Avoid Mercari at All Costs

My experience with Mercari has been nothing short of frustrating. Over the years, the platform has deteriorated significantly—whether due to mismanagement or a change in ownership, I’m not sure—but their service is atrocious, and their fees are outrageous.

I recently had to return two very expensive items, but their system’s constant bugs made it impossible to print a return label. For two weeks, I dealt with nothing but automated responses that closed my tickets without resolving anything. It wasn’t until I involved my credit card company that, suspiciously, Mercari finally decided to assist—literally the next day.

Another incident involved an order that needed to be returned due to authenticity issues. Mercari automatically closes all orders within three days, whether or not the buyer has rated the seller. I contacted them before receiving the items, explaining that verifying authenticity takes longer than three days. Yet, I received the same useless, automated response, and my ticket was promptly closed. After having the items authenticated, it turned out they weren’t genuine and I opened another ticket explaining I would have documentation shortly per their return policy, this was 7 days prior to their 15 day limit. However, Mercari claimed I’d missed the window to open a dispute—even though the ticket I’d already opened had been closed by them.

Then there are the fees. Mercari boasts “0 seller fees,” but what they don’t advertise is that buyers bear the full brunt of these costs. For example, in the MVP buyback market, sellers price items competitively, not realizing that buyers are saddled with such steep fees that the total cost becomes unreasonable. I considered purchasing $500 worth of cards at discounted rates but found that after fees, taxes, and shipping, the total came to nearly $650. This lack of transparency causes items to go unsold, as buyers refuse to pay ALL the fees, and sellers are unlikely to accept a deal that devalues their item in their eyes.

The platform’s lack of communication, transparency, and functionality has made it completely unworkable. I’d strongly recommend steering clear of Mercari.

UPDATE ——————————————————-

Shortly after posting this article Mercari released this statement:

Changes to our fee structure

Dear Mercari community,

Our goal has always been to deliver the value you deserve whether you buy or sell on Mercari. We went back to the drawing board and thought about the value you deserve and have an important update to share with you: We’re rolling out a new fee structure starting January 6, 2025. This change comes after listening to your feedback and recognizing the need to make an adjustment based on the benefits you expect from Mercari.

When we initially introduced our current fee structure in March, our aim was to make selling more accessible to sellers. However, while sellers got to keep 100% of their sales proceeds, sellers experienced fewer sales because items were less affordable for buyers. We realized our current fee structure underserved buyers, wasn’t helping sellers sell more, and ultimately negatively impacted Mercari and our community by reducing overall transactions on the marketplace. The new fee structure addresses these concerns.

Our new fee structure

In light of the above, to help ensure you get the value you deserve, we are reintroducing a selling fee and lowering the buyer fee:Sellers pay a flat 10% selling fee Buyers pay a flat 3.6% Buyer Protection fee

How it works

  • A flat 10% selling fee applies to the completed item price and buyer-paid shipping
  • We’re removing the ACH direct deposit fee for successful withdrawal transactions. Limit to one ACH direct deposit per day.
  • A flat 3.6% Buyer Protection fee applies to the completed item price and buyer-paid shipping
  • The Buyer Protection fee reflects the following:
    • A cancelation and refund policy
    • Returns on qualifying items
    • 24/7 customer support
    • Trusted transactions
  • No additional payment processing fee

The new fee structure applies to new and updated listings starting on January 6, 2025 and may take up to one week to reflect automatically across all existing listings.

To support this transition, later this month you can choose to increase your listing prices in bulk so you can earn the same amount.