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If you go to the Marketplace area in the [Android] Facebook app, then scroll down to "Newly Listed", select "View all", then at the top select the drop-down and change to just Local, that is the best source I've found recently for recent listings that are actually local, but you still see some sponsored ads you have to scroll past.
I believe Facebook has specifically engineered the filters to give the illusion of control while showing you listings that are completely outside of your terms. I go to the local section, filter my location for “Custom radius” which actually says “Only show me listings within a specific distance.” I have it set to 10 miles.
Perhaps FBM figures you don’t need for an item to be a local listing when the seller is willing to shop. However, a buyer might feel better dealing only with local sellers regardless. My problem is that it defaults to all marketplace instead of local; it wasn’t always like that. I have to click Local Only each time.
Facebook marketplace is designed to show you as many results as possible, regardless of the accuracy of what you are looking for, so you spend more time on facebook viewing advertising. Facebook is a company that makes money on advertising and data collection, not on helping normal people.
The issue from the OP is that we don't want to see items for sale that ARE NOT LOCAL PICKUP ONLY. I'm not interesting in buying something unseen from even 20 miles away, much less 1000 miles away. You used to be able to specify local only when searching. Not any more, so I have to sort through all kinds of stuff I don't want to see.
I sold and item on Facebook Marketplace back in March. It was clearly labeled as a local pick up only. Before the buyer paid for the item I checked out their profile and noticed they lived quite a ways for me. I told them twice it was a local pick up only and they said ok that they would make arrangements to have someone pick it up. I said ok.
Having the same problem as everyone else, Facebook is probably up to shenanigans. However I found a workaround! When you select the category they almost all say "Shipping available" which is the problem. If you select "Miscellaneous" it forces it to local sale only. You can then update the category after it posts and everything is fine.
As a consumer I used to love FB marketplace. Now, I have 2 big issues. The first is that my entire marketplace home is filled to the brim with "ships to you" garbage that I don't want to see. I am never, ever going to buy a random item off FB marketplace and have it shipped to my house from someone I don't know or trust.
The facebook lite app on android is currently a pretty decent workaround for this, at least as far as significantly reducing shipped listings...they still stretch the radius you define quite a bit..
Local listings do not have their location in the facebook app anywhere, you can only see the new, or used option along with the image.....you're forced to click through every thumbnail to find out if your seller is local and usually 10/10 they're shipping.