SARASOTA, Fla., and SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -

Dealership technology providers are continuing to modify their offerings so stores can take advantage of what can be done via Facebook.

This week, Facebook Marketing Partner, Dealers United, announced a move to help dealers list their vehicles in Facebook Marketplace for Autos without monthly fees.

Meanwhile, Carsforsale.com also announced the latest expansion in its growing suite of solutions with a new opportunity for dealers to increase their social reach, influence and sales with Carsforsale.com via an integration with Facebook Marketplace.

This actions came on the heels of AutoManager making a similar announcement.

Through this offer, Dealers United is aiming to provide a “no-catch” Facebook Marketplace solution with the goal to give dealers more exposure through the Facebook platform without requiring any additional product purchases.

Similar to third-party classifieds like Craigslist and eBay, Facebook Marketplace carries for-sale listings for local shoppers, such as real estate, automobile  and furniture to help people buy and sell items within their communities.

Since its launch in 2016, Facebook Marketplace has quickly attracted shopper attention, specifically from in-market auto shoppers. A recent status update from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated, “Marketplace is now used by 800 million people — and is emerging as one of the most popular places to buy vehicles online.”

However, in order to post multiple vehicles into Facebook Marketplace automatically, dealers are required to work with one of Facebook’s approved Inventory Partners.

While Facebook doesn’t allow its Marketplace Inventory Partners to charge per post or per lead, Dealers United explained that the site’s help page asks for dealers to “keep in mind that there may be fees to work with our partners.” Commonly, Dealers United said some inventory partners package the listing service with other mandatory monthly fees, product bundles, upsell  or commitments.

“We were seeing a lot of unnecessary markups from other vendors in the space,” said Pete Petersen, chief executive officer of Dealers United. “While there are certainly costs associated with syncing inventory feeds to Facebook, we’ve automated the process to give every dealer the chance to post on this powerful platform for free each month. With us, there aren't any recurring fees.”

Dealers United does require a small, one-time activation fee to get started, which covers pulling the inventory feed from the dealership’s website or feed provider and setting up the 24-hour vehicle sync to Facebook’s API.

The feed then runs daily, posting unlimited vehicles with live inventory updating automatically.

“When we first launched the campaign, we had hundreds of dealers calling in saying that it seemed ‘too good to be true,’ or wondering what the catch was,” said Brooke Jensen, chief marketing officer at Dealers United. “There is no catch. Once you pay the activation fee, you’ll have unlimited Marketplace posts.”

The announcement arrives soon after Dealer United’s recent rebrand as “the Facebook and Instagram advertising solution for the auto industry.” Originally focused on bringing digital solutions to dealerships nationwide, Dealers United now is making a bold statement to purely align with Facebook’s mission in automotive.

“Many dealers aren’t yet taking advantage of the power of Facebook,” Petersen said. “We view this as an opportunity to show dealers how Facebook’s platform can increase their exposure and help them drive more sales conversations. Marketplace is a great starting point.”

To learn more about posting into Facebook Marketplace, visit this website.

More details from Carsforsale.com

Leadership at Carsforsale.com explained how it can enable dealerships to list their used-vehicle inventory on Facebook Marketplace, where millions of people are already looking at used vehicles.

“It’s all about relevancy and exposure,” Carsforsale.com chief executive officer Sean Coffman said. “Automotive buying looks different today. Dealers need to be everywhere. We’re always looking for new, innovative and seamless solutions to drive relevant exposure and create new selling opportunities for our dealers.

“What better way to deliver this, than to grow our dealer’s reach and influence on platforms that are already present in auto buyer’s lives like Facebook Marketplace

This new solution leverages Carsforsale.com’s inventory distribution system, inventory analytics and audience insights to select and instantly share top-performing vehicles across the digital realm. Integrating with Facebook Marketplace can help further enhance dealer’s social reach on a platform where communication can begin in real-time.

This is one of many new offerings Carsforsale.com has recently launched and builds upon the success of other social marketing and real-time connection tools.

Powerful tools like Content Manager, Social Inventory, RapidReply Instant Messenger and a Phone Lead Solution can help enable in-the-moment buyer and seller connections and transactions.

This integration can be activated in minutes and builds on other proven social offerings — at no additional charge. This no-fee, seamless integration instantly delivers used vehicle inventory to Facebook Marketplace, along with dozens of vehicle data points and curated images, to build synergy within a Dealer’s social footprint to drive social sales.

Carsforsale.com reaches nearly 10 million monthly shoppers. Powerful dealer solutions like Carsforsale.com Dealer Inventory Pages, Custom Responsive Dealer Websites and Social Inventory drive cross-channel reach.

The Carsforsale.com all-in-one digital marketing solution is $99 a month.

“It’s value we believe in,” Coffman said, “We always keep our dealer’s best interest in mind by offering the best products at the lowest prices in the industry. This integration with Facebook Marketplace provides another step forward to deliver on that commitment to our dealers.”

Carsforsale.com encouraged interested dealers to sign up for service by calling (866) 401-9778 or visiting this website.