Kleinanzeigen vs Facebook Marketplace: Fees, Selling Rules and Payment in Germany

If you sell second-hand goods in Germany, Kleinanzeigen is the site buyers open on purpose to look for them. Facebook Marketplace is a section of an app they already use for other things. Both are free to start for a private seller, and both work best for items a buyer collects from your door. Before you choose, check two things: whether Facebook allows your category at all, and whether you have more than 100 ads a month on Kleinanzeigen.

The two platforms side by side

Owner Adevinta renamed eBay Kleinanzeigen to Kleinanzeigen in May 2023. The same announcement says the site has more than 36 million users per month. Many sellers still use the old name, so do not confuse it with eBay itself, which is a separate marketplace with its own fees.

Facebook Marketplace reached German users on 14 August 2017, in a rollout to 17 European countries that also included Austria and Switzerland. Meta described it as a place to buy and sell in your local community, where you can see a buyer’s public profile, your mutual friends and how long they have been on Facebook. Meta does not publish a German user figure for Marketplace.

What each platform lets you sell

This is the first filter, and it removes a lot of stock from Facebook. Meta’s Commerce Policies ban listings for animals, job opportunities, downloadable digital content and accounts, alcohol, tobacco, weapons, ammunition, explosives, hazardous materials, gambling, recalled products, stolen goods, and medical and healthcare products, which includes supplements. They also ban cosmetics that have been used or are out of their original packaging, and “certain vehicle parts and accessories”.

So a half-used palette, a box of protein powder, a kitten or a Minijob advert has no place on Facebook Marketplace. If much of your stock sits in those groups, Kleinanzeigen is your main channel and Facebook is at most a side outlet for furniture and household goods.

Kleinanzeigen has categories for jobs, services and pets, with their own rules. In November 2022 it tightened its pet rules: dogs and cats younger than twelve months need an official permit under § 11 of the Tierschutzgesetz, reptiles and exotic mammals, birds and amphibians are banned, animals can no longer be swapped or lent, and the “zu verschenken” (give away) price option was removed. “Wanted” posts are no longer allowed in the pets category, and “Weitere Haustiere” became “Nutztiere” (livestock).

Facebook also restricts who can sell. Its access rules require an adult with an active account, and Meta may block Marketplace for new or inactive accounts, for a second profile instead of your main one, or after a Commerce Policies breach. A fresh profile made only for selling can find Marketplace switched off. If Facebook wrongly blocks you as underage, you can confirm your age in the app, with an accepted ID document or a selfie, depending on your region.

Posting an ad on each

On Kleinanzeigen you choose a category, add photos, write a title and description, set a price and give your postcode. Then you choose between shipping and “Nur Abholung” (collection only). Buyers reach you in Kleinanzeigen’s own chat. A title that names the thing, the brand and the size or model matches what German buyers type, such as “Kinderfahrrad 20 Zoll” or “Eckcouch grau”.

On Facebook you post from your own profile. You add photos, a title, a price, a description, a category and your location, and buyers message you on Messenger. Buyers see your name and profile photo. For many sellers that builds trust. If you would rather keep selling apart from your private life, it is a reason to prefer Kleinanzeigen.

Buyer behaviour shapes how you write. On Kleinanzeigen buyers can search and then narrow the results by distance and price, so the words in your title decide whether you appear. On Facebook many buyers scroll the Marketplace tab, so the first photo and the price do most of the work.

What it costs to sell

Kleinanzeigen’s fee page for private sellers sets these limits:

• Goods, services and jobs: up to 100 ads within 30 days at no charge, then €1.99 for each further ad, which runs for 30 days.
• Cars: up to 2 ads at no charge if the car is under €30,000. From the third ad, or from €30,000, each ad costs €9.99.
• Motorbikes, boats, caravans and trailers: up to 5 ads at no charge, then €9.99 each. Since 21 May 2026, vehicles priced at €45,000 or more cost €9.99 from the first ad.
• Property: selected categories allow 2 live ads at once plus 2 new ones per 30 days, and renewals cost €19.99 or €21.99.

Business sellers pay more. Kleinanzeigen’s fees for commercial users give 2 goods ads per 30 days at no charge, then €3.49 to €4.49 per ad including VAT. Services get 1 free ad, then €3.99 to €8.99. Job adverts have no free allowance and cost €12.99 to €26.49 each. Kleinanzeigen also sells category PRO packages to business sellers.

Facebook Marketplace does not charge you to post an item. When you settle payment with the buyer yourself, the money never passes through Facebook, so there is no commission to pay.

The volume seller is the one who feels the difference. Once you pass 100 private ads a month, or 2 as a business, every extra Kleinanzeigen ad has a price and Facebook costs nothing to add.

Tax reporting on Kleinanzeigen

Germany’s platform tax law (PStTG, the national form of the EU’s DAC7 rules) makes selling platforms report some sellers to the tax office. Kleinanzeigen’s DAC7 help page says it reports a private seller who completes at least 30 sales or earns €2,000 or more in a calendar year, and sends the data by 31 January of the next year. Only completed sales count. A report does not mean you owe tax: Kleinanzeigen’s DAC7 guide sums it up as “no profit, no tax” for private second-hand sales, so keep a note of what you paid.

Payment, postage and protection

Kleinanzeigen’s Sicher bezahlen is its protected checkout for shipped items. It costs the seller nothing. The buyer pays a small fee that depends on the price and is shown at checkout. Buyers can pay by credit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, bank transfer or Sofortüberweisung. The page lists DHL parcel sizes S to XL and Hermes sizes S to L. The money reaches you when the buyer confirms the item arrived, or after 14 days at the latest.

For the seller the steps are short. The seller guide says the buyer pays for postage, and you hand the parcel in at a DHL or Hermes shop, a Packstation or to the courier. If you choose “Nur Abholung”, Sicher bezahlen is switched off for that ad. Kleinanzeigen’s buyer guide says the payment is held by its payment provider, Adyen, until the deal is complete, and that it covers shipping within Germany.

Facebook runs delivery and checkout on Marketplace in some countries only. In a location without it, Facebook’s delivery help page says selling with delivery “isn’t available in your location” and points you to selling locally. Open that page from your German account before you promise a buyer postage. If you see that message, the deal is yours to arrange: cash or a bank transfer on collection, or postage you pay and track yourself.

Protect yourself the same way on both. Never open a payment link a buyer sends you, and never send money to “verify” anything. On Kleinanzeigen, keep chat and payment inside the platform. On Facebook, take cash or check that a bank transfer has landed before the buyer takes the item.

Facebook Marketplace and EU competition law

On 14 November 2024 the European Commission fined Meta €797.72 million over Facebook Marketplace. The Commission judged Meta dominant in personal social networks, a market at least as wide as the European Economic Area, and in national markets for display advertising on social media. It found that Meta had tied Marketplace to the Facebook social network, so every Facebook user was exposed to Marketplace whether they wanted it or not. It also found that Meta imposed unfair trading conditions on rival classifieds sites that advertise on Facebook and Instagram, using their ads data for Marketplace’s benefit. Meta was ordered to end the conduct and not repeat it. The case, AT.40684, ran under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union: formal proceedings opened in June 2021, objections followed in December 2022 and Meta replied in June 2023.

The decision does not change how you sell there. It does describe the audience: Facebook Marketplace reaches people because they use Facebook, while Kleinanzeigen buyers have gone to a classifieds site on purpose.

Which platform for which seller

If your stock is collection-only and Facebook allows it, listing on both puts a sofa in front of two sets of buyers. The cost is the admin, and the risk of selling the same item twice when one ad is left up.

Selling on both with FLUF Connect

FLUF Connect keeps one catalogue and publishes each item to the marketplaces you pick, among 53 it supports. Crosslisting, inventory sync, order sync and bulk operations come with every plan. You connect Kleinanzeigen from your FLUF account. Facebook Marketplace needs the FLUF browser extension.

Here is what happens after a sale. When an item sells on Kleinanzeigen, FLUF sees the sale and ends the Facebook listing. When an item sells on Facebook Marketplace, FLUF does not find out. Open the product in FLUF and mark it sold, and FLUF ends the Kleinanzeigen ad. Make that a habit after every Facebook handover.

7 days for £1, then from £9/month, then plans from £9/month. Starter includes unlimited listings. Relisting, offer management and smart pricing come with the plans above Starter.

Sources

• Kleinanzeigen: Gebühren bei Kleinanzeigen
• Kleinanzeigen: Gebühren für gewerbliche Nutzer
• Kleinanzeigen: Sicher bezahlen
• Kleinanzeigen: So funktioniert der Kauf mit Sicher bezahlen
• Kleinanzeigen: DAC7, kein Gewinn, keine Steuer
• Kleinanzeigen: So funktioniert der Verkauf mit Sicher bezahlen
• Kleinanzeigen: Informationen zum PStTG (DAC7)
• Kleinanzeigen: Regeln für die Vermittlung von Haustieren
• Adevinta: eBay Kleinanzeigen is now Kleinanzeigen
• Meta: Marketplace is expanding to Europe
• Meta: Commerce Policies
• Facebook Help Centre: Who can use Facebook Marketplace
• Facebook Help Centre: About delivery on Facebook Marketplace
• European Commission: Commission fines Meta €797.72 million

Sources checked September 2026.

Related guides

• How to sell on Kleinanzeigen
• How to sell on Facebook Marketplace
• eBay vs Kleinanzeigen
• Marktplaats vs Facebook Marketplace
• Inventory sync
• Crosslisting hub
• All marketplace guides