How To Buying & Selling On Facebook Marketplace

What do you do when your only computer dies? This video shows how it is possible to get a replacement computer in less than an hour and for less than $200 using Facebook Marketplace.

Transcribe of “How To – Buying & Selling On Facebook Marketplace”

– Hi guys, Neil Waterhouse. Last week I was talking to a guy Mark who’s building a drop ship business and his Apple Macbook died. Now, the problem with this, of course, is it can take days and or weeks to get it repaired. And unfortunately, this is Mark’s only computer. So, what’s the fastest and cheapest solution to get back up and running?

You can, of course, go and purchase a replacement laptop from like a bricks and mortar store, but you know this can cost you thousands, especially if it’s an Apple like this example. Or, you can purchase a used one from Ebay using your smartphone but this can take days to arrive unless, of course, you can find one locally.

Or you can search Gumtree

But even then it can often take days for sellers to get back to you. So, the chance of picking it up that day is slim at best. Or you can search Gumtree again using your smartphone, but today I believe the quickest and cheapest way to pick up a laptop locally is with Facebook marketplaces.

You can literally be up and running in one hour from now for less than 200 bucks. Now, of course, in saying 200 bucks he’s got a Macbook, but you don’t need a fancy computer. A lot of people think to build a drop ship business you got to have some sort of fancy computer. No, you certainly don’t. You can just use a basic one.

Many people addicted to Facebook Marketplace

And then, when you get the Macbook repaired then you can just obviously resell the original one. The thing with these Facebook marketplaces there is so many people addicted to Facebook and they’re continually monitoring Facebook messages. Every time they get a new Facebook message their smartphone ding alerts them.

Steps on finding laptop on Facebook marketplaces

So, let me show you how quick it is to find a laptop on Facebook marketplaces. Step one is to go to Facebook.com and then click marketplaces. Next, enter where you’re located, for this example I put Sydney. But, it’s amazing even if you live rurally like I do how much stuff is listed locally. Second, search for whatever you’re after. So, for this example I put laptop.

Now, you always on the left-hand side set up search parameters. Like distance, maximum price, minimum price, just like you can with other platforms like Ebay, Amazon, and Guntree, et cetera. Don’t forget all the prices you see are asking prices and like everything in life, everything is negotiable, everything. And, you can do your negotiation before leaving the house.

The big advantage with Facebook marketplaces is there’s a lot of local traffic

And, the big advantage with Facebook marketplaces is there’s a lot of local traffic. If you list an item now you can literally have somebody local asking about it through Facebook messages in the next few minutes. And the reverse, when you’re selling something on Facebook marketplaces.

Like let’s say Mark decides to sell the second hand notebook after he’s finished with it Normally on average though you’ll get more money by selling it on Ebay simply because the market is so much bigger as anybody. Literally the whole world, can see your listing.

Facebook marketplaces, the market is smaller

But, with Facebook marketplaces the market is smaller. As the majority of buyers are local buyers who are willing to jump in a car and drive. So, there you have Facebook messages it’s not new, in fact its been around since 2016 and its rapidly replacing all the local community Facebook Buy, Swap, Sell groups that are in many, many areas. In fact, in Sydney there’s multiple of them.

Buying on Facebook marketplaces and then reselling on Ebay

And also, while we’re on the subject of Facebook marketplaces if you’re new to buying and selling online you can make some good money buying on Facebook marketplaces and then reselling on Ebay due to the fact that when sellers are selling on Facebook well Facebook marketplaces they’re only reaching a small, local audience whereas when you list the same item on Ebay potential buyers are all over the world. They can see a listing as Ebay is in 37 different countries.

Buying used items on Facebook Marketplace

Now, before somebody sends me an email asking if I recommend this strategy of buying used items on Facebook marketplaces and selling ’em on other places like Ebay as a full time business personally it’s not my cup of tea as it’s far more difficult to automate it. It’s also far more labor intensive because you have to put so much work into each item and then you can only sell it once.

Selling new items on Facebook Marketplace

For each item you’ve gotta go an buy it wherever, then you gotta come back, photograph it, list it and that’ll take time. Whereas selling new items you can keep selling the same item over and over again and you can do it on multiple marketplaces like Amazon, Ebay, and even your own website. But, of course, everybody’s different. Some people enjoy buying and selling used items, but personally I prefer online businesses which can be fully automated like drop shipping and importing where you can sell the same items over and over again.

Prefer online businesses which can be fully automated like drop shipping

And so, I find it a real pain to sell items from home. We did this when we got started over 20 years ago, but with a young family as we had back then it was a real pain. If you’ve ever sold items from home before, I’m sure you’ll know what I’m talking about. People tell you that they’ll be there at say 11 a.m. on a Saturday morning and then they either don’t turn up or they turn up hours later. And, when they finally turn up they very often then want to renegotiate the price.

Buying and selling used items is awesome

A couple of these in the same day and the next thing you know your whole day is shot. And, like I said everyone is different. If you like buying and selling used items, awesome. So, that’s it for this week, please scroll on down leave me a comment below. Until next week list more, sell more. This is Neil Waterhouse.

Please leave me a comment below and let me know what you think.

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