Facebook Marketplace Brings Back Shipping Labels

Readers have noticed that Facebook is bringing back shipping labels to Marketplace (FBMP). In February, we reported the end of the program; at the time, we wondered if eBay's new presence on the platform had played a role in Facebook's decision.

After FBMP removed the ability to print prepaid shipping labels through its platform on February 24th, sellers could continue to ship orders to customers using their own labels - they just couldn't print shipping labels through Facebook Marketplace. 

Sellers who noticed recently that they could now print shipping labels expressed surprise that Facebook didn't announce the feature's return. One reader wrote to us the following:

"Facebook Marketplace has suddenly started offering their own prepaid shipping labels again, with no announcement or explanation. 

"When they decided to end the labels earlier this year, the announcement came to sellers via email and the news was widely reported. I was shocked to see the labels return when listing items a few days ago."

Another reader said that at first, they were only able to see the USPS Priority Mail option, but then saw additional options. They told us it was a welcome addition.

The timing of the shipping-label rollout is not clear (since as the reader pointed out, there was no announcement), but sellers on Reddit began reporting the change in several posts as early as August 28th.

In one Reddit thread, a seller said they saw the following message displayed to them by Facebook:

"Prepaid shipping labels are offered by Marketplace to select sellers. In some cases, we may remove a seller's access to prepaid shipping labels, as per our Seller Agreement. This may happen when a seller has shipped a high volume of orders with prepaid shipping labels that incorrectly state the weight or size of an item sold."

In another Reddit thread, a seller said they had just been notified they could use prepaid shipping labels (they had been using Pirate Ship), and asked if there was any benefit to using labels through Facebook Marketplace.

In a third thread on Reddit, a seller shared a screenshot showing a message displayed in their FBMP listings screen that read: "Prepaid labels are available. You can now use prepaid labels when shipping" followed by a link to "Learn more," which took them to a help page that displayed the following message:

About prepaid shipping labels on Facebook Marketplace

Selling with shipping and buying or creating prepaid labels on Marketplace is not available to all users.

Shipping using UPS prepaid labels may not be available to all users.

You can buy prepaid shipping labels to print and attach to your orders on Marketplace. Prepaid shipping labels are non-refundable.

That implies that either FBMP will continue to limit who can use shipping labels, or it's still in the process of rolling out the feature to additional sellers.

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