How to Make Money on Facebook Marketplace: Local Selling That Actually Pays

Facebook Marketplace has over one billion monthly buyers. That is not a typo.

While reselling apps like Poshmark and Mercari get the attention, Facebook Marketplace quietly became one of the largest commerce platforms on the planet. And it has a massive advantage the apps do not: local selling with zero fees.

When you sell locally on Facebook Marketplace, there are no selling fees, no commission, no payment processing charges. You list an item, a buyer messages you, you meet up, they hand you cash or send a payment. The entire sale price is yours.

That simplicity is why one seller made over $3,000 in a single month just decluttering her home. Another regularly earns $10,000+ per month flipping furniture, appliances, and household items. Some serious resellers have built legitimate full-time businesses using nothing but Facebook Marketplace and a truck.

The catch? There is no algorithm doing the selling for you. No social sharing feature to boost visibility. Your listing quality, pricing, and responsiveness determine everything.

First — This Is Important…

Hey, my name is Mark.

Facebook Marketplace is one of the fastest ways to make money selling things locally — zero fees and a massive audience. But it is still trading time for money. You source, list, meet buyers, and repeat. The income stops when you stop.

The model I use generates $500–$1,200/month per digital asset with no inventory, no meetups, and no restocking. One lead generation website earning $700/month produces more net profit than most Marketplace sellers generate working weekends.

Go here to see the exact system I use to do this

But if you want to start making money this weekend with zero investment, Facebook Marketplace is hard to beat.

Why Facebook Marketplace Works So Well

Three things make it uniquely powerful.

Massive built-in audience. Facebook has over 3 billion active users globally. Over 1 billion browse Marketplace monthly. You do not need to build an audience or drive traffic. The buyers are already there scrolling.

Zero fees on local sales. When a buyer picks up an item locally and pays cash or via a direct payment app, Facebook takes nothing. Compare that to Poshmark’s 20% or Mercari’s 13%. On a $100 sale, that is $13 to $20 you keep instead of paying to a platform.

Trust through profiles. Buyers and sellers can see each other’s Facebook profiles, including mutual friends, work history, and community connections. This creates a layer of trust that anonymous apps cannot replicate.

Facebook does charge a 5% fee (or $0.40 minimum) when you use their shipping feature for nationwide sales. But for local selling, it is completely free.

What Sells on Facebook Marketplace

The buyer base on Facebook Marketplace is different from Poshmark or Mercari. These are people looking for practical items at good prices, often with immediate local pickup in mind.

Best-Selling Categories

Furniture. This is the single best category on Facebook Marketplace, and it is not close. Couches, tables, dressers, desks, and bookshelves sell quickly because shipping furniture is expensive and inconvenient. Local pickup eliminates that barrier entirely. Flipped furniture — pieces you buy cheaply and refinish — can yield 200 to 500% margins.

What makes furniture so profitable is the supply side. People move, downsize, redecorate, and upgrade constantly. They want their old stuff gone fast, and they price accordingly. Meanwhile, buyers browsing Marketplace are specifically looking for affordable alternatives to retail furniture stores. You are the bridge between a motivated seller and an eager buyer.

Mid-century modern pieces are particularly hot right now, but even basic solid-wood dressers and dining tables move quickly. Real wood always commands more than particle board. Learn to tell the difference — flip the piece over and look at the grain.

Baby and kids’ items. Strollers, car seats (within expiration dates), cribs, toys, and children’s clothing in bulk lots. Parents are always looking for deals, and kids outgrow everything within months. A Graco stroller purchased for $10 at a garage sale can sell for $50 to $80 on Marketplace. Bulk lots of kids’ clothing (10 to 15 pieces in a size range) sell well because parents love the convenience.

Electronics. Smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, TVs, and computer components. Test everything before listing and be specific about condition, model number, and specifications. Electronics buyers do their research — they know what things are worth. Price fairly and you will sell fast. Try to overcharge and your listing sits.

Appliances. Washers, dryers, refrigerators, microwaves. Working appliances sell fast because buyers want to avoid retail prices and delivery fees. If you have a truck or van, you can pick up free or cheap appliances from people who are upgrading and resell them for $100 to $300+ with minimal effort.

Vehicles. Cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats, and recreational vehicles. Facebook Marketplace has become one of the largest used vehicle marketplaces in the country. If you know cars, this is a high-profit category — though it requires more capital and knowledge than most other flipping categories.

Seasonal items. Lawn mowers and patio furniture in spring. Snow blowers and heaters in fall. Holiday decorations in November. Timing your listings to seasonal demand significantly increases sale speed. Smart sellers buy seasonal items off-season (snow blowers in summer, patio furniture in winter) when prices are lowest, then sell when demand peaks.

Free items you find. Furniture on curbs, free listings in buy-nothing groups, items people are giving away during moves. These cost you nothing, and even $20 to $50 in sales is pure profit. Drive through neighborhoods on garbage day — you would be surprised what people throw away.

What Sells Poorly

Clothing (unless sold in bulk lots), generic home decor, anything requiring expensive shipping, and items without clear photos or descriptions.

Creating Listings That Actually Sell

The difference between a listing that sells in 24 hours and one that sits for weeks usually comes down to five factors. Get these right and you will outsell the majority of casual sellers who treat Marketplace like a digital yard sale.

Photos

Take 5 to 10 clear, well-lit photos. Use natural light — photograph near a window during the day or outside in shaded areas. Avoid harsh overhead lighting and camera flash, which wash out colors and create unflattering shadows.

Show the item from every angle. Include close-ups of any brand labels, model numbers, or imperfections. Your first photo should show the item in its best light — that is what appears as the thumbnail in the Marketplace feed and determines whether anyone clicks through.

Clean the item before photographing. A dusty shelf or stained couch photographed as-is will not sell for what it could sell for after a quick clean. For furniture, consider staging — a chair next to a plant and a side table looks like a design piece. A chair against a garage wall looks like leftovers.

Titles

Include the brand name, item type, size or dimensions, and condition. “Samsung 55-Inch Smart TV 4K 2023 Model — Excellent Condition” will get found in search results. “TV for sale” will not. Think about what a buyer would type into the search bar, and put those words in your title.

Descriptions

Cover everything a buyer would ask: brand, model, dimensions, condition, age, reason for selling, and whether the price is firm or negotiable. Pre-answering common questions reduces back-and-forth messaging and speeds up the sale. Mention “Must pick up” or delivery availability to set expectations immediately.

A good description template: what it is, what condition it is in, why you are selling it, any flaws or notable features, and your preferred payment and pickup method. Detailed descriptions also reduce time-wasters who message just to ask basic questions.

Pricing

Check Facebook Marketplace for comparable items in your area. Geography matters — a sectional sofa in Manhattan has a different market value than the same sofa in rural Iowa. Price competitively but leave 10 to 15% room for negotiation. Buyers on Marketplace expect to negotiate. Pricing at exactly your bottom dollar means you will either accept less than you want or lose the sale entirely.

For items you want gone quickly, pricing slightly below comparable listings virtually guarantees a fast sale. Mark these listings with “Available — First Come First Served” to create urgency.

Responsiveness

Respond to messages within minutes when possible. Buyers on Facebook Marketplace often message multiple sellers simultaneously. The first person to respond with a clear, friendly answer usually wins the sale. Slow responses kill deals — a buyer who gets no reply within an hour often buys from someone else.

Selling Strategies That Maximize Profit

The Declutter-First Approach

Before buying anything to resell, walk through your house and list everything you no longer use. Most American households have an estimated $2,000+ worth of unused items sitting in closets, garages, and attics. This is zero-cost inventory.

One seller earned over $1,000 in a single month by clearing out baby items after her child outgrew them. That is money that would have been donated or thrown away.

The Furniture Flipping Model

This is where serious money lives on Facebook Marketplace. The process:

1. Source free or cheap furniture from curb alerts, estate sales, moving sales, and Facebook free groups
2. Clean, repair, and refinish the pieces (sanding, painting, replacing hardware)
3. Photograph the finished product attractively
4. List on Marketplace at 3 to 10x your total cost

A dresser found free on the curb, refinished with $15 in paint and hardware, and sold for $150 represents $135 in profit from a few hours of work. Scale that to 2 to 3 pieces per week and you are looking at $1,000+ per month.

The Retail Arbitrage Model

Buy underpriced items at garage sales, thrift stores, estate sales, and clearance events. Resell them on Facebook Marketplace at market value. The key is knowing what items are worth before you buy. Use the Facebook Marketplace search to check comparable prices before purchasing.

Focus on items worth at least $50. Buying $2 items to sell for $10 is technically profitable but not worth your time unless you are moving high volume.

The Buy-Sell-Trade Strategy

Post “ISO” (in search of) listings for specific items you know sell well. This reverses the sourcing process — instead of hunting for inventory, motivated sellers come to you.

Safety When Selling Locally

Meeting strangers for cash transactions requires precautions.

Meet in public places. Many police stations offer designated “safe exchange zones” for online sales. Use them. For large items requiring home pickup, have someone with you.

Check buyer profiles. Review the buyer’s Facebook profile before meeting. Look for real photos, friends, and activity. Blank or brand-new profiles deserve extra caution.

Accept secure payment. Cash is king for local sales. For larger transactions, Venmo, Zelle, or PayPal work well. Never accept personal checks. Bring a counterfeit detection pen for large cash transactions.

Trust your instincts. If something feels off about a buyer or a meeting location, cancel. No sale is worth your safety.

Scaling Your Facebook Marketplace Business

Stage	Monthly Income Potential	Time Required
Decluttering personal items	$200 to $1,000 (one-time)	5 to 10 hrs total
Casual flipping (weekends only)	$500 to $1,500	5 to 10 hrs/week
Part-time reselling	$1,500 to $4,000	15 to 20 hrs/week
Full-time reselling	$4,000 to $10,000+	30+ hrs/week

The highest earners on Facebook Marketplace combine local selling with shipping for broader reach. They also cross-list items on Mercari, eBay, and Poshmark to maximize exposure.

Facebook Marketplace vs Other Platforms

Feature	FB Marketplace	Mercari	Poshmark	eBay
Local selling fees	Free	N/A	N/A	N/A
Shipping fees	5%	~13%	20%	~13%
Best for	Furniture, local items	General goods	Fashion	Niche, collectibles
Audience size	1B+ monthly	20M monthly	80M users	130M+ users
Payment	Cash, apps, checkout	In-app	In-app	In-app

For bulky items, local sales, and anything where shipping is impractical, Facebook Marketplace is unbeatable.

Common Mistakes That Cost You Sales

Posting one photo. Listings with 5+ photos sell significantly faster than single-photo listings. Buyers want to see every angle before they message you. Every missing photo is a question they have to ask, and many buyers will simply move on to a listing that shows them everything upfront.

Not cleaning items before photographing. Five minutes of cleaning can add $10 to $50 to your sale price. A dusty coffee table looks abandoned. The same table wiped down and staged with a plant looks like a designer piece. Perception drives pricing on Marketplace.

Pricing too high. Facebook Marketplace buyers are deal-seekers. Price competitively or your item will sit while identical items from other sellers move. Check what similar items have been listed for in your area. If three people are selling the same IKEA bookshelf for $40, listing yours at $65 guarantees it collects virtual dust.

Ignoring lowball offers. Counter-offer instead of ignoring. A buyer offering $60 on a $100 item may accept $80. That is still a sale you almost lost. Lowballers are engaged buyers — they took the time to message you, which means they want the item. Work with them.

Poor communication. Confirm meeting times, provide your exact location, and follow up if a buyer goes silent. Professionalism closes deals. Respond to messages quickly — the first seller to respond often wins the sale, even if their price is slightly higher.

No-shows and flaky buyers. This is the biggest frustration with local selling. Reduce no-shows by confirming the meetup 30 minutes beforehand. If someone ghosts, immediately respond to the next interested buyer. Do not hold items without a deposit for high-value pieces.

Listing in wrong categories. Facebook lets you choose a category for each listing. Picking the right one ensures your item shows up in relevant search results. A desk listed under “Free Stuff” instead of “Furniture” will attract the wrong audience.

Facebook Marketplace and Algorithm Visibility

Understanding how Marketplace surfaces listings helps you sell faster. Facebook’s algorithm considers several factors when deciding which listings to show buyers.

Recency matters — newer listings get priority. If your item has not sold in a week, consider deleting and relisting it to reset its position.

Response time matters. Sellers who respond quickly to messages get a “Very Responsive” badge, which increases buyer confidence and can improve listing visibility.

Complete listings perform better than incomplete ones. Fill in every field — price, condition, description, location. Add all available photos. The more information you provide, the higher Facebook’s algorithm tends to rank your listing.

Engagement signals matter too. When buyers save, share, or message about your listing, it tells the algorithm that people are interested. Competitive pricing drives these engagement signals because more people interact with well-priced items.

The Bottom Line

Facebook Marketplace is the fastest way to go from zero to income with reselling. No fees on local sales, a massive audience, and the ability to sell practically anything make it an ideal starting point. You can literally start today — walk through your house, photograph what you do not need, and have it listed within an hour.

For long-term income that is not tied to constantly sourcing and selling physical items, here’s how I build simple websites that generate $500–$1,200/month each in recurring revenue. For the full model, see local lead generation.

See also how to make money on Poshmark, how to make money on Mercari, how to make money on Facebook, how to make money flipping items, and best side hustles from home.