The revised Meta rules regarding Facebook Marketplace changes the game for car dealers. As of the end of January, Meta no longer allows automotive dealers to push bulk inventory listings on Marketplace.
Instead of utilizing this section of Facebook for advertising large quantities of vehicles, dealerships will need to utilize paid advertising to promote their inventory on this platform. Under most circumstances, this sounds like a sensible option, but it does change the game a bit for dealers. Some dealers might choose to pull their inventory listings from Facebook in favor of other third-party entities. Other dealers need the exposure on Facebook and will pay for the advertising, shifting advertising money to Meta.
Are automotive listings the only listings impacted by these new restrictions?
Meta notified users of the new restrictions that would no long allow sellers to create used vehicle listings using a Facebook business page. The automotive world isn’t the only industry impacted. In fact, similar restrictions were applied to real estate and rental listings as well. The goal is to require dealerships and large commercial companies utilizing business pages to create listings using paid advertising instead of the Facebook Marketplace pages.
This changes the spirit of Marketplace
Automotive dealerships might think that changing the rules changes the spirt of Facebook Marketplace, but that’s simply not the case. Marketplace is designed for small business and individuals to buy and sell products and services. Having large companies included in this arena placed an unfair advantage on these companies. Removing them from Marketplace to only allow paid advertising on Facebook makes a huge difference in this space. Some dealers might opt to pay for the advertising option on Facebook Marketplace, but others will likely find success elsewhere and remove their listings from this social media platform altogether.
Couldn’t dealers utilize a free option with a non-business page?
One way dealers might be able to work around the requirement to pay for advertising would be to have a page listing the vehicles that isn’t a business page. This could be problematic for dealerships that utilize the tracking reports offered through Facebook. It might not be worth the trouble to build a separate non-business page, but for some, this workaround might create the desired listings. Of course, creating this non-business page could cause some dealerships to be banned for specified time periods on this platform, which would be counterproductive.
What should car dealers do about these new Facebook Marketplace rules?
Most auto dealers are already working to understand the value associate with maintaining listings on Facebook. Large dealership groups could see enough value to continue with the paid advertising option offered on Facebook Marketplace while others will realize they receive more leads and sales via other third-party entities. This could mean some businesses will pull out of this platform and put their advertising dollars to good work elsewhere. Those that remain on Facebook that take advantage of the paid advertising options will likely need to allocate advertising dollars to pay for this change.
Some dealers will rejoice in this new change
Some car dealers have utilized the Facebook Marketplace platform to showcase their vehicle listings for a long time and were upset when the platform began allowing dealerships to push bulk inventory listings to users. This created such an offset in the number of dealership listings that it saturated the market and created diminished returns for those that were using this platform for specific listings and not bulk advertising. Those dealers that now see a requirement for bulk listings to become paid or pulled back could enjoy increased returns going forward.
Will you see fewer vehicles listed on Marketplace?
Most likely, you’ll see fewer used cars listed on Facebook Marketplace, but you might not notice the change. What you could notice is listings for individual sales from private sellers appear more often, giving you a much better selection of desired listings. Of course, if you’re looking for vehicles from large dealer groups, you still might find some on Marketplace, through these paid ads. In some cases, you’ll need to look elsewhere for the uses cars you want, especially when you want the support and backing of a dealership.
Will the Meta changes impacting car dealers advertising used vehicles on Facebook Marketplace impact you and the way you buy a car? Probably not, but if you’re looking for specific models on this social media sales platform, you could easily find what you want without the bulk listings from some car dealers.
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