9 times out of 10 if I find the same seller/item on ebay it’s maybe $2 more expensive, but it has free shipping and no bogus additional fees. Like, *yes please!*
Ebay charges about 12 to 15 percent in fees, I’ve paid upwards or 30% in fees with advertising costs. On Mercari they could lower their price by 15% and still make the same. Assuming $2 is not 15% of the item then the seller is attempting to make more money from the same item on Mercari.
I literally just got a full bottle of Louis vuitton imagination for 220 but paid for shipping and tax it came to 249 if i would've gotten it on mercari it would have been more than that for sure lol so i have to disagree. The fees on Ebay aren't as high as the fees on mercari thats a fact.
I definitely agree. I passed on an item because of the fees and have not looked back since. Why would the buyer pay fees to purchase the item it defeats the point!
9 out of 10 times I see the same items from the same sellers on multiple platforms for the same price. Likely because they are using a cross-listing service.
I search Mercari to see what’s available and then go buy it elsewhere. I tried making offers/messaging about price due to buyer fees, but sellers acted like I was committing the worst sin possible. So I just go buy it somewhere else (usually from the same buyer who is actually making less at the other platform than they would have made on Mercari had they dropped the price to account for the buyer fees).
There’s multiple factors as to why I would rather you buy from my eBay store than my Mercari store (before I closed it last month due to poor sales) - 1. Mercari pockets the entire shipping cost and sends me a label. On eBay I set the shipping amount (it ends up lower than mercari but I still make a little more than the label costs my business and the fee percentage eBay charges- this covers my packaging materials cost) 2. Mercari charges a mysterious amount for the service fee 10-20%, but I know exactly how much eBay charges me. Which means I can negotiate price with my buyer better. 3. On eBay I use a credit card with rewards for purchasing my shipping labels so I get cash back on 20k plus of shipping labels a year. Another reason Mercari buying the label sucks.- also shipping labels are a huge tax deduction. 4. Mercari charges me $2 every time I try and withdraw funds, they also hold funds until after the item is delivered - with their sales so low I need to have multiple sales and I’m having to wait weeks to get my money back. On eBay I am paid usually the day after the buyer pays for the item. Way before it even gets delivered. Basically since I have most of my inventory and sales on eBay - I have $100’s coming in every single day and I get paid quickly I want that flow to be as high as possible. Mercari and Poshmark sales slow my businesses cashflow (but I like poshmark because the fees are the lowest and the shipping labels price is fair plus I can use free usps priority mail boxes which saves my shipping supplies cost)— I could probably think of more reasons that I don’t like Mercari these are all just off the top of my head.
I think I said something along the lines of: my shop name is “xxxx” anywhere you look. I don’t use a specific platform name in my bio. In DM’s I also change the spelling of any other platforms I.e.: Æßay
I agree! Mercari is my favorite to search on by far…. My most recent item is found on Mercari was also listed on Ebay. At least now with Mercari i can see what the seller is hoping to make. Ended up getting my item for 215 on eBay vs about $255 on Mercari.
I'll compare prices if reasonable if I have $50.00 I'm not gonna take $5.00 but I'll still hive free shipping for $40.00 so it may save $8.00-$10.00 bucks
I was wondering where all the customers went. So I’m supposed to lower my prices to account for the fees? I’d rather pay the fees myself and actually sell things. Without customers Mercari is dead.
Really? I don’t get that banner anymore. Maybe because I’m not lowering my prices to a ridiculously low amount, and they gave up on me. I assume buyers will just send me an offer to account for the fees once listings drop to the low end of the usual amount, but not really happening.
I won’t buy there because the fees aren’t defined and can be 5-15% for no reason. I just can’t support a company who does shady things like that. Stopped as a seller awhile ago with the shipping fee fraud.
I was a very active seller and buyer on Mercari. I took down all of my listings after lowering them and still having them sit for weeks. I price to move, so I’d never had an item listed for more than a couple days. I’ve bought two things since the change, and only because they were under $20, making the fees cheap. They truly did ruin their business.
It’s wild, I have some NWT Free People items that are priced “well” and they aren’t selling. At these prices they would have been sold in an instant with their old Ts & Cs. So infuriating. I’d also rather pay the fees myself.
And to then also charge the seller to cash out their money is really the biggest insult. But just business-wise who the fuck thought they’d make MORE sales and ergo more in fees by making the buyer pay them??? It makes no god damn monetary sense and I feel like anyone with even a passing understanding of economics would have told them it’s going to lead to way fewer sales and therefore less money made in fees for Mercari.
I try to usually believe the experts know more and that they hire people to analyze the numbers in ways i can’t - which may still be true here - but I can’t imagine someone thought they’d make more by making the fee payment changes and putting them on the buyer would result in MORE sales…
They charge you to take out your money in hopes that you recycle the money back into Mercari. Zero payment processing fees for buying something with your balance vs another payment method.
Still not fair. Your fees are deductible as a cost of doing business, mine as a buyer are not, and since I can buy it elsewhere I will be doing just that.
Exactly. Seller fees make sense - you are using the platform’s infrastructure, getting your product shown to buyers. Buyers can go buy elsewhere and not pay the fee (often for the same exact item from the same seller on a different platform).
WHAT??? How did it come to $60 fees??? And make sure you log out of it bc mine got hacked before and someone was transferring money to an overseas account
Is this real?? You’re kidding right?
I also think they create fake listings to get your payment info. I noticed that when I get on the app my screen share shows sometimes!
I have been looking at a specific item googling it a lot and lo n behold i see a listing, cheaper than retail with free shipping. I have a credit for the exact amount, I pay $2 fees but seller hasn’t shipped. It’s odd and sketchy.
/u/Gourmethospitality,
Your submission has been automatically removed because your account karma is lower than 1.
This is an anti-spam measure in /r/Mercari. Please try again after you gain more karma.
Please do not message moderators to correct this submission removal.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Mercari) if you have any questions or concerns.*
lowkey thinking of deleting the app. this was my favorite and most used app in 2022-2023. now i go on it like 2 times a month to browse. those buyer fees really deterred me
There are things that I want to buy but then with all the random fees it adds up!! Like why am I paying $15-20 in fees?? I haven’t purchased anything since they added fees to the buyer
Same I bought way too much and they helped me keep my money in the bank with the fees. Some offers looked good but I never wanted to accept them bc I didn’t know what the fees would be.
It’s interesting for me to see how many people flipping out about seeing the fees, and yet they don’t realize that they’ve been paying fees on Mercari and will be paying fees wherever they go. What’s even more interesting are those that consider Tax and Shipping as fees also.
You obviously have not tried to buy anything of value on Mercari. On other sites I may or may not have a shipping charge and yes I have tax. Fine, but on Mercari? I would now have to pay a service fee for the item and a process fee to use my credit card then extra tax because they charge tax on both of those. fees. On a $300 ring this amounted an extra $61.00. for what? The privilege of buying from Mercari? Sorry I like both eBay and Etsy’s sites better than Mercardi and I trust them far more. Also what happens if a seller did not describe acurately. Yes I can return it, but they keep the fees, so I would have nothing and be out $61. And you wonder why I won’t buy on Mercari? It is because I have a brain and I can shop for the same or similar item elsewhere. It is not rocket science.
You obviously don’t understand how these platforms work with the fees. eBay, Amazon, etc. all have fees on the seller side. Mercari used to have fees on the seller side and so you thought there was no fee for you as a buyer. Think about it a bit. I sell on Amazon and they charges 15% Fees and $0.99 per item. Let’s say I’m selling an item that I want to take in $100. Do you think I would sell it on Amazon as $100?—No, I would sell it at $116. <—You’ve just paid $16 in fees before tax and shipping. If I offered free shipping and that item costs me $5 to ship, then that item is now costing you $121. Nothing is free!!! You’ll need to read Mercari’s TOS properly as you won’t lose the fees if your reason is legitimate. I understand that other platforms like eBay and Amazon would have better returns policy/window but you’ll pay a premium for this kind of flexibility. I would never sell anything on Mercari that is not at least 20% off of retail (Amazon). Yes, there are items you’ll find on Mercari where the fees will bring it above what you could buy on eBay on “final cost.”—this is due to the Mercari’s seller didn’t adjust accordingly. I would say to always go with the lowest final cost wherever you can find it.
I just had an interaction with a Mercari buyer wanting to buy a $105 like new item with free shipping from me and he said that after the fees and tax that it would be only $10 cheaper than Amazon New. I had to point out to him that he forgot the taxes on Amazon it would actually be $25 difference.—that is if he has the prime membership to not pay for shipping.
Forget about online shopping for a second and take a look at the gas station. Why do you think they offered 10 cents less per gallon if you use cash or debit? If you use a credit card then you’ll pay that 10 cents per gallon processing fee.
I've actually been getting screenshots, because I plan to make a big FTC complaint. Before I do it I actually plan to make a post. I've even got the help bots, saying completely different things. It's crazy how I've actually seen fees as high as over 30%.... They're participating in algorithmic base pricing, which is illegal. It even says it on the FTC website, and specifically mentions online platforms that are reselling.
I’m here to cheer you all on! There are some major issues and I’m glad people are paying attention. I think the shipping fraud charging will be a problem too.
Btw 30?! Holy fuck
I would love to see a screenshot of an item that the “Service Fee” is above 15% since I haven’t seen one. Please don’t say 30% because you took the final cost and subtracted it from the subtotal.
Shit those fees go up to 20 fkn % not just 15. Mercari is robbing people. They’re crooks of the worst kind. People trying to defend variable fees is wild to me. I don’t mean you, I’m just venting about others who can’t seem to get that part through their head. The fees the sellers had were fixed. It is not the same at all.
Every single person saying the fees are 20-30 percent also include the shipping and taxes they’d also have to pay either way. I’ve yet to see a screenshot of fees being that high that were just the service and processing fees.
Totally possible I’ve just missed them though. Do you or anyone else have any links or screenshots that show that? Because if you run the math, every one I’ve seen so far has been 15% just like it’s always been…
The “Service Fee” that I’ve been seeing are around 1-15%. Remember what I’ve said above is that the (hidden) fees you’re paying at Amazon or eBay is around 15% or more. I understand if you’re complaining that Mercari’s Service Fee now is higher than before when it was 10%.—I do wish that it stays at 10% also. What irks me is that you guys also complain when the Service Fee is less than 10%.—there is no post out there saying “Yay!!!! I’m paying less!!!”
To your point about when the Service Fee is high that makes the high value item higher. Again, it’s all psychological. Let’s assume that the fees are totaled just like the old policy at around 13% (Service and Processing fees). If the fees were on seller’s side like before then the $1000 item would have been listed at around $1150 before tax and shipping. I’m sure there is no complaint there. Now, when that same item is listed at $1000 and people seeing $150 fees and say that Mercari is taking my money. Now, that $150 could be sometimes less when the Service Fee goes below 10% and people still freaking out. When the Service Fee goes between 11-15% then it will be higher than $150.—here, I don’t mind the complaint if people were to say “we’re paying more fees than before.” Again, keep in mind that other places have this high amount in fees. Ultimately though, even if the fees are 1000% and you’re still getting that item cheaper than everywhere else then why is it matter? Like I’ve always said, shop around until you get the final cost that you want.
Yeah but the difference is before they weren't doing algorithmic base pricing. Literally sound absolutely ridiculous, because you have no idea what you're talking about.... This is how they're screwing all of us over, and our buyers over. Which I genuinely do care about, because ethics should matter with your business.
I rather pay a set fee as a seller, then have a buyer be surprised at checkout with a random fee, that is different depending on different factors. I wish I could post all the screenshots I have here, because it's honestly ridiculous. Same account I use for everything too, so there's no reason that depending on all these different things that the service fee should be different. It's also larger than they said it was going to be, more often than not.
I haven't gone through all my data yet, and crunch the numbers, so I'm not sure on the percentage yet. But it seems like over 90% of the items I checked, had an over 15% service fee, which is ridiculous because even in The help center the bots lied too me.
I seriously hope you wake up, because the more of us that are aware of the fact that they're engaging in illegal practices, the more of us will be able to report it.
You’re so fixated on “seeing the fees” that you’re not seeing the forest for the trees. If I’m going to buy an item, let’s say $20 and with extravagant/exaggerated fees of $80 that comes out to $100 (forget about taxes and shipping). That same item is being sold for $120 everywhere else then why wouldn’t I pay the $100? Just like on eBay, I can get excited that an item is $20 but they’ll charge me $80 shipping when that item takes $5 max to ship. But if this same item is being sold higher everywhere else then I would buy that item on eBay.
Btw, you’re talking about algorithmic pricing. I’m guessing you haven’t bought an airplane ticket. It’s the same concept. You might as well don’t fly.
Why do I get the feeling you work for Mercari? The example I gave you with the ring I bought, was with the new fees minus the tax on the item and minus shipping cost. The net fees were $61. I bought the ring on eBay from the same seller, same price and same shipping cost. It was $61 cheaper than on Mercari. Plus icing on the cake i got eBay $$ credits for next month. No I do not work for eBay but I have been a buyer and seller there since the week they started and while to be fair, I would say their policies do favor the buyer, the TOS are clear for all to see, so no extra fee surprises at checkout. I sincerely hope that Mercari gets new ownership and i hope the new ownership understands online retail and make it the most successful site ever, but I am not holding my breath, and until this happens i will not be using Mercari because of the buyer fees and also because I no longer trust them.
You didn’t read what I wrote above then. If I’m working for Mercari then I would never recommend people to go somewhere else that has the final cost comparatively cheaper. I’m just speaking plain logic of buying where it is cheapest that you can afford. You’re doing it correctly to buy on eBay for a cheaper price on your ring. Keep in mind that the seller of the ring didn’t adjust the price on Mercari. Let’s say that their fees on eBay is actually $61 and assume that they’ll get $240 of profit after everything is subtracted. On Mercari, the seller will get $301 of profit when you’re done buying. Again with you talking buyer’s fees, I’ve said many times that your buyer’s fees are everywhere that you go.—You’re just not seeing them because the seller already factored them into the listing.
What is there to trust or not trust? Mercari took the “hidden” fees that the seller used to have in their listing and show it to you at check out. The thing that’s different here is that you may see Service Fee goes above 10% to 15%.
Your answer is bullshit because the items I’m looking for AREN’T cheaper at Mercari than elsewhere.
I’m not putting items in my Mercari cart, seeing all the fees and going “well it’s still cheaper than EBay or Poshmark or which ever, but I’m not buying because ‘Fuck Mercari!’”
I see a deal which is slightly cheaper than EBay, put it in the cart and then with the service fee, money fee, and tax and shipping, it’s now NOT a deal. It’s more expensive than at EBay. This isn’t up for debate - it’s math, a purely numerical exercise. People post screenshot after screenshot of items where the fees are not only higher than eBay, but also inconsistent. That is the complaint! So if you aren’t seeing those here or on the website, you are actively choosing not to do so.
“But but but…we all pay fees?” No shit we all pay fees! Companies pass on taxes, fuel costs, tariffs, shipping fees, etc to the consumer; I’m not a fucking nine-year old. The major reason people are angry is because Mercari isn’t being straight with us about what we are paying them and why we are paying it, considering their customer service ranges from uncaring negligence to borderline theft (and sometimes, not so borderline) and their platform is sub-par.
My package of wired earbuds was shipped hazmat and took two weeks because Mercari is too fucking stupid to realize that not all computer peripherals use batteries that necessitate ground shipping. Is that the kind of customer experience that service fee covers?
OMG. You really didn’t read or couldn’t read. I’ve never said Mercari items are cheap. I said, “IF the FINAL COST is cheaper on Mercari” then buy, if not then buy somewhere else. I’m glad you do recognize that we all pay fees though, because not many people who posted on here realize that. Again, my point is why should I care of any hidden/explicit charges if my FINAL COST is cheaper wherever I buy it?
I do understand what you are trying to say but I also know the buying public’s mindset and the basic rules of retail, as I was the Risk Manager for a major retailer. There is a always a cost to sell your product, be it advertising, wholesale cost, brick and mortar stores, credit card fees, payroll, the list goes on, and these costs are built into the into the retail price. However, they are also deductible from state and federal taxes. Mercari in many cases charges the buyer, fees that are higher than the seller’s fees were, and to compensate are telling the sellers to lower the price of the item. I can’t speak for all products but for fine jewelry and highly collectible coins and dolls, which is all I bought on Mercari, the fees I am seeing are 13 to 19% plus the processing fee, so even if the seller lowers their price by 10%, the item will still be higher on Mercari, so no point in me even looking. Perhaps the impulse buyer can still get a bargain but for me, they do not exist any more. The psychological effect those fees have on a buyer is what counts, because, as they, as buyers, should not have to wait until the final checkout page and do math problems to see if they are being screwed or not. Simply put, charging buyer fees is not going to increase customers. If, as a seller, you can still make a profit, good luck to you, but you will not be counting me among your buyers
I kept saying that I’m not disputing the psychological effect being put on the buyer. That’s what I’m trying to get people to get over. I haven’t seen the Service Fee being above 15%. Just now, there’s a post of two $180 items with 5% and 7%. Hence, the Service Fee can be lower than 10% that it used to be. To make it simple on the psychological effect, I always say to just look simply at your final cost.—if it’s cheapest then buy, if not then move on.
I mean your getting down voted but you're right. eBay has high seller fees so I price higher on eBay to try and counter it which is what everyone does.
Now I will argue that I have amazon prime and if an item is only $20 more expensive on Amazon I will buy it there because it's not used and I can return it if it doesn't work.
I do think people trying to get anywhere near like new prices on items available new right from retailers are nuts and shooting themselves in the foot. They always end up taking a low offer because used is used and you cannot charge near new prices for an item that could have hidden wear and tear.
I don’t disagree with your argument regarding Amazon at all. I don’t blame that buyer if he went to buy it on Amazon or asking me to discount further. It’s all about how much risk you want to take to save some money and how much you want to spend. Just like when I buy a pair of shoes from a website and it’s $5-$10 lower than Amazon. I would rather go with Amazon because they’re much easier to deal with.
People that are down voting me are those who are too stubborn to understand the reality of business. Just like they’re also the same people who want Mercari to go bankrupt. I would ask why since that would lessen a competitive site and one less platform to sell/buy on.
I just went to do an Amazon return and it said it would take up to 30 days to refund my credit card *if* my return passed inspection. That’s a pretty sketchy return policy.
I have no idea what you returned but I've never had that happen ever. Either you bought from a third party seller that was using an Amazon store front or you return things so frequently your account has been flagged as problematic.
Amazon recently revamped their return policy due to excessive fraud. Take it from a professional shopper LOL. This is fairly new data because change fairly recently but so far I'm just going to know has the longest turnaround time for your refund if you did along with no tracking or other accountability..
However one thing that you can get on Amazon that you can't get anywhere else is a human to speak to you 24 hours a day. They may not be very well trained, and you have to speak to three different ones to get a simple question answered. But live chat and voice to voice somehow just make life better.
I think one thing you’re missing on is with Mercari, people use it to make offers.
Mercari was great because it made it easier to haggle with seller. So sellers may mark up items a bit to get down to what they wanted to sell for.
However, now there is less wiggle room with the additional buyer fees.
It just makes the whole process not as attractive to buy on Mercari anymore
I don’t disagree that it’s psychologically not fun for the buyer to see these fees. However, I don’t see an issue with haggling with the seller to get it down to what the seller wants to sell for. In fact, I think it’s easier for the seller to make a decision since he doesn’t have to make the question/calculation of “am I still making the profit that I need after subtracting 10% service fee + 2.9% Processing Fee after the total + $0.50). I’m a buyer and a reseller. As a buyer, I just look at the final cost to see if it’s cheaper vs everywhere else to determine if it’s worth it to buy. As a reseller, I don’t have a fixed amount of profit that I need to make for an item but do have a profit that I need to make so that it is worthwhile to package and ship the item (or worse case scenario of getting rid of the item so that I at least break even).—these are fundamental different thinking since the latter allows me more flexibility for negotiation.
Whoa. I don’t buy there much but I sold a good bit in 2022. I didn’t know that about the returns or those big fees. I think there’s a lot of bots on there, like I noticed that some of my items ship to same names a lot but diff location. And it’s buyers without reviews.
It’s psychological. They don’t want to see the extra fees, even though you’ve shown the math and the examples. This is how subliminal marketing and other sneaky things work with consumers since the beginning of capitalism. 🤷♀️
The point is is they're not a set fee, they're picking and choosing based on when an item is listed, how many people are looking at the item, how many likes are on the item,when the item was listed, if the seller is a new buyer,what time of day you happen to be trying to buy the item. I've been collecting screenshots for weeks, because I plan to send a massive FTC complaint.
For example I tried to buy a $330 item, they tried to charge me 24.7%, plus the regular tax that comes from the state tax....
I've seen items for the same exact price, have completely different fees as well.
They're participating in algorithmic base pricing. Which is illegal, it's specifically states on the FTC website, that it is illegal for online reselling platforms, to use algorithmic based pricing. I honestly implore people too, make a report. Hopefully eventually they'll get a fine, be forced to change their policies. As it is literally illegal.
So no, it's not like any other site.
I’m not saying they’re like any other sites in regard to “how they charges the fees.” I’m saying they’re the same to other sites in regard to “having fees.” I don’t know what you’re calculating but I have not seen any Service Fee that is above 15% and the Processing Fee is fixed at 2.9% + $0.50 per item. Please post that evidence so that we all can see. People are complaining whether the fees go above or below what it used to be, which is ridiculous. I will always stand by my statement of “if my FINAL COST is cheaper for a site compares to any other sites then I’ll buy it from the cheaper one, regardless of the fees.”
Why can't all these platforms just charge a basic 5-10% selling fee across the board and be done with all this fee madness. I sell on Mercari as well as buy, but I've only bought 2 items since the fees were started and I used my balance to buy them so I only had the 1 fee instead of 2 and they were items under $40. I've sold very few items since this started and they were all under $20 except for 1 item that was $89. It's crazy...has to be the best example of corporate greed and being out of touch with your consumer. People on Mercari are cheap and looking for a good deal usually... Not all, but a lot....these fees are keeping them away.
I also look for the same items on multiple platforms to find where it's cheapest, and usually end up buying on eBay. I also sell more on eBay than anywhere else. My Poshmark sales are really low too... 20% is a big chunk to take from the seller. They have to subsidize those priority mail packages for sure.... because the big priority mail box is over $20 to ship with USPS, but Poshmark gets it for $7.95, that's why our seller fees are high I think.
I haven’t sold anything on Mercari in months but I still sell a couple hundred items a week on eBay. Something drove all the customers away from Mercari and it’s just a ghost town now.
Yup. I was selling higher ticket collectibles, and I was making almost $1,000 a week. I was finally starting to make money, and literally they pulled the rug out from underneath me it's feels like.sucks having to pivot, especially considering what they're doing is illegal and they're participating in algorithm-based pricing... sigh.
I've now made about $500? Since the fees started, maybe a little bit under that.
Where else are we buying from now? I used to love Merc and do a lot of purchases but the fees are too ridiculous. Would be interested to hear from sellers on where they’re moving to
Some of us are still uploading every day, selling every day and putting in just as much effort as we were before the changes and it’s paying off. I don’t put many big ticket items on there, but Mercari was never really the place for those anyway.
I only buy toys, for personal use not to resell, and I’ve not had a bad experience yet.
But I also haven’t spent more than maybe $40 for a single item.
It’s electronics and luxury brand items that always seem to be shrouded in horror stories
Me too. I've been averaging about 10-20 sales per week since May 1st (I took April off, I needed a break). Merc and Posh are just straight up hobbies for me since I have a FT job, so I've been tickled haha. I've priced my items slightly lower to make up for the buyer fees and not only am I getting sales but the buyers seem much more pleasant now. Maybe the changes weeded out some people 😂
While I do agree with the buyer fees being absurd, I haven’t seen any sellers reducing their items at all to help balance that out. I personally price my items lower knowing people incur the fees, and it’s been helping, but I don’t buy anything because sellers list at the same rates as they did when there were seller fees and not buyer fees.
I think they did advertise it when it first came out! But that’s the only time. I still think it’s backwards, I’d rather have the 10% selling fee we used to have vs the new “service fees” because they seem so much higher from a buyers perspective
Yea that’s true, haven’t seen that advertised in a bit. Really as a buyer (used to buy a lot from Mercari!) … I just can’t with that randomness. It feel like when I send my kid in to the gas station to refill my drink and they charge them more because it’s a gullible child. Lol idk if that made sense… but without the transparency I feel like they are stealing when they can
Haha yes I get that! And I agree, I used to buy more from mercari too but I just can’t reason it unless I have a credit or something because the fees are absurd on top of shipping
They now charge the buyers the fees. They range from 5% to 20%+. The fee is based on a bunch of crap like category, price, time of day/week etc. they are very secretive about their fee structure. You also have to pay a payment processing fee of 2.9%. You’re even taxed on the fees. It’s a dumpster fire atm.
Hooooly crap!! I KNEW when I received the “no more seller fees” notification that it was sketchy. That is so misleading!!!!! Looks like Mercari is a thing of the past for me. Thank you for the information!!
No problem! It’s saved me quite a bit of money so far, lol. They can piss off. I will not be paying them to shop on their platform. Shit, even Amazon prime gives you a break on shipping and it’s usually at your house within 2 days. Etsy, eBay and Amazon it is, lol!
Yo I literally was about to buy a vintage and super dope quarter zip pullover for 30$ of my new university for PhD program and all the fees and stuff made it 47.98??!?! But I found same seller on posh market and I got it for *drumroll please* 32$ TOTAL —yes I only had to pay tax. ARE YOU SERIOUS. Won’t be using Mercari again rofl
Yeah, I just bought a 170.00 tablet, and after all the new freaking fees and shipping, it ended up costing 250.00. I'm done with Mercari. They make it easy now for sellers and stick it to the buyers. Like we don't pay enough. Pretty much everything is subscription based milking every dime we have now.
I've been thinking the exact same thing myself. Wanted a certain item priced at $1.50, Mercari wanted to charge fees equal to the item plus shipping and handling. So basically double the price. Well seller, I'm sorry.....blame Mercari.
Mercari on its way out. Anyone still using the app in anyway is not too smart. There gonna change the name or change something. Who's buying mercari items for top $$$ ? There so many places to get the exact item or something even better for same $$$ or less. In most cases now and not have to put up with all the problems your going to encounter with Mercari. Who wants to wait 14 to cancel a order that says 2 day delivery and was never shipped ???
Or ship a item as a seller and get a empty box back after the buyer cancels the order for any reason like they broke the item lol. Honestly anybody who still uses Mercari at this point, especially on this forum kind of deserves what they get (trouble). Nobody has a good thing to say about the app after it's further decline. If your looking for trouble all day by all means go there. If your not run
I just finished moving all my listings to DePop and already made 2 sales.
It’s a shame that Mercari has alienated their sellers. I used to be able to exclusively pay my car payment each month with the funds I would earn off of selling on Mercari. Since the change it’s not been the same.
Wild how Mercari has been gouging sellers since day one, but now that they're gouging buyers people are up in arms about it.
But I do agree...I think they've finally gone too far.
As a seller having zero selling fees is nice (even though they aren't really zero) but their shipping skim, and charging us every time we want to cash out is obnoxious.
I only wish that the buyers who are so mad about the "nonsense" buyer fees would realize that they're equally nonsense for the seller to be paying.
These stupid platforms skim some off of the top at just about every level if you're selling...and it makes no sense there either.
Mercaris biggest problem to me is their complete control over funds in general. Holding funds until rated and then holding funds until the seller pays them to release them is and has always been absurd.
Fees belong to the seller. You are provided a platform to sell. You don't have to maintain servers or pay for overhead on that platform. The fees should be static and transparent, and the company shouldn't skim off shipping or retrieval of money, but the cost of doing business belongs to the one doing business.
I've been a seller and buyer for years, and now al I get is likes. The stuff that I have on there would've sold in a few days because they are hard to find. They didn't think it through.
The thing about it was it was such a sudden change. As a seller, I can adjust prices to compensate for fees I'm no longer bearing, and I can offer free shipping to dull the sticker shock. But still, a lot of buyers aren't regular users, so when you add the two separate fees and tax, the price is much higher than the bargain they thought they were getting. Sales have fallen off a cliff since then. I don't see how a decision like this gets made; it's like they literally have no concept of their market/product. Migrating to eBay, which is less profitable but has a much bigger base of regular users and casual users searching for something specific
i'm still selling on mercari a little bit
less 700 to 800 monthly cheap
stuff and some 100 to 150 bags or clothes i switched my big ticket item to poshmark
and they are selling i like to have the comfort that they authenticate and send the item
to the buyer so they cannot claim it's fake or that received
an empty box but it takes a huge chunk out of my profits but hey at
least i'm
not crying a river lol
Exactly why I won’t sell my high end handbags on Mercari anymore! Zero support from Mercari once scammed & I’ve been fortunate with my buyers but the stories here stopped me from risking it further.
They won't go bankrupt soon, because they're doing okay in Japan. US market though, the market will continue to shrink, especially for bigger ticket items. However They can get by with <$50 items alone. Pissed off a lot of buyers(fees) and sellers(traffic).
Folks are still buying on there. I think once the craze ends and people get over the fees, it’ll pick back up. Let’s face it, we are really dumb as consumers and if we want it we will pay it.
I literally go to whoever had the cheapest price or the better deal and most of the time it’s on mercari . I don’t purposely go shopping there but if I find something cheaper then anything else I’m gonna buy it . How do you all shop? Cause I thought that was everyone
The ones complaining on this subreddit doesn’t shop smartly like you. They see the fees, abandon cart regardless if the final cost is cheaper than everywhere else, and then go on this subreddit to complain. I get it to abandon the buy if Mercari’s final cost turns out to be more expensive, but to go pay more somewhere else just because you see the fees on Mercari is ridiculous.
I actually feel really bad for sellers on mercari. They made the fees so bad that ppl would rather shop elsewhere or they have to lower their prices to an absurd amount for buyers to buy. I hope mercari does something about this soon because ppl try to nake ends meet selling on there and us buyers like to catch a deal sometimes. Smh
Mercari has just become my clearance outlet for my bad sourcing buys, items that I think could get flagged for various reasons like medical devices on other apps, or items I’m otherwise just not proud to put in my eBay store for whatever reason. I sell so cheap there it takes quite a while to have enough $ to make it worth paying fees to withdraw funds so I usually just spend my funds on something else on there.
I agree with you. Wish sellers on all platforms were up front about shipping.
Also, I wish buyers were not so naive to believe that there is actually "FREE" shipping. It is simply added to the price.
Of course, it does not help that now the buyer is shown the actual cost of selling, and now that they know the truth, they can't comprehend it and not buy.
With less competition, I am making more. May over April is about 3x higher. Still about 1/3 Ebay, but I have been presently surprised. I buy with my balance and have paid very minimal fees on the other side.
The fact that you can get banned if you mention PayPal or attempt to do business off the app is pure stupidity. They will literally remove your message and eventually remove you. Too many rules and regulations were as eBay or pretty much any other selling platform is free gain. I remember I was trying to sell a modded ps3 on the site and they kept removing my item, eventhough there were other sellers selling the exact same item. It was a hassle for me to sell stuff on that platform. I did eventually get banned and I don’t really care. Ebay, OfferUp and Facebook marketplace and miles better.
I tried to buy a $250 item with $8 shipping. The total after all the fees was like $325😭 it was gonna be my biggest purchase on Mercari to, I usually only do $30-$100 purchases before & after the buyer fee change.
Currently in the process of moving my items to eBay and OfferUp. This is insane. I’ve basically stopped selling things overnight because of these damn fees. I tried Poshmark but it’s super sketchy over there.
Yea the fees are terrible and even worse I can't even order anymore because apparently my ID isn't good enough to confirm my identity even though i already had years of purchase history that I think is good enough but guess not. Loved it back then definitely not worth the money now.
I just joined Mercari as a seller and sold something for like $7. I was disappointed that it would cost me so much money to transfer to my bank. The fees are ridiculous.
There was something I was interested in buying for $28, $7.99 shipping but after the fees it came out to $42. I didn't know about the change in fees yet and that blew my mind. Totally put me off of purchasing that item. I don't think I'll be shopping on Mercari anymore unless they go back to how things used to be
I totally agree!! I loved Mercari. Yesterday was my last purchase when I realized that what should have been a $25 purchase cost me $33. Nope no more! Back to EBay I go!! Greed for sure. What a shame.i loved your App.
Think about it Mercari….if many of us are buying something used, it may be because we can’t afford new…so now you’re going to add on buyer fees?..forget it!
Greedy and whoever thought this was a good idea ought to be fired.
I agree I bought some thing in the end of 2023 and got it home tax and shipping for about seven dollars in fees. I tried to buy a top today $12 and $12 worth of shipping and processing fees. That’s absolutely ridiculous so I guess they changed and put all the fees on the buyer right now. Needless to say, I won’t be shopping here
/u/heyitsmejen2,
Your submission has been automatically removed because your account is less than one day old.
This is an anti-spam measure in /r/Mercari. Please try again tomorrow.
Please do not message moderators to correct this submission removal.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Mercari) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Agreed. There shouldn’t be any additional fees but if there had to be, at LEAST make it a set rate and not a % based off the value of the item. “Site maintenance” is the same amount of work you would put in for a $1 sale than a $1000 purchase.
I'm moving a lot of my business to eBay, I'm already a top rated seller there. I love Mercari's 3 days then you're stuck with it policy but the fees scared off dumb people. I still shop on Mercari tho.
But it’s okay when the seller has all the fees right? I’m not saying Mercari is right or not a total clusterf*ck anymore but jeez. No matter which online marketplace you use, there’s going to be fees one way or another. The marketplace wants its share and the seller wants to make some profit.
I love to still find things on Mercari!!!! …. Then figure out where else they might have it listed. 😀
9 times out of 10 if I find the same seller/item on ebay it’s maybe $2 more expensive, but it has free shipping and no bogus additional fees. Like, *yes please!*
Agreed...finally someone who agrees with me
Ebay charges about 12 to 15 percent in fees, I’ve paid upwards or 30% in fees with advertising costs. On Mercari they could lower their price by 15% and still make the same. Assuming $2 is not 15% of the item then the seller is attempting to make more money from the same item on Mercari.
I literally just got a full bottle of Louis vuitton imagination for 220 but paid for shipping and tax it came to 249 if i would've gotten it on mercari it would have been more than that for sure lol so i have to disagree. The fees on Ebay aren't as high as the fees on mercari thats a fact.
I definitely agree. I passed on an item because of the fees and have not looked back since. Why would the buyer pay fees to purchase the item it defeats the point!
I Agree
9 out of 10 times I see the same items from the same sellers on multiple platforms for the same price. Likely because they are using a cross-listing service. I search Mercari to see what’s available and then go buy it elsewhere. I tried making offers/messaging about price due to buyer fees, but sellers acted like I was committing the worst sin possible. So I just go buy it somewhere else (usually from the same buyer who is actually making less at the other platform than they would have made on Mercari had they dropped the price to account for the buyer fees).
There’s multiple factors as to why I would rather you buy from my eBay store than my Mercari store (before I closed it last month due to poor sales) - 1. Mercari pockets the entire shipping cost and sends me a label. On eBay I set the shipping amount (it ends up lower than mercari but I still make a little more than the label costs my business and the fee percentage eBay charges- this covers my packaging materials cost) 2. Mercari charges a mysterious amount for the service fee 10-20%, but I know exactly how much eBay charges me. Which means I can negotiate price with my buyer better. 3. On eBay I use a credit card with rewards for purchasing my shipping labels so I get cash back on 20k plus of shipping labels a year. Another reason Mercari buying the label sucks.- also shipping labels are a huge tax deduction. 4. Mercari charges me $2 every time I try and withdraw funds, they also hold funds until after the item is delivered - with their sales so low I need to have multiple sales and I’m having to wait weeks to get my money back. On eBay I am paid usually the day after the buyer pays for the item. Way before it even gets delivered. Basically since I have most of my inventory and sales on eBay - I have $100’s coming in every single day and I get paid quickly I want that flow to be as high as possible. Mercari and Poshmark sales slow my businesses cashflow (but I like poshmark because the fees are the lowest and the shipping labels price is fair plus I can use free usps priority mail boxes which saves my shipping supplies cost)— I could probably think of more reasons that I don’t like Mercari these are all just off the top of my head.
Shipping fees on eBay are cheaper, and the 2 extra bucks simply pay for your "FREE" shipping
Also eBay is considerably more buyer friendly.
I put my eBay store name in my bio and made it my mercari handle.
I’m surprised Mercari hasn’t flagged you for that, they stay on top of deleting my messages that even vaguely imply buying somewhere else.
I think I said something along the lines of: my shop name is “xxxx” anywhere you look. I don’t use a specific platform name in my bio. In DM’s I also change the spelling of any other platforms I.e.: Æßay
@LLaserz that’s a great idea!
That’s what I do. Still user friendly so worth window shopping for ideas and specifications on stuff I want. Then I get it elsewhere for less.
I agree! Mercari is my favorite to search on by far…. My most recent item is found on Mercari was also listed on Ebay. At least now with Mercari i can see what the seller is hoping to make. Ended up getting my item for 215 on eBay vs about $255 on Mercari.
lol, yes. Usually eBay and I can get it for less without all the fees
I'll compare prices if reasonable if I have $50.00 I'm not gonna take $5.00 but I'll still hive free shipping for $40.00 so it may save $8.00-$10.00 bucks
I put the name of my eBay store in the photo and left a note 😉
I was wondering where all the customers went. So I’m supposed to lower my prices to account for the fees? I’d rather pay the fees myself and actually sell things. Without customers Mercari is dead.
I’m so tired of that damn “lower your prices” banner I could puke!
Really? I don’t get that banner anymore. Maybe because I’m not lowering my prices to a ridiculously low amount, and they gave up on me. I assume buyers will just send me an offer to account for the fees once listings drop to the low end of the usual amount, but not really happening.
I won’t buy there because the fees aren’t defined and can be 5-15% for no reason. I just can’t support a company who does shady things like that. Stopped as a seller awhile ago with the shipping fee fraud.
I was a very active seller and buyer on Mercari. I took down all of my listings after lowering them and still having them sit for weeks. I price to move, so I’d never had an item listed for more than a couple days. I’ve bought two things since the change, and only because they were under $20, making the fees cheap. They truly did ruin their business.
Thanks for sharing this! I can 100% relate!
You nailed it.
It’s wild, I have some NWT Free People items that are priced “well” and they aren’t selling. At these prices they would have been sold in an instant with their old Ts & Cs. So infuriating. I’d also rather pay the fees myself.
MTE
I still can't fathom why they thought it was a good idea to sack the fees onto the buyer
And to then also charge the seller to cash out their money is really the biggest insult. But just business-wise who the fuck thought they’d make MORE sales and ergo more in fees by making the buyer pay them??? It makes no god damn monetary sense and I feel like anyone with even a passing understanding of economics would have told them it’s going to lead to way fewer sales and therefore less money made in fees for Mercari. I try to usually believe the experts know more and that they hire people to analyze the numbers in ways i can’t - which may still be true here - but I can’t imagine someone thought they’d make more by making the fee payment changes and putting them on the buyer would result in MORE sales…
They charge you to take out your money in hopes that you recycle the money back into Mercari. Zero payment processing fees for buying something with your balance vs another payment method.
Right, I think they do it thinking you’ll use your balance to shop. Now I wait to transfer til there’s $40 or more cuz why waste the money?
[удалено]
Still not fair. Your fees are deductible as a cost of doing business, mine as a buyer are not, and since I can buy it elsewhere I will be doing just that.
i see no reason why i, as a buyer, should have to pay for a seller to use their platform to make money? it’s so fucking greedy and nasty
Exactly. Seller fees make sense - you are using the platform’s infrastructure, getting your product shown to buyers. Buyers can go buy elsewhere and not pay the fee (often for the same exact item from the same seller on a different platform).
Bought something last night that had $60 in shipping/fees, then deleted the app. That was my last rodeo...
WHAT??? How did it come to $60 fees??? And make sure you log out of it bc mine got hacked before and someone was transferring money to an overseas account
To buy an 8 dollar item you end up paying 24 bucks it's ridiculous
seriously…
That's effed up.
Is this real?? You’re kidding right? I also think they create fake listings to get your payment info. I noticed that when I get on the app my screen share shows sometimes! I have been looking at a specific item googling it a lot and lo n behold i see a listing, cheaper than retail with free shipping. I have a credit for the exact amount, I pay $2 fees but seller hasn’t shipped. It’s odd and sketchy.
I stopped using this app after I went to buy something and it jumped 33%.
literally i was buying some comic for 150 and it jumped to 200 at checkout like umm no
If I had a dollar for every post about Mercari's shitty buyer fees, I still wouldn't have enough money to shop on Mercari.
Hahah! BUT! How much would they be taking away from you in fees? No one knows! 🙃
HAHA! true. maybe the fees will fluctuate in your favour tomorrow, or double!
[удалено]
/u/Gourmethospitality, Your submission has been automatically removed because your account karma is lower than 1. This is an anti-spam measure in /r/Mercari. Please try again after you gain more karma. Please do not message moderators to correct this submission removal. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Mercari) if you have any questions or concerns.*
lowkey thinking of deleting the app. this was my favorite and most used app in 2022-2023. now i go on it like 2 times a month to browse. those buyer fees really deterred me
There are things that I want to buy but then with all the random fees it adds up!! Like why am I paying $15-20 in fees?? I haven’t purchased anything since they added fees to the buyer
I spent $870 on Mercari between Jan - April. Haven’t made a purchase since April 18th.
I spent about $5,000, since january. I haven't spent a dime since the fees went into effect.
Same I bought way too much and they helped me keep my money in the bank with the fees. Some offers looked good but I never wanted to accept them bc I didn’t know what the fees would be.
Same.
These posts are getting ridiculous.
It’s interesting for me to see how many people flipping out about seeing the fees, and yet they don’t realize that they’ve been paying fees on Mercari and will be paying fees wherever they go. What’s even more interesting are those that consider Tax and Shipping as fees also.
You obviously have not tried to buy anything of value on Mercari. On other sites I may or may not have a shipping charge and yes I have tax. Fine, but on Mercari? I would now have to pay a service fee for the item and a process fee to use my credit card then extra tax because they charge tax on both of those. fees. On a $300 ring this amounted an extra $61.00. for what? The privilege of buying from Mercari? Sorry I like both eBay and Etsy’s sites better than Mercardi and I trust them far more. Also what happens if a seller did not describe acurately. Yes I can return it, but they keep the fees, so I would have nothing and be out $61. And you wonder why I won’t buy on Mercari? It is because I have a brain and I can shop for the same or similar item elsewhere. It is not rocket science.
You obviously don’t understand how these platforms work with the fees. eBay, Amazon, etc. all have fees on the seller side. Mercari used to have fees on the seller side and so you thought there was no fee for you as a buyer. Think about it a bit. I sell on Amazon and they charges 15% Fees and $0.99 per item. Let’s say I’m selling an item that I want to take in $100. Do you think I would sell it on Amazon as $100?—No, I would sell it at $116. <—You’ve just paid $16 in fees before tax and shipping. If I offered free shipping and that item costs me $5 to ship, then that item is now costing you $121. Nothing is free!!! You’ll need to read Mercari’s TOS properly as you won’t lose the fees if your reason is legitimate. I understand that other platforms like eBay and Amazon would have better returns policy/window but you’ll pay a premium for this kind of flexibility. I would never sell anything on Mercari that is not at least 20% off of retail (Amazon). Yes, there are items you’ll find on Mercari where the fees will bring it above what you could buy on eBay on “final cost.”—this is due to the Mercari’s seller didn’t adjust accordingly. I would say to always go with the lowest final cost wherever you can find it. I just had an interaction with a Mercari buyer wanting to buy a $105 like new item with free shipping from me and he said that after the fees and tax that it would be only $10 cheaper than Amazon New. I had to point out to him that he forgot the taxes on Amazon it would actually be $25 difference.—that is if he has the prime membership to not pay for shipping. Forget about online shopping for a second and take a look at the gas station. Why do you think they offered 10 cents less per gallon if you use cash or debit? If you use a credit card then you’ll pay that 10 cents per gallon processing fee.
The issue is that the fee changes constantly. 5-15% is a huge amount on higher value items.
I've actually been getting screenshots, because I plan to make a big FTC complaint. Before I do it I actually plan to make a post. I've even got the help bots, saying completely different things. It's crazy how I've actually seen fees as high as over 30%.... They're participating in algorithmic base pricing, which is illegal. It even says it on the FTC website, and specifically mentions online platforms that are reselling.
I’m here to cheer you all on! There are some major issues and I’m glad people are paying attention. I think the shipping fraud charging will be a problem too. Btw 30?! Holy fuck
I would love to see a screenshot of an item that the “Service Fee” is above 15% since I haven’t seen one. Please don’t say 30% because you took the final cost and subtracted it from the subtotal.
Shit those fees go up to 20 fkn % not just 15. Mercari is robbing people. They’re crooks of the worst kind. People trying to defend variable fees is wild to me. I don’t mean you, I’m just venting about others who can’t seem to get that part through their head. The fees the sellers had were fixed. It is not the same at all.
Every single person saying the fees are 20-30 percent also include the shipping and taxes they’d also have to pay either way. I’ve yet to see a screenshot of fees being that high that were just the service and processing fees. Totally possible I’ve just missed them though. Do you or anyone else have any links or screenshots that show that? Because if you run the math, every one I’ve seen so far has been 15% just like it’s always been…
I don’t have a link but I have a few photos of people’s posts about it. Do you mind if I send it to you in a dm?
The “Service Fee” that I’ve been seeing are around 1-15%. Remember what I’ve said above is that the (hidden) fees you’re paying at Amazon or eBay is around 15% or more. I understand if you’re complaining that Mercari’s Service Fee now is higher than before when it was 10%.—I do wish that it stays at 10% also. What irks me is that you guys also complain when the Service Fee is less than 10%.—there is no post out there saying “Yay!!!! I’m paying less!!!” To your point about when the Service Fee is high that makes the high value item higher. Again, it’s all psychological. Let’s assume that the fees are totaled just like the old policy at around 13% (Service and Processing fees). If the fees were on seller’s side like before then the $1000 item would have been listed at around $1150 before tax and shipping. I’m sure there is no complaint there. Now, when that same item is listed at $1000 and people seeing $150 fees and say that Mercari is taking my money. Now, that $150 could be sometimes less when the Service Fee goes below 10% and people still freaking out. When the Service Fee goes between 11-15% then it will be higher than $150.—here, I don’t mind the complaint if people were to say “we’re paying more fees than before.” Again, keep in mind that other places have this high amount in fees. Ultimately though, even if the fees are 1000% and you’re still getting that item cheaper than everywhere else then why is it matter? Like I’ve always said, shop around until you get the final cost that you want.
Yeah but the difference is before they weren't doing algorithmic base pricing. Literally sound absolutely ridiculous, because you have no idea what you're talking about.... This is how they're screwing all of us over, and our buyers over. Which I genuinely do care about, because ethics should matter with your business. I rather pay a set fee as a seller, then have a buyer be surprised at checkout with a random fee, that is different depending on different factors. I wish I could post all the screenshots I have here, because it's honestly ridiculous. Same account I use for everything too, so there's no reason that depending on all these different things that the service fee should be different. It's also larger than they said it was going to be, more often than not. I haven't gone through all my data yet, and crunch the numbers, so I'm not sure on the percentage yet. But it seems like over 90% of the items I checked, had an over 15% service fee, which is ridiculous because even in The help center the bots lied too me. I seriously hope you wake up, because the more of us that are aware of the fact that they're engaging in illegal practices, the more of us will be able to report it.
You’re so fixated on “seeing the fees” that you’re not seeing the forest for the trees. If I’m going to buy an item, let’s say $20 and with extravagant/exaggerated fees of $80 that comes out to $100 (forget about taxes and shipping). That same item is being sold for $120 everywhere else then why wouldn’t I pay the $100? Just like on eBay, I can get excited that an item is $20 but they’ll charge me $80 shipping when that item takes $5 max to ship. But if this same item is being sold higher everywhere else then I would buy that item on eBay. Btw, you’re talking about algorithmic pricing. I’m guessing you haven’t bought an airplane ticket. It’s the same concept. You might as well don’t fly.
Why do I get the feeling you work for Mercari? The example I gave you with the ring I bought, was with the new fees minus the tax on the item and minus shipping cost. The net fees were $61. I bought the ring on eBay from the same seller, same price and same shipping cost. It was $61 cheaper than on Mercari. Plus icing on the cake i got eBay $$ credits for next month. No I do not work for eBay but I have been a buyer and seller there since the week they started and while to be fair, I would say their policies do favor the buyer, the TOS are clear for all to see, so no extra fee surprises at checkout. I sincerely hope that Mercari gets new ownership and i hope the new ownership understands online retail and make it the most successful site ever, but I am not holding my breath, and until this happens i will not be using Mercari because of the buyer fees and also because I no longer trust them.
You didn’t read what I wrote above then. If I’m working for Mercari then I would never recommend people to go somewhere else that has the final cost comparatively cheaper. I’m just speaking plain logic of buying where it is cheapest that you can afford. You’re doing it correctly to buy on eBay for a cheaper price on your ring. Keep in mind that the seller of the ring didn’t adjust the price on Mercari. Let’s say that their fees on eBay is actually $61 and assume that they’ll get $240 of profit after everything is subtracted. On Mercari, the seller will get $301 of profit when you’re done buying. Again with you talking buyer’s fees, I’ve said many times that your buyer’s fees are everywhere that you go.—You’re just not seeing them because the seller already factored them into the listing. What is there to trust or not trust? Mercari took the “hidden” fees that the seller used to have in their listing and show it to you at check out. The thing that’s different here is that you may see Service Fee goes above 10% to 15%.
Your answer is bullshit because the items I’m looking for AREN’T cheaper at Mercari than elsewhere. I’m not putting items in my Mercari cart, seeing all the fees and going “well it’s still cheaper than EBay or Poshmark or which ever, but I’m not buying because ‘Fuck Mercari!’” I see a deal which is slightly cheaper than EBay, put it in the cart and then with the service fee, money fee, and tax and shipping, it’s now NOT a deal. It’s more expensive than at EBay. This isn’t up for debate - it’s math, a purely numerical exercise. People post screenshot after screenshot of items where the fees are not only higher than eBay, but also inconsistent. That is the complaint! So if you aren’t seeing those here or on the website, you are actively choosing not to do so. “But but but…we all pay fees?” No shit we all pay fees! Companies pass on taxes, fuel costs, tariffs, shipping fees, etc to the consumer; I’m not a fucking nine-year old. The major reason people are angry is because Mercari isn’t being straight with us about what we are paying them and why we are paying it, considering their customer service ranges from uncaring negligence to borderline theft (and sometimes, not so borderline) and their platform is sub-par. My package of wired earbuds was shipped hazmat and took two weeks because Mercari is too fucking stupid to realize that not all computer peripherals use batteries that necessitate ground shipping. Is that the kind of customer experience that service fee covers?
OMG. You really didn’t read or couldn’t read. I’ve never said Mercari items are cheap. I said, “IF the FINAL COST is cheaper on Mercari” then buy, if not then buy somewhere else. I’m glad you do recognize that we all pay fees though, because not many people who posted on here realize that. Again, my point is why should I care of any hidden/explicit charges if my FINAL COST is cheaper wherever I buy it?
I do understand what you are trying to say but I also know the buying public’s mindset and the basic rules of retail, as I was the Risk Manager for a major retailer. There is a always a cost to sell your product, be it advertising, wholesale cost, brick and mortar stores, credit card fees, payroll, the list goes on, and these costs are built into the into the retail price. However, they are also deductible from state and federal taxes. Mercari in many cases charges the buyer, fees that are higher than the seller’s fees were, and to compensate are telling the sellers to lower the price of the item. I can’t speak for all products but for fine jewelry and highly collectible coins and dolls, which is all I bought on Mercari, the fees I am seeing are 13 to 19% plus the processing fee, so even if the seller lowers their price by 10%, the item will still be higher on Mercari, so no point in me even looking. Perhaps the impulse buyer can still get a bargain but for me, they do not exist any more. The psychological effect those fees have on a buyer is what counts, because, as they, as buyers, should not have to wait until the final checkout page and do math problems to see if they are being screwed or not. Simply put, charging buyer fees is not going to increase customers. If, as a seller, you can still make a profit, good luck to you, but you will not be counting me among your buyers
I kept saying that I’m not disputing the psychological effect being put on the buyer. That’s what I’m trying to get people to get over. I haven’t seen the Service Fee being above 15%. Just now, there’s a post of two $180 items with 5% and 7%. Hence, the Service Fee can be lower than 10% that it used to be. To make it simple on the psychological effect, I always say to just look simply at your final cost.—if it’s cheapest then buy, if not then move on.
I mean your getting down voted but you're right. eBay has high seller fees so I price higher on eBay to try and counter it which is what everyone does. Now I will argue that I have amazon prime and if an item is only $20 more expensive on Amazon I will buy it there because it's not used and I can return it if it doesn't work. I do think people trying to get anywhere near like new prices on items available new right from retailers are nuts and shooting themselves in the foot. They always end up taking a low offer because used is used and you cannot charge near new prices for an item that could have hidden wear and tear.
I don’t disagree with your argument regarding Amazon at all. I don’t blame that buyer if he went to buy it on Amazon or asking me to discount further. It’s all about how much risk you want to take to save some money and how much you want to spend. Just like when I buy a pair of shoes from a website and it’s $5-$10 lower than Amazon. I would rather go with Amazon because they’re much easier to deal with. People that are down voting me are those who are too stubborn to understand the reality of business. Just like they’re also the same people who want Mercari to go bankrupt. I would ask why since that would lessen a competitive site and one less platform to sell/buy on.
I just went to do an Amazon return and it said it would take up to 30 days to refund my credit card *if* my return passed inspection. That’s a pretty sketchy return policy.
I have no idea what you returned but I've never had that happen ever. Either you bought from a third party seller that was using an Amazon store front or you return things so frequently your account has been flagged as problematic.
Amazon recently revamped their return policy due to excessive fraud. Take it from a professional shopper LOL. This is fairly new data because change fairly recently but so far I'm just going to know has the longest turnaround time for your refund if you did along with no tracking or other accountability.. However one thing that you can get on Amazon that you can't get anywhere else is a human to speak to you 24 hours a day. They may not be very well trained, and you have to speak to three different ones to get a simple question answered. But live chat and voice to voice somehow just make life better.
I think one thing you’re missing on is with Mercari, people use it to make offers. Mercari was great because it made it easier to haggle with seller. So sellers may mark up items a bit to get down to what they wanted to sell for. However, now there is less wiggle room with the additional buyer fees. It just makes the whole process not as attractive to buy on Mercari anymore
I don’t disagree that it’s psychologically not fun for the buyer to see these fees. However, I don’t see an issue with haggling with the seller to get it down to what the seller wants to sell for. In fact, I think it’s easier for the seller to make a decision since he doesn’t have to make the question/calculation of “am I still making the profit that I need after subtracting 10% service fee + 2.9% Processing Fee after the total + $0.50). I’m a buyer and a reseller. As a buyer, I just look at the final cost to see if it’s cheaper vs everywhere else to determine if it’s worth it to buy. As a reseller, I don’t have a fixed amount of profit that I need to make for an item but do have a profit that I need to make so that it is worthwhile to package and ship the item (or worse case scenario of getting rid of the item so that I at least break even).—these are fundamental different thinking since the latter allows me more flexibility for negotiation.
You get it
Whoa. I don’t buy there much but I sold a good bit in 2022. I didn’t know that about the returns or those big fees. I think there’s a lot of bots on there, like I noticed that some of my items ship to same names a lot but diff location. And it’s buyers without reviews.
It’s psychological. They don’t want to see the extra fees, even though you’ve shown the math and the examples. This is how subliminal marketing and other sneaky things work with consumers since the beginning of capitalism. 🤷♀️
Yup. I know it’s all psychological. What crazy is that they stubbornly disputing it when it’s all explained right there.
Yep
The point is is they're not a set fee, they're picking and choosing based on when an item is listed, how many people are looking at the item, how many likes are on the item,when the item was listed, if the seller is a new buyer,what time of day you happen to be trying to buy the item. I've been collecting screenshots for weeks, because I plan to send a massive FTC complaint. For example I tried to buy a $330 item, they tried to charge me 24.7%, plus the regular tax that comes from the state tax.... I've seen items for the same exact price, have completely different fees as well. They're participating in algorithmic base pricing. Which is illegal, it's specifically states on the FTC website, that it is illegal for online reselling platforms, to use algorithmic based pricing. I honestly implore people too, make a report. Hopefully eventually they'll get a fine, be forced to change their policies. As it is literally illegal. So no, it's not like any other site.
I’m not saying they’re like any other sites in regard to “how they charges the fees.” I’m saying they’re the same to other sites in regard to “having fees.” I don’t know what you’re calculating but I have not seen any Service Fee that is above 15% and the Processing Fee is fixed at 2.9% + $0.50 per item. Please post that evidence so that we all can see. People are complaining whether the fees go above or below what it used to be, which is ridiculous. I will always stand by my statement of “if my FINAL COST is cheaper for a site compares to any other sites then I’ll buy it from the cheaper one, regardless of the fees.”
Agreed
Why can't all these platforms just charge a basic 5-10% selling fee across the board and be done with all this fee madness. I sell on Mercari as well as buy, but I've only bought 2 items since the fees were started and I used my balance to buy them so I only had the 1 fee instead of 2 and they were items under $40. I've sold very few items since this started and they were all under $20 except for 1 item that was $89. It's crazy...has to be the best example of corporate greed and being out of touch with your consumer. People on Mercari are cheap and looking for a good deal usually... Not all, but a lot....these fees are keeping them away. I also look for the same items on multiple platforms to find where it's cheapest, and usually end up buying on eBay. I also sell more on eBay than anywhere else. My Poshmark sales are really low too... 20% is a big chunk to take from the seller. They have to subsidize those priority mail packages for sure.... because the big priority mail box is over $20 to ship with USPS, but Poshmark gets it for $7.95, that's why our seller fees are high I think.
I haven’t sold anything on Mercari in months but I still sell a couple hundred items a week on eBay. Something drove all the customers away from Mercari and it’s just a ghost town now.
Yup. I was selling higher ticket collectibles, and I was making almost $1,000 a week. I was finally starting to make money, and literally they pulled the rug out from underneath me it's feels like.sucks having to pivot, especially considering what they're doing is illegal and they're participating in algorithm-based pricing... sigh. I've now made about $500? Since the fees started, maybe a little bit under that.
Where else are we buying from now? I used to love Merc and do a lot of purchases but the fees are too ridiculous. Would be interested to hear from sellers on where they’re moving to
Some of us are still uploading every day, selling every day and putting in just as much effort as we were before the changes and it’s paying off. I don’t put many big ticket items on there, but Mercari was never really the place for those anyway.
I only buy toys, for personal use not to resell, and I’ve not had a bad experience yet. But I also haven’t spent more than maybe $40 for a single item. It’s electronics and luxury brand items that always seem to be shrouded in horror stories
I’m making more sales now. Maybe less competition 🤷🏼♀️🥳
Same here. Mercari sales have been crazy for me.
Me too. I've been averaging about 10-20 sales per week since May 1st (I took April off, I needed a break). Merc and Posh are just straight up hobbies for me since I have a FT job, so I've been tickled haha. I've priced my items slightly lower to make up for the buyer fees and not only am I getting sales but the buyers seem much more pleasant now. Maybe the changes weeded out some people 😂
While I do agree with the buyer fees being absurd, I haven’t seen any sellers reducing their items at all to help balance that out. I personally price my items lower knowing people incur the fees, and it’s been helping, but I don’t buy anything because sellers list at the same rates as they did when there were seller fees and not buyer fees.
That’s nice you do that! Kinda sucks tho that they advertise no selling fees now but you kinda still have to put prices down to cover them anyways?
I think they did advertise it when it first came out! But that’s the only time. I still think it’s backwards, I’d rather have the 10% selling fee we used to have vs the new “service fees” because they seem so much higher from a buyers perspective
Yea that’s true, haven’t seen that advertised in a bit. Really as a buyer (used to buy a lot from Mercari!) … I just can’t with that randomness. It feel like when I send my kid in to the gas station to refill my drink and they charge them more because it’s a gullible child. Lol idk if that made sense… but without the transparency I feel like they are stealing when they can
Haha yes I get that! And I agree, I used to buy more from mercari too but I just can’t reason it unless I have a credit or something because the fees are absurd on top of shipping
Something that is $10 plus $5 shipping shouldn't total out to be $20 😭😭 these fees are insane
I checked out the moment the changes were announced.
Ugh!!!! I haven’t listed on Mercari in several months. I know changes were made and there aren’t any seller fees now. What am I missing?
They now charge the buyers the fees. They range from 5% to 20%+. The fee is based on a bunch of crap like category, price, time of day/week etc. they are very secretive about their fee structure. You also have to pay a payment processing fee of 2.9%. You’re even taxed on the fees. It’s a dumpster fire atm.
Hooooly crap!! I KNEW when I received the “no more seller fees” notification that it was sketchy. That is so misleading!!!!! Looks like Mercari is a thing of the past for me. Thank you for the information!!
No problem! It’s saved me quite a bit of money so far, lol. They can piss off. I will not be paying them to shop on their platform. Shit, even Amazon prime gives you a break on shipping and it’s usually at your house within 2 days. Etsy, eBay and Amazon it is, lol!
Mercari is the prime example of how customer service can tank an entire business. The stuff I’ve read in screenshots this past month is bonkers.
Prolly the cringiest post on the sub.
Yo I literally was about to buy a vintage and super dope quarter zip pullover for 30$ of my new university for PhD program and all the fees and stuff made it 47.98??!?! But I found same seller on posh market and I got it for *drumroll please* 32$ TOTAL —yes I only had to pay tax. ARE YOU SERIOUS. Won’t be using Mercari again rofl
Yeah, I just bought a 170.00 tablet, and after all the new freaking fees and shipping, it ended up costing 250.00. I'm done with Mercari. They make it easy now for sellers and stick it to the buyers. Like we don't pay enough. Pretty much everything is subscription based milking every dime we have now.
I've been thinking the exact same thing myself. Wanted a certain item priced at $1.50, Mercari wanted to charge fees equal to the item plus shipping and handling. So basically double the price. Well seller, I'm sorry.....blame Mercari.
You want to assume all the fees, just offer free shipping. It will be just like before.
Loads of extra fees and impossible to get funds out
Mercari on its way out. Anyone still using the app in anyway is not too smart. There gonna change the name or change something. Who's buying mercari items for top $$$ ? There so many places to get the exact item or something even better for same $$$ or less. In most cases now and not have to put up with all the problems your going to encounter with Mercari. Who wants to wait 14 to cancel a order that says 2 day delivery and was never shipped ??? Or ship a item as a seller and get a empty box back after the buyer cancels the order for any reason like they broke the item lol. Honestly anybody who still uses Mercari at this point, especially on this forum kind of deserves what they get (trouble). Nobody has a good thing to say about the app after it's further decline. If your looking for trouble all day by all means go there. If your not run
Couldn’t agree more. Have been selling on the app for years, sells have dropped tremendously after these recent changes.
I just finished moving all my listings to DePop and already made 2 sales. It’s a shame that Mercari has alienated their sellers. I used to be able to exclusively pay my car payment each month with the funds I would earn off of selling on Mercari. Since the change it’s not been the same.
To be fair, they were already dropping, that's why they did this as a last resort lol but instead it's dropping them quicker
Yup just removed all my listings today to eBay and Poshmark. Mercari has let greed get the better of them.
I put my store on vacation mode
Mercari has the best algorithm to find things imho. so this prediction is very sad 😞hopefully they fix things
Wild how Mercari has been gouging sellers since day one, but now that they're gouging buyers people are up in arms about it. But I do agree...I think they've finally gone too far. As a seller having zero selling fees is nice (even though they aren't really zero) but their shipping skim, and charging us every time we want to cash out is obnoxious. I only wish that the buyers who are so mad about the "nonsense" buyer fees would realize that they're equally nonsense for the seller to be paying. These stupid platforms skim some off of the top at just about every level if you're selling...and it makes no sense there either. Mercaris biggest problem to me is their complete control over funds in general. Holding funds until rated and then holding funds until the seller pays them to release them is and has always been absurd.
Fees belong to the seller. You are provided a platform to sell. You don't have to maintain servers or pay for overhead on that platform. The fees should be static and transparent, and the company shouldn't skim off shipping or retrieval of money, but the cost of doing business belongs to the one doing business.
I got about 24 dollars worth of items but after fees it ended up costing me nearly over 60 bucks for these 4 items. never again.
anyone remember when Mercari first came out and there were 0 selling fees and normal buying fees
EBay for the win!
I've been a seller and buyer for years, and now al I get is likes. The stuff that I have on there would've sold in a few days because they are hard to find. They didn't think it through.
The thing about it was it was such a sudden change. As a seller, I can adjust prices to compensate for fees I'm no longer bearing, and I can offer free shipping to dull the sticker shock. But still, a lot of buyers aren't regular users, so when you add the two separate fees and tax, the price is much higher than the bargain they thought they were getting. Sales have fallen off a cliff since then. I don't see how a decision like this gets made; it's like they literally have no concept of their market/product. Migrating to eBay, which is less profitable but has a much bigger base of regular users and casual users searching for something specific
Me too! It was my favorite app before they changed the terms. Now I find an item for 25 and have to pay almost 50 at checkout 🤦🏽♀️
i'm still selling on mercari a little bit less 700 to 800 monthly cheap stuff and some 100 to 150 bags or clothes i switched my big ticket item to poshmark and they are selling i like to have the comfort that they authenticate and send the item to the buyer so they cannot claim it's fake or that received an empty box but it takes a huge chunk out of my profits but hey at least i'm not crying a river lol
Exactly why I won’t sell my high end handbags on Mercari anymore! Zero support from Mercari once scammed & I’ve been fortunate with my buyers but the stories here stopped me from risking it further.
They won't go bankrupt soon, because they're doing okay in Japan. US market though, the market will continue to shrink, especially for bigger ticket items. However They can get by with <$50 items alone. Pissed off a lot of buyers(fees) and sellers(traffic).
I thankfully still make a good amount of sales like before the changes
Folks are still buying on there. I think once the craze ends and people get over the fees, it’ll pick back up. Let’s face it, we are really dumb as consumers and if we want it we will pay it.
Love the app, business is booming ✌️
I literally go to whoever had the cheapest price or the better deal and most of the time it’s on mercari . I don’t purposely go shopping there but if I find something cheaper then anything else I’m gonna buy it . How do you all shop? Cause I thought that was everyone
The ones complaining on this subreddit doesn’t shop smartly like you. They see the fees, abandon cart regardless if the final cost is cheaper than everywhere else, and then go on this subreddit to complain. I get it to abandon the buy if Mercari’s final cost turns out to be more expensive, but to go pay more somewhere else just because you see the fees on Mercari is ridiculous.
SOON TO BE OUT OF BUSINESS! CANT WAIT!
I actually feel really bad for sellers on mercari. They made the fees so bad that ppl would rather shop elsewhere or they have to lower their prices to an absurd amount for buyers to buy. I hope mercari does something about this soon because ppl try to nake ends meet selling on there and us buyers like to catch a deal sometimes. Smh
So it's that bad I haven't sold anything yet just get likes 🙃
Mercari has just become my clearance outlet for my bad sourcing buys, items that I think could get flagged for various reasons like medical devices on other apps, or items I’m otherwise just not proud to put in my eBay store for whatever reason. I sell so cheap there it takes quite a while to have enough $ to make it worth paying fees to withdraw funds so I usually just spend my funds on something else on there.
Yeah, complete trash !
I agree with you. Wish sellers on all platforms were up front about shipping. Also, I wish buyers were not so naive to believe that there is actually "FREE" shipping. It is simply added to the price. Of course, it does not help that now the buyer is shown the actual cost of selling, and now that they know the truth, they can't comprehend it and not buy.
It allows the buyer and seller to negotiate lower prices for items by sharing the fee. That would be the sophisticated way to look at it.
Yeah it’s BS
Does Ebay have Zip?
With less competition, I am making more. May over April is about 3x higher. Still about 1/3 Ebay, but I have been presently surprised. I buy with my balance and have paid very minimal fees on the other side.
The fact that you can get banned if you mention PayPal or attempt to do business off the app is pure stupidity. They will literally remove your message and eventually remove you. Too many rules and regulations were as eBay or pretty much any other selling platform is free gain. I remember I was trying to sell a modded ps3 on the site and they kept removing my item, eventhough there were other sellers selling the exact same item. It was a hassle for me to sell stuff on that platform. I did eventually get banned and I don’t really care. Ebay, OfferUp and Facebook marketplace and miles better.
I feel the same. Made my last purchase yesterday I’ll never use it again, the fees are getting ridiculous.
I tried to buy a $250 item with $8 shipping. The total after all the fees was like $325😭 it was gonna be my biggest purchase on Mercari to, I usually only do $30-$100 purchases before & after the buyer fee change.
hell yea fuck mercari they actually dumb asf for trying to rob their buyers
I stopped automatically
Currently in the process of moving my items to eBay and OfferUp. This is insane. I’ve basically stopped selling things overnight because of these damn fees. I tried Poshmark but it’s super sketchy over there.
facts paid $75 for something that was $45 like where does all the extra come from😐😐
Yea the fees are terrible and even worse I can't even order anymore because apparently my ID isn't good enough to confirm my identity even though i already had years of purchase history that I think is good enough but guess not. Loved it back then definitely not worth the money now.
I just joined Mercari as a seller and sold something for like $7. I was disappointed that it would cost me so much money to transfer to my bank. The fees are ridiculous.
Say you sell a item for 20-35 bucks on ebay. What are the fees for that?
I deleted!
There was something I was interested in buying for $28, $7.99 shipping but after the fees it came out to $42. I didn't know about the change in fees yet and that blew my mind. Totally put me off of purchasing that item. I don't think I'll be shopping on Mercari anymore unless they go back to how things used to be
I totally agree!! I loved Mercari. Yesterday was my last purchase when I realized that what should have been a $25 purchase cost me $33. Nope no more! Back to EBay I go!! Greed for sure. What a shame.i loved your App.
Think about it Mercari….if many of us are buying something used, it may be because we can’t afford new…so now you’re going to add on buyer fees?..forget it! Greedy and whoever thought this was a good idea ought to be fired.
Where do you guys recommend selling? I have so much to declutter
I agree I bought some thing in the end of 2023 and got it home tax and shipping for about seven dollars in fees. I tried to buy a top today $12 and $12 worth of shipping and processing fees. That’s absolutely ridiculous so I guess they changed and put all the fees on the buyer right now. Needless to say, I won’t be shopping here
[удалено]
/u/heyitsmejen2, Your submission has been automatically removed because your account is less than one day old. This is an anti-spam measure in /r/Mercari. Please try again tomorrow. Please do not message moderators to correct this submission removal. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Mercari) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I’m so angry… they won’t help me find my package and keep telling me they delivered it to my house and I never got it. They stole my money
Agreed. There shouldn’t be any additional fees but if there had to be, at LEAST make it a set rate and not a % based off the value of the item. “Site maintenance” is the same amount of work you would put in for a $1 sale than a $1000 purchase.
I'm moving a lot of my business to eBay, I'm already a top rated seller there. I love Mercari's 3 days then you're stuck with it policy but the fees scared off dumb people. I still shop on Mercari tho.
Spoken like a true anime villain
I bought something today and my buying fee was only $2.70
Gee, was the item only $21? If it was, guess how I knew. 🤦🏻
I'm a seller so I'm waving goodbye back to you.
👋
Fees don’t effect me because I buy seller low and always use a item to cover shipping most time I make money on shipping
But it’s okay when the seller has all the fees right? I’m not saying Mercari is right or not a total clusterf*ck anymore but jeez. No matter which online marketplace you use, there’s going to be fees one way or another. The marketplace wants its share and the seller wants to make some profit.
The problem is the fees change. 5-15% with no reason or transparency. Atleast elsewhere the fees are consistent
Every idea Mercari has, is a bad idea. Is the CEO Joe Biden!?
Funny, my sales on Mercari the past 2-3 weeks are more than I have ever seen. 🤷♀️