Build a One-Page Marketplace Rules Sheet for Your Reps

A new associate asks whether the BDC number can go in the description. The first rep says yes, that is how you get calls. The second says never, that is how listings get pulled. The third says "only on trucks." None of them is looking at a document. They are looking at memory. By the end of the day the associate has posted six units three different ways, and the used-car manager has a training problem that looks like a Facebook problem.

Build a one-page Marketplace rules sheet for your reps so the store has one answer. Not a binder. Not a Slack thread. One page, pass/fail, dated, with a name at the bottom. Onboarding can point at it. Spot-checks can grade against it. Arguments can end with it. Meta's commerce policies and Marketplace rules remain the platform authority — check the current pages when you update the sheet. This page is not a substitute, and this article is not legal advice. Confirm advertising and disclosure language with counsel.

This is for general managers, internet directors, and used-car managers who already know the floor will not read a twelve-page SOP.

Why a One-Page Marketplace Rules Sheet Beats Verbal Tradition

Verbal rules decay at the speed of shift changes. Written novels decay because nobody opens them. One page is the size of a habit.

What the sheet is for

• A new hire's first afternoon on Marketplace.
• A Saturday when a manager is in appraisals and an associate is about to improvise.
• A post-removal conversation that should be "you broke rule 4," not "we should be more careful."
• A quarterly update after someone actually reads Facebook commerce policies.

What the sheet is not for

• Reciting Meta word-for-word.
• Publishing numeric "Facebook limits" you cannot source.
• Replacing counsel on financing, as-is, or history claims.
• A branding manifesto.

If a sentence does not change what a rep does in the next two minutes, it does not belong on the page.

What Goes on the One-Page Marketplace Rules Sheet

Use this skeleton. Replace the examples with your store's actual yes/no decisions.

Header (four lines)

• Store name
• "Marketplace posting rules — floor copy"
• Date of last review
• Owner name and backup

Block 1: Accounts and ownership

• Each person posts only from their assigned login and assigned account. No shared passwords.
• Associates post only units in their assigned queue. They do not pull random inventory.
• Sales reps self-queue from shared inventory; they still follow every copy and photo rule.
• Sold units are marked sold and archived the same day. No "leave it up until the check clears" unless a manager writes an exception.

This is how you keep identity clean. For the larger account question, set business vs personal selling rules in a manager document and put the one-line version here.

Block 2: Data that must match

• Year, make, model, trim, mileage, VIN, and price match the jacket and the photos.
• If a field is unknown, do not guess. Leave the unit in draft.
• One live listing per VIN on the selling account. No refresh-by-clone.

Block 3: Wording — never in title or body

Keep this as a fail list, not an essay:

• Phone numbers, URLs, QR talk, "text me," "call now"
• $1 / call for price / joke prices
• Payment and down-payment bait unless counsel-approved copy is pasted verbatim from the manager block
• Absolute claims: never, always, guaranteed, 100%, accident-free, perfect, like new, fully loaded
• Warranty language that disagrees with the buyers guide

Point reps to the longer pre-post wording screen if they need examples. The sheet itself stays short.

Block 4: Photos

• Lead image: actual unit, three-quarter front, no banner, no price box, no watermark covering the car.
• No phone numbers or specials in any frame.
• Defects that a buyer will see on the lot should appear in the gallery.
• Auction photos with someone else's watermark are not usable.

Block 5: Cadence (store standard, not a Meta number)

Write your conservative daily ceiling and the rule that you do not catch up with a dump. Label it clearly as an internal operating standard. Do not present it as a published Facebook quota. See daily posting targets per rep for how managers set the number.

Block 6: When to stop and ask

Three bullets max:

• Any notice, removal, or restriction on the account
• Rebuilt, salvage, lemon, flood, or other branded titles
• Financing, shipping, or deposit language the sheet does not already approve

Footer: three good / three bad

Use real VINs from your lot, anonymized if you prefer, with one sentence each. Invented "perfect listings" teach nothing. Your own last-month mistakes teach everything.

How to Write It So Reps Will Use It

Pass, fail, ask

Every rule should fit that grammar. "Be professional" is not a rule. "No phone numbers in the description" is a rule.

One owner publishes

Suggestions can come from anywhere. Edits go through the internet director or used-car manager. Two versions of the sheet is how you return to three verbal answers.

Print it and pin it in the product

A PDF in email is not a sheet. Print one at the posting desk. Put the date in the filename. When you update it, throw the old print away in front of people so they notice.

Teach it in onboarding, not as a surprise after a removal

A one-day Marketplace onboarding plan should include the sheet as a timed exercise: the new hire marks six sample listings pass or fail. See onboarding new sales reps on Marketplace posting. If they cannot grade samples, they should not post unsupervised.

Review it when incidents happen

If a listing is removed, the sheet either:

1. Already banned the pattern (training failure), or
2. Missed the pattern (sheet failure).

Update the sheet or retrain. Do not create a fourth oral exception.

PostToMarket is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Meta. A rules sheet cannot guarantee distribution or approval.

Example One-Page Layout (Copy and Replace)

Use a single printed page, roughly:

MARKETPLACE RULES — <STORE> — <DATE> — Owner: <NAME>

ACCOUNTS
[ ] Own login only. No shared passwords.
[ ] Associates: assigned queue only.
[ ] Sold same day: mark sold + archive.

DATA
[ ] Trim, miles, price, VIN match jacket + photos.
[ ] Unknown field = stay in draft.
[ ] One live listing per VIN.

COPY — FAIL IF PRESENT
Phone / URL / "call now" / $1 / payment bait
never, always, guaranteed, accident-free, like new, loaded
Warranty words that disagree with the buyers guide

PHOTOS
Clean lead image. No price box, banner, or covering watermark.
Show defects. No other seller's watermark.

PACE (STORE STANDARD)
Max ___ posts / person / day, spaced. No catch-up dumps.

ASK A MANAGER
Account notices. Branded titles. Any financing/deposit/shipping copy.

EXAMPLES
Good: <stock> — specific tires + service, clean three-quarter, no closer bait
Bad: <stock> — cell in line one, "loaded," weekend price in photo

That is enough. If you need a second page, you have started writing a manual. Keep the manual for managers. Keep the sheet for the floor.

Rollout Without a Town Hall

1. Owner drafts from the skeleton and last quarter's incidents.
2. GM or used-car manager redlines once.
3. Counsel glances at financing and warranty lines if those appear.
4. Print. Huddle for fifteen minutes. Grade three live listings against it.
5. Make it the standard for every associate queue.
6. Revisit on the same calendar as your policy change log.

Do not wait for consensus from every producer. Consensus is how the cell number gets back into the closer.

How PostToMarket Automates This

A one-page sheet fails when posting happens in a personal Marketplace form with no draft, no owner, and no record of who posted. The sheet needs a workflow that can enforce the boxes: assigned work, editable copy, photo choice, sold hygiene, and a pace that is not a dump.

• Roles (admin, manager, sales rep, sales associate) so the sheet's ownership model matches logins.
• Manager assignment to associate queues and reps self-queue from shared inventory.
• Team queue view to release a claim instead of cloning the VIN onto another account.
• AI copy editable before posting so the fail list is applied to a draft, not a live ad.
• Facebook photo picker for the photo boxes on the sheet.
• Inventory statuses including draft and sold.
• Mark as sold and archive from inventory or the queue.
• Server-enforced daily post limits and human-like delays, one vehicle at a time, which is how the cadence box becomes real.
• Team analytics by rep so a manager can see who is ignoring the sheet without waiting for a removal.
• Import error log so "unknown field = draft" is not a honor system.

Unlimited vehicles in inventory on every plan means the sheet applies to the whole lot. The product does not make Facebook approve listings. It makes the one-page rules usable at the moment of posting.

One Page, One Owner, No Third Opinion

Build a one-page Marketplace rules sheet for your reps if you are tired of policy being a personality trait. Date it. Name an owner. Use pass/fail. Grade real listings. Update it when you read the official pages, not when a group chat panics.

If a new associate still has to poll the floor to find out whether a phone number is allowed, you do not have rules. You have folklore. Write the page this week.

PostToMarket is the system the sheet plugs into: queues, roles, copy, photos, and paced posting so the rules survive a Saturday rush. Starter is $59 per month for a solo seller or independent lot with one login — the sheet still matters when you are the only poster. Dealership is $299 per month for up to 13 logins when associates need assigned queues. Start your 10-day free trial through secure Stripe checkout. Cancel anytime. Put the rules on one page. Then make the queue obey them.