Facebook Marketplace Selling

[kmmcrafts]

Just for fun I put a ad up on FB marketplace for a scroll saw piece I made just to see how it all works.. I see adds all the time and buy items from there but never really sold.. anyway shorty after listing my $15 Christmas ornament I get a message from FB saying I can reach up to 1200 potential buyers by boosting my ad for $20.. Well that sounds like a good deal FB advertise my $15 item for $20.. 

I get that it cost money to operate websites etc.. I also get that by placing paid ads on a website that those folks can and do make money off of advertisements on the websites.. Scroll saw Village has ads to help with the cost of running the site.. FB has ads too... Etsy encourages folks to buy paid ad space as does eBay, amazon, and most every other website anymore these days.. I do pay for ads on etsy but it's the very minimum amount too.. 

The days of free classifieds are coming to an end.. everyone looking to make money somehow.. and many willing people to pay for those ads..

I wonder how many views my ad will get on FB without paying.. surely not paying $20 for 1200 views on a $15 item, LOL

Anyone sell things on there? I know there have been mention of the OfferUp app for classifieds... I tried the app last year.. those folks also want you to pay for this that and everything else... plus they messaged me every time someone farted in my search area.. was probably a way to turn off notifications but dang my phone battery would go dead from all the emails etc I got from them.. That app stayed on my phone for a whole 1.5 days.. That was enough for me LOL  

[JimErn]

The key to facebook ads, is to post it, then mention it in your face book page, and have your FB friends share it.  The more who share it, the more that look at it

[Jim Finn]

Never did work for me.

[edward]

I will never pay to increase my sales on FB, I get that everytime I post an item.  edward

[kmmcrafts]

Well, curiosity got me so the net morning after listing that FB ad.. I listed same item on eBay.. So far my views are 3 on FB and 15 on eBay, LOL  If I would have listed it on etsy and Amazon handmade I'd have about 180 views on etsy and maybe 1-2 on amazon by now, LOL BUT I have a big following on etsy so that's not a fair comparison.. 

[tony coleman]

never worked for me,put a few adds up on it and not once did i hear from anyone

 

[Rockytime]

I need to make more friends so can get rid of stuff by giving it to them.

[kmmcrafts]

Well, it seems everyone needs to make money.. and the more the internet sites grow and more and more folks start using the internet.. the more selling of goods happens.. the traffic to the sites cost money and loading up servers cost money..  When I first discovered the internet and got my first computer in the winter of 1998 when I became a stay at home dad for my then two children (3 now).. there was only a couple sites out there with classified ads.. I was always kinda a wheel & deal kinda guy.. wasn't a scroll sawer back in those days.. more into tractors and cars.. I could post a free ad and within a couple hours it'd be sold.. I found a goldmine ( I thought ) to be able to put a free ad out there that can be seen across the world just blew me away.. no more paid ads in the local papers that was only seen by locals.. the internet sure brought a new game on for people like me and also buyers... Then when i found eBay.. wow I made a ton of money off that place until their greed kicked in. Then Craigslist came along.. made a ton of money there selling stuff.. then the spammers found a way to cheat people and made the place crappy place to try to sell something.. I recently thought I'd try selling a car on craigslist a few weeks back.. They now charge you for car ads.. and some other categories.. I think because they got tired of the car dealers filling up all that free ad space.. Then FB marketplace.. I really liked that because you could see sort of who you're dealing with as you can go look at their profile etc etc.. then the car dealers caught up with that too... now the ads might be free.. but if you want people to actually see it.. you an pay..

My point to all this is... to anyone that is trying to sell on sites like Etsy and whatnot... every day it gets tougher and tougher to do.. and be able to do for free or very low cost.. My etsy has quite a large following.. from years of working the store that and keeping up with the constant changes required to sell and be successful at it.. You see people posting all the time about how their shops thrived 5 years ago but is dead now... that's because they haven't kept in the know and worked with the changes as they come along.. many packing up and abandoning ship and blaming etsy.. when they need to look in the mirror and ask themselves what they've done to keep up with the quickly changing ways of selling..

For marketing years ago.. you could hook up with email companies free / cheap.. and send out basically spam mail marketing.. while it still works that's not where the attention is at anymore.. Then there was google adwords.. google ads and that still does okay..but cost money.. then social media and way back in the day was myspace, twitter, facebook,youtube,snapchat, and instagram is an awesome place but is dying out.. TicTok I think is the next place to become a hot marketing site.. somewhere in all this was pinterest, mantresting, wanelo,, and a handfull of other sites that worked well for free marketing..

So.. The way we sell things today.. isn't the same as we will be selling things tomorrow.. 

Sorry, just some rambling.. 

[kmmcrafts]

8 hours ago, Rockytime said:

I need to make more friends so can get rid of stuff by giving it to them.

I'll be your friend and I don't mind free stuff either.. so long as you don't mind mailing stuff, LOL

[kmmcrafts]

You would be amazed at how much money people waist giving away free stuff.. Don't get me wrong... giving is a good thing for people to do.. and I do it all the time just to "clean out the clutter" so to speak.. But I know a person who goes on the Marketplace and Craigslist picking up a lot of the " free" items.. and turns around and relist it for sale.. he makes about $4000 a month doing this... 

A neighbor lady goes to garage sales buying cheap clothing... mostly baby cloths etc.. but anyhow.. she does over 100,000 a year selling this stuff on eBay..   

Myself, I like to give my stuff to the local charity ( can't think of the name of the place now) but they "give" it away to low income folks that "need" the stuff. Don't get me wrong.. Goodwill and those places have their place as well.. But I feel like I be dam to give it to someone so they can sell it to make a wealth of money.. But then.. they was able to stay at home with their kids by doing the garage sale thing.. so in all I guess it make the world go round for everyone..  

[Rockytime]

I hope there are a lot white elephant parties this year. I need help clearing stuff.

[Frank Pellow]

On ‎11‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 7:01 AM, kmmcrafts said:

Well, it seems everyone needs to make money.. and the more the internet sites grow and more and more folks start using the internet.. the more selling of goods happens.. the traffic to the sites cost money and loading up servers cost money..  When I first discovered the internet and got my first computer in the winter of 1998 when I became a stay at home dad for my then two children (3 now).. there was only a couple sites out there with classified ads.. I was always kinda a wheel & deal kinda guy.. wasn't a scroll sawer back in those days.. more into tractors and cars.. I could post a free ad and within a couple hours it'd be sold.. I found a goldmine ( I thought ) to be able to put a free ad out there that can be seen across the world just blew me away.. no more paid ads in the local papers that was only seen by locals.. the internet sure brought a new game on for people like me and also buyers... Then when i found eBay.. wow I made a ton of money off that place until their greed kicked in. Then Craigslist came along.. made a ton of money there selling stuff.. then the spammers found a way to cheat people and made the place crappy place to try to sell something.. I recently thought I'd try selling a car on craigslist a few weeks back.. They now charge you for car ads.. and some other categories.. I think because they got tired of the car dealers filling up all that free ad space.. Then FB marketplace.. I really liked that because you could see sort of who you're dealing with as you can go look at their profile etc etc.. then the car dealers caught up with that too... now the ads might be free.. but if you want people to actually see it.. you an pay..

My point to all this is... to anyone that is trying to sell on sites like Etsy and whatnot... every day it gets tougher and tougher to do.. and be able to do for free or very low cost.. My etsy has quite a large following.. from years of working the store that and keeping up with the constant changes required to sell and be successful at it.. You see people posting all the time about how their shops thrived 5 years ago but is dead now... that's because they haven't kept in the know and worked with the changes as they come along.. many packing up and abandoning ship and blaming etsy.. when they need to look in the mirror and ask themselves what they've done to keep up with the quickly changing ways of selling..

For marketing years ago.. you could hook up with email companies free / cheap.. and send out basically spam mail marketing.. while it still works that's not where the attention is at anymore.. Then there was google adwords.. google ads and that still does okay..but cost money.. then social media and way back in the day was myspace, twitter, facebook,youtube,snapchat, and instagram is an awesome place but is dying out.. TicTok I think is the next place to become a hot marketing site.. somewhere in all this was pinterest, mantresting, wanelo,, and a handfull of other sites that worked well for free marketing..

So.. The way we sell things today.. isn't the same as we will be selling things tomorrow.. 

Sorry, just some rambling.. 

Good analysis, thanks!