Craigslist is one of the oldest and most popular online marketplaces on the internet. However, in recent years, Craigslist has lost its popularity making it harder to sell on the website.
If you’ve just posted an ad on Craigslist and want to share it with more people, a useful tool would be to post the ad on Facebook.
On Facebook, your ad can reach thousands of more views, making it easier for you to sell your product.
Table of Contents
- Posting A Craiglist Ad On Facebook
- Posting An Ad On Facebook Marketplace
- Facebook Marketplace vs. Craigslist
- Sellers Credibility – Scams and Authenticity
- Conclusion
Posting A Craiglist Ad On Facebook
To post a Craigslist ad on Facebook, all you need to do is upload a post on Facebook with your ad’s link, description, and pictures.
Here’s how to do that.
- Go to your ad on Craigslist and copy the link of your ad.
- Now launch Facebook and click on the Create Post section that reads What’s on your mind?
- Describe your ad by writing about the product or service that you’re trying to sell. Once done, paste the Craigslist ad’s link at the end.
- Now click on Photos and add some of the pictures of the product you’re trying to sell.
- Now click Post.
All your friends will now be able to see your Facebook post and can access your Craigslist ad. To promote your ad even more, encourage your friends to share it further so your post can reach the friends of your friends as well.
Posting An Ad On Facebook Marketplace
Another way of posting your Craigslist ad on Facebook is by posting the ad on Facebook Marketplace instead.
Facebook Marketplace is a new online market launched by Facebook that has around 1 billion users per month!
Facebook Marketplace is argued to be the best online marketplace on the internet due to its easy accessibility and huge promotions of products on the already well-established social media platform.
Here’s how you can shift your ad from Craigslist to Facebook Marketplace.
- Head over to Facebook.
- Head over to the Menu (9 dot button on the top-right corner of the screen) and click on Marketplace (under Shopping).
- From the sidebar menu, click on Create New Listing.
- Choose your listing type from the options of selling an item, vehicle, or property.
- Get photos from your Craigslist ad and upload them for the ad by clicking on Add Photos.
- Under photos, give your ad a Title, Price, Category, Condition, and Description. You can copy these from your Craigslist ad. You can even put your Craigslist link in the description as well.
- Now click on Next.
- Facebook will now give you options on where to post this ad. Except for Facebook Marketplace (accessible by everyone), you also check in some groups to post this listing on those groups as well.
- Once done, click on Publish.
Facebook Marketplace selling success rate is around 70-80%! In most cases, you should be receiving offers from the first day.
Facebook Marketplace vs. Craigslist
In many views, the new online marketplace of Facebook is by far the better option when it comes to selling products. However, Craigslist is not done yet.
In many cases, Craigslist is still a better online marketplace to post your products and services and reach millions of buyers.
Types Of Products
One of the best things about Craigslist is the limited regulations and boundaries it has for posting ads.
On Facebook, you cannot sell services or digital assets. You can only sell physical and tangible products.
And even these products should not belong to the following categories:
- Alcohol
- Healthcare items
- Animals
- “In search of” posts
- Illegal, prescription, or recreational drugs.
- Before-and-after based services
- Weapons
If your ad belongs to the category mentioned above, it will be taken down by Facebook.
On the other hand, Craigslist allows ads for all types of products and services with little to no regulations.
Audience
Facebook is by far the better option to promote your ad to a larger audience since it has 4x the number of users Craigslist does.
Craigslist reportedly gets 250 million visits a month whereas Facebook Marketplace has over 1 billion users a month.
Statistics also show that Facebook Marketplace ads have around a 70% selling success rate, while Craigslist ads have a mere 25% success rate.
Additional Seller Fees
One of the biggest reasons Facebook Marketplace got so popular is that they don’t charge any fees for acting as the middleman. Facebook Marketplace ads are completely free with no fees for listing, final sales, final value fee, or transaction fee. All the revenue from a sale is given to the seller, as most sales don’t proceed on the Facebook page but in person through cash.
On Craigslist, most of the categories are free to post in as well, however, some Craigslist categories come with listing fees.
These are:
- Job Postings: $10-$75
- Gigs: $3-$10
- Commercial Real Estate: $5
- Cars/Other Vehicles: $5
- Services: $5
User Friendly
Facebook Marketplace is much, much easier to use and navigate than Craigslist.
Craigslist is an old, non-optimized website with tons of links to navigate through where every region has different postings. To make things worse, there is no Craigslist mobile phone app as well.
On Facebook Marketplace, everything perfectly fits to place. Just one swipe away from your Facebook feed you can access thousands of products on Marketplace. Facebook has a much larger user base and a highly optimized mobile app as well.
The best part about the Facebook Marketplace experience is that you can contact and chat with the seller using just one click that redirects you to Messenger.
Another great thing about Facebook Marketplace is product recommendations. According to your Facebook behavior and data, Marketplace recommends your products on top of your feed that you are very likely to purchase or have an interest in.
Sellers Credibility – Scams and Authenticity
Facebook Marketplace is much more authentic when it comes to seller credibility than Craigslist.
Craigslist keeps its sellers and buyers anonymous, so there’s no way to distinguish an authentic ad from a scam.
On Facebook Marketplace, sellers have ratings given by their past customers that help you trust the seller more.
Moreover, you can even visit the seller’s Facebook profile to learn more about them and their listings.
Conclusion
By simply uploading a post on Facebook, you can promote your Craigslist ad to a much larger audience by sharing your ad’s link.
On the other hand, you can switch over to selling your product using Facebook’s Marketplace and have much better odds of closing a sale.
Interested in more? Check out Is It Safe To Order From Facebook Ads?