Facebook Marketplace tips for buyers, from people who get the good ones

Most Facebook Marketplace advice is written for sellers. Buyers get "be careful." Here is the rest of it: the habits that decide whether you are the person who got the Milwaukee kit for $140 or the person who saw it the next day marked sold. Twelve of them, in the order a deal happens.

Before you search

1. Decide what you want, specifically. "A drill" is a browse. "Milwaukee M18 Fuel hammer drill, kit, under $150" is a search a listing can match. The specific buyers get the specific deals.
2. Learn the typical price. Look at the last several listings for the item near you. The number you carry in your head is what every decision below is measured against. Deal Scanner's Deal Score does this automatically once a search has seen a few listings.
3. Set your location inside Marketplace. Tap the location name at the top and set your town and radius. Marketplace does not follow your phone's GPS, and most "no results" and "wrong town" problems are this.

Searching

4. Search the model, then its nicknames and misspellings. "Aeron," then "Herman Miller chair," then "mesh office chair." The seller who does not know what they have writes the generic name and prices it that way.
5. Set a low price as well as a high one. It removes the accessories and the scam listings that otherwise fill the top of every search.
6. Sort by date listed on search results, and check the "listed" time on the item page. The home feed is a recommendation feed; new listings for a specific item only show reliably in a search sorted by date. Our guide on seeing the newest listings covers where the sort is.

Timing

7. Be early, or be the only one. Good listings get serious messages in the first ten minutes. Facebook's own saved-search notifications arrive hours to days late in our use. An app that watches for you is how ordinary people with jobs are early; see Facebook Marketplace alerts.
8. Old listings have soft prices. Three weeks up, no sale, a seller who wants it gone. "Still available? I can take it today for $X."

Messaging

9. Say what you will do and when. "I can pick it up today at 5 with cash" gets answered. "Is this available?" is what the other twelve sent. More on negotiating.
10. Keep it in Messenger. No phone numbers, no texts, no codes. Every scam on our scams page starts by moving the conversation.

Meeting and paying

11. Public place, daylight, bring someone, test it, then pay cash. Nothing in advance, ever. The seller who cannot work with that is not a seller. Is Facebook Marketplace safe? has the full version.
12. Know the item's checks before you go. A dirt bike, a truck, a four-wheeler, a motorcycle and a tool kit each have a twenty-minute inspection that catches most of what matters. Our buying guides: dirt bike, four-wheeler, motorcycle, truck, tools.

The one tool

Everything above gets easier when you hear about the listing first. Deal Scanner watches Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp and Craigslist for a search you set, on our servers, around the clock, and buzzes your phone when a listing is posted, with the time we found it on every alert and a Deal Score when it is a clear bargain. A low and high price and a radius keep the junk out; no Facebook login. $3.99 a month for three searches, cancel anytime. It is built for everyone who checks Marketplace every day, whether flipping is your side thing, your whole job, or not the point at all.

FAQ

What is the best way to find deals on Facebook Marketplace?

Know the typical price, search the exact model plus its nicknames, set a low and high price, sort by date, and be early, which means an alert rather than refreshing. The full method is on how to find deals on Facebook Marketplace.

How do I avoid getting scammed as a buyer?

Send nothing in advance, keep the conversation in Messenger, meet in public, and pay in person after testing the item.

Why do sellers ignore my messages?

Because they got twelve "is this available" messages and one "I can pick it up at 5 with cash." Be the second one.

Should I use Facebook's saved search notifications?

Set them up; they are free. In our use they arrive hours to days late, match loosely and turn themselves off, which is why alert apps exist.

Sources checked

Facebook's Marketplace help pages on location, notifications and Purchase Protection; our own buying on Marketplace, OfferUp and Craigslist. Checked October 26, 2026.