Has anyone else noticed this behavior by FB Marketplace?
Disappearing ADs:
Yesterday, Ann told me about her recent experiences with FB Marketplace. While I have only posted one item to FB Marketplace (a car that sold in a day), she has posted multiple items (furniture from the old house). She said that her listing will appear for a day or two, then seems to disappear to the point that it’s hard to find using FB’s search mechanism. A week or two later, she receives a notice informing her that for $3, she can make her ad more visible.
So, basically, you can list for free, but then you need to pay money to make it easier for potential buyers to spot your ad. (other folks have reported their ads can be difficult to locate, such as here and here and here).
This better explains issues I’ve had with FB Marketplace. While doing searches, I occasionally find jeeps that I see for the first time, but have actually been available on FB for weeks. Knowing that I’d already searched in the region previously, sometimes multiple times, it has puzzled me as to why I haven’t seen some ads on a more timely basis.
Example: I regularly (at least semi-weekly) search FB ads in California, yet sometimes jeeps pop up that have been listed for a couple weeks that I have yet to see.
As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m not a fan of FB Marketplace (the search function sucks and I don’t like that you have to sign up with FB to view ads), but there are so many jeeps (and jeep groups) on FB that it’s hard to run eWillys and not follow FB. If my wife’s experience is accurate, then FB is manipulating (no surprise) ads far more than I realized.
Users Using Free & $1 ads to get priority:
Additionally, this user claims that ads listed for $1 (but with a price listed within the description) actually get higher billing than a similar ad with the price correctly listed in the price field. I couldn’t find much discussion about this on the internet. It’s worth examining closer.
