Facebook is banning its users from free listing vehicles and other properties like real estate and rentals on Marketplace effective January 2023.
Car Scoops reports that Meta, Facebook's parent company, will be deleting all listings made by business pages afterJanuary 30, 2023 due to massive complaints about spam listings for attention-grabbing purposes.
Facebook is Revamping Its Marketplace By Decluttering Listings
Buying a car on Facebook has always been sort of a struggle with misleading listings piling up on top of legitimate car deals, which is why the company is encouraging users to use ads instead.
The new Facebook Marketplace rule urges car dealers to utilize Marketplace ads as part of the company's strategy to direct professional sellers to its paid programmatic ad products, Car Scoops reports.
Tech Times writes that Meta describes other ways that dealers can reach potential buyers from their business pages alone, even without the Vehicle Tab and Manage Inventory Tab where the feature can be found.
However, The Verge writes that despite this, Meta's business support page does not discourage the use of personal profiles to deal cars, which also warranted mixed reactions from Facebook users.
Read More: Facebook Apologizes For Inappropriate Listings In Marketplace
Confusing Rules Raised A Couple Of Brows
Many believe that the step Facebook made will not resolve the problem, but will dig a deeper hole for itself as a number of fake individual postings can grow at a huge influx.
According to Jalopnik, the crackdown on car listings had always been terrible and almost predatory at worst sometimes, which is why a need to immigrate ads from legit pages to Marketing Ads instead.
Additionally, this will make it even harder to distinguish between legitimate versus dealer-back listings, as "Dealership" tags are commonly misused in the Facebook Marketplace, perpetuating scamming behavior, The Verge says.
However, Tech Times claims that many users were thrilled to see that they can find vehicles within their area and budget more efficiently now, given that Facebook will address the misleading postings.
Read More: DoorDash Can Now Deliver Your Facebook Marketplace Orders Straight to You
It is also important to note that private transactions through the Marketplace are not going anywhere, and so are the ads despite their sometimes unusual nature, Jalopink writes.
Although the change might have been a little immediate, Tech Times believes that it is best for users to follow instructions for car dealerships and sales, since Facebook will have specific solutions for their concerns.
In connection with this, Facebook is reassuring its patrons, car dealers and car seekers alike, that they are continually investing their efforts towards innovative solutions to deliver the needs of the automotive sector.
According to The Verge, the new rule on car listing crackdown on Meta's Facebook Marketplace applies to sellers from countries including the United States, Canada, France, United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Germany, and Australia.
Aside from cars and vehicles, this marketplace rule also extends to home sales, real estate, and home rentals from someone's personal profile.
Related Article: Meta is Canceling Facebook 'Neighborhoods' Even Before it Rolls Out to Most Users
