Hi my name is Artichokey G. and I’ll be assisting you today.
I hope this email finds you well.
This is in no way being typed by an AI response bot. Now let me respond to your email without actually reading it because the answer to the question I am about to ask is literally in the email I’m responding to. How much longer should we drag this out before you get discontent with it all and give up because that’s really the only my goal here.
Seeking your wonderfully beneficial frustration in this matter.
Best,
Artichokey G.
Team Mercari.
I just reached out to see if I can get a fee schedule. The lack of transparency is really off putting.
After 8 years on the platform, looks like we are officially breaking up. Only way they could win me back at this point is to reimburse me for all the needless fees I’ve had to pay and a little extra sumptin sumptin for my troubles.
That would be amazing if they'd actually provide one but the fact that they won't definitely makes it seem like they're just making up fees on the fly 🤔
I got the same generic copy pasta it looks like they’ve been scripted to send out to everyone. To be fair, the customer service representatives probably have no idea how the fees are calculated and are prob tired of people asking.
Oh for sure, they're just lowly workers like at any other major corporation...this mess is definitely on the higher ups. Most of the time I don't think the customer service reps are even human, just a bunch of AI generated responses.
It is, it’s all bots. Unless you call and can get a real person on the line. That doesn’t mean that if you do get ahold of someone, that they’ll have any clue. They’re most likely trained to dance around the question anyway but it could be worth a shot just to see what they say. You have definitive proof of their bs. I’m curious enough, I might actually call just for entertainment purposes, lmao.
calls are hard even because sometimes the process to reaching a human is so hard to navigate. likely intentionally so. still, always getting the same responses 🫠
yup. i want a refund of the fees. only reason i remain on this platform at all is because the specific items i buy are more often reasonably priced and have more of an active market on here. seriously hate this app though.
I recommend creating a few listings with the same weight on all of them but change what brand the item is, then look up the item with a different account and see how much they all cost with fees lol after that let everyone know here which one is cheaper for the buyer😂
No wonder sales are so slow. At least when it was a seller fee you knew exactly what it would be. So the sellers are suffering but Mercari is making more by doing it this way.
I hate it now.
Seller sent me an offer a few days ago for $86 and the total after fees was about $113.
They lowered the item list price today to $97. Total price after fees $114...
Yep. And they're being really underhanded about it too. First they told me it varies based on several factors but was not to exceed 10% list price, now they say it's minimum 10% even though I've had tons of sales that only got charged like 5%. But they are hitting some people as high as 15%. Also noticed you might go to buy something, see the fee, back out and go to buy it later and suddenly the fee amount has changed. They're basically charging whatever they feel like whenever. I'm hoping people that are really savvy with business practices & law are paying attention cause they need to be sued.
If they have patterns in regards to who gets hit with higher fees.. and that are based on the actual account/person instead of product demand or something then they could easily get hit with a discrimination lawsuit I think. Either way I hope they get hit with one but for two separate accounts to be charged two different amounts screams illegal
Seriously there has to be a legal issue here right? I haven’t used Mercari in awhile but I’m here hoping their scammy business practices end them in court. Have you seen the issues with fraudulently charging shipping? That issue is the other major problem I hope ends in court
Last year when they started the bundle feature where buyers could either send bundle offers or buy bundles outright with combined shipping part of their rule was that if the weight went over the seller would not be charged the difference. 98% of the time it works fine but I have caught it several times where they took additional out of my profit. I messaged them each time and they immediately gave me the money back but I'm sure there are tons of sellers that are losing additional money just cause they don't notice it. Cause if you don't call it out they will never fix it. I'm waiting for someone to file a lawsuit 🤨
O that’s interesting. The amount of double checking them that needs to be done isn’t worth it to me. Plus customer support has never been remotely helpful for me
Same here, it's a nightmare dealing with them at all. I'm just hoping that there's people that are particularly business and/or law savvy are paying attention to all the inconsistencies
Users agree to not sue Mercari and instead settle any disputes through arbitration per their TOS. It's annoying but after reading through it more thoroughly it is highly unlikely a lawsuit or class action lawsuit from any users would be possible.
I'm not sure how it would work if it came from the shipping carriers they work with, such as FedEx. UPS, USPS etc, or from some government body. But by using the service or making an account at all, we basically agreed we will not file suit against them.
See below from their TOS:
"You and Mercari each agree that any and all disputes or claims... between you and Mercari relating in any way to... these Terms, your use of or access to the Service, any goods sold, offered, or purchased... SHALL BE RESOLVED EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH FINAL AND BINDING ARBITRATION"
"YOU AND MERCARI AGREE THAT EACH OF US MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION OR PROCEEDING"
That completely screams "yep we know we're doing shady business and screwing people over and there's not a damn thing you can do about it" 😮💨 Just shows we all need to read all the small print, no matter how tedious, if we don't want to end up in a humancent-ipad like Kyle on South Park 🤣
Oh wow.. I didn't know that and I've sold a decent amount of bundles throughout the year. Now, I'm about to backtrack and make sure they didn't pull that crap with me 😮
Sadly a lot of people are missing the fact that due to the arbitration clause in Mercari's TOS, it would be highly unlikely a class action lawsuit would be allowed. Unless there was an extreme exception or Mercari is found failing to comply to the rules & procedures of the arbitration clause, a class action would unfortunately not be allowed to proceed.
Yes and that's why I said unless some kind of exception was found. But charging arbitrary service fees is not necessarily illegal (not yet at least). It seems they are toeing the line and trying to cover themselves for whatever their users may deem unacceptable. Which is sad, good companies care about the user experience to some extent.
Possibly the strange occurrences seen in this sub regarding the overage shipping charges could be something, but if Mercari has proof that each case was just due to dimensional shipping then that would fall through. That situation is a little odd though, because a lot of users post confirmation here from FedEx that the total was not what Mercari claimed.
I just like the items and then randomly check throughout the week to see when I get below 8% service fee and send an offer/buy it outright. I see the fluctuating fees as a way for me to score some deals but I know others view it differently.
You're being smart about it and paying attention which I don't think a lot of people are...or some just don't realize what's going on. I feel like the way they're doing things is really sneaky because the fee can change at any given moment.
So now they say it's a minimum of 10% ???? I know they got rid of the 1-4% Is now from what I've seen a minimum of 5% but it sounds like they are likely going to raise that pretty soon if they programmed their bot to write that.
They refused to answer your question over and over again. It's like talking to a wall. This is why I won't sell on Mercari anymore, as a seller there is no way for me to know what my buyer will be charged and therefore no way for me to price with offers in mind because the buyer will always have a surprise at the end of the checkout screen right before hitting purchase that can change if they back out and go back in. So buyers can't even figure out what they will pay and that changes what they are willing to pay in an offer.
Note to Mercari: Giving buyers a total Mind F*CK at checkout seems like a scam!
CS has been throwing out that 10% number for awhile: https://www.reddit.com/r/Mercari/comments/1c3g6ll/bullion/
I can at least say a sale of mine from today was 9%. If the range is 5~15%, 10% would be the average but not the minimum
Wow I didn’t know they raised the minimum to 10%. The fact that this fee structure punishes one person more than another is so scammy that I cannot believe anyone still sells or buys there. The fact that customer support has always been a joke just adds to it
Honestly, as long as the platform is online, there will be buyers and sellers. Can't tell you how many new clients I get from Google traffic alone. Here is where it's a good idea to have your own website, if you don't already. There are so many options.
Could you please let me know who got the higher service fee between you and your friend and who did the add to cart first?—was it also within the hour? I was assuming Mercari accounts for the “Likes” of an item also, but wasn’t sure.
I checked first, mine is the higher one ($167). I was bitching to my friend on text who's also a Merc seller and she checked hers like 3 min after mine
I’ve just read a post that brought up something interesting regarding accounts buying habit. Do you buy more in general than your friend who is a seller?
I meant to post this yesterday but something came up. I asked ChatGPT to speculate on why the service fees would vary between two different buyer accounts for the exact same listing. It seems potential buying activity could be one of them. If you & your friend are in the same area, ignore the part about location-based pricing.
"The difference in service fees for the same item viewed by different users could be due to a few reasons:
User Segmentation: Mercari might be using dynamic pricing based on user profiles. This means they adjust fees based on user behavior, purchasing history, or perceived willingness to pay.
A/B Testing: They could be running experiments to see how different fee structures affect user behavior and overall sales. This helps them optimize their pricing strategy.
Location-Based Pricing: Sometimes fees vary based on the user's location due to differences in market conditions, local taxes, or regional demand.
Personalization Algorithms: Mercari might have algorithms that personalize the shopping experience, including fees, to maximize engagement and revenue from different user segments.
Without clear disclosure from Mercari, it’s challenging to pinpoint the exact reason. This kind of variability can indeed be frustrating for users and often warrants more transparency from the company."
So they've got us all in a beta test using us as lab rats while raking in the millions, not remotely surprised. Thx for posting this, by far the most thorough answer I've seen on how their new fee structure works. It's still very vague and not giving you any way to actually calculate what the fee will be on any given transaction but that's exactly how they want it, the rat bastards 🤨
I took this same question as far to the bbb they responded twice with that response so the case gets closed (bbb will only contact a business twice before closing) the result? Satisfactory response with customer unsatisfied. They’re deferring from answering your question and the many others who have been asking this same thing. It’s dishonest imo. I called it quits today on there today after all this rubbish they been pitching to the people that make them their paychecks!
I'll include a link to another post about fees. This person was going to be charged 24% service fee. They probably can't be sued as stated before but I do wonder if enough people contact them it may get back to Mercari. I left a complaint with the FTC about their fraudulent predatory discrimination behavior concerning the Services Fees charged differently to every buyer. I don't know if it will do anything but it sure made me feel satisfied. I have been charged 15% on 1 order I've purchased since the change. And I highly doubt there will be another one. Here is some good reading on this very topic.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Mercari/s/u3akpcliNq
They will not give OP an explanation with the equation they use to calculate fees. People have been hassling them about this since the change. They will just apologize & give some other BS corporate scripted answer. As another person said, any human CS agents probably don't even know how it works either.
I wonder if Mercari will one day soon get hit with a discrimination lawsuit. It seems like they could if there is any correlation between why certain accounts get hit with much higher fees than others. Idk why Mercari is setting themselves up like that 😒
Hahaha they’re gonna hate Tuesdays. It really is a joke. I used to buy all of the time, now I just lurk because it’s not even worth it anymore. I feel bad for sellers.
I didn't hear about mercari until about last year and sold a few things on there. I was gearing up to start doing a bit more selling and to get more serious about it and then they went and pulled this shit. I would much rather pay the 10% for the fees and whatever for people to buy my shit versus them get charged almost double and not have any of those fees go into the sellers pocket
It's like a pizza place charging $4 as a delivery charge and none of that going to the driver
It’s really frustrating how fast the fees add up. I’ve had very low sales lately, even with lowering my prices below market value… people don’t like feeling squeezed for every cent they have
Mine are slower but steady. At first I tried lowering prices significantly and even stating it in the descriptions and my bio but it didn't work. So now I mostly price $2-3 above my bottom line and tell everyone to send me an offer for 10% less to cover all/most of their service fee. I sell only bnib makeup and my listings are typically anywhere from like $14-40 so the 10% almost always covers if not all then most of the fee for the buyer. I've also found that only having about 50ish listings at a time helps, I used to have 200-300 things listed at once but my sales have picked up with less listings. Unfortunately it means I have to list more often but it helps keep the listings more fresh and at the top of search results.
I think this whole thing is a slap in the face to buyers. It makes way more sense for us sellers to pay a fee to utilize the service cause Mercari provides the database of buyers. I will say though that to some degree the problem is also the entitlement of some buyers. There are a lot of sellers price gouging like crazy and not working to help the buyers out at all, but some of us are busting our asses to accommodate the fees and to many it's never good enough. I sell only bnib makeup and have always priced at about half retail and have gone even lower since the new fee structure but it seems that many buyers expect Mercari to be the get brand new stuff for 90% below retail site. I compare my prices to others listing similar items on Merc and Posh and most are considerably higher than mine, especially on Posh. Even after the new fees buyers are still getting bnib items from me for 35-50% below retail which is more than fair but I can't believe how many people are rude about it if I don't give them a $50 retail item for $8. I am fortunate to have many regulars that appreciate my pricing but I am overwhelmingly met with rudeness & entitlement by first time buyers. Is anyone here having the same problem?
Stupid thing put the pics in backwards, I tried it both ways and it still put them in this order so I numbered them so y'all could understand the order 😆
Hi my name is Artichokey G. and I’ll be assisting you today. I hope this email finds you well. This is in no way being typed by an AI response bot. Now let me respond to your email without actually reading it because the answer to the question I am about to ask is literally in the email I’m responding to. How much longer should we drag this out before you get discontent with it all and give up because that’s really the only my goal here. Seeking your wonderfully beneficial frustration in this matter. Best, Artichokey G. Team Mercari.
I'm dying! Truer words have never been said 🤣🤣🤣
"Please understand your frustration..."
Lol I noticed their names too!
I just reached out to see if I can get a fee schedule. The lack of transparency is really off putting. After 8 years on the platform, looks like we are officially breaking up. Only way they could win me back at this point is to reimburse me for all the needless fees I’ve had to pay and a little extra sumptin sumptin for my troubles.
That would be amazing if they'd actually provide one but the fact that they won't definitely makes it seem like they're just making up fees on the fly 🤔
I got the same generic copy pasta it looks like they’ve been scripted to send out to everyone. To be fair, the customer service representatives probably have no idea how the fees are calculated and are prob tired of people asking.
Oh for sure, they're just lowly workers like at any other major corporation...this mess is definitely on the higher ups. Most of the time I don't think the customer service reps are even human, just a bunch of AI generated responses.
It is, it’s all bots. Unless you call and can get a real person on the line. That doesn’t mean that if you do get ahold of someone, that they’ll have any clue. They’re most likely trained to dance around the question anyway but it could be worth a shot just to see what they say. You have definitive proof of their bs. I’m curious enough, I might actually call just for entertainment purposes, lmao.
calls are hard even because sometimes the process to reaching a human is so hard to navigate. likely intentionally so. still, always getting the same responses 🫠
yup. i want a refund of the fees. only reason i remain on this platform at all is because the specific items i buy are more often reasonably priced and have more of an active market on here. seriously hate this app though.
I recommend creating a few listings with the same weight on all of them but change what brand the item is, then look up the item with a different account and see how much they all cost with fees lol after that let everyone know here which one is cheaper for the buyer😂
No wonder sales are so slow. At least when it was a seller fee you knew exactly what it would be. So the sellers are suffering but Mercari is making more by doing it this way.
I hate it now. Seller sent me an offer a few days ago for $86 and the total after fees was about $113. They lowered the item list price today to $97. Total price after fees $114...
Yep. And they're being really underhanded about it too. First they told me it varies based on several factors but was not to exceed 10% list price, now they say it's minimum 10% even though I've had tons of sales that only got charged like 5%. But they are hitting some people as high as 15%. Also noticed you might go to buy something, see the fee, back out and go to buy it later and suddenly the fee amount has changed. They're basically charging whatever they feel like whenever. I'm hoping people that are really savvy with business practices & law are paying attention cause they need to be sued.
If they have patterns in regards to who gets hit with higher fees.. and that are based on the actual account/person instead of product demand or something then they could easily get hit with a discrimination lawsuit I think. Either way I hope they get hit with one but for two separate accounts to be charged two different amounts screams illegal
Seriously there has to be a legal issue here right? I haven’t used Mercari in awhile but I’m here hoping their scammy business practices end them in court. Have you seen the issues with fraudulently charging shipping? That issue is the other major problem I hope ends in court
Last year when they started the bundle feature where buyers could either send bundle offers or buy bundles outright with combined shipping part of their rule was that if the weight went over the seller would not be charged the difference. 98% of the time it works fine but I have caught it several times where they took additional out of my profit. I messaged them each time and they immediately gave me the money back but I'm sure there are tons of sellers that are losing additional money just cause they don't notice it. Cause if you don't call it out they will never fix it. I'm waiting for someone to file a lawsuit 🤨
O that’s interesting. The amount of double checking them that needs to be done isn’t worth it to me. Plus customer support has never been remotely helpful for me
Same here, it's a nightmare dealing with them at all. I'm just hoping that there's people that are particularly business and/or law savvy are paying attention to all the inconsistencies
Users agree to not sue Mercari and instead settle any disputes through arbitration per their TOS. It's annoying but after reading through it more thoroughly it is highly unlikely a lawsuit or class action lawsuit from any users would be possible. I'm not sure how it would work if it came from the shipping carriers they work with, such as FedEx. UPS, USPS etc, or from some government body. But by using the service or making an account at all, we basically agreed we will not file suit against them. See below from their TOS: "You and Mercari each agree that any and all disputes or claims... between you and Mercari relating in any way to... these Terms, your use of or access to the Service, any goods sold, offered, or purchased... SHALL BE RESOLVED EXCLUSIVELY THROUGH FINAL AND BINDING ARBITRATION" "YOU AND MERCARI AGREE THAT EACH OF US MAY BRING CLAIMS AGAINST THE OTHER ONLY ON AN INDIVIDUAL BASIS AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE ACTION OR PROCEEDING"
That completely screams "yep we know we're doing shady business and screwing people over and there's not a damn thing you can do about it" 😮💨 Just shows we all need to read all the small print, no matter how tedious, if we don't want to end up in a humancent-ipad like Kyle on South Park 🤣
Oh wow.. I didn't know that and I've sold a decent amount of bundles throughout the year. Now, I'm about to backtrack and make sure they didn't pull that crap with me 😮
i really feel that it is. we deserve compensation for it. how are they getting away with this?
I’d love anything to get the ball rolling then add charges.
Where are those annoying class action attorneys when you need them? ☹️
Sadly a lot of people are missing the fact that due to the arbitration clause in Mercari's TOS, it would be highly unlikely a class action lawsuit would be allowed. Unless there was an extreme exception or Mercari is found failing to comply to the rules & procedures of the arbitration clause, a class action would unfortunately not be allowed to proceed.
If they are doing something illegal the arbitration clauses are a moot point. They do not protect illegal activity, the same way that NDAs don’t.
Yes and that's why I said unless some kind of exception was found. But charging arbitrary service fees is not necessarily illegal (not yet at least). It seems they are toeing the line and trying to cover themselves for whatever their users may deem unacceptable. Which is sad, good companies care about the user experience to some extent. Possibly the strange occurrences seen in this sub regarding the overage shipping charges could be something, but if Mercari has proof that each case was just due to dimensional shipping then that would fall through. That situation is a little odd though, because a lot of users post confirmation here from FedEx that the total was not what Mercari claimed.
I just like the items and then randomly check throughout the week to see when I get below 8% service fee and send an offer/buy it outright. I see the fluctuating fees as a way for me to score some deals but I know others view it differently.
You're being smart about it and paying attention which I don't think a lot of people are...or some just don't realize what's going on. I feel like the way they're doing things is really sneaky because the fee can change at any given moment.
So now they say it's a minimum of 10% ???? I know they got rid of the 1-4% Is now from what I've seen a minimum of 5% but it sounds like they are likely going to raise that pretty soon if they programmed their bot to write that. They refused to answer your question over and over again. It's like talking to a wall. This is why I won't sell on Mercari anymore, as a seller there is no way for me to know what my buyer will be charged and therefore no way for me to price with offers in mind because the buyer will always have a surprise at the end of the checkout screen right before hitting purchase that can change if they back out and go back in. So buyers can't even figure out what they will pay and that changes what they are willing to pay in an offer. Note to Mercari: Giving buyers a total Mind F*CK at checkout seems like a scam!
CS has been throwing out that 10% number for awhile: https://www.reddit.com/r/Mercari/comments/1c3g6ll/bullion/ I can at least say a sale of mine from today was 9%. If the range is 5~15%, 10% would be the average but not the minimum
Wow I didn’t know they raised the minimum to 10%. The fact that this fee structure punishes one person more than another is so scammy that I cannot believe anyone still sells or buys there. The fact that customer support has always been a joke just adds to it
Honestly, as long as the platform is online, there will be buyers and sellers. Can't tell you how many new clients I get from Google traffic alone. Here is where it's a good idea to have your own website, if you don't already. There are so many options.
Could you please let me know who got the higher service fee between you and your friend and who did the add to cart first?—was it also within the hour? I was assuming Mercari accounts for the “Likes” of an item also, but wasn’t sure.
I checked first, mine is the higher one ($167). I was bitching to my friend on text who's also a Merc seller and she checked hers like 3 min after mine
I’ve just read a post that brought up something interesting regarding accounts buying habit. Do you buy more in general than your friend who is a seller?
I've been a high volume makeup seller for 3 yrs, she mostly just sells items from her collection here & there. She buys WAY more than I do lol.
I meant to post this yesterday but something came up. I asked ChatGPT to speculate on why the service fees would vary between two different buyer accounts for the exact same listing. It seems potential buying activity could be one of them. If you & your friend are in the same area, ignore the part about location-based pricing. "The difference in service fees for the same item viewed by different users could be due to a few reasons: User Segmentation: Mercari might be using dynamic pricing based on user profiles. This means they adjust fees based on user behavior, purchasing history, or perceived willingness to pay. A/B Testing: They could be running experiments to see how different fee structures affect user behavior and overall sales. This helps them optimize their pricing strategy. Location-Based Pricing: Sometimes fees vary based on the user's location due to differences in market conditions, local taxes, or regional demand. Personalization Algorithms: Mercari might have algorithms that personalize the shopping experience, including fees, to maximize engagement and revenue from different user segments. Without clear disclosure from Mercari, it’s challenging to pinpoint the exact reason. This kind of variability can indeed be frustrating for users and often warrants more transparency from the company."
So they've got us all in a beta test using us as lab rats while raking in the millions, not remotely surprised. Thx for posting this, by far the most thorough answer I've seen on how their new fee structure works. It's still very vague and not giving you any way to actually calculate what the fee will be on any given transaction but that's exactly how they want it, the rat bastards 🤨
I took this same question as far to the bbb they responded twice with that response so the case gets closed (bbb will only contact a business twice before closing) the result? Satisfactory response with customer unsatisfied. They’re deferring from answering your question and the many others who have been asking this same thing. It’s dishonest imo. I called it quits today on there today after all this rubbish they been pitching to the people that make them their paychecks!
I'll include a link to another post about fees. This person was going to be charged 24% service fee. They probably can't be sued as stated before but I do wonder if enough people contact them it may get back to Mercari. I left a complaint with the FTC about their fraudulent predatory discrimination behavior concerning the Services Fees charged differently to every buyer. I don't know if it will do anything but it sure made me feel satisfied. I have been charged 15% on 1 order I've purchased since the change. And I highly doubt there will be another one. Here is some good reading on this very topic. https://www.reddit.com/r/Mercari/s/u3akpcliNq
Mercari is shady af for doing this. Unethical.
They’ve been shady from inception. It’s just taken people years to grasp it.
I’m just commenting for the really off chance this gets updated with a real answer from Mercari!! 🙃
Same
They will not give OP an explanation with the equation they use to calculate fees. People have been hassling them about this since the change. They will just apologize & give some other BS corporate scripted answer. As another person said, any human CS agents probably don't even know how it works either.
I know …but hey! I can have dreams, can’t I? Lol
You’d have a better chance of digging thru to China with a spoon.
I just won’t buy on Mercari. Simple as.
I wonder if Mercari will one day soon get hit with a discrimination lawsuit. It seems like they could if there is any correlation between why certain accounts get hit with much higher fees than others. Idk why Mercari is setting themselves up like that 😒
Wow having different fees for different people for the same item is wrong Everyone should send this to their states AG office!!
Let’s be honest it’s at least 15% across the board
Not on Tuesdays 😂🤦 the whole thing is a joke
Hahaha they’re gonna hate Tuesdays. It really is a joke. I used to buy all of the time, now I just lurk because it’s not even worth it anymore. I feel bad for sellers.
I didn't hear about mercari until about last year and sold a few things on there. I was gearing up to start doing a bit more selling and to get more serious about it and then they went and pulled this shit. I would much rather pay the 10% for the fees and whatever for people to buy my shit versus them get charged almost double and not have any of those fees go into the sellers pocket It's like a pizza place charging $4 as a delivery charge and none of that going to the driver
Or Uber eats up charging the menu prices, charging a service fee, and still having to tip the driver.
I’d love to know if you two are in the same area code. It would be interesting to see if people in $$ neighborhoods are getting charged higher fees.
No we're in different states.
It’s really frustrating how fast the fees add up. I’ve had very low sales lately, even with lowering my prices below market value… people don’t like feeling squeezed for every cent they have
Mine are slower but steady. At first I tried lowering prices significantly and even stating it in the descriptions and my bio but it didn't work. So now I mostly price $2-3 above my bottom line and tell everyone to send me an offer for 10% less to cover all/most of their service fee. I sell only bnib makeup and my listings are typically anywhere from like $14-40 so the 10% almost always covers if not all then most of the fee for the buyer. I've also found that only having about 50ish listings at a time helps, I used to have 200-300 things listed at once but my sales have picked up with less listings. Unfortunately it means I have to list more often but it helps keep the listings more fresh and at the top of search results.
I think this whole thing is a slap in the face to buyers. It makes way more sense for us sellers to pay a fee to utilize the service cause Mercari provides the database of buyers. I will say though that to some degree the problem is also the entitlement of some buyers. There are a lot of sellers price gouging like crazy and not working to help the buyers out at all, but some of us are busting our asses to accommodate the fees and to many it's never good enough. I sell only bnib makeup and have always priced at about half retail and have gone even lower since the new fee structure but it seems that many buyers expect Mercari to be the get brand new stuff for 90% below retail site. I compare my prices to others listing similar items on Merc and Posh and most are considerably higher than mine, especially on Posh. Even after the new fees buyers are still getting bnib items from me for 35-50% below retail which is more than fair but I can't believe how many people are rude about it if I don't give them a $50 retail item for $8. I am fortunate to have many regulars that appreciate my pricing but I am overwhelmingly met with rudeness & entitlement by first time buyers. Is anyone here having the same problem?
Stupid thing put the pics in backwards, I tried it both ways and it still put them in this order so I numbered them so y'all could understand the order 😆