Does Facebook Marketplace Charge Fees?

I sold items on the Facebook Marketplace before, and I paid nothing. I also integrated my Shopify dropshipping store with Facebook and paid nothing to Facebook. 

In this article, I will share my experience and knowledge about the Facebook marketplace. I will discuss: 

• Facebook Marketplace fee calculation
• Other expenses you will incur if you sell on Facebook
• Types of dropshippers liable to pay fees

Key Takeaways: 

• It is best to just integrate a Shopify store with Facebook to reduce fees
• Usually there is not fees in the Facebook Marketplace
• You can avoid fees if you sell as an individual, not as a business

By the end of this article, I am hoping you have learned how to avoid Facebook fees. Should you go ahead and build a store on Facebook, this article will also show you how to calculate the fees so you can factor them into your costs. 

Different Fees That Facebook Charges Sellers

Facebook does not charge individual sellers. These are Facebook users who just want to post a pre-loved item, such as a motorcycle, car, or old toys and clothes. 

Here are some of the most common questions about Facebook Marketplace fees: 

• Does Facebook marketplace charge fees for selling a car?
• Does Facebook marketplace charge fees for shipping 
• Does Facebook marketplace charge fees in the UK?
• Does Facebook marketplace charge fees for local pickup
• How does Facebook marketplace collect fees?
• Does Facebook marketplace have selling fees?
• Does Facebook marketplace charge tax?

Generally, anyone who lists an item on the Facebook Marketplace will not pay a fee. Facebook does not charge taxes—it is you who will charge this. In addition, Facebook can only collect fees if you use its platform as a payment processor. 

Business establishments, however, pay certain fees, regardless of the country and item. It is important to note that Facebook sellers who integrated their stores via Shopify will not pay fees. Instead, you will pay a fee to Shopify, and it is now Shopify that has to fulfill a financial obligation to Facebook. 

If you set up your Facebook store through the Commerce Manager Facebook platform, you will pay the following percentages: 

• Card payments – you will pay a 2.9% transaction fee
• PayPal Checkout – 3.49% transaction fee
• Shop Pay – 2.9% transaction fee

Facebook calculates these fees based on the total transaction cost, including shipping costs and taxes. So, if a single transaction totals $100, and your customer paid you with a credit card, you will pay a fee of $2.9. 

Then, there is a chargeback fee. Similar to the previous rule, Shopify stores that integrated with Facebook are exempted from Chargeback fees, as far as Facebook is concerned.

Instead, Shopify will process the chargeback fees. If you opened your Facebook store through the Commerce Manager, you would pay a chargeback fee of $20, but only if the card issuer decides in the customer’s favor. It means that the customer won the dispute and you, the dropshipper, lost the case. 

Example Calculations of Facebook Marketplace Fees

Facebook charges fees based on the total transaction cost. The percentage value we will use here is 2.9%.

Scenario 1:

• Product cost: $46
• Shipping cost: $11
• Tax: $4.40

In this example, the total amount that the customer will pay is $61.40. The calculation for the fee is $61.4 x 2.9% = $1.78.

As the seller, you will not receive $61.40, but only $59.62.

Scenario 2: 

• Product cost: $46
• Shipping cost: $0
• Tax: $0

In this case, Facebook will deduct 2.9% from $46. You will receive $44.66 from the sale, and Facebook will receive $1.334 from you. Always remember that Facebook charges fees based on the total of the transaction cost. 

Other Fees You Will Incur as a Facebook Marketplace Seller

Facebook will not charge you anything else, except if you decide to advertise. 

The most common expenses you will incur are:

• Advertising costs – this is the money you spend for advertising on the Meta platform. There was a time when this cost was negligible. Today, you have to spend hundreds of dollars to even get impressions. In addition, running pay-per-click ads can also cost you an arm and a leg.  
• Sponsorship costs – this is a cost you pay to influencers. For example, let us say that you are dropshipping dog products on Facebook. You want a Facebook influencer to promote your product, so you would need to contact them and pay them a fee. The cost depends on how much this influencer wants to charge. 
• Creative costs – this is the cost of creating an ad or marketing material. For example, you will pay a specialist for their product photography services, or an artist for their voiceover services, etc. 

It is up to you to control these costs. I suggest that you first do your research about advertising before diving in. We have a tutorial on how to use the Facebook ad library, which you can use to find your competition and beat them. 

Pros and Cons of Dropshipping on Facebook Marketplace

Pros of Facebook Dropshipping

1. Uncomplicated Set-Up

You do not need to build a store on Facebook. All it takes is a personal account. From here, you can go to the Facebook marketplace and post your items for sale.

What’s complicated, though, is if you build a Facebook Shop. This process requires that you have a Facebook page, a Commerce Manager, and so much more. To be honest, I find Facebook’s Commerce Manager too confusing.  

2. Huge Traffic

Since your products are on Facebook, it is easy to find people who will buy your goods. Both mobile and desktop Facebook users have access to the marketplace icon. All it takes is a single tap and they are ready to shop. 

To take advantage of this, I suggest that you use the right keywords. Like any marketplace, your products will show up if your product title matches what the customer is looking for. 

3. No monthly Fees

There is no monthly fee to use the Facebook Marketplace. I can say that this is the biggest reason why dropshipping on Facebook is a good idea. 

To give you perspective, here is what you will spend on typical dropshipping platforms: 

• Shopify – about $30 monthly
• Self-hosted WooCommerce – at least $4 monthly for your first year of hosting
• Squarespace – either $23 or $28 monthly
• BigCommerce – $29 monthly

There is no monthly fee for Facebook Shops built on the Commerce Manager. 

4. Social Credibility

It is your profile that people would see in the Facebook marketplace unless you created a page and used it. 

Since it is your profile in view, potential buyers can tap your profile and see your face, your photos, history, and social media activities. 

If you are active on Facebook, with a lot of friends and personal posts, these consumers will immediately think you are legit.  

Cons of Dropshipping on Facebook Marketplace

1. Lots of prohibited products

Facebook, Instagram and other social media channels that allow selling have a lot of rules. For one, you cannot dropship items that are sexual or violent. 

There are many types of items you cannot sell on Facebook, and here are some of them:

• Adult products like sex toy
• Alcoholic beverages
• Body parts and other items that come from the human body
• Steaming products like subscriptions to Netflix
• Any item that discriminates against any group
• Bitcoin, digital currencies, and fiat monies
• Gambling products
• Hazardous products like solvents, materials used for making bombs, etc.
• Food supplements
• Animal parts
• Medical products

As you can see, many prohibitions can prevent you from succeeding in the Facebook marketplace platform. 

What if you want to sell protein supplements for bodybuilders? That product is automatically out. What if your niche is luck or astrology, and you want to sell real preserved rabbits’ feet? You cannot sell it.

The Facebook Marketplace is great for dropshipping only if you want to sell items like clothing, shoes, toys, and cosmetics. And, as far as cosmetic goes, you also cannot sell used cosmetic items. It has to be brand new. 

2. Too many distractions

Facebook, like Amazon and YouTube, is full of distractions. They want users to stay there, which is just appropriate for their business model.

Dropshippers like us, however, do not like this. The more sellers there are, the more likely it is for consumers to buy from someone else. 

Just take a look at this: 

As you can see, there are five pairs of shoes here from different sellers. If the user clicks on someone else’s products and not yours, that opportunity is gone. 

If you dropship in your store, this consumer can only click your products. There is no other image that will draw this consumer’s attention, so you have all the opportunity to make a sale.

3. Lots of unserious buyers

Facebook is notorious for unserious buyers. While we must cater to customer inquiries, I can say from experience that many people tend to ask questions with no real intent to buy. 

It is why Amazon, eBay, and other marketplaces make it hard to find the “contact seller” button. What they want is to pressure a shopper to buy the item right now. 

Facebook, however, is known for its Messenger services. Facebook users expect that they can contact the seller. Answering all these inquiries can be a waste of time if you ask me.

The solution I recommend is to use a chatbot. Thankfully, Facebook has a feature where you can set commonly asked questions and enable it in your Messenger. However, you can only do this if you registered as a page or as a business, not as an individual profile. 

FAQ: Does Facebook Marketplace Charge Fee?

Does Facebook Marketplace charge a fee to sell?

Individual sellers do not pay a fee, but businesses that launch their products on Facebook through the Facebook Commerce Manager platform pay a fee. 

How to avoid Facebook Marketplace fees?

Post your products as an individual, not as a business. 

Is Facebook Marketplace free or paid?

It can be both. Those who sell as common users will not pay any fee. those who put up a Facebook Shop and use Facebook as a payment processor will pay a fee. 

Do you pay on FB Marketplace?

Generally speaking, you don’t. You will only pay if you create a Facebook Shop and charge customers through Facebook’s official payment processing systems. 

Summary

There are three things you can do from here. The first one is to start listing your products in the Facebook Marketplace as an individual. Another is to integrate your existing Shopify dropshipping store with Facebook. The last one is to create a Facebook page and build a Facebook store.  

If you do not have a dropshipping store yet, or if you are just about to begin your dropshipping journey, I suggest that you sign up for a 7-day free trial account with Dropship.IO. Use the tool to find winning dropshipping products and sell them on the Facebook Marketplace!