My Tips for Making Effective Online Ads

1. A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words.  Add lots of pictures from every angle. Use a solid backdrop with nothing else around.  Make sure you have good lighting.  Look the item up on Amazon for details on what to add to your description  If the toy has different functions add them to your ad and also photograph it as well. I.e. take a picture of the garbage truck lifting the garbage can.  Take a picture of the back of the garbage truck opening. Does the truck come with a figure? Add him to the picture. Also be sure to add measurements if possible. Does the truck light up and make noise when it backs up? Add that. If a piece is missing, make sure to add that to the post.  Detail is everything.  I also like to include what type of batteries it uses, and if there is a fresh set up batteries in it as well. 

2. Timing is Everything. Post your items in the evening.  If you use Facebook Marketplace and various local swap groups, your posts will show up in users online feed.  The evenings are usually when people are online most, therefore users will likely have your post show up at the top of their feed.  There have been numerous times that I have posted items for sale around 8pm only to wake up to 4-5 emails from people wanting to purchase the item.

3. Price to Sell. People often ask me for advice on pricing for their items.  My rule of thumb is 75% off of the original price for used, good condition items.  If you do not know what something costs, look it up on Amazon. For new items, with tags still on, I usually price them at 50% off. When pricing items, think to yourself, what would I pay for it?  If you want things to sell quickly, the lower the price the better.  Unfortunately the longer an item sits they often become lost and never end up selling.  There have been times where items have sat for 2+ weeks.  I ended up deleting the item and re-posting them for a lower price and they sold the very next day.

4.Title it Right. If selling clothing, include size in the title.  This makes it easy for buyers to know what the size is and if it is a size they need, they will most likely click to open the ad.

5. Utilize Analytics. Use the analytics feature in FB Marketplace.  Here you can see how many views your item has received.  If you have an item that has received 20 views but no offers, it shows that people are likely interested in your item, but you have priced it too high.  Thus this tells me it is in my best interest to the lower the price of the item.

6. Keep your Post Fresh.  Comment on your own item.  If an item I have posted has not received any interest in 3-4 days, I often comment on it "Still Available!" This then shows activity for the listing and often moves the posting to the top of people's Facebook feed.

7. Additional Details. At the bottom of all of my posts I make sure to add the nearest cross-streets to where we live. I found many people do not like to travel to the other side of town (even though it is only 10 minutes away) and once they learned where I lived, decided to pass on the item.  Therefore, I add this information at the bottom of my post.  I never include my actual address though until we have agreed that the person will pick-up the item and have arranged a porch pick-up time.  I also include my preferred method of payment, cash or Venmo and that all items come from a non-smoking home.