Spottable vs Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace is free. But it costs you time, missed deals, and money lost to scams.
Spottable pays for itself on your first good find.
Updated February 2026
TL;DR
Facebook Marketplace is a listing platform, not a deal-finding tool. No notifications when new items are posted. No way to know if prices are good. Search results cluttered with ads and irrelevant listings. Spottable monitors Marketplace for you, sends push notifications when matching items appear, and uses AI to tell you if deals are actually worth pursuing.
The Problem With Facebook Marketplace
Manual Refreshing
No notifications. You have to manually check searches over and over. Miss a few hours? Best deals are gone.
No Price Intelligence
Is $400 a good price for that couch? Facebook won't tell you. You have to research every listing yourself.
Ads Everywhere
Search results mixed with sponsored listings and suggested items that don't match what you're looking for.
Scam Central
No fraud detection. Stock photos, fake listings, and too-good-to-be-true prices everywhere. You're on your own.
How Spottable Fixes This
Push Notifications
Get notified within the hour when new listings match your saved searches. Never miss a deal because you forgot to check.
AI Deal Scoring
"This is 35% below market value" - know instantly if a price is good without researching every listing.
Fraud Detection
AI flags suspicious listings: stock photos, price anomalies, new accounts selling expensive items, known scam patterns.
Message Generator
One tap to send a personalized opening message. No more staring at a listing wondering what to say.
Cost Comparison
Facebook Marketplace
- Browse listings manually
- Message sellers
- No notifications
- No deal analysis
- No fraud detection
- Ads in search results
- Hours of manual searching
Spottable
Worth It- 7 saved searches monitored hourly
- Push notifications for new listings
- 25 AI deal analyses per month
- Fraud detection on every analysis
- First message generator
- Market value comparison
- iOS launch soon
From $4.99/month = less than one coffee. One good deal you wouldn't have found pays for a year of Spottable.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Spottable | Facebook Marketplace |
|---|---|---|
| Push Notifications for New Listings | ✓ | ✗ |
| AI Deal Scoring | ✓ | ✗ |
| Market Value Analysis | ✓ | ✗ |
| Fraud & Scam Detection | ✓ | ✗ |
| First Message Generator | ✓ | ✗ |
| Saved Search Monitoring | 7 searches | Manual only |
| Price Drop Alerts | ✓ | ✗ |
| Ad-Free Experience | ✓ | ✗ |
| Lowball Offer Generator | ✓ | ✗ |
| Authenticity Verification | ✓ | ✗ |
| Browse Listings | ✓ | ✓ |
| Message Sellers | Via Facebook | ✓ |
| Free to Use | ✗ | ✓ |
Why This Matters
Good Deals Don't Last
An underpriced iPhone gets 50+ messages in the first hour. If you're manually checking Marketplace twice a day, you'll never see the best deals. They're gone before you even know they existed. Spottable monitors around the clock and notifies you when something matching your criteria appears.
Facebook's Search Is Broken
Search for "Herman Miller chair" and you'll get office chairs, gaming chairs, dining chairs, and sponsored listings for new furniture stores. Facebook optimizes for engagement and ad revenue, not for helping you find specific items. Spottable's search actually finds what you're looking for.
Scams Are Rampant
Facebook does almost nothing about scam listings. Stock photos, stolen images, prices that are too good to be true, new accounts selling high-value items—the warning signs are everywhere if you know what to look for. Spottable's AI checks every listing and flags suspicious patterns before you waste time or get scammed.
Time Is Money
How many hours do you spend scrolling through Marketplace each week? Refreshing the same searches, researching prices, trying to figure out if listings are legit. Starting at $4.99/month, Spottable pays for itself if it saves you even one hour per month. And it'll save you way more than that.
From Manual Searching to Smart Hunting
"I used to check Marketplace like 10 times a day. Now I just wait for Spottable to ping me when something good shows up. Found a $1,200 couch for $300 last week."
— Amanda K., Furniture Hunter
"The fraud detection caught a 'brand new sealed iPhone' that was actually a known scam template. Would have driven 40 minutes to get robbed."
— Jason T., Electronics Buyer
"Facebook Marketplace is fine for browsing. Spottable is for actually winning deals. Completely different experience."
— Maria S., Part-time Reseller
The Bottom Line
Use Facebook Marketplace directly if you're casually browsing, don't care about being first to deals, and have unlimited time to manually research prices and check for scams.
Use Spottable if you're serious about finding great deals. Automated monitoring, instant notifications, AI deal analysis, and fraud detection mean you find better deals faster and avoid the ones that waste your time or money.
Facebook Marketplace is the where. Spottable is the how.
Other Comparisons
Spottable Ready to stop missing deals?
Spottable for iOS is coming soon. Chrome credits are live now while we finalize launch.
iOS app coming soon