Facebook has been charging me more than the £1 budget I set per post and as a result I got a Halloween surprise bill for £2.04, which was a summing up of extra charges for the last six posts. If I set a budget, surely that should be it. I’m considering not boosting posts any more because (out of a possible 150 to 300 extra views as advertised) I’m only getting 50 or 60. Anyone else experienced this and know if it is against the rules?
Sam x
Oh the cheek of it Sam 
I wonder if there’s a way for you to query it.
Karen x
I wonder too! It is also very annoying that they just tell you they’ve already charged you. I can’t carry on boosting posts if there are going to be open ended charges as it is eating into my very meagre profits. 
Sam x
I’ve just had an issue with promoted posts! I boosted a post and set a budget which was fine, but I sold out of the product I was advertising so I ended the boosted post. All was fine until I got a paypal notification saying I had paid fb £10.49!!! I had actually only spent £3.11!!
that’s a disgusting it’s like switch a bait tatic.
I hope you have some way of contacting facebook and getting that removed.
They are so unaccountable.
I don’t boost posts it’s just not worth the money and who knows how they boost your posts any way problerly just to some click farm.
I think you have put your finger precisely on it! Mine were time limited posts, but it seems that they reached some people several days after the post should have ended, perhaps because they looked at my page. They reassure people that their budget is fixed when they start the boost, and this never used to happen in the past , so what has changed now? What is more, they don’t ask you, they just take the money out of paypal and then tell you they have done it. As very small fry against an enormous multinational, that is putting us in a very weak position. I have not boosted any posts since then and I am seriously considering not boosting posts in the future at all.
Sam x
Well indeed! Just recently my reach in boosted posts has dropped to 10’s rather than 100’s as it was before. Since so few people actually respond, even when a post reaches them, it is looking like bad value for money. I would get better interaction on Twitter, for free.
Sam x
Hi Sam
Same here, I don’t boost posts any more as I just don’t get any results for the money. I’m sick of the constant reminders to boost, as well, so I’m not really using FB now. I am using Instagram more as it’s more visual, the hashtags are easy to use, and best of all it’s free.
Jo
I don’t think you are in a weak position at all.
The law is the law and regardless of whichever tax haven their head office is registered in, FB operate in England therefore have to abide by UK law.
I’ve seen lost of posts recently about how they are misleading people, but because the individual amounts involved are small then most people aren’t complaining and so FB gets away with it. Combined of course, it adds up to a very healthy increase in profits for them. FB have been offering free credits for advertising but when you look further into it, there’s a minimum spend eg you have to spend 15 to get the free 10.
Maybe it’s about time the Office of Fair Trading were involved…
I agree that if this is becoming widespread the Office of Fair Trading should be involved. Individually, legal action is impossible for these small sums, because the fee for a Small Claims Court Summons is £25, far outstripping the value of the claim. Together there might be some prospect of getting them to change their ways. The danger is that a term has been inserted to the effect that they are allowed to charge excess fees. If a court decides that we crafters are not consumers for the purposes of the relevant legislation, recovery would become very tricky. These are issues that the Office of Fair Trading would be well equipped to consider.
Sam x
Advertising Standard Agency might be very much interested in what it going on if enough people bring it to their attention.
Right that is ABSOLUTELY the end for me boosting any more posts!!! FB have now set a minimum budget for me of £4 per post. I am DONE.
Sam x
I couldn’t really understand the beginning of this thread as Facebook has (since I first considered “boosting”) only ever offered it for a minimum £4, so it sounded like a bargain to me.
I spent £4 on it earlier in the year and it didn’t result in any more sales, as far as I know, so won’t bother again.
Well that’s interesting. Do you mind me asking the approximate date you first boosted a post and whether or not that was a popular post. I have been allowed to boost for £1 in the recent past, which was why I thought it was worthwhile. This gave me a reach of an addition 100 or so people in my local area, not much, but a significant improvement on leaving it. Boosting a post in the past to the tune of £5 got me a reach of a couple of 1000 and lots of responses and new likes, however, now they are quoting me £360 to reach 1000. Maybe their algorithm is on drugs!!!
Sam x
Oh and my Instagram reach has bombed too. But my views on Folksy are up on last year. 
It was on February 18th and reached 664 people. I got 6 likes for the post.
I reached 300 people on my last unboosted post, 4 likes and 2 shares.
My views on Folksy are quite good at the moment (probably mostly other sellers) but I’ve only had one sale this month.
It seems I just have nothing anyone wants to buy, which is fair enough 
So at that time I was being offered boosts for £1 and getting about 1/3 of the reach from them. That seems unfair, but also, why? The mysteries of FB. Oh yes, and now the algorithm is trying to barter with me. It just sent me a message offering to boost to 2000 for £9. But I can’t guarantee there won’t be excess charges, can I?
Sam x
Why doesn’t that suprize me it offered me at £1 I never took it up
Then later at £4 I still didn’t take it up.
I’ve also noticed that Facebook has increased its fees and reduced the amount of characters you can use in a promoted post. The returns I’m getting through FB have dropped dramatically since last year, and I’m now questioning the value of using it. I also noticed that they push stuff through instagram; although I’m pretty sure I’ve never had any sales I’m aware of through instagram.
They certainly do put FB posts on Instagram, which makes it hard to track how well my Instagram account is doing. I am not sure how Instagram likes are recorded on the FB promotion, if at all, so I would certainly rather they didn’t.
Sam x