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.