hate the idea of wasting a trip only for a buyer to change their mind or not be home!

(6) If You Accept an E-Transfer, Have the Buyer Send it Before Arrival

To eliminate the chances of you awkwardly waiting for technology to work (and I’ve found that it never works if you have a timeline), have your potential buyer send you his or her E-Transfer before they arrive at your doorstep.

Your money will sit in limbo for a bit, but when the buyer does arrive, they can then give you the password to accept the transfer.

This guarantees that you as the seller must hold the item for your buyer and guarantees your buyer that you will not be paid for the item util they actually receive it. It’s also a great way of assuring that you actually have a serious buyer!

Personally, I’ve had a handful of people offer to send an E-Transfer to reserve an item but they never ended up doing so, which brings us to our next point!

(7) Give Your Potential Buyer a Chance to Get Back to You But Don’t Sacrifice Sales

Just like in real life, there are a lot of flakes out there! I once experienced a woman who spent three days giving me excuses of why she could not come pickup the piece of furniture I was selling. And while I understand that life happens, sometimes excuses are just that.

If you’ve got a number of people waiting on an item (as I did on this one… 8 of them), let your buyer know this. While some people might get offended, others completely understand and realistically, the most serious buyers will be at your doorstep ASAP to pickup whatever it is your selling anyway.

My rules of thumb for response time are as follows: When I receive an “Is this available?” message and have responded “yes”, I give the potential buyer an hour or two to contact me for further details.

Once details have been exchanged and a meeting time and place has been proposed, I give potential buyers 24 hours to confirm. You’d be surprised! There are plenty of people out there who ask if you can meet at A time and agree to meet at B place and then, poof, never to be heard from again. Strange, but it happens.

When a buyer is a no show, I contact them within half hour to ask if they are still coming and if I do not hear back from them within an hour or two, I contact the next interested buyer in-que. This might seem harsh to some people but I find it very disrespectful to just not show up when you’ve made the arrangement with someone.

When you’re a busy mom who works hard to stay organized, this can be especially stressful as you almost literally have to schedule every minute of your day!

And there you have it!

You’re ready to start decluttering your home and start making money.

What was your favourite tip for how to sell on Facebook Marketplace? Let me know how your experience went or what surprises you may have encountered along the way in the comments below 🙂