Facebook end “distribution of inventory partner catalogue listings”

Facebook Marketplace to discontinue “distribution
of inventory partner catalogue listings”

Author: Natalie Banks - Digital Marketing Specialist

Back in May, Facebook announced that they will be discontinuing the “distribution of inventory partner catalogue listings”, which, to you and me, is the used car listings that are driven by feeds. This is due to come into effect on 13^th September 2021.

It seems car dealers are using this method as a means of throwing their used stock out to the masses with no associated costs. Facebook are a business just like everyone else, so it seems they simply want you to spend money on paid advertising instead.

What is Facebook Marketplace

If you’ve never used Facebook Marketplace then this article might not mean much to you so far, but it’s definitely something to keep on your radar should you decide to move into the social arena to start marketing your stock.

Facebook Marketplace is essentially an online car boot sale, like Gumtree, where you can sell your unwanted items to local people. In recent years, there have been a rise in private sellers listing their cars for sale which prompted car dealers to do the same.

This was a great way to advertise stock locally without the high advertising costs you’d expect with other aggregators.

What does this announcement mean to me?

While Facebook are not completely doing away with used car listings, what they are doing is stopping you uploading your used cars via your stock feed, so you’ll have until 13^th September to decide what you do moving forward.

The alternative to the feed-based method is that you’ll need to upload each car manually, and of course remove it once it sells. Sound like a logistical nightmare? We completely agree. Thankfully, we have come up with a solution…

So, what options are available now?

We said we’d come up with a solution and we weren’t lying. Here at Autoweb Design, we have the facility to run ads through either Facebook or Google via our PPC services.

1. AutoAds (Google)

AutoAds is Autoweb’s very own product which is based on your stock feed, meaning your used cars will be advertised to those who are searching for vehicle specifications that match your inventory.

This is similar to the way Facebook Marketplace works now (soon to be obsolete), but the benefit of AutoAds is that you will reach a much wider and more relevant audience, as and when they are in the market to buy.

How do these AutoAds work?

It’s quite simple really. We use your stock inventory to generate ads when a user searches for vehicle specifications that match a vehicle you have in stock.

Your ad with show with the specific details the user has searched, for example: ‘Used Black Ford Fiesta 2017’. Because your ad is hyper relevant, the click through rate is likely to be much higher than it was if you just targeted ‘used Ford cars for sale’ which may yield cars that the user isn’t searching for.

One thing to note is that the feed-based facility means your inventory is always up to date. If you sell a car and it is removed from your feed, it will no longer generate an ad, meaning there is no wasted budget.

If you’d like to discuss switching to paid advertising so you still say visible on Facebook, or want to move to Google advertising, get in touch and one of our PPC specialists will be in touch for an informal chat.

2. Automotive Inventory Ads (Facebook)

If you’d rather continue to utilise the Facebook platform, you can switch to Automotive Inventory Ads (AIA), which you can run yourself, or you can utilise Autoweb’s services.

This service allows you to upload your stock feed as you did with Facebook Marketplace, but you will reach audiences that are relevant based on their previous search history.

One of the other great things about Automotive Inventory Ads is that you can also retarget your website visitors with ads of the car they have previously browsed on your site, or similar models if that vehicle has since sold. 

If you would like to discuss these options with our friendly team here at Autoweb, please get in touch using the form below.