Facebook Marketplace Listing Policy Checker

Check Facebook Marketplace listings against Meta's Commerce Policies before you post them or while you moderate them. The Facebook Marketplace Listing Policy Checker reads each listing's title, description and price and flags 27 prohibited or restricted categories: live animals, weapons and ammunition, alcohol, tobacco and vapes, drugs and CBD, medical devices, supplements and health claims, adult items, tickets and gift cards, services and jobs, digital products and streaming boxes, hazardous items, counterfeits and "dupes", signs of stolen goods (iCloud locked, no questions asked) and listings with no item for sale. Each finding shows the matched words, the Meta policy page and a fix. Click Start with the prefilled example to see it work.

This is a keyword screen against Meta's published Commerce Policies, not a prediction of what Meta will remove, and it doesn't certify that a listing follows any policy. Policies change, so check the linked page. Every row carries this disclaimer.

What does the Facebook Marketplace Listing Policy Checker do?

• ✅ Animals: live animals, pets and livestock (including rehoming fees and free-to-good-home posts), animal parts and certain animal foods. Pet supplies like cages and collars aren't flagged.
• ✅ Weapons, alcohol, tobacco and drugs: firearms, ammo, gun parts, knives sold as weapons, alcohol, cigarettes and vapes, prescription and recreational drugs, CBD and THC.
• ✅ Health: medical devices, prescription contact lenses, infant formula, supplements and claims to cure or treat disease.
• ✅ Money and access: tickets, gift cards, currency, documents and IDs, gambling, digital products, accounts and jailbroken streaming devices.
• ✅ Services, jobs and housing: services and job ads in the item feed, and discriminatory housing wording.
• ✅ Authenticity and theft: replicas, "dupes", counterfeit wording, iCloud or carrier locked phones and "no questions asked".
• ✅ Other: hazardous materials, body fluids, used cosmetics, posts with no actual item for sale, and business-seller signals. Vehicle-part rules are low-severity heuristics.
• ✅ Output per listing: riskLevel (high, medium, low, none found), issueCount, categoriesFlagged, titleLength, issues (ruleId, category, severity, field, quote, context, policyUrl, fixHint), checkedAt and a disclaimer.

Who is it for?

• Resellers and small shops checking listings before Marketplace removes them or restricts the account.
• Listing tools and cross-posting apps adding a pre-post check.
• Community moderators and researchers screening scraped Marketplace data for prohibited items.
• Brand protection teams finding counterfeit and dupe listings.

How to check Facebook Marketplace listings

1. Click Start with the prefilled example (three listings Marketplace commonly removes and one ordinary listing).
2. Replace it with your listings: title, and optionally description, price, category, id and url. Or paste titles into Titles only.
3. Or enter a Dataset ID from a Facebook Marketplace scraper. Fields like marketplace_listing_title, redacted_description.text and listing_price.amount are found automatically; use Field map for others.
4. Turn on Only save rows with findings for big runs; you only pay for saved rows.
5. Export the results or send high-risk listings to Slack, email or a sheet.

Input example

This is the prefilled input:

{
  "listings": [
    {
      "id": "EXAMPLE-1",
      "title": "Golden retriever puppies for sale",
      "description": "AKC registered, vet checked and up to date on shots. $200 deposit holds your pick.",
      "price": "$1,200"
    },
    {
      "id": "EXAMPLE-2",
      "title": "iPhone 13 128GB",
      "description": "iCloud locked, selling for parts. No questions asked.",
      "price": "$90"
    },
    {
      "id": "EXAMPLE-3",
      "title": "Taylor Swift concert tickets, 2 floor seats",
      "description": "Can transfer by text.",
      "price": "$600"
    },
    {
      "id": "EXAMPLE-4",
      "title": "Oak dining table with 4 chairs",
      "description": "Solid oak, a few scratches on the top. Pickup only.",
      "price": "$150"
    }
  ]
}

Dataset mode:

{"datasetId": "YOUR_DATASET_ID", "fieldMap": {"title": "marketplace_listing_title", "description": "redacted_description.text", "price": "listing_price.formatted_amount"}, "onlyFlagged": true, "maxItems": 10000}

Output example

Real output from a run of the prefilled input on 2026-10-30 (long finding lists are shortened here; the run returns all of them):

[
  {
    "itemNo": 1,
    "listingId": "EXAMPLE-1",
    "url": null,
    "title": "Golden retriever puppies for sale",
    "riskLevel": "high",
    "issueCount": 3,
    "titleLength": 33,
    "categoriesFlagged": [
      "Animals and animal products"
    ],
    "issues": [
      {
        "ruleId": "live_animals",
        "category": "Animals and animal products",
        "severity": "high",
        "field": "title",
        "quote": "puppies for sale",
        "context": "Golden retriever puppies for sale",
        "policyUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/policies_center/commerce/animals",
        "fixHint": "Meta doesn't allow live animals, including pets and livestock, on Marketplace (rehoming fees and 'free to good home' posts included). Cages, toys, collars and other pet supplies are allowed."
      },
      {
        "ruleId": "live_animals",
        "category": "Animals and animal products",
        "severity": "high",
        "field": "description",
        "quote": "AKC registered",
        "context": "AKC registered, vet checked and up to date on shots. $200 d...",
        "policyUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/policies_center/commerce/animals",
        "fixHint": "Meta doesn't allow live animals, including pets and livestock, on Marketplace (rehoming fees and 'free to good home' posts included). Cages, toys, collars and other pet supplies are allowed."
      },
      {
        "...": "1 more findings: live_animals 'vet checked'"
      }
    ],
    "checkedAt": "2026-10-30T18:52:07+00:00",
    "disclaimer": "Automated text pre-check based on Meta's public Commerce Policies. Flags are possible..."
  },
  {
    "itemNo": 2,
    "listingId": "EXAMPLE-2",
    "url": null,
    "title": "iPhone 13 128GB",
    "riskLevel": "medium",
    "issueCount": 2,
    "titleLength": 15,
    "categoriesFlagged": [
      "Stolen goods"
    ],
    "issues": [
      {
        "ruleId": "stolen_signals",
        "category": "Stolen goods",
        "severity": "medium",
        "field": "description",
        "quote": "iCloud locked",
        "context": "iCloud locked, selling for parts. No questions asked.",
        "policyUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/policies/commerce",
        "fixHint": "Meta doesn't allow stolen or unlawfully acquired items. Phrases like 'iCloud locked', 'bad IMEI', 'no questions asked' or 'found it' are common signals of locked or stolen devices and get listings reported."
      },
      {
        "ruleId": "stolen_signals",
        "category": "Stolen goods",
        "severity": "medium",
        "field": "description",
        "quote": "No questions asked",
        "context": "iCloud locked, selling for parts. No questions asked.",
        "policyUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/policies/commerce",
        "fixHint": "Meta doesn't allow stolen or unlawfully acquired items. Phrases like 'iCloud locked', 'bad IMEI', 'no questions asked' or 'found it' are common signals of locked or stolen devices and get listings reported."
      }
    ],
    "checkedAt": "2026-10-30T18:52:07+00:00",
    "disclaimer": "Automated text pre-check based on Meta's public Commerce Policies. Flags are possible..."
  },
  {
    "itemNo": 3,
    "listingId": "EXAMPLE-3",
    "url": null,
    "title": "Taylor Swift concert tickets, 2 floor seats",
    "riskLevel": "medium",
    "issueCount": 2,
    "titleLength": 43,
    "categoriesFlagged": [
      "Restricted content (approved sellers only)"
    ],
    "issues": [
      {
        "ruleId": "gift_cards_tickets",
        "category": "Restricted content (approved sellers only)",
        "severity": "medium",
        "field": "title",
        "quote": "concert tickets",
        "context": "Taylor Swift concert tickets, 2 floor seats",
        "policyUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/policies/commerce",
        "fixHint": "Meta restricts gift cards, vouchers and event tickets to approved sellers. Ordinary Marketplace sellers usually can't list them."
      },
      {
        "ruleId": "gift_cards_tickets",
        "category": "Restricted content (approved sellers only)",
        "severity": "medium",
        "field": "title",
        "quote": "floor seats",
        "context": "Taylor Swift concert tickets, 2 floor seats",
        "policyUrl": "https://www.facebook.com/policies/commerce",
        "fixHint": "Meta restricts gift cards, vouchers and event tickets to approved sellers. Ordinary Marketplace sellers usually can't list them."
      }
    ],
    "checkedAt": "2026-10-30T18:52:07+00:00",
    "disclaimer": "Automated text pre-check based on Meta's public Commerce Policies. Flags are possible..."
  },
  {
    "itemNo": 4,
    "listingId": "EXAMPLE-4",
    "url": null,
    "title": "Oak dining table with 4 chairs",
    "riskLevel": "none found",
    "issueCount": 0,
    "titleLength": 30,
    "categoriesFlagged": [],
    "issues": [],
    "checkedAt": "2026-10-30T18:52:07+00:00",
    "disclaimer": "Automated text pre-check based on Meta's public Commerce Policies. Flags are possible..."
  }
]

How much does it cost to check Marketplace listings?

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing: $0.002 per listing saved plus a $0.00005 start fee per run, plus small platform usage paid by you (a few hundredths of a cent for small runs). That's about $0.20 for 100 listings and $2 for 1,000 listings plus usage. With Only save rows with findings on, listings with no findings aren't saved or charged. You can set a maximum cost per run in the run options.

Use it through the API, integrations or AI agents

• Run it and get results in one call: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/ultimatemc~facebook-marketplace-listing-policy-checker/run-sync-get-dataset-items
• Use it from AI agents through the Apify MCP server: https://mcp.apify.com?tools=ultimatemc/facebook-marketplace-listing-policy-checker
• Schedule it after a daily scraper run, send flagged rows to Slack or email with webhooks, or connect it to Make, Zapier, n8n or Google Sheets.
• Chain it after a Marketplace scraper by passing the scraper's dataset ID.

How it works

Rules are deterministic English keyword and phrase patterns written from Meta's Commerce Policies pages, checked on 2026-10-30, with exclusions for common false friends (for example "dog crate", "water gun", "wine rack", "magazine rack" or "ammo cans"). No AI and no outside calls are used. Each rule reports at most two matches per field, and the listing's risk level is its highest severity.

Sources:

• Meta Commerce Policies
• Meta Commerce Policies: Animals
• Meta Policies Center: Commerce

FAQ

Will Meta remove a listing this flags?

Not necessarily. Meta's review uses images, account history and other signals this Actor can't see. A finding means the text matches a category Meta's Commerce Policies prohibit or restrict.

Does "none found" mean the listing is allowed?

No. It means none of the rules matched the text. Photos, prices or context can still break a policy.

Why are pet supplies not flagged?

Meta allows them, so phrases like "dog crate" or "cat tree" are excluded from the live-animals rule.

Is it AI?

No. It's a fixed rule set, so results are repeatable and runs cost $0.002 per listing.

Does it scrape Facebook?

No. It only checks listings you supply or a dataset you select.

Limitations

• English text only; images aren't checked.
• Some Meta policy pages (for example vehicle parts and tobacco) weren't reachable on 2026-10-30, so those rules are marked low-severity heuristics.
• Local laws and Meta's regional rules can be stricter than the global policy.
• Rules reflect Meta's policies as of 2026-10-30.

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Found a false positive or a missed item? Open an issue on the Issues tab with the listing text, and we'll review the rule.