How to Sell on Facebook Marketplace & Make Money!

Looking for an easy way to put a few extra bucks in your pocket? If so, you’re in the right place at the right time. Facebook Marketplace is the perfect place to sell items you might otherwise send to the thrift store or those that refuse to sell on other platforms (like Etsy or eBay).

I’ll take you step by step through the process of listing an item, and then we’ll look at what to sell and how to stay safe while selling it.  I think you’ll really enjoy this article covering how to sell on Facebook Marketplace & Make Money!

Related posts: What’s Selling in Vintage & Antiques and Buying Vintage & Antiques.

Anyone can sell almost anything on Facebook Marketplace (FBMP). You don’t have to be a dealer to list your old DVDs or Tupperware castoffs. In fact, it’s a good way to get your feet wet selling stuff. Just start out slow with cheap items or ones you would normally send to Salvation Army.

So far, I’ve sold mostly quirky items (a lion mask, a hand statue, a sewing box), along with a few vintage items (folding chairs, a painting, Fisher Price toys) and a couple of blog projects (a mirror and a stool).

In today’s post, I’ll share some of my personal experiences, but it really is the sort of thing you just need to jump into with both feet and learn as you go.

Below I’ll take you through the actual listing process and trust me, it is SO much easier than it looks here. You can list an item in about 5-10 minutes once you understand the steps, I promise!

How to List an Item on Facebook Marketplace (via the phone app)

In order to list an item for sale on FBMP, you must first be a member of Facebook. Today I’ll be talking specifically about how to list an item via the Facebook phone app because it’s much simpler than listing on a PC, although the process is similar.

The screen shots below were taken on my iPhone, but the process for listing should be similar, if not the same, for on android.

• A1. Enter Facebook Marketplace: Once you’re in the Facebook app, click the Marketplace icon, which looks like a house/market, on the bottom of your screen (A1).
• A2. Ready to Sell: When you’re ready to sell something, click on the Sell button on the upper left-hand corner of your screen (A2).
• B. Start Your Listing: Next, click Create listing (B1) and then click One item (B2). 
• C. Upload Photos: Click Add photos/videos. This will take you to the photos you have stored on your phone. Click on the photos you want to upload. If you have a video, select it first. Click Done.

• D. Add Info: After you load your photos, scroll down to the text boxes to add a Title (describe your item well), Price (start out a little higher since you can always lower it), Condition (be honest!), and Description (see tips below).
• E. More Listing Options: Scroll down and click More listing options (E).
• F. More Listing Options (cont.): Select the appropriate Category, then click Delivery (F).

Description Tips

Take full advantage of this opportunity to sell the heck out of your merchandise, including how it will make the potential buyer feel or how it will make their home look. It’s also where you want to put measurements, if relevant.

• G. Meet Up Preferences: Under the heading Meet up Preferences, select your prefered method (G1). (I always click Door pickup.) Click Done (G2).
• H. More Listing Options: Click Additional listing options.
• I. Additional Listing Options: Fill out any other info you have under Brand, Color, Material, or SKU. Click Next.

• J. List in More Places: FBMP will automatically list your item in Marketplace. Merchandise doesn’t show up on your personal FB page. You are also given the opportunity to post your listing to any garage sale or antique groups that you belong to on Facebook. It’s on the screen above that you select the groups you want your listing distributed to.
• Click Publish on the lower right corner and you’re done! 

Gain access to my How to List on Facebook Marketplace
cheat sheet in my Member Only Library when you SUBSCRIBE!

What to Sell on Facebook Marketplace

As with any secondary market, identifying “sure-sellers” is no easy task. If you knew exactly what sold well on FBMP, you could go out buy them up and get rich quick. But, it’s never as easy as that, is it?

Below are some of the first items I ever sold on that platform:

A potent mixture of wisdom, experience, and self-education goes into learning what to sell in any given market, whether it’s eBay, Etsy, Facebook, or somewhere else.

As someone who sells in multiple locations (and antique booth, eBay, Etsy, FBMP, an annual craft show, and my blog shop), I can say that you get a feel over time for what sells well in which venue. And the beauty is, if you get it wrong the first time, you can move the item around until it sells.

[Kid’s stove sold for $25 and Nerf guns sold for $20.]

An upcycled mirror project of mine serves as a good example of this. First I brought it to my antique booth, listed at about $30. When it failed to sell after a year, I brought it to the yearly craft show that I participate in, and again it didn’t sell. Ditto Craigslist.

After sitting in my garage for several months, I finally decided to give FBMP a try. The initial frenzied reaction led to no sale. Lots of interest, but no appointments. I renewed the listing several times, lowered the price by a few dollars each time, and it finally sold for $20. Go figure.

This farm landscape (oil on canvas) is another example of a piece that refused to sell from my antique booth, even after I lowered the price to $35. So I brought it home and listed on FBMP and sold it for $50.

NOTE: During the pandemic, artwork and other vintage items began to sell like crazy in FBMP. Check out my What’s Selling in May 2020 post for the details and my June 2020 income report.

I sold this vintage (1972) Fisher Price airport for $40; it garnered a lot of attention and I could have sold it many times over.  Fisher Price sets also seem to sell well on eBay, but if I can make good money without having to ship a large package, I’m happy.

UPDATES

Items Sold in 2022

1. A MCM chrome and vinyl magazine rack sold for $35
2. A cowhide rug sold for $45.

1. A Home Goods style handpainted storage box sold for $30.
2. A lighted wreath sold for $10.

1. A MCM ice-cube shaped ice bucket sold for $75.
2. A vintage dress form sold for $50. (It was on a stand.)
3. A lamp I had chalk painted (but didn’t end up liking) sold for $10.

Items Sold in 2023

1. A (large) tiered display sold for $35.
2. A vintage dresser sold for $40.

NOTE: In my area, furniture is one of the most common items you’ll find listed on FBMP. As a result, unless an item is very unusual and/or otherwise valuable, it can be hard to get a lot of $$ for it.

1. A bolt of canvas sold for $10.
2. A very large cutting board sold for $30.
3. A collection of scrapbook paper sold for $8.
4. A set of four embroidery kits sold for $20.

NOTE: I had tried selling the embroidery kits on Etsy for $10-15 each but had no success. On the other hand, I’ve found that certain types, e.g., Winnie the Pooh, Beatrix Potter, and Bessie Wilcox Smith, have sold for me in the $10-20 range.

1. A modern art canvas sold for $25.
2. An art box that contained a paint-splattered palette sold for $25.

Items Sold in January 2025

1. Basket Storage unit sold for $12.
2. Antique cane with sterling silver inset and tip sold for $12.
3. I gave the tower of vintage cigar boxes to a friend (who saw the FBMP ad) for free.

1. An antique toy castle sold for $20. Note: I had tried to sell t from my antique booth for over a year at various price points and it never sold. I took a couple of years to sell on FBMP where I had it listed for $50. I finally took the offer of $20.
2. I have been hoarding canning jars for some time now and decided to list a bunch of clear ones as a lot. They sold for $20.
3. The printer’s tray sold for $38.
4. The pair of gallon bags filled with thread sold for $12.

Managing Conversations With Potential Buyers

As potential buyers begin to contact you, you will be notified via Facebook Messenger. Sometimes you may receive a flurry of interest, and if you have more than one item listed, this might seem overwhelming. But have no fear, your conversations with potential buyers are stored in FBMP and Messenger.

Go back and look at A. above on my first set of screenshots. Right next to the Sell button you’ll see a You button. When you click on You, you’ll be taken to your “profile.” There, you’ll find a bunch of things you can check out, but at the top, click on Inbox. This takes you to all your messages.

When I receive a number of inquiries about an item, I like to keep track of who messaged first, second, third, and so one. So I jot their names down on a piece of scrap paper in the order they sent their message. I also try to deal with just one potential buyer at a time, moving onto the next one if/when a potential deal falls through.

Staying Safe on Facebook Marketplace

I have been selling on FBMP (or sites like it) for a couple of years now. All pick-ups for the items I sell are either in my driveway or on my front stoop because I don’t have time to run around meeting people at “safe” locations.

Because of this, I give out my address, but I have never had a problem. I have met some truly lovely people that have made the process enjoyable, including a delightful handyman who worked for us for a year.

I make pick up times when I know I won’t be home alone, and ask the buyer to text me when they arrive. I carry my phone with me as a safeguard as well.

Frequently I tell the buyer that I’ll leave the item on my front stoop and they can pick it up (on a day of their choosing) at any time that works for them. They leave their payment in a milk box that sits out there. See below how this has restored my faith in my fellow man(!).

Ultimately, every seller has to decide for themselves what their safety protocols are going to be.

Dealing With No-shows

Every now and again, a potential buyer may not show up. It happens. It’s happened to me twice since I started selling on FBMP back in the spring. If you expect it to happen occasionally, then you won’t be so thrown by it when it does happen.

There are two ways I protect against this disappointment. First, I make appointments that are completely convenient for me. I make them for a time when I know I’m going to be home. Second, I stay in contact with other potential buyers.

In other words, if I’ve made an appointment to meet with a buyer, but a second person contacts me about it, I don’t tell them the item is “Sold;” I say I have a “Sale is pending and I’ll get in touch with you if it falls through.” People are usually quite happy to hear that.

So far my FBMP experiences have all been very positive and have had very positive outcomes (money in my pocket!). I enjoy meeting new people and engaging in conversation about the item being sold. Being a “people person” is a definite plus when selling directly to the public.

I hope today’s post has taken some of the mystery out of Facebook Marketplace. I promise you the process is quite straightforward, but I know sometimes reading about it before hand or having the instructions right in front of you while you practice can be helpful. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below 🙂

How FBMP Restored My Faith in My Fellow Man

Sometime in June 2020, I had difficulty connecting with a buyer. Since the item in question cost just $10, I told them I’d place it on my front stoop, and they could slide the money under the doormat. They were super happy since it meant they didn’t have to specify a time.

When I got home later in the day, I found an envelope with the $10 right where it was supposed to be–under my door mat. I’ve since repeated this practice on a number of occasions, each time with the same success. And sellers have afforded me the same trust, too, and I LOVE it!

I truly hope that your experiences on FBMP are as lucrative and positive as mine 🙂

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