Sell on Facebook, Instagram & TikTok Shop
Three different platforms, three different fee structures, and three different reasons to use them: a free local listings board, a catalog-based storefront, and a video-driven shop with its own creator affiliate network.
In plain English
These are three separate things that get lumped together as "social commerce." Facebook Marketplace is a free local classifieds board with an optional shipping option. Facebook and Instagram Shops is a proper storefront built from a product catalog, increasingly tied to your own website for checkout rather than Meta's own. TikTok Shop is built around short-form video. You sell through your own posts, live streams, or by recruiting other creators to promote your products for a cut. None of the three require you to already have a huge following, but all three reward one more than a cold start does, so "I'll just post it and see" works a lot better with a few hundred followers already rooting for you.
Who this is realistically best for
People with an existing social media presence (even a modest one) or a comfort with short-form video, plus physical products to sell (new, handmade, or secondhand). It suits sellers who want to meet buyers where they're already scrolling, rather than relying purely on search traffic like an Etsy shop or an SEO content site does.
Realistic income expectations
Facebook Marketplace: local pickup paid in person is $0 (~€0) in platform fees. Shipped orders processed through Facebook's checkout carry a 10% selling fee or a flat $0.80 (~€0.70), whichever is greater. No listing fees, no subscription tiers.
Facebook/Instagram Shops: building a catalog and tagging products is free. As Meta shifts most sellers toward checkout on their own website rather than in-app, Meta itself often takes no transaction cut on those sales, though your own site's payment processor will. Where native Instagram Checkout is still available, it charges roughly 5% per transaction or a flat $0.40 (~€0.35) for shipments under $8 (~€6.96).
TikTok Shop: a referral fee of 6% in the US (5% for jewelry) or 9% in the UK, which already bundles in payment processing. New sellers get a discounted 3% rate for their first 30 days after their first sale. Optional creator affiliate commissions (you set the rate, typically 10–15% for competitive categories) stack on top if you recruit other creators to promote your products.
Casual sellers using these as an extra channel alongside an existing Etsy or Shopify shop typically see a modest lift, not a second income. Sellers who lean into TikTok Shop's video and affiliate features specifically (treating content creation as part of the job, not an afterthought) see the widest range of outcomes, from negligible to genuinely significant, largely driven by how well the content performs rather than the product alone.
Start-to-finish guide
Decide local marketplace, storefront, or video-commerce
Facebook Marketplace suits low-effort local selling. Facebook/Instagram Shops suits sellers who already post content and want a proper catalog. TikTok Shop suits sellers willing to make short video content regularly.
List locally on Facebook Marketplace first if that fits
It's the lowest-barrier option. Free, no account tier, no catalog setup, just a listing and a meeting point.
Set up a Shop in Meta Commerce Manager, if going that route
Requires a business or creator account, a supported market, compliance with Meta's Commerce Eligibility Requirements, and a product catalog of physical goods with at least one item. A domain verification step is often required for checkout.
Register as a TikTok Shop seller, if going that route
Individual sellers need to be 18 or older, a resident of a supported market with a valid government-issued ID and an active bank account there; business sellers add a registration number and supporting documents.
Build a clean product catalog with real photos
All three platforms weigh accurate images and descriptions heavily. Both for approval and for buyer trust once you're live.
Decide on TikTok Shop affiliate creators
Optional, and entirely under your control: set a commission (5–25%, with 10–15% typical in competitive categories) to have other creators promote your products to their own audience, on top of your own content.
Choose fulfillment
Ship orders yourself, or use Fulfilled by TikTok (FBT) for TikTok Shop orders specifically, which costs roughly $2.86–$3.58 (~€2.49–€3.12) per unit.
Track fees separately per platform
Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok Shop each run their own fee structure and payout schedule. Reconcile them individually rather than assuming one blended rate covers all three.
Categories that tend to do well, and ones that usually struggle
Visual, easy-to-demonstrate products do best across all three, especially anything that benefits from a short video showing it in use.
Tends to do well
- Trend-driven or visually distinctive products: the kind of thing that stops someone mid-scroll, which is most of what makes TikTok Shop's discovery engine work.
- Products that demonstrate well on video: a quick before/after, unboxing, or how-it-works clip does more selling than a static photo.
- Local, bulky, or hard-to-ship items: Facebook Marketplace's local pickup model sidesteps shipping costs entirely.
- Products with an existing small following behind them: even a modest, engaged audience converts better than cold discovery alone.
Usually struggles
- Generic, uninteresting-on-video products: if there's nothing to show or demonstrate, TikTok Shop's format works against you.
- Regulated or restricted categories: supplements, certain electronics, and anything requiring age verification face tighter review on all three platforms.
- Anything relying purely on native in-app checkout: Meta's ongoing shift toward website checkout means a plan that assumes in-app purchase alone is increasingly unreliable.
- Sellers unwilling to appear on camera or produce video regularly: TikTok Shop specifically rewards consistent content, not a one-time listing.
Common mistakes & policy traps
Facebook Marketplace has a well-known overpayment and fake-buyer scam pattern. See how to avoid scams for the current red flags before you start listing. Don't confuse TikTok's referral fee with the total cost of a sale; affiliate commissions, ad spend, and fulfillment fees are all separate and optional, but easy to underestimate when pricing a product. Selling counterfeit, trademarked, or IP-infringing goods gets accounts suspended fast on all three platforms, and TikTok Shop in particular enforces this aggressively. And don't build a plan around Meta's native in-app checkout without checking current availability. It's been narrowing, not expanding, and a domain-verified website is increasingly part of the setup.
Once you're set up, grow it for free
A shop with no traffic and no reviews performs the same whether it's on Etsy or TikTok. The Grow Your Ways pillar covers free and cheap ways to fix that: cross-promoting this shop with any content or following you already have, repurposing one product shoot into several videos and posts instead of filming from scratch each time, and earning genuine reviews without tripping incentivized-review rules.
Questions people ask about this method
Is Facebook Marketplace really free to sell on?
For local pickup paid in person, yes. Zero platform fees. Only shipped orders processed through Facebook's own checkout carry a selling fee of 10% or a flat $0.80 (~€0.70), whichever is greater.
Do I need a website to sell on Instagram or Facebook Shops?
Increasingly, yes for checkout. Meta has been shifting Shops toward website checkout, so most sellers now need a verified domain (their own site or a connected platform like Shopify) to actually process a sale, rather than relying on native in-app checkout.
How much does TikTok Shop actually take from a sale?
A referral fee of 6% in the US (5% for jewelry) or 9% in the UK, which already includes payment processing. No separate transaction fee stacks on top. New sellers get a discounted 3% rate for their first 30 days after their first sale. Optional creator affiliate commissions are separate and set by the seller.
Which of the three is best for someone just starting out?
Facebook Marketplace for local, low-effort selling with no setup barrier. TikTok Shop if you're comfortable making short video content and want the platform's built-in discovery and affiliate network. Facebook/Instagram Shops if you already have a following and want a proper storefront tied to your existing content.
Sources & further reading
This guide is fact-checked against the official documentation linked below, current as of the last-verified date above. Fees and category rules change over time. Always confirm specifics on the official page before acting.
- About Fees for Sales · Meta Business Help CenterOfficial current fee schedule for Facebook Marketplace shipped orders.
- Commerce Eligibility Requirements · Meta Business Help CenterOfficial requirements for setting up Facebook and Instagram Shops.
- TikTok Shop Referral Fee Updates · TikTok Seller CenterOfficial current referral fee rates for TikTok Shop sellers.
Jargon used on this page
- Commerce Manager
- Meta's dashboard for setting up and managing a product catalog across Facebook and Instagram Shops.
- Referral fee
- TikTok Shop's commission on a sale, calculated as a percentage of the order and bundling in payment processing.
- Domain verification
- A process confirming a seller owns the website domain linked to their Facebook/Instagram Shop, increasingly required for checkout.
- Creator affiliate commission
- An optional, seller-set percentage paid to other TikTok creators who promote and sell a seller's products to their own audience.
- Fulfilled by TikTok (FBT)
- TikTok's own fulfillment service, which stores, packs, and ships TikTok Shop orders for a per-unit fee.
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