Facebook Marketplace price drop alerts

Facebook Marketplace has one built-in price drop alert: save a listing (the bookmark or Save button on the listing), keep Facebook notifications on, and Facebook may notify you if the seller lowers the price. The word is "may." The notification is often hours late, sometimes never comes, doesn't always say how much the price fell, and only covers listings you already found and saved by hand. There is no price drop alert for a search, and nothing on OfferUp or Craigslist listings. Deal Scanner does it for a whole search instead of one saved listing: when a listing your search matches gets cheaper, on Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp or Craigslist, your phone buzzes with what it was and what it is now. How to set up Facebook's version, why it misses, and how Deal Scanner's works are below.

How to turn on Facebook's price drop alerts

1. Open the listing in the Facebook app or on facebook.com.
2. Tap Save (the bookmark icon). The listing goes into Marketplace → Your account (or profile) → Saved items.
3. Make sure Marketplace notifications are on inside Facebook: Marketplace → profile → Settings → Notifications. The saved-search and updates categories should be on.
4. Make sure your phone lets Facebook notify you at all. iPhone: Settings → Notifications → Facebook → Allow Notifications. Android: Settings → Apps → Facebook → Notifications. On Android, also take Facebook out of battery optimization, or the notification can wait until you open the app.
5. Check Saved items every day or two anyway. That list shows the current price on each listing, and it is the only way to be sure.

Menu names move around between app versions. If a step doesn't match, every switch is walked through on how to set up Facebook Marketplace alerts.

Why Facebook's price drop alerts miss

• They're late. Facebook's Marketplace notifications are hours to days late in our use. A car that dropped $2,000 on Tuesday morning gets a message from somebody else by Tuesday lunch.
• They don't always fire. Sellers can change a price a few ways (edit the listing, or delete it and relist it). Not every change seems to notify the people who saved it, and a relisted item is a new listing your save doesn't follow.
• They turn themselves off. Facebook's alerts go quiet with no warning. You find out by checking by hand.
• They only watch what you already saved. The best price drop is often on a listing you never saw, because it was posted at $2,500 and you'd set your search to $2,000. Facebook won't tell you about that one.
• Facebook only. The same mower or sectional is usually on OfferUp and Craigslist too, often from the same seller, sometimes at a different price.
• Meta AI and Muse don't fix it. They'll search listings when you ask, in a chat. That's a chat, not a watch. Nothing stands guard between questions.

What a price drop tells you

A price drop is the seller telling you the first number didn't work. That's leverage, but not every drop means the same thing.

• A real drop. 10% or more in one move, or two drops in a week or two. The seller wants it gone. Message today, and don't be shy about offering a little under the new price.
• A cosmetic drop. $5 off a $400 listing, or $100 off a $9,000 truck. Usually the seller bumping the listing so it shows up again. It isn't a motivated seller yet.
• A drop to bait. A price far under everything else like it, on a listing with stock photos, a seller who wants a deposit, or "shipping only." Too good to be true means it is. The tells are on Facebook Marketplace scams.
• A drop that's still high. A seller can cut a price twice and still be over what the same item goes for in your area. The cut isn't the deal. The price against typical is the deal.

How to act on a price drop

1. Check the price against typical near you, not against the seller's old price. Our price pages show the typical asking price for common items by area.
2. Message fast and short. "Hi, is the mower still available at $650? I can come tonight with cash." A specific time and the price in writing beats "is this available."
3. Mention the drop if you're offering under it. "I saw you dropped it to $650. Would you take $600 if I pick it up today?" A seller who already dropped once is often ready to drop again for someone who will actually show up.
4. Meet in public, pay on pickup. Never a deposit to hold it. The rest of the haggling is on how to negotiate on Facebook Marketplace.

Catching price drops by hand

If you're watching one or two specific listings, Facebook's save is free and better than nothing. Two habits make it work:

• Check Saved items every day. Morning and evening if it's something like a truck or a riding mower that will sell the day it gets cheap.
• Re-run the search with your real top price. If a listing you skipped at $900 drops to $700, it shows up in a $750-max search. Sort by newest and you'll see it near the top on most days. How to force newest-first is on how to see the newest listings on Facebook Marketplace.

That's a lot of checking. You can't sit there refreshing Marketplace every five minutes.

Price drop alerts on a whole search

Most people asking for a price drop alert don't care about one listing. They want a PS5, an F-150 or a John Deere riding mower at a good price. A price drop is one way that happens. A new listing that's already priced right is the other. Deal Scanner watches for both.

Price drops are built into every search. Nothing to turn on. When a listing your search matches gets cheaper, your phone buzzes with "was $900, now $700." It catches the two drops that matter:

• A listing you already saw got meaningfully cheaper. At least 5% under the lowest price you were alerted at. A seller knocking $5 off to bump the listing doesn't buzz you.
• A listing that was over your budget dropped into it. The truck posted at $9,500 when your high limit is $8,000 buzzes you when it's cut to $7,900. Facebook's save button can't do this one, because you never saw that truck to save it.

It works the same on Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp and Craigslist, and your Stats page counts the drops you've caught.

And new listings priced right. Set one search: the item, your town, how far you'd drive, and a price range with the high limit at what you'd actually pay. Deal Scanner watches Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp and Craigslist from that one search, with the app closed, drops most of the accessories and lookalikes, and buzzes you when a matching listing is posted. Every find gets a Deal Score showing how far under the typical price near you it sits ("46% below typical"), and every alert shows when it found the listing. No Facebook login, ever.

Three searches are $3.99 a month, cancel anytime in your phone's subscription settings. Pay for the month you're looking. Cancel when you've got it. More on how the alerts work for each marketplace: Facebook Marketplace alerts, OfferUp alerts, Craigslist alerts.

The other apps that watch Marketplace are mostly priced like business software, for people who flip for a living. Each one's price, checked on its own site, is on best Facebook Marketplace alert apps.

FAQ

Does Facebook Marketplace notify you of price drops?

Sometimes. If you save a listing, Facebook may notify you when the seller lowers the price. In our use the notification is often hours late or never comes, and it only covers listings you saved by hand. There's no price drop alert on a saved search.

How do I get price drop alerts on Facebook Marketplace?

Save the listing with the bookmark or Save button, turn on Marketplace notifications in Facebook's settings, and allow Facebook notifications on your phone. Then check Saved items every day or two, because the notification doesn't always come.

Where do I see my saved items on Facebook Marketplace?

In Marketplace, tap your profile or account, then Saved items. It shows each saved listing with its current price.

Does a seller lowering the price notify everyone who saved it?

Some seller guides say it does. On the buyer's end it isn't reliable. Some price changes don't seem to notify anyone, and a deleted and relisted item is a new listing your save doesn't follow.

Is a price drop a good time to make an offer?

Usually. A seller who dropped the price already moved off the first number. Check the new price against the typical price near you first, then message with a specific pickup time and, if you're offering under, mention the drop.

Is there an app for Facebook Marketplace price drop alerts?

Deal Scanner. Price drop alerts are built into every search: when a listing your search matches gets at least 5% cheaper, or drops under your high price limit, your phone buzzes with the old and new price. It covers Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp and Craigslist, and also buzzes you when a matching listing is posted, with a Deal Score showing how far under the typical price near you it sits. It's $3.99 a month, cancel anytime.

Do I have to save a listing to get Deal Scanner's price drop alerts?

No. Every listing your search matches is watched. That includes listings that were over your high price limit, which is how you hear about the one that drops into your budget.

Sources checked

CarSnipe's, Closo's and HowToGeek's write-ups on Facebook Marketplace price changes and saved-listing notifications (they disagree on whether every price edit notifies savers, which is why this page says "may"); the notification switches from our setup guide; Deal Scanner's own price pages from the October 27, 2026 data refresh. Checked October 31, 2026.