How to tell if a Facebook Marketplace price is fair

The 5-minute price check

This works on a phone or a computer, for anything from a dresser to a drill.

1. Identify the exact model. Read the title, then the photos: labels, model plates, the tag under a cushion. If the listing doesn’t say, ask the seller for the model number. If they can’t tell you, run the photo through Google Lens. In Chrome on a computer, right-click the photo and choose Search with Google Lens. On a phone, screenshot the listing and open the screenshot in the Google app’s Lens.
2. Look up what it sold for on eBay. Search eBay for the exact model (ebay.ca in Canada, ebay.co.uk in the UK, ebay.com.au in Australia). On a computer, tick Sold items under Show only in the left column; in the app, open Filter and turn on Sold items. Sold prices show in green and go back about three months. Pick three to five sales that match the condition and take the middle one. Ignore the outliers.
3. Compare local listings. Search the same item on Marketplace and Kijiji and sort by price. These are asking prices, so they tell you where the market starts, not where it ends.
4. Check the price new. Find the current retail price, including sales. A used item priced at or above new is overpriced, unless it is discontinued or collectible.
5. Adjust for this one. Take off for wear, missing parts, no charger or remote, and the effort of collecting it (a third-floor walk-up sofa is worth less to you). Add a little for the receipt, the original box or warranty left.

What you end up with is a range, not a number. A price inside it is fair. At the bottom of it, you have found a deal. Well under it, read the section on scams below before you get excited.

A worked example

Every number below is made up to show the method. It isn’t market data.

An illustrative listing: road bike, 56 cm, aluminium frame, CA$700, with a brand and model in the photos.

1. Model. The frame decal and Google Lens agree on the model. The colour narrows it to two model years.
2. eBay sold. Five sales of the same model and size on ebay.ca: CA$520, CA$610, CA$650, CA$690 and CA$800. The middle one is CA$650.
3. Local listings. Three similar bikes on Marketplace and Kijiji ask CA$650 to CA$900.
4. New. A current model of the same bike retails for about twice the asking price.
5. This one. New tires (a plus), but the seller mentions it needs a tune-up (about CA$80 at a shop).

The fair range comes out around CA$550 to CA$650. At CA$700 the bike is a little high, so an offer of CA$600 with a reason (“it needs a tune-up”) is reasonable. If the same bike were listed at CA$250, that isn’t a find. Read on.

When cheap means scam

A price well below every comparable is the most common bait on Marketplace. Meta’s own advice is to “be cautious of listings that are significantly underpriced compared to market value”. The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre is blunter: “if the asking price of a product is too good to be true, it is.”

The pattern usually comes with company:

• The seller is away, moving, or deployed, and offers to ship.
• They want a deposit or full payment by e-transfer, gift card or wire before you see it.
• They want to move to WhatsApp, text or email.
• The photos turn up elsewhere when you search them with Google Lens.

If you see a low price plus any of those, don’t pay. Ask to see it in person, in a public place, and pay when you have it in your hands. More in our guide to Facebook Marketplace scams.

Cars are different

A car’s price depends on mileage, trim, options, history and where you live, and a mistake costs thousands, so use a proper value guide.

• In Canada, Canadian Black Book gives free value ranges by year, make, model, trim and kilometres.
• In the US, Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds both give a private-party value, which is what one person usually pays another.
• Then check the history. A vehicle history report shows accidents, branded titles (salvage, rebuilt, flood) and odometer problems. A branded title can take a large share off the value.
• Check for money owing. In Ontario, the seller must give you a Used Vehicle Information Package, which shows any lien on the car. Other provinces have their own lien searches.

A car priced well below the guide almost always has a reason: a branded title, a lien, high kilometres, a known fault, or no car at all. Our guide to buying a used car on Facebook Marketplace covers the inspection and paperwork.

A fair-price verdict on every listing, with Sift

Doing the check above for every listing in a search isn’t realistic. Sift, a free browser extension for Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji, does a rough version for you on a computer.

• A verdict on the photo. Each listing gets a small badge: Below typical, Typical or Above typical, based on the other listings on the same search page, once there are at least eight to compare.
• The details. Click the badge for the card with the verdict and the middle price on the page, plus the listing’s price history if it has changed.
• Check elsewhere in one click. The same card opens eBay sold prices for the title, a Google Lens search by the listing photo, Google Shopping, and the same search on the other site (Kijiji from Facebook, Facebook Marketplace from Kijiji). Plain links, never affiliate ones.
• Too cheap gets flagged. A price under half of what the page usually asks gets a “Check this” chip, because that is where the scams sit.

Know what it is and isn’t. The verdict compares asking prices on the page you are looking at, so a search that mixes a kids’ dresser with an antique one will skew it, and it is never an appraisal. Use it to decide which listings deserve the five-minute check, not to skip it. Sift runs in Chrome, Edge and Brave on a computer; on a phone, the manual check above is your tool.

Use the number

Once you know the range, you have something better than a feeling to negotiate with. If the price is high, offer the top of your range and say why. If it has already dropped, the listing’s price history tells you which way the seller is heading. And for the message itself, see how to negotiate on Facebook Marketplace.