is there a website like facebook marketplace?

If you want the closest match in the UK

Gumtree is a UK site and app for local classified ads, with categories from freebies to cars and property. You can post an ad quickly and for free on the web or on mobile, which makes it the closest UK match to Marketplace.

The catch is that some ad types need a listing fee, and promotion features cost extra. We did not check the amounts, so check before you post anything outside the everyday categories.

If you want to sell for free on eBay

eBay is the online marketplace, and selling is now free for UK-based private sellers outside motors. Private sellers based in the UK pay no final value fees or regulatory operating fees, and get 300 free listings each month. After that, extra listings are 35p each, and a £19.99 a month option adds 100 more free listings.

What you give up is some of the free part in certain cases. Motors listings, meaning cars, motorcycles and vehicles, have their own fees, and fees also apply to optional upgrades and to delivering overseas.

If you are selling clothes

Vinted is a marketplace and app for second-hand clothes, shoes and accessories. Listing is free, there are zero selling fees, and you are paid once the buyer confirms everything is OK.

The cost lands on the buyer instead. Buyers pay a Buyer Protection fee of 5% of the item price plus 0.70 GBP when using Buy now, so the price on your listing is not the total your buyer pays. That is worth knowing whichever side you are on.

If you want a refund route as a buyer

Shpock is a UK marketplace and classifieds app that connects private buyers and sellers nearby, with optional delivery. Its paid buyer protection refunds the item price, the protection fee and delivery if Shpock judges a claim valid. Shpock says millions of private buyers and sellers use it across the UK, with London, Brighton, Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Leicester and Liverpool among its most active areas.

You pay for that safety net, and the fee grows with the item price. Selling is not free either: the app is free to download and to buy with, but Shpock says selling starts at 99p a month, with as many items listed as you like.

If you want UK classifieds with pets too

Preloved is a UK free classified ads site for second-hand goods and pets, and says it has over 10 million members. It publishes pet safeguarding checklists. Its site has a membership section, and we did not check what membership costs or adds.

When paying is worth it

Most UK sellers on eBay or Gumtree need not pay. eBay is free for private sellers up to 300 listings a month, then 35p each, and Gumtree charges only for some ad types and optional promotion. Shpock is the exception, with selling from 99p a month. Paying makes sense when a listing needs the extra reach of a promotion, or when you are buying something where a refund route matters more to you than the protection fee.

eBay private sellers based outside the UK, or sending to an overseas address, may pay extra fees, so the free selling is a UK arrangement. The motors exclusion is the other one to remember, because it is the category where free selling does not apply.

On Shpock, the buyer protection fee ranges from GBP 0.30 to 3.75 plus 0 to 15% of the item price, excluding delivery. It is shown before you buy, so look at it before you confirm.

On Vinted, the seller pays nothing but the buyer pays the Buyer Protection fee, so compare totals, not listing prices, when you shop there.

If you are buying a pet, Preloved publishes a pet buying checklist to help you find a responsible seller.