How to Buy or Sell a Facebook Group in 2024 (Ultimate Guide)
Selling or buying a Facebook group can be complicated if you have never done it before.
In this ultimate guide, I will guide you through the whole process and mention everything you should consider so you don't get scammed or your Facebook account banned.
Facebook's terms of service forbid selling or purchasing groups except in specific cases, as stated below:
Do not attempt to or successfully sell, buy, or exchange site privileges, engagement, or product features, such as accounts, admin roles, permission to post, Pages, Groups, likes, etc., except in the case of clearly identified branded content, as defined by our Branded Content Policies.
Therefore, buying a fb group can get you into trouble, so read carefully to minimize the risks. Â
I will also mention alternatives to buying a Facebook group, like purchasing just Facebook group members, promoting a group with Facebook ads, or creating your own Facebook group and growing it organically.Â
First, let's talk about the benefits of owning a Facebook group.
Table of contents
Why Buy a Facebook Group?
If you own a Facebook group in your niche, you have a targeted audience that will more likely engage with your offers.
Below you can find some ideas on monetizing your group or getting leads.
1) Drive Traffic to Your Website
Most people buy Facebook groups to get targeted traffic to their websites.
Imagine you are an Amazon affiliate and have a website about fishing.
You buy a Facebook group called "Fishing fanatics – fishing tips." Members of this group will all be passionate about fishing and many interested in products related to fishing.
You can create a post that has a link to your article where you review the best fishing rods.
You will want to pin the post so that it is at the top of the feed and all members can see it. This way, you can get targeted visitors to your articles with affiliate links.
Preferably, you should link to your best-performing article. Avoid linking to too many articles, as that can negatively affect your pinned post's click-through rate.
When members see a pinned post with many links, they will know it is an advertisement and will be less likely to click on anything.
You need to make the pinned post look natural.
Besides having a pinned post, you should also include your link to the About section of the group.
2) Drive Traffic Directly to Your Affiliate Links
You don't have to link to your website content. Instead, you can link directly to the product you promote. Nevertheless, even though it may sound like a better option for affiliate marketing on Facebook, it is not.
You will have a much better conversion if you link to your website content and provide useful information.
Tell them why they should buy a particular fishing rot. Explain to them the benefits and make a comparison to other rods.
I would only link directly to affiliate offers if I did not have any website.
But if you don't have a website and would like to make money with affiliate marketing, you should focus on launching one instead of acquiring a Facebook group.
If you promote just inside Facebook groups, you will not become rich with affiliate marketing.Â
2) Grow Your Email List
Email marketing is a valuable and powerful digital marketing tool.
It will help establish trust with your audience while driving traffic and generating sales.
If you own a Facebook group, you can encourage group members to sign up for your email list.
Ask them for their email in the Facebook member questions. In return, give them a short e-book or discount on your digital products, for example.
People will not give you their email if they don't get any value in return.
3) Promote Your Digital Products
You can also use a Facebook group to promote your own products. For example, if you have an online course, you can link to it from your pinned post / about section.
What works well in Facebook groups is giving exclusive discounts to all the group members.
You can do this in the form of a coupon, for example. Include the coupon in the group and incentivize the members. Â
Of course, you don't have to limit yourself to just promotion in the pinned post / about section. You can also comment on members' posts and include links to your products when suitable.
Remember that people don't join Facebook groups to be bombarded with offers and promotions, so don't overdo it.
People join Facebook groups to join a community of like-minded people to share their passion and get some useful information.
If you buy a Facebook group and promote your content too much, your group will not grow and eventually die as members will visit it less and less often.
4) Get Ideas for Your New Content
If you buy a Facebook group, you should spend some time going through the posts and comments. You will see what the members are primarily interested in, their problems, and their questions regarding your niche.
This is valuable information as you can create new content or launch new digital products based on this.
However, you don't need to buy a Facebook group to get this benefit. You can be just a member and scroll through all the communication.
What Makes a Good Facebook Group
Before buying a Facebook group, you should first consider a few things.
Not all Facebook groups are equal.
There is more to it than just looking at how many members the group has.
Here are the key points that you should consider:
Facebook Group Growth
You don't want to buy a Facebook group that is dying.
Ask the admin of the group you want to buy to send you a screenshot from Group Insights to see if the total number of members is rising or declining (ask for a screenshot of the last 60 days).
A purchase of a Facebook group is a purchase of an asset that should benefit your business for some time.
If members leave your group in large numbers and few people join, you might not even break even before the group dies.
Facebook Group Engagement
Besides growth stats, you should also ask the admin for engagement stats.
If a group is not getting many posts, comments, and reactions, it means the Facebook group has a low engagement, and you should not buy it.
If members don't engage with content from other members, they will not engage with your content either.
There is no real benefit to owning a Facebook group if members join it but don't visit it.
If an admin sends you a screenshot of the engagement stats and it looks good, still check the engagement in the group yourself (you should always join the Facebook group you want to buy before communicating with the admin).
Also, browse through the group and see if the group engagement is not from just a few members.
If you buy a Facebook group with 100k and good engagement stats, but only 10 people regularly post in the group and comment, then the engagement is good only on paper.
You should buy a group with engagement that comes from various group members.
Of course, it is great if some members constantly post and comment, but the group should be a community with many people engaging in conversation and not just a "chat" of a few members.Â
Facebook Group Admins
The best group to buy are the ones with just 1-2 admins.
A Facebook group with a lot of admins will be harder to buy as you don't know who is the main owner.
Also, such a group may have more owners. A group with many owners is harder to buy as you need to convince more people. You can also expect higher prices.
On the contrary, if a Facebook group has just one owner, communication is faster, and the price tends to be lower.
Another thing you should consider is how engaged the admins are in their group.
You don't want to buy a Facebook group that was built around admin engagement with its members.
The group members will notice that the Facebook group has changed hands and will either leave the group or no longer be active.
The less engaged admins, the better.
Usually, engaged admins are not interested in selling their groups, but you never know, so it is better always to check.
Facebook Group Content Quality
High-quality posts and comments are two important markers for a successful Facebook group.
The quality of the posts and comments in a group shows that members are engaged and contribute valuable and relevant information to the group.
You only want to buy a Facebook group that keeps posts on topic. For example, if you buy a group about fishing, but most of the posts are spammy promotions, then you will not get any benefit from owning such a group.
Therefore, it is essential to check that the posts are relevant and that there is plenty of value added to the conversation.
You are buying a Facebook group to have a targeted audience in your niche. If members talk about everything, avoid such a group and look for other buying opportunities.Â
Facebook Group URL
Facebook group admins have the possibility to change the Facebook group URL.
By default, a Facebook group has a generic URL like this one:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/361459795084292
For example, admins could customize the URL to look like:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/fishingfanatics
Having a custom URL can be great for branding or marketing purposes.
The thing is that admins can change Facebook Group URL just once when a Facebook Group has more than 5.000 members (for groups with less than 5.000 members, it is possible to change every 28 days)
Therefore, if you want to buy a bigger Facebook group with a custom URL you don't like, remember that you cannot change it and that you will have to stick with that URL.
In general, Facebook groups with generic URL are better as it gives you some flexibility over the group name and branding.
However, if a group has a custom URL you like and don't need to change, then all is good, and it should not stop you from buying it.
How Much is a Facebook Group Worth?
We have talked about what you should consider when buying a Facebook group. Now, let's discuss how much you should pay for the acquisition.
You don't want to overpay, but at the same time, you don't want to offer a price that is too low as then the admin could ghost you, and you would lose a buying opportunity.
What I recommend is always trying to first ask for a selling price. Some admins might give you a lower price than what you are prepared to pay.
However, except that most of the admins will not want to give you a price and will ask you to give them an offer.
Some admins will also give you a ridiculous price.
How Much Money Can the Facebook Group Make You?
Before you send a message to an admin of a group you would like to buy, think of the benefits of owning that particular group.
Of course, this is hard to determine as you don't know how many members will click on your links or engage with your content/offers.
However, sometimes you can do a limited test.
You can post your content in the group as a member and see how much engagement it will get.
The post should add some value, though. Admins hate seeing promotions in their groups and can ban you for it.
If a group requires post-approval, your post will most likely not even get published.
Another way is to ask the admin if he/she would be interested in paid cooperation.
You could offer to pay for a pinned post in the group for a few days.
This is a great way to evaluate the group. However, it also puts you in a worse negotiation position.
The admin knows that you got some benefit from the pinned post, and thus that you are more interested in buying it.
If an admin knows your interest is bigger, you end up paying more than you would if he/she thought you were just considering the purchase.
Therefore, you have to decide if it is worth the risk for you or not.
What is Facebook Group About?
The worth of a Facebook group is determined by its niche.
For example, if you bought a group about cat lovers in which members post funny cat pictures and memes, the earning potential would be much smaller than if you purchased a group about making money online.
There are just a few options for monetizing a cat niche, but there are endless possibilities to monetize a making money online niche.
It is also much easier to grow a Facebook group about cats than a group about making money online.
For a car group, I would not pay more than $0.01 per member (if the group had 50k members, the cost would $500).
For a group in making money online niche, you could expect to pay $0.03-$0.06 per member (if the group had 50k members and the cost for one member was $0.03, the cost would be $1500).
Growth and Engagement
We have already talked about the importance of asking the admin for screenshots of the member's growth and engagement.
This data is important for determining how much you should pay for a Facebook group.
Of course, a group that has grown exponentially over the last 60 days and has high engagement has a bigger value than a group in steady decline.
You should not tell the admin that the numbers are looking good. Only comment when the numbers are in decline, but you still want to buy the group.
This gives you a better position for negotiating the price.
If numbers look good and the admin is smart, be prepared for a higher asking price.
A group with 50k and a growth rate of 5k members per month has a bigger value than a group with a growth of 500 members per month.
My Recommendation for Buying a Facebook Group
If you have never bought a Facebook Group before, I recommend starting with smaller groups below 25k.
Groups over 25k can be quite pricey, and the value of a group for your business cannot be fully determined.
It is better to purchase a smaller group with a great growth rate and see how much you can benefit from it.
You can always buy another and bigger group if you are happy with the result from the small one.
How to Message Facebook Admins
When buying an FB group, it is essential to approach the transaction with patience and caution.
Here are a few helpful tips to help you start and navigate the process.
No Bulk Messages
At the beginning of this article, I mentioned that buying a Facebook group is against Facebook's terms. Â
Therefore, you have to be cautious when contacting admins.
Avoiding Facebook's spam detection is crucial to ensure you effectively communicate with potential sellers. Avoid sending the same message to multiple group administrators to ensure you don't alert detection. Instead, send personalized messages.
You can say in the message that you are interested in buying a group. Facebook will not flag such a message.
The problem arises when you send too many messages. Facebook can detect quite well when you send the same message to many people.
If you have a brand new Facebook account, Facebook will probably ban you automatically.
If you don't have a new Facebook account, Facebook will manually review the spam detection.
That's how you get on Facebook's radar and your account banned for violating Facebook's terms. Â
Play it Cool
When communicating with admins, ensure that your messages are polite and not too long.
If an admin does not have restricted friend requests, send them a friend request. This will increase the chance that the admin will notice your message.
Here is an example of a message you can use when sending a first message to a Facebook group admin:
''Hi {name},
I hope you are well.
I came across your Facebook group {name}. My website has a lot of overlap in terms of users, so I thought it would make sense to reach out and see if you'd be interested in a partnership or selling your group to me.''
In the first message, avoid talking about price. The first step is to discover if the admin is interested in selling. You can omit the word "partnership" if you are solely interested in buying a group.
I like to keep the word as it shows the admin that I am not too interested in owning her/his group and that I am open to other cooperation (even if I am not).
Again, I repeat that you should not send the same messages to many admins. Personalize the message. You can use ChatGPT to help you rephrase your messages.Â
Also, avoid being too eager or pushy. This kind of communication can cause admins to become more guarded.
Instead, it's better to exercise some patience and don't try to rush the process. Don't reply to messages right away. Wait a few days before responding to the admin's first message.
How to Buy a Facebook Group Safely
You have found an admin willing to sell you his/her Facebook group, and now you must make the transaction and the transfer.
You have to be extremely cautious as the chances of being scammed are high when purchasing a Facebook group.
I recommend using an escrow service like the one from Escrow.com.
This service acts as a third party between buyers and sellers. It provides additional security for both parties – the seller ensures the transfer of ownership while the buyer ensures payment.
How it works is simple:
- You submit the payment to Escrow
- The Group admin adds you as an admin and removes herself/himself as an admin.
- You check that you're the sole owner of the Facebook group
- You confirm to Escrow that the transfer was successful, and Escrow releases payment to the admin.
Escrow services are not free, but you can negotiate with the admin to split the cost, as you both benefit from using the escrow service.
This fee is dependent on the amount of the transaction and payment method. You can calculate the fee here.
If you bought a Facebook group for $1.000 and used PayPal as the payment method, the fee would be $63. However, for a wire transfer, the fee would be just $32.
There is one thing worth mentioning if you are planning to use PayPal on Escrow.com.
"Either the Buyer or Seller must have completed a transaction before and the transaction amount must be less than $5000 USD in order to use the PayPal option. The transaction must also be in US Dollars"
Therefore, if you and the admin have never used Escrow.com, you cannot use PayPal.
Be very careful if you don't want to use any escrow service, and trust the admin.
Even if the admin looks very trustworthy, never send him/her the full amount. Instead, suggest sending 1/3 and the rest after the transfer. This way, you will at least limit your loss if the admin turns out to be shady. If possible, I recommend always using an escrow service, though. Especially for higher amounts.
If you don't use it, you might get scammed.
Alternatives to Buying a Facebook Group
While buying a Facebook group can be an excellent investment, there are a few reasons why people avoid purchasing a group. Some simply don't have the budget, while others fear being banned from the platform.
If a budget is a problem, you can buy just group members.If you don't want to risk being banned, you can start your own Facebook group and grow it organically or market it through Facebook ads.
Buy Facebook Group Members
You don't have to buy the entire group. Instead, you can create your group and purchase members to grow it quickly.
Many websites offer these services, but only a few have been around for some time.
You should be very selective, as buying from the wrong website can get your Facebook group deleted and your account banned.
Some websites use bots or other automated sourcing systems. Moreover, they deliver the group members all at once rather than gradually over time, which does not look natural and can be easily detected by Facebook.
You need to buy Facebook members from a website that does not use bots and deliver members gradually.
For example, Media Mister is one such website.
Remember that buying Facebook group members should be just a boost for a head start.
If you buy too many, it can actually harm your Facebook group.
It does not send a good signal to Facebook's algorithms if you have a group with many members but no engagement. Obviously, your purchased members will not contribute anything to the group.
Promote a Facebook Group with Facebook Ads
Promoting a Facebook group also costs money, but unlike buying groups or members, it is not violating Facebook's terms.
Even though it is impossible to drive traffic to your Facebook group directly with Facebook ads, you can do it indirectly through a Facebook page (to run Facebook ads, you must always create a Facebook page first).
On your Facebook page, you can pin a post about your Facebook group; that way, people see it when they visit your page.
You can then boos this post and drive traffic to it through Facebook ads.
Build a Facebook Group
Anyone can create a Facebook group. You can do it for free and in minutes.
Creating a group is easy, but growing a brand-new group is not.
If you saw a group with just a few members, would you want to join it?
Probably not. If there are no members in the group, there is no engagement and no reason to join.
If you don't want to pay for members and grow it organically, consider inviting your Facebook friends to the group.
Even if you manage only to get 50-100 members this way, it is a good start and will be easier for the group to get some traction.
You must be a more engaged admin and moderate it. Members in smaller groups are less forgivable.
If many members are spamming and posting various promotions, expect many members to leave your group.
You should moderate the posts and comments in the group and often interact with the group members.Â
Sale of a Facebook Group
I have talked about buying a group, but some of you might be on the opposite side and be interested in selling a Facebook group.
A sale of a Facebook group is easy if you have people reaching out to you and inquiring about buying your group.
The two main things to consider when selling a Facebook group is the selling price and safety.
The same that was said about safety when buying a group also applies to selling. If you can, always use an escrow service.
Regarding the selling price, insist on being provided with an offer first. Don't tell potential buyers how much you are willing to sell your group for.
How much is a Facebook group worth was discussed earlier. It mostly depends on your niche. The range is usually between $0.01 - $0.06 per member.
If potential buyers ask you to send screenshots of insights, send them to them. If you decline, no one will buy from you, as that would look suspicious and indicate your group is in bad shape.
If your group is growing rapidly, use it as leverage for negotiating a higher price.
You might want to sell your Facebook group, but nobody contacts you. In that case, don't be afraid to reach out to first.
Selling a Facebook Group: Outreach
You can contact admins of similar groups and ask if they would be interested in acquiring yours.
Focus on groups that their admins are monetizing in some way.
If an admin has a Facebook group just for fun and does not earn any money from it, it is very unlikely that he/she will want to buy another Facebook group.
The con of reaching out to potential buyers is that you have a bad position for price negotiation.
Since you are the one who reached out, it is evident that you are very interested in selling and, thus, might accept a lower price.
Conclusion: Should You Buy a Facebook Group
Buying a Facebook group is a great way to get a targeted audience in your niche quickly. As you learned in this article, there are many benefits to owning a Facebook group.
You can use it to drive traffic to your website and affiliate links, but you can also use it to sell your digital products or grow your email list.
Even though buying a Facebook group is against Facebook's terms, if you follow the advice in this article, the chances that your Facebook account will be banned are slim.Â
Alternatives to buying a Facebook group are buying just group members, leveraging Facebook ads, or creating and growing your own Facebook group from scratch.
Hopefully, this article gave you some insight so you can decide what option is the best for you and your business.
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