Mercari: Platform for Sale of Used Goods

What is Mercari?

Mercari is a retailing site that allows you to sell clothing, sporting goods, toys, beauty supplies, and handmade items — pretty much anything that you can ship.

How it works

If you want to sell here, you simply sign up and create an account. Then, like other peer-to-peer sales sites (think ebay and CraigsList) you then take photos of the item you’re selling; describe it; set a price; decide whether you or the buyer will pay for shipping. And then you publish your listing.

There are no listing fees. But the site charges a 10% commission on sales, plus a $2 processing fee for direct deposits and Instant Pay requests. There’s also a $2 fee if a direct deposit transfer is rejected by your bank.

Mercari review

There are two big differences with Mercari vs. other sale sites:

1. Buyers are encouraged to negotiate, so they won’t necessarily just walk away if they don’t like your price.

2. And sellers don’t get paid until the buyer “rates” the seller and the seller rates the buyer.

However, if the buyer doesn’t rate the seller within three days, Mercari’s system will trigger a 5-star rating that will allow the seller to get paid anyway.

The rating requirement appears aimed at reducing buyer and seller fraud by calling out the bad actors. But it can slow the payment process.

Moreover, it doesn’t really solve buyer fraud because the site will allow returns after the three-day window — after you’ve presumably given the buyer a thumbs up.

Watch your thumbs

Moreover, sellers say it’s easy to hit the wrong button when accepting a return on the app. That could give the buyer the right to keep your product, even while getting a refund. There’s no going back if you hit the wrong key.

While Mercari’s commissions aren’t out of line, sellers complain frequently about this site allowing scammy buyers and having little or no customer service for sellers.

No customer service

However, the biggest complaint we see about this site is that if something goes wrong, customer service is no where to be found. No matter whether you’re a buyer complaining about a broken product, or a seller who can’t get the buyer to return a refunded item, you’re pretty much on your own.

Recommendations

We hear that Mercari can be a decent place to sell used items, if they’re relatively inexpensive and not overly heavy or difficult to ship. (Mercari does not have a sponsored shipping option for items that weigh more than 50 pounds.)

However, users who have reviewed this site say that a wide array of problems can crop up when you’re selling things of value. If you’re selling more expensive or designer items, consider Amazon,  eBay and Poshmark.

If you want to list items on Mercari, you can find the site here.

When selling heavy used items, such as furniture or appliances, you’re better off selling to local buyers (specifying that they’ll need to pick up) through CraigsList and OfferUp.

What their users say (from SiteJabber)

I have done multiple sales on Mercari. None of my items are junk, knock-offs, etc. Many are vintage and new or minimally used. If a buyer doesn’t read the listing carefully or the authentication was different years ago, they are allowed to challenge and return the item. Mercari will always side with the buyer. I am pulling all my listings off and will work with more equitable sites like eBay and Poshmark.

Shipping woes

If you sell on Mercari please read this. I’m sick of paying outrageous shipping fees. Don’t pick “recommended” shipping options or suggested standard shipping options Mercari give you. They are OFTEN Incorrect! And it’s costing YOU in unnecessary fees. KNOW your items packaged shipping weight to save YOU money. Second, don’t enter the dimension of the box IT’S OPTIONAL. USPS is the only one who requires it if your box is bigger than 12x12x12. Fed Ex and UPS not so much unless your package is huge or bulky. (FedEx 119″ L x 80″ W x 70″ H) (UPS 108″ L x 57″ around). It limits your shipping options and rips the buyer off. There’s only one that benefits from this and IT’S NOT YOU! Third, if the buyer requests a specific carrier work with them. It’s to your advantage.

Wow! Never use Mercari! A buyer claimed in a review that my item arrived late. I have tracking that proves the item arrived early. Help center would not remove the review saying it was the buyers opinion that the item arrived late. Even though I could prove it wasn’t true with tracking. I had high hopes for Mercari but if you’re a serious seller avoid this marketplace like the plague. So ridiculous

Closed my account

Wish I could give them ZERO stars. I am a seller on Mercari, have over 400 reviews all 5 starts, not a single 4 star or less reviews. They closed my account saying i sold unauthentic items. Seriously? I have over 400 reviews and you guys think i sell fake stuff. They listen to those fake accounts where they offer you 70% less for your items that you are selling amd you dont accept they report your account. And stupid Mercati fall for it.

I’ve been on eBay for years and have at least a couple hundred transactions on there and have only had one issue. That’s like a.5% issue rate. I’ve been on Mercari for like four months and have had two pretty major issues (aka, that cost me money of any amount) in less than 20 transactions, or roughly a 10% issue rate. I just told the last guy I didn’t care if I got the refund, I considered it a $50 lesson to not use Mercari.

Accidental give-away

I sold a pair of 200.00 shoes that were in excellent condition for 40.00 after the lady talked me down from a much higher price. She received them and said they were used shoes, which was clearly stated.  She requested a refund and they gave it to her. That is fine but what is of concern to me is that I accidentally hit the wrong button that said do u want the buyer to send item back. I tried to fix it and they told me they can’t do anything about it. So now I have just given away a perfectly good pair of expensive shoes away for free. I’m beyond mad over this. 

From Google Play

If you are looking for a platform that you can trust when something goes wrong, this isn’t it. It’s been a month and still zero help or information from this terrible service. Tracking clearly shows that there is an issue, USPS has no idea what is going on, and mercari policy makes it nearly impossible to get a refund while tracking is still updating though it’s clearly never going to make it here. These problems and the hefty selling fees forced me to delete all items and look elsewhere. Trash

Really easy to use! But that’s the only good thing to note as a seller. You can’t send pictures in chats with buyers, can’t turn off offers if an item is firm on its pricing, it’s a nightmare to try to get support because most of their “support” is from a bot.

If you need support from Mercari to resolve an issue with a purchase, pull up a chair as they are slow to respond.