Facebook Marketplace Messages Not Showing? Here’s How to Fix It

You’ve got a blue notification dot sitting on your Facebook Marketplace chat. It says you have a new message. You click on it — and there’s absolutely nothing there. No message. No sender. Just an empty inbox mocking you while a potential buyer or seller waits on the other end.

If this sounds familiar, you’re dealing with one of the most frustrating and widespread bugs on Facebook Marketplace right now. The good news? There are several things you can try to fix it — and this guide walks through every single one of them, in order of what works most often.

Quick Answer

Check your Message Requests folder first — it’s hidden and most people miss it. If that’s empty, clear your browser cache or reinstall the app. If messages are disappearing mid-conversation, check the listing directly rather than relying on Messenger notifications, as the two often fall out of sync.

On mobile, always use the Android or iOS Facebook app — the desktop and browser versions of Marketplace messaging are far buggier.

Why Are Your Facebook Marketplace Messages Not Showing Up?

Before jumping to fixes, it helps to understand what’s actually going wrong. Facebook Marketplace messages are routed through Facebook Messenger, but the two systems don’t always stay in sync — especially across different devices and platforms. There are a few distinct reasons this happens:

1. The Message Is in Your Hidden Message Requests Folder

This is the most common culprit that people miss entirely. Facebook automatically filters messages from people you’re not connected with into a hidden “Message Requests” folder. Marketplace messages from strangers (which is basically everyone selling or buying) frequently end up here instead of your main inbox. Facebook shows you the notification dot, but the message is sitting in a folder most people never think to check.

2. The Sender’s Account Was Deleted or Banned

Facebook aggressively auto-removes spam accounts and scammer profiles. If someone messaged you and their account was subsequently removed by Facebook’s systems, the message disappears from your inbox — but the notification badge often remains. This is annoying but actually Facebook working as intended. The notification is essentially a ghost from a deleted account.

3. A Syncing Bug Between Marketplace and Messenger

Marketplace and Messenger are technically separate systems that are supposed to work together seamlessly — and often don’t. Mid-conversation message disappearances, where messages vanish from Messenger while still visible on the listing page, point to a sync failure between the two. This is a known bug that Facebook has not adequately addressed.

4. Browser Cache or App Data Corruption

Corrupted cached data in your browser or the Facebook app can cause Marketplace features — including the Marketplace section in Messenger — to disappear entirely or behave erratically. Multiple users have reported the Marketplace tab in Messenger coming and going randomly, which is a telltale sign of a caching issue.

5. Stale Notification Badges

Facebook is notorious for keeping notification badges active long after the underlying event is resolved. Sometimes the blue dot next to your Marketplace chats is simply a leftover from an old message, a “Marketplace Assistant” reminder, or a notification that was cleared on one device but not synced to others.

How to Fix Facebook Marketplace Messages Not Showing

Work through these fixes in order — the first one solves it for most people.

Fix 1: Check Your Hidden Message Requests Folder

On the Facebook app or website:

1. Open Facebook Messenger
2. Tap the three-dot menu or your profile icon
3. Look for “Message Requests” or “Spam”
4. Your Marketplace message may be sitting here, filtered as a potential stranger or spam message

On desktop, go to messenger.com, click the three horizontal lines, and find “Message Requests.” This folder is intentionally tucked away and easy to miss — Facebook doesn’t make it obvious.

Fix 2: View the Message Directly Through the Listing

If you can see the first line of a message on your listing page but Messenger shows nothing, bypass Messenger entirely:

• Go to Facebook Marketplace
• Navigate to your specific listing
• Look for the chat or message section directly on the listing page
• If you can see the buyer’s message there, reply directly from the listing page

If the listing redirect is crashing or sending you back to the Marketplace homepage, try switching platforms — if it’s crashing on desktop, try the mobile app, and vice versa.

Fix 3: Clear Your Browser Cache (Desktop Users)

If the Marketplace tab in Messenger keeps disappearing or messages won’t load on desktop:

• In Chrome: go to History → Clear Browsing Data → Advanced tab
• Check all boxes and set the time range to “All time”
• Click “Clear data”
• Log back into Facebook and check Marketplace again

Note: Firefox has been reported by multiple users as particularly unreliable for Marketplace messaging. If you’re on Firefox, switch to Chrome for anything Marketplace-related.

Fix 4: Reinstall or Update the Facebook App (Mobile)

If you’re on mobile and messages aren’t loading or the app crashes when you click a Marketplace message:

1. Check if a Facebook app update is available in the App Store or Google Play — install it first
2. If updating doesn’t help, uninstall the Facebook app completely
3. Reinstall it fresh from your app store
4. Log back in and check your Marketplace messages

Fix 5: Message the Buyer Through Their Main Profile

If you’re mid-deal and a buyer’s messages suddenly vanish from your Marketplace chat, don’t panic — and don’t let the sale fall through. Go to the Marketplace listing directly, find the buyer’s name in the chat history there, click on their profile, and message them through their main Facebook profile instead. It bypasses the Marketplace messaging system entirely and uses standard Messenger. This is an effective emergency workaround when you’re in the middle of a transaction.

Fix 6: Log Out and Log Back In Across All Devices

If the Marketplace tab in Messenger is intermittently disappearing across desktop and web but works fine on your Android or iPhone, the issue is likely a session sync problem. Log out of Facebook on every device — desktop browser, web Messenger, Windows app — then log back in starting with your phone. This forces a fresh sync from the mobile version, which tends to be the most stable.

If You’re a Seller: You May Be Missing More Messages Than You Think

Here’s something that should concern anyone selling on Facebook Marketplace: the message delivery problem likely works in both directions. Some users who regularly buy on Marketplace have noticed their reply rates from sellers dropping from around 80% down to 10% in recent months — not because sellers are ignoring them, but because sellers simply aren’t receiving or seeing the messages.

If you’re selling, you could be losing buyers every day without knowing it. Make it a habit to:

• Check your listing directly every day, not just your Messenger inbox
• Check your Message Requests folder regularly for filtered buyer messages
• Include your preferred contact method in the listing description (e.g. “Text me at XXX for faster response”)
• Use the mobile app as your primary Marketplace interface — it’s significantly more reliable than desktop for messages

Which Platform Works Best for Marketplace Messages?

Based on widespread user reports, here’s how the platforms stack up:

Platform	Reliability	Notes
Android App	✅ Best	Most stable — use this as your primary platform
iOS App (iPhone/iPad)	✅ Good	Generally reliable, minor sync issues reported
Facebook Website (Chrome)	⚠️ Inconsistent	Marketplace tab in Messenger comes and goes
Web Messenger	⚠️ Inconsistent	Marketplace section disappears randomly
Windows Messenger App	⚠️ Inconsistent	Same issues as web version
Firefox (any)	❌ Poor	Multiple users report Marketplace not working at all

Is It a Bug — Or a Scammer Account That Got Removed?

Worth asking: was the “message” you can’t find from someone legitimate, or possibly a scammer? Facebook Marketplace is unfortunately riddled with fake accounts sending spam or scam messages. When Facebook removes these accounts (which they do fairly quickly), the messages disappear from your inbox but the notification badge sometimes lingers.

How to tell the difference: if you could see the message briefly and it looked like a genuine buyer inquiry (asking about your item, proposing a price, suggesting a meetup), it’s almost certainly a real person affected by the sync bug. If the message was vague, contained a suspicious link, or asked you to move communication off Facebook, it was likely a scammer account that Facebook cleaned up.

Either way, the notification badge unfortunately sticks around either way — a long-standing Facebook UX flaw.

When Nothing Works: Your Last Options

If you’ve tried everything above and messages are still not loading or Marketplace is still crashing, here’s what’s left:

• Report the bug to Facebook via the Help Center (Settings → Help & Support → Report a Problem). Facebook does monitor bug reports even if individual responses are rare.
• Wait 24–48 hours and try again. Some bugs resolve server-side without any action on your end, especially after Facebook pushes patches.
• Add contact info to your listing description so buyers can reach you another way if the in-app messaging fails.
• Consider cross-listing on other platforms like OfferUp, Craigslist, or local community apps as a backup — especially for high-value items where missing a message means missing a sale.

The Bottom Line

Facebook Marketplace messaging is genuinely broken for a significant number of users, and it’s been this way long enough that it’s clearly not a priority fix for Facebook. The blue dot notification with no visible message, disappearing chats mid-conversation, and the Marketplace tab vanishing from Messenger are all symptoms of the same underlying problem: poor integration between two systems that were stitched together and never fully stabilized.

The practical workarounds that work most consistently: check your Message Requests folder, check the listing page directly, use the Android or iOS app over desktop, and don’t rely solely on Messenger notifications to know when a buyer or seller has contacted you.

Until Facebook actually fixes this properly, your best defense is checking your listings manually and making it easy for buyers to reach you through more than one channel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Facebook say I have a Marketplace message but there’s nothing there?

The most likely reasons are: the message is in your hidden Message Requests folder, the sender’s account was removed by Facebook, or it’s a stale notification badge that hasn’t cleared. Check Message Requests first — that resolves it for most people.

Why do Marketplace messages disappear mid-conversation on Roku?

This is a known sync issue between Marketplace and Messenger. If this happens mid-deal, go to your listing page directly to find the buyer’s messages, and consider messaging them through their main Facebook profile to bypass the Marketplace messaging system.

Why has the Marketplace section disappeared from my Messenger?

This is typically a browser cache or app data issue, more common on desktop than mobile. Clear your browser cache completely (all time, all data) and log back into Facebook. On mobile, try uninstalling and reinstalling the app.

Can buyers see my messages if I can’t see theirs?

Not necessarily — the bug can affect both sides. Sellers are reporting significantly lower reply rates from buyers, suggesting buyers’ messages are often not being delivered or displayed properly on the seller’s end either.

Is Facebook Marketplace messaging broken for everyone?

Not for everyone, but it’s widespread enough to be a systemic issue rather than isolated user problems. The Android app tends to be the most stable platform for Marketplace messaging right now.