Back Market vs Facebook Marketplace: Where to Sell Used and Refurbished Phones and Laptops
Back Market takes vetted refurbishers and asks for a one-year warranty; Facebook Marketplace takes anyone and charges nothing for local sales. Who can sell, fees, buyer promises, risks and how FLUF Connect runs both.
If you are a private person selling your old phone, laptop or console, the choice is made for you: Back Market only takes professional refurbishers and vetted businesses, and Facebook Marketplace takes anyone. If you run a refurbishing or repair business, the two do different jobs. Back Market brings buyers who came specifically for a graded, guaranteed device, and asks you to stand behind every one for a year. Facebook Marketplace brings local buyers who will pay cash for a fair price on the day, with no warranty expected and plenty of haggling. Below are who can sell, what each costs, what you owe the buyer, the risks, and how FLUF Connect runs both from one stock list.
Is this for you?
This comparison is for a business selling used or refurbished electronics, mainly in the UK, Europe or the US, deciding where its devices should go. It is most useful if you already have stock that passes a refurbishment check and some that does not: a phone with a scratched back, a laptop sold for parts, a console without its original pad. Those two piles usually belong on different marketplaces.
Who can sell
Back Market is a curated marketplace. It does not refurbish anything itself; its help centre says the devices come from independent refurbishers. Its “Who sells on Back Market?” page admits professional refurbishers and verified businesses that meet its quality, sustainability and customer service criteria, and nobody else. New sellers sign the Quality Charter, are approved by an onboarding team and start with a trial period of extra checks. Back Market says only one in three sellers who apply are accepted.
Facebook Marketplace has no application at all. Anyone with a Facebook account in good standing can list, and businesses sell next to people clearing out a drawer. That openness is the appeal and the problem: your listing for a tested, wiped phone sits next to someone else’s untested one at a lower price, and buyers cannot tell the difference from the photos.
What each one charges
Back Market does not publish its commission on a public page. The rate for each category comes with your seller contract, so ask your onboarding contact for it in writing, along with any monthly fee and the payout schedule, before you send devices to the marketplace.
Facebook Marketplace charges nothing for a local sale where the buyer collects and pays you in person. Where Marketplace offers shipping with checkout, such as in the US, it charges a selling fee of 10% per shipped item, or a minimum of $0.80, since 15 April 2024, when it doubled from 5%, Value Added Resource reported. On a $300 phone shipped through checkout, that is $30, and you keep $270 before your own postage and refurbishment costs.
A Back Market sale will usually cost more in commission than a local Facebook sale, which costs nothing. What you get for it is a buyer who has already decided to buy refurbished, and who does not need to meet you in a car park.
What you owe the buyer
Back Market’s quality page promises every buyer a device refurbished to its charter, a one-year warranty, 30-day free returns and Express Replacement, where a replacement ships before the faulty device comes back. Its warranty article says the seller provides that warranty. The same quality page sets a floor of 80% battery health and requires every device to be reset, wiped and cleaned. Price each device with a year of possible claims and a month of change-of-mind returns built in.
A local Facebook sale carries no marketplace warranty. The buyer inspects the phone, pays and leaves, and what you promise beyond that is up to you. That is why a device that would fail Back Market’s charter, such as one with a weak battery or a cracked back glass, still sells well on Marketplace when the listing is honest about it.
Buyers and reach
Back Market’s September 2025 press release reported 17 million customers and forecast more than €3 billion in gross merchandise value for 2025. France is its biggest market, then the US, with the UK and Germany next. Every one of those customers came to buy refurbished electronics, which no general marketplace can say.
Facebook Marketplace is far larger and far less focused. Meta said in 2021 that more than a billion people visited Marketplace each month and has not updated the figure since, Sherwood News reported in April 2024. Its buyers are mostly local, and they are looking for a bargain as often as for a particular model.
Risk and day-to-day work
On Back Market, the work is quality and logistics. Back Market’s seller article says its quality team tracks customer reviews, complaint rates, return and refund ratios and delivery times, and places mystery orders to inspect devices. A seller whose numbers slip can be warned, limited or suspended. You pack, ship and handle warranty returns for every order.
On Facebook Marketplace, the work is messages and meetings. Buyers ask whether the item is available, offer less and arrange collection. Phones and game consoles are among the items scammers target most on Marketplace, the same Sherwood News report noted. Meet in a public place, take payment before handing over the device, and keep the box and IMEI paperwork so a buyer can see the phone is yours to sell.
What FLUF Connect does on each marketplace
| Capability | Back Market | Facebook Marketplace |
|---|---|---|
| How you connect | Your approved Back Market seller account, from the Channels screen | FLUF browser extension or mobile app, with your Facebook login |
| Crosslisting and inventory sync | Included on every plan | Included on every plan |
| What gets listed | Offers on products already in Back Market’s catalogue, matched by barcode | A Marketplace listing built from your FLUF product |
| Item sells on another channel | The Back Market offer is taken offline | The Marketplace listing is marked sold |
| Item sells on this marketplace | Detected; the order comes into FLUF and your other channels update | Mark it sold in FLUF and your other listings come down |
| Relisting and offer management | Not available | Not available |
Connecting Back Market in FLUF Connect
FLUF does not get you approved by Back Market. Once you are accepted, connect your seller account from the Back Market card on the Channels screen and choose the country you sell in. FLUF then lists your devices as offers on matching catalogue products and brings Back Market orders in, so a phone sold there comes off your other channels.
Connecting Facebook Marketplace in FLUF Connect
Facebook Marketplace connects through the FLUF browser extension or the FLUF mobile app, using the Facebook account you already sell from. Devices from your inventory can then go up on Marketplace, and a sale on Back Market or another channel marks the Marketplace listing as sold. After a Marketplace sale, mark the item sold in FLUF so the Back Market offer comes down.
Start with 7 days for £1, then from £9/month.
| Plan | Monthly | Yearly | You save | Crosslisted products |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | £9/month | £85/year | 21% | Unlimited |
| Pro | £29/month | £155/year | 55% | Unlimited |
| Priority | Custom pricing — tell us what you need | Unlimited | ||
Automatic relisting, offer management, smart pricing and listing boosts are included from Pro upwards. Starter covers unlimited crosslisting, inventory sync, order sync and Instagram posting without them. Accounting integrations are included from Pro upwards. Yearly billing is charged once a year. New accounts get 7 days for £1, then move onto a plan.
Running both
Split stock by grade. Devices that pass Back Market’s charter go there first, where the buyer pays for the warranty you are offering. Devices that fall short, and anything sold for parts, go on Facebook Marketplace with an honest description. A device graded for Back Market can sit on Marketplace too, priced a little higher for a local buyer who wants it today. The risk of running both is selling the same phone twice on one afternoon; with both connected, a Back Market order takes the Marketplace listing down. For Back Market against eBay, read Back Market vs eBay.
US sellers weighing a retail marketplace against local selling can read Walmart Marketplace vs Facebook Marketplace.
Sources
- Back Market: Who sells on Back Market? (checked October 2026)
- Back Market Help: Is Back Market legit? (checked October 2026)
- Back Market Help: Does Back Market refurbish devices? (checked October 2026)
- Back Market: The Back Market Promise (checked October 2026)
- Back Market Help: The 1-year limited warranty (checked October 2026)
- Back Market: press release, September 2025 (checked October 2026)
- Value Added Resource: Facebook Marketplace doubling selling fees, April 2024 (checked October 2026)
- Sherwood News: Marketplace is a bright spot for Facebook, April 2024 (checked October 2026)
Frequently Asked Questions
No. Back Market admits only professional refurbishers and verified businesses that pass its onboarding and sign its Quality Charter. A private seller can list a used phone on Facebook Marketplace instead.
A local Facebook Marketplace sale, where the buyer collects and pays in person, carries no fee. Shipped sales through Marketplace checkout, where offered, cost 10% or a $0.80 minimum. Back Market's commission is set in your seller contract and is not published, so ask for it in writing before comparing.
Back Market promises buyers a one-year warranty and 30-day free returns, and the seller provides that warranty. Devices must also meet its quality charter, including at least 80% battery health and a full reset and wipe.
A device that does not meet Back Market's charter belongs on Facebook Marketplace with an honest description. Local buyers will pay a fair price for a phone sold as seen.
Choose a busy spot to hand over the device, check the money has arrived before you let it go, and have the original box and IMEI paperwork ready to show it is yours. Scammers often go after phones and consoles, so be wary of buyers who push to pay by an unfamiliar method.
Yes. Back Market orders come into FLUF and take the device off your other channels, including Marketplace. After a Facebook Marketplace sale, mark the item sold in FLUF and the Back Market offer comes down. Crosslisting and inventory sync are on every plan.
Sign up for free
Join the community
You're in.
Open your dashboard