Does anyone have any tips for better using FB Marketplace? The search features seems to be atrocious. I'm looking for auto parts, not complete cars, and I can't believe there are no results for searching "Cherokee" and "Miata" within 48 miles of a Detroit suburb. It does seem to work a little, "Mustang" brings up 5 hits for complete cars in the auto parts section, of which only one was a Mustang. So it isn't totally useless!

I used to search Craigslist several times a day just to see if any new deals popped up. It worked really well for me in the past, but that's changing now that I can't find the stuff in the first place. I still use CL, but it feels like FB has mostly taken over as the go-to place to list your stuff. I basically just have to rely on Facebook recommending me items because the search is so bad. Local groups and model specific nationwide groups are how I've sold most of the items I've listed.

Any thoughts?

 

I think a lot of it is due to people posting parts more to groups than to Marketplace itself to avoid scammers and flakes who want to know if the driver door from your 97 miata will fit an 83 Ford (cli)Taurus. I hate the new look of FB on desktop, but they did finally expand search radius to be up to 500 miles, which is nice when looking for cars.

 

Yup, the surge in "groups" is in response to mass scamming and guys running a side-hustle business and not being very good at it. Trying to find a regular bro who just has something laying around and wants to get rid of it has gotten "hard". Wading through the bullshit is just as important as it ever was, but the smaller local enthusiast groups have traditionally been able to monitor members better and keep the scammers and flippers out.

What I can't stand is the local "buy and sell" or "garage sale' groups that are about half/half actual "**** laying around to get rid of" and iphone-repair bro's, people selling their direct marketing bullshit, and other side-hustle businesses. For some reason, moderators of these groups all appear to be Karens and refuse to moderate unless you try to sell gun parts or animals.

 

Ugh. I wish i could add constructive bits to this post but i literally cant. Facebook integrated buying and selling stuff so bad its unreal and the horrible search function is just another brick in the wall.

When it was just groups, people were upfront and actually bought and sold things seriously because you would get called out or kicked if you did someone dirty or flaked often. Now its just a bunch of window shoppers sending "hi is this available" messages or asking benign questions with no genuine intention of actually buying.