[GTO]

We have lots of threads on the usual classifieds websites & the famous startups for buying & selling of cars / bikes. What about Facebook Marketplace? Any experiences?

If you've tried Facebook Marketplace. please share your reviews, advice & pros / cons. Thanks! We have many lovers of pre-worshipped cars on the forum, so first-hand experiences will be super helpful.

[akshay4587]

Not in India.
I recently sold my Alfa Romeo 159 in Australia via FB Marketplace within a few hours of listing at the listed price.
And like Fiat in India, Alfa Romeo's are not easy to sell cars.

[Motorhead23]

I sold my 7 Year Old S-Cross in Dec'22 to OLX Autos, however before making a deal through them I had my listing on all classifieds CarTrade, Cars24, CarDekho, OLX and even FB Marketplace. One thing I can say from my experience is that I received maximum enquiries through FB Marketplace and most of them were the direct buyers whereas on other portals mostly were dealers who were offering insanely low prices.

Also, since mine was a Diesel and with 10 Year rule in Delhi, I ensured publishing my Ad in various Upcycling/ Re-Sale groups of Haryana & Punjab which helped me get some genuine enquiries.

In the end, I did get a marginally better deal through FB marketplace I chose OLX Autos offer to avoid all the hassles of transporting [Punjab] & transferring the car by myself.

[Iyencar]

I've been scouring Fb markeptlace everyday in my hunt for an automatic BRV. The dealers are present in large numbers here as well. However, I found it much easier to see owner listed vehicles here. The advantage is you can see their main profile (if it isn't locked) and check for mutual friends as well. Gives an additional layer of comfort I guess. Second best was Olx. But weirdly, I only see owner listed vehicles there if I do a general search and not go into OLX autos where there are only bumped dealer ads. T-bhp classifieds is the easiest to search for owner listings but then the reach seems to be limited.

[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by GTO

Any experiences?

Found more negatives than positives

Buying:
- Most of the ads were from dealers, with mismatch in information (no. of owners, odo reading, price)
- Few vehicles were sold long back and still the ad exists
- No contact number and no response to FB messenger chats for several months

Selling:
- Posted few ICE equipment's and numerous chats and calls from low ballers
- How best we describe the product, be prepared to answer the basic questions like 'Is it working?', 'is it still available?'
- Chat to call ratio is less than 5%

[condor]

My current gripe with FB Marketplace is the location listing - it is based on distance from specified place, which often includes adjacent states. This dilutes the results returned. If they can change this option, then it will be easier to search.

Like @Iyencar mentioned, being able to see the seller's profile helps. Though I have seen the same car being listed by two dealers - which actually highlights the seller being a dealer.

[pannags]

Posted my car for sale on Facebook marketplace based on recommendation from a friend. Here is the summary of my experience so far:

• Expect constant updates on clicks/views and ability to refresh your listing
• 4x times the enquiries when compared with OLX in the 2 weeks of listing my car
• Overnight response and request for details, mostly from used car platform dealers (Cars24, OlxAutos)
• No follow-ups for converting your listing to "sponsored" category (unlike OlxAutos, who will coax you to)
• Completely free of cost, which comes with the flipside of casual enquiries and duplicate listings

All in all, this platform seems to offer good visibility for used car sale as well as for purchase. One tip would be to add multiple pictures of the exteriors and interiors, since this is something most buyers expect to see.

Remember to keep the registration number masked until the car is physically being inspected, at which stage the interest to buy your vehicle is reasonably well established.

[ninjatalli]

There are already several posts by bhpians on their positive experiences on FB marketplace. For instance -

Originally Posted by dsuman

I suggest Facebook Marketplace. I sold my Car and Bike. Got calls from Dealers who tried to lowball the Prices but you get genuine seroius buyers as well who match the asking price. Had a positive experience with FB Marketplace

Originally Posted by sumitdongerkery

One fine day while i was browsing on facebook, I cam across FB marketplace and decided to post there. I am not exaggerating but i at least got 50+ enquiries in 2 weeks span although 30 odd would be the resellers who were coaxing me to sell it to them. And the first buyer who came to see my car in person paid me the price I was asking for. (with negligible bargain).

I completed the transaction in 1 week and handed over the car. Personally submitted the documents in the RTO and within 4 weeks the RC got transferred to the new buyer.

I was pleasantly surprised with the marketplace response and had never considered it earlier. I will strongly recommend that platform to reach out to prospective end users when you plan to sell your car.

Originally Posted by sanjayrozario

Spinny & Cars24 gave poor quotes as compared to Olx auto. But I didn't take any of their offers. Instead, I put up the ad with clear pics on Olx & FB marketplace - got lots of calls & finally a dealer picked it up for his family member, but gave me a price close to my expectation. FB marketplace is quite effective.

[sanjayrozario]

I'd put up an ad with clear pics on Olx & FB marketplace - got lots of calls & finally a dealer picked it up for his family member, but gave me a price close to my expectation. FB marketplace is quite effective too.

Here's a snapshot of my experience on FB marketplace.

- No one will inundate you with incessant calls to convert your ad into a "paid" option
- Enquiries just skyrocketed within a week of listing my car
- Most calls were from local used car dealers, but got a lot of enquiries from direct buyers too
- Direct buyers came up with ridiculously low prices. That's when i realised the pitfalls of free ads / listings. Because these were not serious buyers but someone who's waiting for a distress sale

Please put up as many clear pics of the interior & exterior of the car. Just helps close the deal faster.

[Sangwan]

I bought my first Santa Fe via Autotrader but got my friend's Escape and my black Santa Fe through FB marketplace in Canada. I overall liked the experience but wished if the "Vehicle" category had more filters like drivetrain for example. It was a hassle to confirm with owner if it wasn't mentioned in ad. Also, the location could be improved, it shows the listing based on the users current location and it should be changed to city wise listing which would be more easier for the user.

[BombayDragon]

Nowadays in Olx, we can no longer do an India wide search for items e.g. when we search for something to buy we are asked to specify a location and that location can either be a state or a city. Previously we could specify India as a location which allows us to see items available for sale everywhere in India. This is really useful when searching for something unusual like a collector car etc and Olx should not have removed this feature. In FB marketplace also we cannot search at an India level but we can add a search radius of upto 500 km from the location we specified which makes it a little easier to cover the country. In Olx we would have to individually type each state to cover the country in our search.

[SulemanP]

I am currently looking for a pre-worshipped car, I have searched OLX autos, Spinny & FB Marketplace. Spinny is a startup dealer and you can expect 20-30 thousand or more on a particular car of your choice.
What I observed is OLX is full of dealers you can say about 90% of them seems to be dealers. In comparison FB Marketplace is less crowded with dealers and you can find a couple of good examples over here.
As I am still searching for a good car, I'll keep you guys posted on my experience.

[boniver]

I sold my 2004 Santro Xing and 1995 RX100 in October 2022, and bought my current 2011 Ritz in the same month, through Facebook marketplace. It is my go-to portal now for deals.

I was only irritated once: when I kept a very low list price for my fully restored RX100 (Rs. 18,000, because that's what I believed the bike was worth). My inbox was flooded with messages from all over the country, and I obviously took time to respond to the 500+ people who had replied. In a couple of hours, I could see people double-texting me, calling me a fraud because they didn't believe the low price. I then took the ad down, and managed to sell it to one of the first couple of people who had responded, the same evening.

[yashg]

Recently while trying to sell my Ford Aspire, after I got horrible quotes from Cars24 and Spinny, I tried Facebook marketplace. The experience was a mixed bag. While I got quite a few inquiries from agents of Cars24 and Spinny, I also got a lot of interest from genuine individual buyers and their offers were reasonable. I got maximum response from the Facebook marketplace. More than 50 inquiries. It has tremendous reach. Eventually I ended up selling to an individual who reached out to me via OLX. I would definitely recommend FB marketplace if you are looking to buy or sell a used car/bike.

[chandrda]

I used FB Market place extensively in US not only to buy but also to Sell. Initially I was looking for Car and once I had the car, extended the search to other items as well.

Thought Market place in US is more mature and the description of the Cars (most) are realistic than in India. Majority of the sellers are Individual sellers than compared to India. But looking at the profile helps to filter out.

Moved from Florida to Jersey to North Carolina with in few years. So FB Market place is what I used to sell lot of things (especially furniture) and buy everything from TV to Micro oven, sound bar, bi-cycles, car parts, books, etc.

I shifted last year to India and used FB market place to buy gym equipment like treadmill, elliptical trainer, dumb bells and bench.

I was looking for used car as well, but even FB marketplace is full of dealers/brokers. Luckily I found the car in my company portal.

Since I am currently looking for a used AMT car, every day I good through the FB market place. In the process I also check if I can buy something interesting. Recently bought a beautiful floor lamp.

Regards