What is the Facebook Marketplace?
Marketplace is a Facebook feature that was added in October 2016 to help people buy and sell used items. Statistics show that more than one-third of American users go to Marketplace every month to find new products and buy them easily. This gives advertisers a huge audience base to reach people who are actively shopping.
Merchants can post non-advertising listings of their products on Facebook Marketplace. It’s a cooperation between Facebook and third-party sites like Shopify, Zentail, bigcommerce, etc.
The following countries can list items on Facebook Marketplace:
Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, France, Indonesia, Mexico, the U.S., and the U.K. are automotive leaders. The US and Thailand are retail and online shopping leaders, whereas Canada, France, the US, the UK, Brazil, and India are rental industry leaders.
What’s good and bad about Facebook Marketplace?
Advantages: Facebook Marketplace allows users to easily locate buyers on Facebook pages, but they must verify if the buyers are real and if they can purchase or sell from them. Users may now post product images and promote advertising on Facebook Marketplace in real time.
Disadvantages: Facebook Marketplace doesn’t have a built-in way to pay, so users have to decide whether to use PayPal or pay offline. Some people say that if Marketplace doesn’t have a way to pay, people are likely to stop buying things. It’s also hard to verify, so there may be fakes or fraud.
What kinds of ads does Facebook Marketplace accept? What do you need to do?
Marketplace supports a variety of ad formats, including image, video, carousel, slideshow, boutique, and others.
(1) Requirements for image advertisements
Upload the highest resolution jpg or png; images with more than 20% text may serve less. Title is 25 characters, link description is 30, and text is 125.
(2) Video advertising requirements
9:16 to 16:9 aspect ratio; 4GB video file size; Shortest video is 1 second, longest is 240 minutes. 25 titles; 30 characters; Text: 125 characters; video thumbnails with more than 20% text may serve less; vertical videos with a 4:5 ratio may be modified.
(3) Rules for ads that change every so often
There must be at least two pictures and no more than ten. Type of picture file: jpg or png; Type of video file: file formats that can be used; Maximum video file size: 4GB ; The video can’t be longer than 240 minutes; Maximum picture file size: 30MB ; At least 1080 x 1080 pixels is the recommended resolution; 1:1 is the recommended aspect ratio; Text: 125 characters; Title: 25; Link description: 20; Delivery could be cut.
(4) Requirements for advertisements in the boutique column
Video
The recommended length is up to 15 seconds, the recommended ratio is 4:5, and the maximum file size is 4 GB.
Picture
The best size for an image is 1080 x 1080 pixels; 1 is the best aspect ratio for an image; Image text can’t take up more than 20% of the text.
(1) The merchant must have a nexus connection in the U.S., such as business income from the U.S., assets (inventory, office, or warehouse) in the state, employees in the state, or actual business activities in the state, among other things.
(2) Only brand-new items can be sold by merchants.
(3) Merchants must agree to the terms of return and exchange within 30 days.
(4) Merchants must place the order within 72 hoursShip so that customers can get the goods within 7 days.
How to take part in the Facebook Daily Deals
If sellers want to take part in Facebook Marketplace’s Daily Deals, they need to be whitelisted, and many products in the following categories are required to offer big discounts compared to the MSRP (Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price).
For example, furniture products, gift cards, games, jewelry and watches, consumer electronics products, toys, clothing accessories, underwear, socks, shoes, sports and outdoor sports goods, and beauty products.
When to enter Facebook Marketplace
For stores with their own names or stand-alone stations
During the holiday shopping rush in Q4, it’s a great time to sell on Facebook Marketplace. Sellers who are qualified can also try to sell on Daily Deals, which can bring in a lot of traffic quickly through limited-time offers.
In conclusion, Facebook Marketplace is one of the sales channels that cross-border sellers should consider, whether they want to increase their conversion rate, diversify their sales mix, or make more money.