What Does Facebook Marketplace Mean?
Facebook users purchased and sold items on purchase-and-sell groups on Facebook before the introduction of the Facebook Marketplace feature. They made this feature based on the same principle, but with a choice of listing things for sale, searching for items to purchase, and marking the items as sold. The interface of the Facebook Marketplace provides an entire shop-like feature that connects people directly with the items which they desire to purchase or sell.
Facebook offers a place for sellers to promote their goods without the involvement of any costs and processes shipping between the purchaser and seller, but it does not provide the facility that performs sales transactions.
Businesses can perform the following tasks by using Facebook Marketplace:
- Keeping various retail items like vehicles and houses for display.
- Promoting the items present in the Marketplace to increase their sales.
- Presenting the latest or most used customer items from the Facebook page shop for free of cost.
Despite all this, Facebook marketplace scams are increasing in number and many people become victims due to their ignorance. As a result, they lose their wealth. Therefore, people must learn about these scams and their warning signs.
Who is capable of selling items on Facebook Marketplace?
Facebook Marketplace is for individuals who have items to sell, regardless of old or new.
It is also made for sellers, real estate dealers, fashion entrepreneurs, e-commerce, etc.
This characteristic has similarities with Amazon and eBay’s marketplace.
However, here, you need not compensate for listing your goods or services on the Facebook platform.
Nevertheless, when you receive an order for your product from customers, you need to pay about five percent of the product’s cost after shipping the commodity.
What are the benefits gained by people with Facebook Marketplace?
- People can enjoy the below-mentioned benefits by using Facebook Marketplace.
- It is a user-friendly application:
- With Facebook Marketplace, users can purchase and sell from any location. It is because of the mobile-friendly Facebook app.
The posting is simple:
The process to list the items for sale on Facebook Marketplace is not complex. You can just capture the image of an item, add it to Facebook, describe the item and cost, confirm the location and category, and then post it.
Focus on the local area:
While Facebook users can expand their geographical search, Marketplace automatically shows the listings within a local area. Hence, it is simple for the sellers to reach the purchasers located near them.
Advanced browsing:
The browsing characteristic of the Facebook Marketplace is enhanced to display items on the basis of every user’s browsing history, which can assist the shopper in saving some time.
Browse-to-buy feature:
The browse-to-buy characteristic of the Marketplace filters the users’ feeds with goods that they can buy from communities and groups on Facebook to which they belong.
Customer Engagement:
The Marketplace offers opportunities for the purchasers and sellers to interact with each other. This engagement assists the brands in constructing business relationships with potential customers on the platform.
Trust-based communities:
Facebook does not perform the verification of items posted for sale, which means the activity of the Marketplace depends on the trust between purchasers and sellers. Hence, a business consists of an opportunity to develop trust and positive relationships with its customers. However, it also allows a space for Facebook marketplace scams to grow on their platform.
Hiring opportunities:
The feature of job offers on Facebook Marketplace allows users to sell their services to particular groups.
Support of numerous images:
Facebook permits users to incorporate as many as ten photographs while selling items on Marketplace, providing chances for businesses to exhibit their products.
Sending direct messages:
The purchasing arrangements can be done easily on the Marketplace since purchasers can directly send messages to the sellers.
Lesser fees and free listings:
Facebook won’t charge users for listing their items whereas other marketplaces do. Once a sale is made via Marketplace, the platform does the 5% deduction of the cost automatically.
Huge Market:
Facebook brags about almost three billion users, hence selling items on Marketplace helps them in getting exposed to millions of users worldwide.
Several payment options:
While buying on Facebook Marketplace, customers can make payments through credit cards, debit cards, or through their Paypal accounts, thereby providing them additional flexibility.
Brand Exposure:
If you list your goods for sale on Facebook Marketplace, it increases their exposure. Additionally, the brand which is selling these goods also gets more exposure since the name of the business is listed below the product.
What are Facebook Marketplace scams?
Facebook marketplace scams are occurring just like any other scams. Many people fall for these scams due to the techniques used by scammers such as phishing, fake giveaways, phony items, bait-and-switch, etc.
What are the various types of scams in the Facebook Marketplace?
Several types of scams on the Facebook marketplace are mentioned below to provide you with an in-depth understanding.
Non-delivery (upfront fee) scam:
In this scam, the seller sells an item and collects the amount from the purchaser. But, the seller never makes the delivers of the product to the purchaser. It employs only the items which are sent from locations situated outside the local area of the purchaser.
Defective goods scam:
The sellers might advertise a product that appears to be excellent from the image posted by them. But once it has been delivered to the customer’s destination, it turns out to be defective. It is problematic in the case of electronics purchases because it is not possible to toggle and verify every bit of functionality before paying the amount.
Overpayment fraud:
Sellers can be cheated by fraudsters on Facebook Marketplace. In one instance, they’ll claim to have made an overpayment for an item you’re selling, and they even send a screenshot that supposedly denotes a transaction. They’ll request for the balance amount to be refunded. But. in reality, it is not an original payment.
Counterfeit items scam:
This is a very common fraud occurring in the Facebook Marketplace. It can especially take place with items such as designer clothes, perfumes, jewelry, and cosmetics. It is not easy to determine whether the product is original or not by just looking at the photo, in case of defective product fraud.
People get tempted and convinced by looking at affordably listed photos of products. They then place an order for it, without authenticating its legitimacy. However, when that product gets delivered, it turns out to be fake.
Conclusion
People interested in shopping for products or services on Facebook Marketplace should be aware of Facebook Marketplace scams, their cautioning signals, and the preventive measures they can use to protect themselves.