How to buy a car on Facebook Marketplace

[eljefino]

This topic keeps coming up and I just threaded the needle on a purchase, beating other buyers to the punch. Thought I'd retract personal information and post the message chain that led to my success.

The ad was an hour old when I replied. It potentially spends some of that time in some queue so it could have been visible for less than an hour. Anyway, promptness in interest is the first key. You can always fink out later, but be at the top of the guy's message pile:

Note I'm also hinting that a prompt response due to impending weather would be helpful to both parties. Some sellers are flakes.

Don't be intimidating, but do be interested. Always Be Closing.

The listing came up with the wrong town-- I was acting like him being the next down over, a 15 minute drive, would be no big deal. But he was actually 45 minutes away, but still willing to see me. This page of messages also shows my stupid "competition" starting to drive the guy nuts. My self-marketing is already paying off.

"Here in the morning" on a weekend means different things to different people, so I'm still closing and presenting myself as flexible/ not an idiot: Also the guy hates people from Massachusetts, LOL, so my initial feeler mentioning my home town paid off.

Now I'm not bringing my tow dolly in a snowstorm but I know the seller would understand that. I brought a jack, jump box, and OBD scanner. I used all three to check the car out. The car had a bad battery from sitting so maybe I impressed the seller by getting it going. At least if I wasn't going to buy it I'd help the guy out so he could show it to the next interested party.

I'm still closing, need the address. I don't like scaring the address out of people before committing to a time; a lot of people are skittish about strangers showing up at their house unannounced. I offered the dude could give me the address just before I headed out as a compromise, but he responded right away.

As you can see, it's mine. I paid full asking price, which was a fair offer, in cash, and didn't jerk the guy around. Some situations call for haggling, like something that's been sitting advertised for a month, or not in the condition advertised. This car was neither, and it's a seller's market right now. So I've got a sweet car for my other kid to learn to drive in, and this one has about twenty airbags which makes me feel better as a parent. It's a loaded XLE but with the preferred (to me) 4 cyl 2AZ-FE and 5-speed automatic.

 

[nwjones18]

Similar to my approach and glad you got it. You have to be quick and ready to move with cash or the deals will be gone before you get there.

 

[NormanBuntz]

Good work by you, but showing up with an envelope of cash can go bad if the "seller" is a skell.

 

[mrsilv04]

<<< On the Goldwing, same thing. I was about a week late in seeing the FB ad, but I was the only guy who had been serious about it. The seller had already been hammered with dozens of low-ball clowns, who wanted him to take thousands of dollars less without even seeing it, and he was not pleased with any of it. He was just about done with it all, when I stepped in.

I simply showed the guy some respect. We spoke with each other on the phone right away, so he knew that I was 'real' and was a serious buyer. I drove 3 hours round trip to go look at it. Even before I told him I'd take it, he marked the ad as "sold", just so the clowns would go away and stop bothering him. He gave me a few days to make a decision, and to just let him know. Of course, I took it. No regrets at all.

It is quite simple. Just treat people in the same way that you want to be treated.

 

[LazyDog]

Selling and buying cars in Face Book is like a land mine. You really have to look for the crooks and resellers, you might get a descent seller / buyer in 1 out of ten contacts.

 

[andrew_j]

Selling and buying cars in Face Book is like a land mine. You really have to look for the crooks and resellers, you might get a descent seller / buyer in 1 out of ten contacts.

Have really low expectations and be pleasantly surprised is how I view it.

 

[SevenBizzos]

My FB experience on selling a car was so easy. We exchanged the money and title at my kitchen table. We even talked on the phone beforehand (kind of my thing).
All of my bad FBMP experiences are selling my kids old stuff off in great condition at 1/4th-1/3rd of retail. People don't communicate after the "Is this still available?" "Will you take (90% off what I paid)?" and constantly try to low ball. I've probably tried to sell 15 things and had 4-5 of them go well.
eBay remains better for selling things you can ship.

 

[cpayne5]

You can learn a lot about someone by the way they communicate with you on Marketplace. I've told many people to buzz off. I don't want to deal with rude, inconsiderate, and/or arrogant people. It probably takes me longer to sell some things as a result, but that's OK.

I'm sure the seller appreciates you, @eljefino.

 

[dishdude]

You can learn a lot about someone by the way they communicate with you on Marketplace. I've told many people to buzz off. I don't want to deal with rude, inconsiderate, and/or arrogant people. It probably takes me longer to sell some things as a result, but that's OK.

I'm sure the seller appreciates you, @eljefino.

That's the great thing about platforms that allow you to communicate over email or messaging with buyers and sellers, you can get a good feel for who you're dealing with, I've quit responding to quite a few because I didn't like how they corresponded and decided they weren't worth dealing with.

 

[Elkins45]

Selling and buying cars in Face Book is like a land mine. You really have to look for the crooks and resellers, you might get a descent seller / buyer in 1 out of ten contacts.

I’m amazed at the number of people I have messaged that don’t even bother to reply at all. Why bother taking and posting all those photos if you’re not going to respond?

 

[eljefino]

I’m amazed at the number of people I have messaged that don’t even bother to reply at all. Why bother taking and posting all those photos if you’re not going to respond?

Because you're further down in the queue, someone replied ahead of you and looks promising to the seller. However, the deal hasn't happened yet so the listing's still up.

 

[Sedin26]

I had never sold a vehicle before until last year. I’ve now sold a couple on FB Marketplace, along with some other items like a couple of large storage containers, a table saw, and a lathe.

I found it relatively easy because, as mentioned previously, pretty much any serious buyer is going to communicate promptly and not be an idiot. You’ll get messages where you just respond that it’s not available, because it’s clear it would be a painful experience.

If someone asks the stock “Is this still available” question, it’s possible they may be a serious buyer but if you say yes and they don’t respond almost right away they’re very likely not actually interested.

 

[BMW Dom]

Facebook marketplace can be very hard. A lot of people don't bother to reply or will send you messages just to waste your time. A few years ago, I would be on there all of the time, people were posting stuff for ridiculous prices, not responding to my messages, being shady etc. I did buy this car from there, I messaged the guy right after it was posted and he agreed to meetup at a certain location - he was a pretty child guy ngl. But there are a lot of crazies to watch out for

 

[eljefino]

If someone asks the stock “Is this still available” question, it’s possible they may be a serious buyer but if you say yes and they don’t respond almost right away they’re very likely not actually interested.

I give these guys a one line answer-- yes, can show most evenings from 5 to 8. If they want it they need to get specific in their replies.

 

[GSCJR]

If someone asks the stock “Is this still available” question, it’s possible they may be a serious buyer but if you say yes and they don’t respond almost right away they’re very likely not actually interested.

I include things like "if the ad is visible, it's still available" to see if they're actually reading the entire ad; then put them on ignore.

 

[goingplacesanddoingstuff]

Selling a car on marketplace is an awful experience. As a buyer, communicating like a normal human goes a long way.

I block anyone who lowballs, misbehaves, jerks me around, etc. I also think it’s hilarious to accept ridiculously lowball offers. They hardly ever respond back, and if they do, it’s an opportunity to waste their time back at them.

 

[Elkins45]

Because you're further down in the queue, someone replied ahead of you and looks promising to the seller. However, the deal hasn't happened yet so the listing's still up.

I have a couple of truck campers that were saved in my favorites for at least a month before I contacted their sellers. Crickets on both after multiple tries and the adds are still up months later.