Are you still not getting a ton of views when it comes to your Facebook Marketplace listings, wondering how you could get more buyers interested so that you could sell your items faster?
Then stick with me until the end of this post, because I’m going to show you how to improve your Facebook Marketplace listings quickly by using real world examples and spending a couple minutes to beef up these listings. I’ll show you the exact method that I use to improve Facebook Marketplace listings, which I went over in my last video on how to sell on Facebook.
Before we jump into examples, let’s review a few things that we learned in our last article.
The first big takeway that we learned was that, the number one reason why people struggle to sell things on Facebook is because they don’t make it easy for buyers to buy things. The second thing that we learned was that there are key components to every successful listing. And now when you use those components properly, you can position your listing to be really enticing to potential buyers.
Essentials to Effective Facebook Marketplace Listings
In your listing, it’s really important that you use a keyword optimized title, make sure that you’re including things such as the brand of the item or the particular model of the item that you’re selling. If you don’t know either of these things, mentioned things such as the color or the condition or some sort of short benefit in the title of your description. This will make it easier for people to find you, based off the different ways that people think about items that they want to buy.
The second thing to include is your desired pricing. This is where you’re going to want to look at the overall market and see how everyone is selling similar products to what you’re selling and then price your item accordingly.
Aside from the price, you also want to make sure that you include high quality photos. Pictures say a thousand words and it’s no different in Facebook Marketplace. Make sure that you’re providing multiple perspective and lenses of how someone might view the product as if they were in person.
Another thing that you need to include in your listing is the condition of the item, is it in like new condition, new, used, good, etc. Make an honest assessment as to the state of your item and if there are potential scratches or dings and nicks here and there, then make sure that you also did note that in your listing description. An easy way for you to make your listing stand out on Facebook Marketplace is to position your copy from the lens of the benefits to the buyer.
In my last article, I went over the example of my Weber grill in which something that I included in my listing was mentioning that you could enjoy the summer sun while grilling some steaks with this Weber grill. Just helping my potential buyer visualize how they might use the item that I was selling can really help my listing stand out from all the other grill listings.
Another thing that I like to do is include the percentage savings to the potential buyer. I look at the overall retail price and compare it to the price that I’m selling at so that I can tell the buyer how much they are saving by buying my used item as opposed to something new.
The three last things that we went over in our last article to make sure that you include in your Facebook Marketplace listings were the payment terms, in terms of what’s your preferred payment method, for example, cash versus Venmo, versus quick pay, and finally, the pickup times or days that you prefer in order to schedule the meetup.
Alright, so let’s go ahead and jump into some real-world examples of Facebook Marketplace listings and how we could make them better.
Bad Facebook Marketplace Example: Fitbit inspire HR
This first one is what I would categorize as a bad listing. And here’s why. In this particular listing, it’s already been listed for over a week and we have a Fitbit Inspire HR that is being listed at $80 as brand new, and it’s also being listed in jewelry and accessories.
Right off the bat, the reason why I think this listing is ineffective is because it has chosen the wrong category to place this item. If you think about what would typically fall into a jewelry and accessories section, it’s going to be things like actual traditional jewelry like necklaces, and watches and things like that, than a Fitbit Inspire HR. So the seller here has listed their product in the wrong category. Another thing to note is that this seller is selling this item as a brand new Fitbit Inspire HR when they’re actually showing you a picture of the Fitbit on their wrist.
So it’s obviously not brand new, otherwise, you wouldn’t have worn it. And you probably would have had at least the open box or a story behind why you don’t have the box. The other thing to keep in mind is that you haven’t included anything in your listing in terms of preferred payment method, or even your desired pickup, where you are located. I know that I can see it on the actual map of a general location of where you’re located. But just having these sorts of details would make it far easier for me as a potential buyer to take this off your hands.
So how do we improve this listing? Well, the first thing that we could do is, we could improve the actual title with a keyword optimized title. Instead of just saying something like Fitbit Inspire HR, we could say Fitbit Inspire HR-like new-still under warranty. This way, we could have another benefit to the buyer in the title of the listing. We could also take down the price, in this situation $80 is far too much for what is clearly not a brand new Fitbit Inspire HR. When I looked at the actual Fitbit price, I happen to be looking at it at a time which they’re running a sale. And so this was not even a really good price for a used item.
And so what I would recommend to the seller in this case is to actually list their Fitbit closer to $55 or so. Another thing that I do is I take a look at how Fitbit themselves actually advertise this product. So I would go on the Fitbit site and look at how they staged their photos as well as things such as, what they are describing as some of the benefits to the product. If I did this, then I could actually pitch two additional points to this particular listing. In this case for example, I could mention that this is like new condition, I wore it once for a week or so and then decide to get it Charge three, that would be a reasonable enough story as to why it’s on my wrist. And the next thing that I could say is the battery lasts the standard five days, and comes with the original charger and box.
Just including these sorts of details is important so that your potential buyer is less sketched out as to why you’re listing this thing, as you know, in this case, which should be like new. Finally, thinking about the last components of listing, things that I could do is I could say that, if you buy this at $55, then you’re actually going to save 22% off retail. And then the last thing I could include is something along the lines of Venmo and cash only, pickup, in whatever location you’re in.
So really quickly from this example, we can see that by simply choosing the right category, optimizing the keyword title, as well as including some more benefits and better photos could’ve really made this listing a lot more compelling.
Mediocre Facebook Marketplace Example: Grey/Blue Sectional Couch
Alright, so in this next example, we have a grey/blue sectional couch, and there’s a few things that we can note off of this listing.
The first one is that it’s already been listed for five days, and it doesn’t seem to be flying off the shelves, it’s being listed at $250 and it has to be picked up. Just right off the bat, that description is terrible. And the reason why is because it’s obvious the couch needs to be picked up that’s why you’re listing it on Facebook Marketplace. But the other thing is that if we ask ourselves that key question of, am I making it easy for my potential buyer to buy my item? The answer is clearly no. There’s so many questions that come to mind when I’m thinking about this listing.
For example, what are the dimensions of the couch? I’m not a professional couch buyer, but that’s the first question I want to know is, is this even going to fit in my living room or wherever I want to put it in my particular apartment or house? The next thing that I’m wondering about this picture is does this couch come with the cushions? It’s not super clear from this image because you haven’t really staged it properly, or at least included in your listing what’s included and what’s not included in the $250 deal. Other things I’m wondering is when would you like me to pick up this couch if I’d like to buy from you, or what is the payment method? and so on.
So let’s dig into how we would improve this particular listing.
The first thing we need to improve is the title. To improve something like this, we could do something along the lines of XYZ brand grey/blue sectional couch, good condition, seats six comfortably. And in this particular title example, what we’ve done is we’ve covered so many more basis. For example, if somebody really likes XYZ brand, then they will just search for XYZ brand in Facebook Marketplace when they’re looking to buy their next couch. So that’s an audience that we wouldn’t have covered in our original listing. But now we cover it.
Another thing that I do to improve this listing is I’d include more than one image, for example, are there any potential nicks in this couch on the sides, which is especially the case with normal couch wear and tear? Or for example, what is the back of the couch look like? Are there any potential issues there that you need to disclose to your potential buyer?
To improve this listing even more, you could tell me one or two benefits of this couch. For example, maybe it’s great for dinner parties up to eight people or more game nights have up to eight people. Another way you could entice me as a potential buyer is to tell me how much this couch is retail. So including those sorts of price savings in terms of percentages or dollar amounts can be an easy way to entice other potential buyers. And lastly, new photos that would show how it fits into a broader living space.
So after making a few tweaks, our couch listing might look a little something like this, ABC brand grey/blue sectional couch, good condition, seats six comfortably.
In our bullet points we would include things such as the dimensions are x by x, fits in most standard living rooms. It’s it was owned for three years in good condition with no stains, the left corner has a small nick from a prior move, cushions are included. This is a great couch when it comes to hosting dinner parties, or movie parties for up to six people at a time. I’ve hosted two Super Bowl parties with this bad boy, suitable for those who lack a guest bedroom. Had friends crashed on this couch comfortably for several times over the years. Paid $750 so you’re saving 67% send off retail. Prices not open to negotiation, we’ll drop the price $50 if you pick up in 48 hours. Venmo or cash. Pick up in location any day of the week, except Wednesday, and boom, just like that, in a few minutes, we’ve taken this couch listing from ehh to awesome.
So what we’ve learned from these two examples is that by simply taking a step back and thinking about how to position our listings from the lens of a potential buyer, we can make our listings so much more attractive.
Before we head into our last example, where we’re going to take an already good listing and make it into an even better listing, I’d love for you to hit that like button and subscribe if you haven’t already to join the community, as well as comment below, what have you found most helpful in walking through the first two examples.
Good Facebook Marketplace Example: Nikon 35mm F1.8 ED FX
Now let’s jump into the last example. In this last example, we have a Nikon lens that is for sale. It’s been listed for over a week in electronics and computers and that’s to be expected because it is a high ticket item. However, right off the bat, what we can tell is that this is worlds better than the first two listings that we saw.
In this example, we can see that there’s a set of high quality photos. We also have descriptions as to how this item was acquired and any potential downsides to the item of buying it used. For example, the seller tells us that the glass is clean, except for some cleaning marks at the rim, there’s some internal desk, not sure where it came from, but I’ve been able to use the lens without issues. So right off the bat, we’re being very upfront and honest in our listing, and so this listing is pretty good.
Now let’s dig into how we can make this listing even more compelling for a potential buyer. The first thing that I would do is I would look up this lens online, I want to understand how do other camera sites list this particular lens and position some of its benefits so that we can start writing in those benefits to potential buyers on Facebook Marketplace. So in this first area, if I were to improve the title, I’d probably revise it to something along the lines of Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G ED lens, excellent condition, compact prime wide angle lens.
The reason why we do this is because now we cover a few bases that we didn’t cover in our original listing. We’re mentioning that this is a prime lens. So if somebody searches prime lens and Facebook Marketplace, this listing will now show up. Looking at the photos, what I would suggest is swapping the first photo with the third photo, and the reason why I would do this is because I think the third photo is the most visually appealing. It isolates just the lens itself and doesn’t have the distraction of the box in the corner. In terms of improving the positioning of the actual listing, I would probably use actual bullet points or dashes to make it easier for prospective buyers to work their way through this listing.
Here’s an example of how that might look. Bought used from B&H in 2017 and still works great. The glass is clean except for cleaning marks at the rim, some internal dust but it hasn’t been an issue. Perfect for portraits or everyday shooting. It was my first upgrade from the kit lens. Silent wave motor gives precise autofocus performance that can be switched to manual focus. Paid $400, you save 38% or $150 off prices firm.
So why did I make these particular changes? Well, the first thing that I noticed about this listing was that this listing was more or less positioned more for experienced photographers. So by including a benefits line, that’s something along the lines of, I use this as my first upgrade from the kit lens on catering to a broader base of potential buyers.
The other thing that I noticed was that the original listing missed a prime opportunity to talk about one of the key features of this lens which was the autofocus, and so by including that we’re making it even more appealing. Or another way that I could have improved this even further is maybe by including one or two shots that I took with this particular lens. But by taking a handful of minutes to improve this listing, we would increase our odds significantly at selling this product quickly.
There you have it, three Facebook Marketplace listings that we’ve improved by spending less than five minutes on each one.
Big Takeaways
There are two big takeaways I want you to remember when it comes to improving your Facebook Marketplace listings.
- First is that you need to make it easy for your buyer to buy your particular item.
- And the second one is that you need to make sure that you include all the key details that would help your potential buyer visualize themselves with your product. It’s really as simple as that.
That’s it for this time though. If you haven’t already checked out my prior videos on how to sell on Facebook Marketplace or how to buy on Facebook Marketplace, be sure to check that out. Other than that, I will see you guys next time.
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