How to Sell Crafts on Facebook

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Wondering about a good place to sell your handmade crafts? Consider Facebook. Facebook is the largest social media network in the world, with nearly two billion people using the network (as of 2022).

Let’s take a look at how to sell crafts on Facebook.

How to Sell Crafts on Facebook

Why You Need a Facebook Business Page

As I’ve mentioned in my last post, it is against the terms and conditions of Facebook to use a personal page for business purposes. Instead, you’ll need to create a Facebook Business Page.

How to Sell Directly From Your Facebook Business Page

You can think of your Facebook Business Page as your own little slice of Facebook.

There are two easy ways to sell directly on your Facebook Page:

• List the product on your website, Etsy Shop, Goimagine Shop and then post a link to your product on your Facebook Page. As your followers see your link, they can click it to be taken to your shop and purchase the product.
  • Pros
    • Listing your product on Facebook will make it appear on the feed of your followers. This can then be shared by your followers with their friends, and their friends, and so on.
  • Cons
    • To share product links, you’ll need to have a shop set up somewhere else.
    • Facebook greatly limits the reach of Business Page posts. You may need to use paid advertising to get your link seen.

• You can also post take a picture of your item, list a price, and post it to your Facebook Page. To collect orders, you can have people comment on your image or send a message to your page. After you receive each order, you would send them an online invoice or otherwise collect their payment.
  • Pros
    • This method of selling on your Facebook Page is free.
    • Again, with Facebook limiting the reach of your post, it may be difficult to be seen.
  • Cons
    • It can be difficult to keep up with this method of selling. If you are making many sales like this, you’ll need to be incredibly organized with sending invoices, collecting payments, knowing what products you have in stock, and keeping up with customers.

How to Sell Through Facebook Groups

Facebook Groups are designed to be communities that share a common theme or interest.

There are two different ways to sell crafts on Facebook through Facebook Groups:

• Create your own group and sell to customers in it.
  • Pros
    • It’s free.
    • Facebook Groups are being promoted by Facebook in many ways, including tv commercials.
  • Cons
    • It can be difficult to get customers to join your group, especially if you are only selling products.
    • Constantly managing a growing Facebook Group can be time consuming.
  • Good practices: Set up a Facebook Group that is directly related to the products you sell. For example, if you sell products related to your local area you could set up a group called ‘Things to Do in XYZ Area’. In this group, you can share interesting things to do in your local area – as well as promote your products.

• Join groups where you can sell your products.
  • Pros
    • It’s free. It may be easier to sell products in an established group, rather than starting your own.
    • Most areas (cities, states, counties) have local buying and selling groups. Also, if you cannot ship your craft products, these are great places to sell.
  • Cons
    • Some groups allow selling, while others don’t. Be sure you know the rules of the group.
    • You are at the mercy of the group’s admins. I’ve seen groups with amazing, supportive admins; but I’ve also seen groups where admins will delete posts or ban members for no logical reason.

How to Sell Through Facebook Shops

Facebook has its own area on your Facebook Business Page to list your products called a Facebook Shop.

• Pros
  • Customers can check out right on Facebook and make a purchase without leaving the network. Many users don’t want to leave the platform – and quite frankly – Facebook doesn’t want them leaving the site either.
  • Setting up a Facebook Shop is free and pretty straight forward.
  • Facebook Shops are optimized for mobile devices.

• Cons
  • You are at the mercy of Facebook’s policies when selling through Facebook Shops.
  • You will pay Facebook’s fees when you sell an item. Current fees are 5% per shipment, or a flat fee of $0.40 for shipments of $8.00 or less.

How to Sell Through Facebook Marketplace

Facebook Marketplace is the area of Facebook dedicated to selling products on Facebook. It differs from your shop in a few ways. In your shop, only products you list are shown and your shop is accessible through a tab on your Facebook Page. In contrast, Facebook Marketplace is an area where lots of individuals and businesses have listings.

To sell on Facebook Marketplace, you create a listing and it appears on the Facebook Marketplace.

• Pros
  • It’s free to list on Marketplace and free if sold locally and not shipped.
• Cons
  • There are a lot of listings on Facebook Marketplace, so there is a lot of potential for competition.
  • It costs 5% per shipment, or a flat fee of $0.40 for shipments of $8.00 or less.
  • You are at the mercy of Facebook’s policies when selling on Facebook Marketplace.

How to Sell Through Facebook Live Shopping

Facebook Live is a video service for Facebook where you can sell products.

• Pros
  • Through live video, you can connect better with your audience, ask questions, and better show off your products.
  • Through Facebook Live Shopping, customers can purchase right during the video.

• Cons
  • You’ll need to plan ahead to have a successful Live Shopping stream.

How to Sell Through Connected Apps on Facebook

There are a number of apps that allow you to sell on Facebook through the app. These were more popular before Facebook created Facebook Shops.

However, if you currently sell through a service that has an app or widget for Facebook Shops, you may want to look into it. The app or widget might let you bulk upload products to your Facebook Shop or automatically send newly listed products to your Facebook Shop. For example, I know that Shopify offers a Facebook channel.