Facebook will no longer allow "car dealers" to list vehicles, do this instead

October 01, 2022 By Jozeph P

(Image Credit Google)

Searching for a used car on Facebook Marketplace may appear to be slightly less risky than, say, Craigslist, but those who want to can game the system. It's not uncommon to come across dealerships listing duplicate cars for sale, often at absurdly low prices in multiple locations. It's annoying at best and predatory at worst, so the news that Facebook will cut businesses off from the platform beginning in February is welcome. Sort of. One Redditor on r/cars shared the contents of an email they received from Facebook parent company Meta, explaining that in the coming months, business accounts will no longer be permitted to list cars and real estate. Private transactions aren't going away, and unfortunately, neither are advertisements. That second one is particularly unfortunate because the ads on Facebook Marketplace are bizarre. Facebook will no longer allow

Those who prefer to work with a dealer can still do so through sites like Cars.com and AutoTrader.Some may disguise themselves as people, as many already do. Currently, Facebook labels dealerships as such with a tag next to the vehicle's location, and you may come across many dealer-sold vehicles that are incorrectly labeled. Furthermore, the way Facebook describes this move raises additional questions about the policy's true intent. According to the topic's official support page, all existing listings from business accounts will be deleted on January 30. However, Facebook adds that "while the ability to post vehicle, real estate, and rentals listings from Facebook business Pages will no longer be available on Marketplace," "you can continue reaching vehicle and home buyers or home renters on Facebook in other ways," such as "creating Marketplace listings from your profile." So, does Facebook expect previous business account users to simply publish their listings as fake people? More importantly, will Facebook stop them? Such behavior appears to violate the site's Terms of Service, though the language there is also a little ambiguous. "Profiles are best for personal use, not for businesses or organizations," suggests the Meta Business Help Center gently. At first, glance, removing the dealership presence from Facebook Marketplace appears to be a good idea, but only time will tell if this strategy is successful. Of course, Meta is all too happy to suggest that commercial sellers buy ads instead. We've reached out to Meta for comment and will keep you updated on any results.

By Jozeph P

Journalism explorer, tech Enthusiast. Love to read and write.

Facebook will no longer allow "car dealers" to list vehicles, do this instead

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