How to Sell on Facebook: Marketplace, Shops and Groups

In short: there are five ways to sell on Facebook (Marketplace, your business Page, a Facebook Shop, groups and ads), with an ad reach of 198 million people in the United States according to DataReportal’s Digital 2026 report. Since September 2025, payment no longer happens inside Facebook: a Shop is a storefront that sends buyers to your website, so you need an online store or fast replies in Messenger to close the sale.

Facebook is no longer the trendy network, but it is still one where people buy. In the 2025 Sprout Social Index, which surveyed 4,044 consumers in the US, the UK, Canada and Australia, Facebook ranked first among platforms where respondents say they purchase directly, at 39%. Here is how to make the most of it, step by step, and within the rules.

What are the ways to sell on Facebook?

Channel	Best for	Cost	Payment
Business Page	any store, trade or service provider	free	outside Facebook (website, invoice, in person)
Facebook Shop	online stores with a website	free	on the seller’s website
Marketplace	physical items, local sales	free	arranged between buyer and seller
Groups	niches, local communities	free	outside Facebook
Facebook ads	any business with a budget	paid	depends on the destination you choose

Most small businesses combine two or three: an active Page as the foundation, ads to widen the audience, and a Shop or Marketplace depending on what they sell.

How do you set up a Facebook Page that sells?

The Page is the foundation. A well kept Page reassures buyers before a purchase, even when the sale closes elsewhere.

• Complete information: business category, address or service area, hours, phone, website, typical response time.
• Profile and cover images consistent with your brand and readable on mobile.
• The right action button: Send message, Shop now, Book now or Call.
• Regular posts: products in use, new arrivals, behind the scenes, customer reviews shared with permission. Keep sales posts to one in three or four; the rest should be useful or personal.
• Fast replies in comments and Messenger. A price question left unanswered is a lost sale. Messenger lets you set automated replies to common questions (hours, shipping, lead times), as long as a real person follows up.

Short video remains the most effective format to show a product: a 30-second demo, an unboxing, a before and after.

How do Facebook Shops work in 2026?

Facebook and Instagram Shops are managed in Commerce Manager. You import a catalog (by hand, from a file, or from your ecommerce platform: Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce and others offer connectors), and the Shop appears on your Page.

The major change: Checkout on Facebook and Instagram, which was only available to US sellers, was discontinued by Meta on September 4, 2025. Now, when a customer taps a product in a Shop or an ad, they are redirected to the seller’s website to pay. Commerce Manager asks for a checkout URL, and orders and returns are handled on your own site.

What that means in practice:

• Without an online store, a Shop has little value. Show products in posts and sell through Messenger instead.
• With a store, the Shop and catalog remain useful for posts with tagged products and for catalog ads, which automatically show each person the products most likely to interest them.
• Polish the page they land on. A shopper who arrives on a slow or confusing product page leaves. The principles of a good landing page apply.

How do you sell on Facebook Marketplace?

Marketplace works like a classifieds site: photo, title, price, description, location. It suits physical items and local sales well: furniture, equipment, vehicles, used or refurbished goods.

Meta’s Commerce Policies apply to every listing. Among the prohibited items: downloadable digital content and subscriptions, weapons and ammunition, animals, alcohol, prescription drugs, tobacco, ingestible supplements and medical devices, adult products, gambling, currency, misleading offers, used cosmetics and recalled products. Event tickets, gift cards and pet adoption services are limited to approved sellers. Services can only be offered through WhatsApp Business or Meta’s appointment booking tool.

Good practices:

1. Real photos, in daylight, from several angles, flaws included.
2. A clear price. “DM for price” annoys people and drives them away.
3. A precise description: condition, dimensions, pickup or shipping terms.
4. Quick replies, and caution with scams. Meta advises checking your account yourself before confirming a payment, never trusting a screenshot, being wary of requests to move to phone or email early in the conversation, and never sharing card or bank details.

Are Facebook groups a good way to sell?

Groups sometimes gather thousands of people around a shared interest or a town. They can be a good channel, on two conditions.

• Follow each group’s rules. Many ban promotion or limit it to one day a week. An unauthorized sales post will get you removed and make you look bad.
• Give before you sell. Answer questions, share a tip, show your expertise. People buy more readily from someone they have seen help others.

A stronger strategy is to create your own group around your field (local cycling fans, customers of a sewing workshop) and run it. It takes time, but it is an asset you control far more than an ad audience.

How do you use Facebook ads to sell?

Ads let you reach people who do not follow you, based on location, age, interests or behavior, and retarget people who visited your website.

For a small business getting started:

• start with a post that already performed well without ads, rather than a visual designed from scratch;
• one clear objective per campaign: messages, website visits or sales;
• a small daily budget tested over two weeks, then adjusted based on cost per result;
• install conversion tracking on your website, or you will never know what the ads bring in.

Our guide to digital advertising for small businesses covers settings and starting budgets.

What rules apply when you sell on Facebook as a business?

Selling on a social network does not change the law that applies to you. In the US, the main points are:

• Shipping promises. The FTC’s Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule requires you to ship within the time you state, or within 30 days if you state none, and to notify buyers and offer a refund if you cannot.
• Clear prices and policies: total price, shipping costs and your return policy shown before the order. There is no general federal right to return online purchases, so your stated policy is what customers rely on, alongside state laws.
• Endorsements. If a creator promotes your products in exchange for payment or free products, the FTC’s Endorsement Guides require a clear disclosure such as “#ad” or “Paid partnership”.
• Taxes. Regularly selling, buying to resell or making things to sell is a business, and the income must be reported. Payment platforms send a Form 1099-K to the IRS when your payments exceed $20,000 and 200 transactions in a year, the federal threshold reinstated in 2025, although some states use lower thresholds. Income is taxable whether or not you get the form. Depending on your state, you may also need to collect sales tax.

In the UK, distance sales by a business come with a 14-day cancellation period under the Consumer Contracts Regulations, so state it clearly on your Page and website.

Which mistakes stop you from selling on Facebook?

• A silent Page for months: customers assume the business has closed.
• Unanswered messages: on social media, buyers expect a reply the same day.
• Nothing but promotional posts: your audience tunes out and reach drops.
• A Shop without a website now that on-platform checkout is gone.
• Ignoring or deleting negative comments: organized social media moderation protects your sales.

Facebook is one piece of a social media strategy that starts with knowing where your customers are. If your Page gets restricted or hacked, our guide on how to contact Facebook support lists the options that actually work.