The messages never stopped. “Is this still available?” “Can I pick it up today?” “Very interested.”

On paper, demand looked insane.

In reality, most of it was fake.

I was selling higher ticket items and services to everyday people. Many of them had bad credit, unstable income, or financial stress. Facebook Marketplace put me directly in front of that audience, but it did not filter for ability to buy.

I confused attention with intent.

I spent hours responding, explaining, following up, and holding items. Deals would feel close, then fall apart at the last moment. Financing applications would fail. Cash buyers would disappear. People would ghost after long conversations.

At first I blamed the platform. Then I blamed the buyers.

Eventually I realized the problem was me.

I had built a system optimized for volume instead of qualification. Facebook Marketplace is incredible at creating conversations, but terrible at signaling seriousness. Bad credit was not the real issue. Unclear expectations were.

Many people reached out because it was easy, free, and low commitment. Not because they were ready or able to buy.

The failure taught me something important. You cannot scale sales on hope.

I had to change everything.

I tightened qualification early. I stopped treating every message as a lead. I asked uncomfortable questions sooner. I stopped chasing people who wanted possibilities instead of decisions.

That reduced my message count but increased my close rate.

The biggest lesson was this. Bad credit customers are not bad customers. But unqualified demand will burn you out faster than no demand at all.

Facebook Marketplace still works, but only if you respect what it is. It is a conversation engine, not a closing engine.

Once I stopped expecting it to be something it was not, my results improved and my stress dropped.

That failure probably saved me years of wasted effort.