In recent years, Facebook Marketplace has become one of the most popular places to buy and sell things online. But if you try to start a business on Facebook, especially a dropshipping business, you should be aware of the fees that Facebook will charge you.
Let’s learn about the fees for dropshipping on Facebook Market.
What is the Facebook Market?
The Facebook Marketplace is an online market where people can buy, sell, and trade goods. All of the transactions happen outside of the app and are in no way Facebook’s legal responsibility. You can: Use Facebook Marketplace to:
Try to find things to buy.
- Make lists of products. You can take pictures of the item with the app’s camera or by adding pictures from your device’s camera roll. Items are set up by location and category.
- See what’s for sale by category and where it is.
- In the “Your Items” area, you can look at your messages and transactions from the past and the present.
Make separate bids on products.
- You can set up trades by sending messages to buyers and sellers.
- Facebook Marketplace is a great place to buy and sell things online. It is also one of the most popular ways to sell in terms of the number of people who use it. Statista says that as of 2021, more than a billion people used Facebook Marketplace.
How does the Facebook Marketplace work?
The Facebook app has a feature called “Facebook Marketplace” that lets people buy and sell goods with people in their area. Just open the Facebook app and tap the Marketplace icon, which looks like a storefront. Then you can look at the lists or add your own.
For a single person, there are two ways to sell on Facebook Marketplace: local pick-up or delivery across the country.
What’s good and bad about Facebook Marketplace?
The pros and cons of Facebook Marketplace can help you decide whether or not to use it:
PROS:
Here are the main reasons why you should list your item on Facebook Marketplace:
- Reach: Marketplace has made it easier for eCommerce merchants to reach more people, so more people will see their brands and items. As a result, businesses will be able to reach more relevant customers.
- Experiences That Are Unique: Facebook Marketplace gives customers a personalized experience and helps your business find the right customers.
- No Charge To List: The free marketplace listing option on Facebook is one of the best things about selling on the site.
- Establish A Relationship With Your Customers: Facebook is a social network that lets customers and businesses talk to each other directly. They may also ask questions right away about the product. And this helps people get along better with each other.
- Brand Visibility is increased because when a product is listed in a marketplace, its brand name is shown along with other information. So, even if the customer doesn’t want your products, they will still be exposed to them.
CONS:
Even though the online store has many benefits, it is always hard to keep customers’ trust. Also, people often ask, “Is Facebook Marketplace safe?” before buying or selling something online. Keep these things in mind as you think about the following problems with Facebook Marketplace:
- Purchases aren’t safe because Facebook doesn’t check to see if the products being sold are real. Instead, the system is mostly based on trust. To get purchase protection, you can only use the checkout system to buy things from Facebook shops that will be sent to you.
- Facebook Does Not Screen Buyers Or Vendors: For a reason, the platform makes it easy to post. Facebook doesn’t check out its buyers and sellers or the things they sell. This leaves the site open to fraud and trash.
- Worries About Safety: Since Facebook Marketplace doesn’t have a shipping service, most goods have to be traded in person. Most people don’t like it when strangers knock on their door unless they have a big check with their name on it. Also, finding places to meet can be hard and even dangerous.
Do you have to charge fees when dropshipping on Facebook Market?
You don’t have to pay anything to buy something on Facebook Marketplace. It’s also free to just put something up for sale.
You will only have to pay a fee when you officially sell an item. When you deliver the product and get paid, Facebook takes a certain amount out of the total price.
Don’t forget that Facebook calculates this cost per shipping, not per order. So, if you’re making a single purchase that requires two separate shipments, they’ll charge you a fee for each shipment based on how much each one costs on its own.
You should know about the fees that Facebook Marketplace charges when dropshipping.
Let’s look at the most important part of the fees for dropshipping on Facebook Marketplace.
Selling Fees
When dropshipping, the selling fees, such as shipping and taxes, are taken out of the payment as soon as it comes in. If the buyer files a chargeback, which we’ll talk about later, the selling fee is not refunded.
When someone buys something from you and pays through Facebook, you will see a message that says “Payment Processing Fee” (For Items Sold Nationwide).
- If you sell less than $8, you only have to pay $0.40.
- Any purchase with more than $8 in it will be charged a 5% fee.
- If you sell something for $5, for example, Facebook will take $0.40 off, leaving you with $4.60. They will take 5% off the sale price of an item that sold for $100, leaving you with $95.
The selling charge is the same for everyone, whether they are a person or a business. The only time this isn’t true is if you qualify for Facebook’s program for selling without fees, which we’ll talk about later.
Shipping labels paid for by USPS and UPS
Purchase Protection is something that Facebook does offer to the buyer. Before starting the Purchase Protection, the buyer has to talk to the seller to figure out what to do. The seller has up to two business days to reply and try to figure out what went wrong. If the seller doesn’t respond, the buyer can then contact Facebook’s help center and file a claim. The buyer has 45 days from the date of delivery or 60 days from the date of the illegal payment to file a claim.
Facebook will give the customer a refund if the products are not what was advertised, if they are broken, or if the purchase was not authorized. The amount of the refund will come out of the seller’s income.
In other words, if you are the dropshipper and the goods were lost or destroyed, Facebook will not pay you back for the price of the item or delivery. But you can file an insurance claim with USPS for Priority Mail or UPS. The bad news is that USPS First Class mail is not insured. If you want to offer shipping insurance to your customers, you must get it from a third party and add the cost to the price of the item.
Chargeback Fee
The customer can always ask for a chargeback or, in other words, a refund. A buyer can file a chargeback a few months after a transaction has been completed and the item has been sent.
When a customer contacts their bank, Visa, Mastercard, or another financial institution to dispute a transaction, the card issuer decides whether or not to accept the customer’s challenge. If the chargeback is accepted, Facebook will take $20 (the chargeback fee) and the cost of the item from your profits. Card issuers can take up to 75 days (nearly 3 months) to decide on a chargeback claim.
Here are some reasons why a customer might ask for a chargeback:
- The consumer did not receive the product.
- It was done without permission.
- Scammer.
- The product was not at all like what was promised.
- Buying regret.
- Several times, the client was charged for the same products.
- If you don’t agree with the decision, you have ten days to dispute the chargeback by showing proof that the purchase was made. Tracking information, proof of delivery, an image of the transaction invoice, and contact with the customer are all examples of evidence that support your case.
If your appeal works, Facebook will give you the $20 and add the price of the item they are holding to your profits. If you lose the case, you will lose an extra $20 on top of the cost of the item.
If you don’t respond to the chargeback in 10 days, you will lose the case. The best advice from experienced sellers is to keep a close eye on your account after the holidays, because that’s when customers most often file chargebacks out of buyer’s remorse.
Facebook didn’t pay its fees.
Facebook will sometimes say that their usual fees are being waived or that delivery is free for certain categories or price ranges. All merchants will be told ahead of time about events where costs are waived or delivery is free.
If you have questions about their current program, you can join their Facebook group or get in touch with Facebook support.
Extra Tips for Getting the Most Out of Facebook Marketplace Fees
If you want people to look at your dropshipping listing, you have to do more than what the rules say. Here are some ways to set your product apart from those of your competitors and get the most out of your Facebook Marketplace fees.
Look Into things: You can search quickly to find out about the most popular items. You might want to see what other people have to say about how much things cost on Facebook Marketplace. What are the good and bad things about it?
Set reasonable prices: Be sure to stay ahead of the competition when setting your rates. Look at what other sellers are charging for similar goods to make sure your prices are fair. When setting your prices, you also need to think about the fees that Facebook Marketplace charges.
Customers will want to know everything there is to know about the things you’re selling. To explain your price, you can also say what fees you have to pay.
Even if you only sell to people in your area, you should raise your prices and offer shipping. By adding shipping, you can show that you are willing to ship the item anywhere in the world. This makes your dropshipping listing more appealing to people who live outside of your local area.
There are other places to promote your dropshipping business. Facebook Marketplace is not the only or best place to do this. You can put your listing on different platforms, such as websites and eCommerce sites.
Help from dropshipping tools: As we’ve already talked about, you need to keep your listing separate from those on other platforms. It might be hard to keep track of everything. The best way to run your dropshipping business will be through dropship-empire. With Bundle products and Multiple store management, you can run your dropshipping business from a single dashboard.
Last Words
At this point, you know the different costs and how to avoid them. You can easily start dropshipping on Facebook and make a lot of money if the selling fees are low. On dropship-empire Blog, you can find out more about dropshipping tips.