Selling on FB Marketplace is kinda Awesome

This year I have sold jet skis and a couple cars on Facebook Market. Yes, the interface is awkward and searching can be terrible, but buyers buy. Yesterday I sold a '99 Boxster. I had over 600 views and over a dozen serious responses when I chose the buyer. That was less than four hours after listing it. The buyer had knowledge, cash, and could come at a convenient time for me. I felt bad telling the contingent buyers that it was sold

Just now I listed and sold a project car that I just wanted gone. It looks decent, but needs a lot done. I probably would have given it away to one of you guys if you were local, but want it gone NOW. Within minutes of clicking "publish" I had more buyers than I had time to answer. They are still messaging trying to get a shot if the 'pending sale' doesn't go through. I just wanted $500, but FB wouldn't let me list it as a Car (only as 'car parts') unless I listed it at $700 or higher. Several people asked to give me a deposit to hold it, the ones I replied to all knew they needed a trailer and had one available. Over 300 views in less than an hour. I chose a buyer that will come at 11:00 am and have two contingents waiting with cash in hand.

Text from the ad:

1989 VW Cabriolet. Runs and drives, but needs work. As-is.

 

I have too many projects and this one keeps getting put off. It has mostly sat parked for about a year even though it is currently registered and insured. It's a cool car and will be a good project for someone who has time for it.

 

Problems include, but are not limited to: The front brake calipers lock up after it has been driven for a while. They may need to be rebuilt or replaced. The engine has an oil leak – Im guessing that it's the cam seal, but I haven't tried to track it down yet. The front left strut is bad, but they are probably all 1989 struts and should be replaced. I started replacing the brake hoses and the right rear one was a pain to remove and I quit working on it and moved on to other cars. It comes with some new parts ready to install: door handles, brake parts, shifter bushing kit...

 

I'll drive it to the [-------] Walmart to meet you, but you're probably going to want a trailer to get it from there.

 

Restore it, part it out, or sell it on Bring a Trailer for $10,000 as a Barn find. I've lost interest and I'm ready to let it go.

Yes, I'm selling at a loss, but I have had a few other big wins and projects that sit for a year are a burden. This burden was lifted minutes after listing it. Now I wish I had more of them to give away.

$700 cars bring every mouthbreather out of the woodwork.

Try listing a sub $1k ATV some time.  

I listed my Subaru Baja on there for $1000, with mentions of the CEL, missing e-brake components and photo of the yuge rust holes in the rocker panels. In a 3 hour time span, I got easily 45 messages and 15 phone calls. I had a guy scheduled to come look at it at 5pm when I got out of work, and another guy called and said "Tell you what, I'll come to your work right now, hand you the thousand dollars and buy it without even seeing the car." Bam, sold. It was absurd.

I sold my old zero-turn mower on there last year for $1200 and was so inundated with inquiries I had to disable FB Messenger on my phone. Sold it for full price that night to the first person who responded.

Also, FB is how I sold the 944 back in June. I posted it here, on several other forums, Craigslist, and FB, and the only one that generated any leads was FB.

I guess it's time we welcome our Zuckerbergian overlords.

I wonder if I can get rid of my GMC motorhome on there?  It needs a metric berkeleyton of work.

I found it was the best to use also (in my limited experience).

... I am suspect it will go down the "the path" soon...

...like eBay...

...Craigslist..

Of note, when I did it I used an account that has no personal information in it because I'm just not going there.

I have sold all of cars on there in the last 18 months. The latest was the modified Mazda5 to a 70-year-old lady. The T-Bird Turbo Coupe was listed and sold on eBay with no payment, and I nearly got stabbed by the craigslist scammer, but FB marketplace found the  right buyer easily. Sold the 165K mile B7 Audi A4 for more than we paid for it at 120K miles.

In reply to AAZCD (Forum Supporter) :

That one guy, the very first message. What the berkeley is so god damned hard about the proper use of sell vs sale. Honest to berkeleying E36 M3 I had no idea just how mouth breathing stupid the average person is until I started using online classifieds. 

Sorry, there's just something about that, that E36 M3 sets me off.

m4ff3w said:

I wonder if I can get rid of my GMC motorhome on there?  It needs a metric berkeleyton of work.

Perfect place. It's not just the number of people who shop there but it's also the ease of which people can share your listing off with others and groups who might be interested. 

RVs are super hot right now too since people want to travel but want to distance themselves from airplanes and hotels. People are paying crazy prices for "good deals" that are really too far gone. Boats too. 

I've sold a couple cars on there, was very low hassle.  Sold lots of other things on there as well.  I've found it a replacement for trips to the dump as well.  If there is something I don't want anymore, I just post it for free and it's gone.  Old cans of paint, furniture, heck even my old grill. 

Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:

I sold my old zero-turn mower on there last year for $1200 and was so inundated with inquiries I had to disable FB Messenger on my phone.

That was my only gripe, was that I got so many responses that it was overwhelming 

I've taken the luxury of picking my buyer now that FB Marketplace has generated so many hits on stuff for sale. Sold my last last DSM project to a known DSMer instead of the kid who wanted to buy my not roadworthy project and drive it 4 hours back home after I picked him up from the train station. 

Gone are the days when you could post a $1500 Toyota Pickup on CL with your buddy's (or arch rival's) number. 

I've sold one vehicle on there. The whole thing went smoothly. Posted it and it was gone for exactly what I wanted to get for it. You do have to wade through a little BS sometimes though, like a sea of "Is this still available" button pressers who have no intention of actually buying anything. Once I got a real, actual message, I answered it, and the vehicle was gone the next day.

Tony Sestito said:

 You do have to wade through a little BS sometimes though, like a sea of "Is this still available" button pressers who have no intention of actually buying anything. 

I blame Facebook's UI for that, as I've accidentally sent a few of those. If you're using it on mobile, it automatically generates a little pop-up at the bottom to quick-send that message. So you click on the ad and try to scroll down to ee the rest of the ad and press that instead and fire off one of those messages.

I've not had much luck with Marketplace, though that's eventually where I sold the P71 and Vette. I've been trying to sell my pre-war Schwinn since the start of the year, but haven't got a single reply after dropping the price multiple times, and I have a good GMT400 hood that several people have said they wanted, but never followed up. 

I've sold a few things, but it's been random, depending on the item and what groups I sell them in.

So what's the deal with FBM changing asking prices in ads?

For cars?  I've heard there is some AI algorithm that detects the asking price and doesn't like it if your price doesn't fit into the range they think the car's asking price should be.

Not sure. I've just seen a lot of $1234 prices when there is an actual price in the ad. I've also read people complaining that FB changes the asking price on stuff. 
 

m4ff3w said:

I wonder if I can get rid of my GMC motorhome on there?  It needs a metric berkeleyton of work.

Be ready  for all the dumbasses! My Uncle needed help listening three of them that had to leave,quickly.  

All were sold in two days, but the conversations were amazing. 

Paul

And we were offered dugs and Bob Costas, together and separate, more than one.

Donebrokeit said:

And we were offered dugs and Bob Costas, together and separate, more than one.

Trading a broken RV for Bob Costas sounds like a truly bad deal for everyone involved.