3 ms·

I know a bunch of independent sellers of various things who say that they are getting more sales from Facebook Marketplace than Craigslist

redial 8y ago
Not Craigslist tho.
notyourwork 8y ago
With my recent move this was my experience. Everything listed on Craigslist and Facebook, every single sale was Facebook.
- magduf 8y ago
  I'm in the process of a move/downsizing, near the DC area, and my experience is exactly the opposite. All the locals on Facebook waste my time with Messenger, and never follow through, whereas people on Craigslist actually show up with cash. I joined 10 local "yard sale" groups on FB plus Marketplace, posting everything in all of them plus CL, and all the sales are coming from CL. Facebook just seems to be full of flaky losers.
  - notyourwork 8y ago
    Interesting - I wonder if it varies by region. A few years back I had mixed luck with both in Seattle, my recent experience is in Bay area. I do agree on Facebook there is more noise than I found on craigslist. I think this is because of the UX, Facebook makes it easy to send a false positive for interest whereas on craigslist it takes more effort and therefore reduces the signal to noise ratio for buyers who are actually interested.
    - magduf 8y ago
      I think that's quite possible. On FB, I've gotten a lot of "lookey loos" popping up and asking me questions on Messenger, usually "is this still available?". So I answer them and half the time never hear from them again. With CL, they have to punch in a phone number, or use email to ask inane questions like that (which they do, just not as much).
duderific 8y ago
My wife has moved entirely to FB Marketplace for buying/selling, because you can get a much better sense if the person you are transacting with is sketchy or not. This is a huge upside that FB can leverage.
- mistermann 8y ago
  The fact that FB has real identities, with history and a measurable "trustworthy" index, gives it a huge advantage that almost no one else has. imho this has always been the ace up FB's sleeve in terms of monetization and justifying their market cap.

redial 8y ago

Not Craigslist tho.

notyourwork 8y ago

With my recent move this was my experience. Everything listed on Craigslist and Facebook, every single sale was Facebook.

magduf 8y ago
I'm in the process of a move/downsizing, near the DC area, and my experience is exactly the opposite. All the locals on Facebook waste my time with Messenger, and never follow through, whereas people on Craigslist actually show up with cash. I joined 10 local "yard sale" groups on FB plus Marketplace, posting everything in all of them plus CL, and all the sales are coming from CL. Facebook just seems to be full of flaky losers.
- notyourwork 8y ago
  Interesting - I wonder if it varies by region. A few years back I had mixed luck with both in Seattle, my recent experience is in Bay area. I do agree on Facebook there is more noise than I found on craigslist. I think this is because of the UX, Facebook makes it easy to send a false positive for interest whereas on craigslist it takes more effort and therefore reduces the signal to noise ratio for buyers who are actually interested.
  - magduf 8y ago
    I think that's quite possible. On FB, I've gotten a lot of "lookey loos" popping up and asking me questions on Messenger, usually "is this still available?". So I answer them and half the time never hear from them again. With CL, they have to punch in a phone number, or use email to ask inane questions like that (which they do, just not as much).

duderific 8y ago

My wife has moved entirely to FB Marketplace for buying/selling, because you can get a much better sense if the person you are transacting with is sketchy or not. This is a huge upside that FB can leverage.

mistermann 8y ago
The fact that FB has real identities, with history and a measurable "trustworthy" index, gives it a huge advantage that almost no one else has. imho this has always been the ace up FB's sleeve in terms of monetization and justifying their market cap.