Not everything on Facebook Marketplace is a good deal. Some categories consistently have great prices. Others are overpriced or too risky. Here’s where to focus your hunting.

Best Deals: Furniture

Furniture is the sweet spot of Marketplace. Here’s why:

People need it gone. Moving is the #1 reason people sell furniture. They have a deadline and can’t take it with them. This creates motivated sellers willing to accept low offers.

Shipping is impossible. Unlike electronics, furniture can’t easily be sold on eBay or shipped. Local marketplaces are the only option, which limits competition.

Depreciation is irrational. A $2,000 couch that’s two years old might sell for $400. It’s still perfectly good furniture, but buyers treat “used” as a huge discount.

What to look for:

  • Solid wood pieces (they last forever)
  • Name brands (West Elm, Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware)
  • “Moving” in the listing title
  • Items listed for more than a week (sellers getting desperate)

Best Deals: Baby & Kids Gear

Kids outgrow things fast. Parents have basements full of items used for six months.

High-end gear for cheap. A $300 baby carrier used for three months might sell for $50. Strollers, cribs, high chairs—all heavily discounted.

Quality matters for safety. Stick to reputable brands and inspect carefully. Check for recalls before buying.

What to look for:

  • UPPAbaby, Bugaboo, Babybjörn (premium brands)
  • Items from families in affluent areas
  • Complete sets with accessories included

Best Deals: Exercise Equipment

Gym equipment follows a predictable cycle: New Year’s resolution → purchase → collect dust → sell in March.

Seasonal patterns. January listings are from optimistic buyers. March-May is when the “I’m not using this” sellers appear with better prices.

Heavy = cheap. Weight sets, treadmills, and rowing machines are expensive to ship. Local sellers can’t easily sell elsewhere, so prices drop.

What to look for:

  • Name brands (Rogue, NordicTrack, Peloton)
  • Seller photos showing the item in a garage or basement (used less)
  • Complete sets (bench + bar + weights)

Good Deals: Power Tools

Professional-grade tools hold value, but consumer-grade tools depreciate fast.

Contractors upgrade and sell. Someone upgrading from a DeWalt to a Festool might sell perfectly good tools at steep discounts.

Check for damage. Test tools before buying. Look for worn brushes, damaged cords, or battery issues.

What to look for:

  • DeWalt, Milwaukee, Makita (professional brands)
  • Complete kits with batteries and chargers
  • Sellers who clearly know what they have (less likely to be stolen)

Decent Deals: Electronics

Electronics are trickier. Prices vary wildly and scam risk is higher.

Phones and laptops: Good deals exist but verify carefully. Check that devices aren’t locked, stolen, or carrier-blocked. Meet at carrier stores to verify.

Gaming consoles: Prices are fairly standardized, so huge deals are rare. But you can find bundles with games included for better value.

TVs: Heavy, hard to ship, so local prices are reasonable. But inspect for dead pixels and burn-in.

What to watch out for:

  • “Sealed” items at suspiciously low prices
  • Sellers who won’t let you test before buying
  • No original receipts for recent purchases

Avoid: Mattresses

Just don’t. You don’t know what’s been on them, what’s living in them, or why someone is really getting rid of them.

The one exception: sealed mattresses with original packaging from someone who ordered wrong or is moving before using it.

Avoid: Car Seats

Car seats have expiration dates and hidden damage from accidents. A compromised car seat can fail when you need it most.

Buy new or only from people you personally know and trust.

Avoid: Anything “Too Good to Be True”

If a price seems impossible, it usually is. A $100 MacBook Pro is a scam. A $50 designer bag is fake. Trust your instincts.

How to Find the Best Deals Faster

The challenge with Marketplace: good deals get snapped up fast. A mispriced Herman Miller chair gets 30 messages in the first hour.

Manual searching means constantly refreshing and hoping you’re the first to see something. By the time you notice a great deal, someone else has already claimed it.

This is why we built Spottable:

  • Automated monitoring for your saved searches
  • Push notifications when new listings appear
  • AI deal scoring that tells you instantly if something is worth pursuing
  • Market value comparison so you know what “good” looks like

Instead of refreshing Marketplace 10 times a day, let AI do the watching and only alert you when something’s actually worth your attention.

Want to find better deals with less effort? Use Spottable AI for Chrome today. Spottable for iOS is coming soon.

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