"Is This Still Available?" vs a Real Question: Which Marketplace Buyers Actually Buy? (Data From 9,864 Chats)

Every Facebook Marketplace seller knows these four words.

"Is this still available?"

Some sellers answer every one. Some put "If it's listed, it's available" in the description and ignore them. Most just sigh.

So we asked a simple question: do buyers who send "Is this still available?" actually buy? And how do they compare with buyers who type a real question, like "Does it leak?" or "Can I come see it Saturday?"

We looked at 9,864 real Facebook Marketplace conversations from the last 90 days, across 153 sellers: car dealers, rental listings, and everyday items.

Almost 2 in 3 buyers open with the same four words

That's not because buyers are lazy. Facebook puts the message in front of them, already written. One tap and it's sent. It comes in every language too: "¿Sigue disponible?", "Cet article est-il toujours disponible ?", "Esse item ainda está disponível?"

So if most of your inbox looks the same, that's normal. The real question is what happens next.

Who keeps talking after you reply

We counted how many buyers wrote back after the seller's first reply.

Buyers who type their own question are more engaged. That makes sense: they've already read the listing and want something specific.

Who shares a phone number

A phone number is the moment a chat turns into a real lead. Here's how often buyers shared one at any point in the conversation:

For car dealers, 1 in 5 "still available?" buyers handed over a phone number. If you get 50 of those messages a week and ignore them, that's about 10 phone numbers gone.

Who becomes a lead

Many sellers tell their AI agent what counts as a hot lead in their business, like booking a viewing, asking about financing, or sharing contact details. Here's how often each kind of buyer hit that bar:

This is the biggest gap. Buyers who open with a real question become leads almost twice as often.

Same seller, same listings, same result

You might think this is just about which sellers get which buyers. Maybe some sellers simply get more question-askers.

So we checked inside each seller's own inbox. Of the 15 sellers with enough conversations of both kinds, buyers who asked a real question:

• kept talking more for 12 of them
• shared a phone number more for 13 of them

Same seller, same listings, same replies. The kind of first message still told you a lot about the buyer.

What to do with this

1. Answer every "Is this still available?", fast. It's 62% of your inbox. About half of those buyers keep talking, and for car dealers 1 in 5 share a phone number. Ignoring them, or writing "if it's listed, it's available", throws real buyers away.

2. Don't reply with just "Yes." "Yes" gives the buyer nothing to answer. Add what they'd ask next anyway: the price, the condition, where it is, and when they can see it. "Yes, it's here! 2016 Civic, 82k miles, clean title. I'm in Mesa, free to show it after 5 today or Saturday morning."

3. When a buyer asks a real question, move them to the front of the line. They're the hottest buyers in your inbox: almost twice as likely to become a lead. Answer them first and answer them properly.

4. Don't judge a buyer by their first message. A tap on Facebook's button doesn't mean "not serious". It often means "on my phone, scrolling, interested". What they say after your reply tells you much more.

For car dealers

Car buyers send the button message to several dealers at once. The dealer who answers first with real details (price, miles, a time to come in) is the one who gets the phone number. With 1 in 5 of these buyers sharing one, every unanswered "still available?" is a lead that went to the dealer down the road.

For landlords and property managers

Renters are the most likely to keep talking: two out of three "still available?" renters write back. They need a place by a date. Answer with the rent, the move-in date, and the next viewing time, and many of them will book.

How GetReplyNow handles this for you

Answering every "Is this still available?" instantly, at 11pm, on a Sunday, while also spotting the buyers who are ready, is where most sellers fall behind. GetReplyNow is an AI sales agent for Facebook Marketplace that does it for you:

1. Answers every buyer instantly, day or night, with your real listing details, not a dead-end "Yes".
2. Answers the real questions too: condition, price, location, viewing times, using your rules.
3. Tells you when a buyer is ready, so you spend your time on the hot leads.
4. Follows up with buyers who go quiet, and only the ones worth chasing.

You stop answering the same four words all day, and you never miss the 1 in 5 who were ready to share their number.

Try GetReplyNow free →

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Data: random sampled 9,864 Facebook Marketplace conversations handled by GetReplyNow, 153 sellers, first message between August 11 and November 9, 2026. Only conversations that the buyer started and the seller's agent answered. "Is this still available?" includes Facebook's pre-filled message in any language, with or without a greeting or the seller's name. Phone number = a phone number in any buyer message. Lead rates use only sellers who set their own lead definition. Industry is based on each seller's listings. Percentages are rounded. This compares kinds of buyers; it doesn't mean typing a question makes someone buy.