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Mon Aug 31 2020 20:53:29

Mercari Selling App Adds New Fees

By: Ina Steiner

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Mercari is instituting new fees on October 1st, the mobile selling app announced today. Mercari currently charges no listing fees and a 10% commission fee.

Beginning October 1, 2020, all new listings will incur additional 2.9% + $0.30 payment processing fees when items sell. The processing fees will apply to all existing listings beginning November 1st.
The reaction on social media was swift, and sometimes quite blunt.

Many users compared the new fee structure to other venues. "What the crap #mercari If I wanted complicated transactions and higher fees I would join eBay," tweeted one seller.

"Just got an email that Mercari is going to start charging trans fees. Which means it will be just as expensive as ebay, but without all of the conveniences of ebay (shipping options, category depth, search options)," tweeted another. 

On Facebook, a user said she wished Mercari had framed it as a fee increase, stating that passing along payment-processing fees to sellers "just hit a nerve."

Some sellers said they would scale back or move to other venues, a few said they would have to rethink offering free shipping.

One reader who forwarded the news of the increased cost of selling shared some thoughts about the pros and cons of selling on Mercari.

Pros: "I like that they make the effort to limit the return time to three days. Listing is super easy. I see them doing a lot of adverts on TV."

Cons: "One minor annoyance is that the number of characters allowed in your title is 40 and it is often hard to make a good title with so few. The payment process is a little awkward (waiting until the buyer rates you or 3 days elapse)."

The reader also sells on eBay (their primary venue) as well as eCrater, Etsy, and Amazon. They said there aren't enough buyers there yet and is looking forward to when Mercari generates more sales.

You can find current fees on this page on Mercari.com. Let us know what you think of the new payment processing fees.

Update: Here's the FAQs page for the new Mercari payment processing fees.



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Comments (11) | Permalink

Readers Comments

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This user has validated their user name. by: Bill

Tue Sep 1 00:03:11 2020

Greed Kills!

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This user has validated their user name. by: COVID-19

Tue Sep 1 01:05:27 2020

Damn!  Just as eBay has always copied Amazon, looks like Mercari is now trying to copy eBay.  

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by: FeelingFroggy This user has validated their user name.

Tue Sep 1 05:57:23 2020

Nothing is free, contrary to what you think.

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This user has validated their user name. by: RKTOYS

Tue Sep 1 18:43:47 2020

For not taking any of the risks, these venues sure are taking a great deal of the rewards.

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by: Whatever This user has validated their user name.

Wed Sep 2 18:16:59 2020

Really? nothing is for free forever - and so 10% came into play - now payment processing. So? where you going? Back to ebay? I think not. They tell you up front what the fees are not like ebay tricking you. They don't hide your items or extort you for money to show them. They pay faster than ebay from what I read - no personal experience since I fled awhile back before mangled payments. Doesn't everything in your life cost more this year than it did last year? tThe toilet paper rolls are smaller and the price is more (just in case you missed that during the Great Toilet Paper debacle. Food cost more every time you go shopping. Is it the best site on the planet? No I'm not sure where exactly that would be. They have their glitches no doubt but I've made more money in 5 months on Mercari than I did on ebay and with very very little hassle - I'm staying.

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by: fashionista This user has validated their user name.

Wed Sep 2 22:46:21 2020

I purchased a few items on Mercari, but something feels off, listings disappear, weird things.  There is a lot of "hot" beauty merchandise on there, and really 3 days or no return?  I'm not a person that returns, but I do go out of town, so then I have to go through my cc?
Every package that I've received has 4 oz shipping.........though most are closer to 3 lbs..
I'm not sure I'll be shopping there any more.  
I've been on ebay for 20 years, hated most of their changes, but nobody else gets the traffic that they do.
I've done really well on Etsy this year. Might just expand that venue

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by: Chicago48 This user has validated their user name.

Thu Sep 3 00:25:32 2020

Mercari is another low-baller.  They push you to lower your prices and "make offers".  I have a note in my description:  No offers accepted.  Now with the addition 3% fee, that means they will take 13% cut of sales.  Which means we will now have to increase our prices.  If we have to increase our prices, don't ask us to accept offers and lower our prices.

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by: Death2Ebay This user has validated their user name.

Thu Sep 3 00:32:49 2020

This is confusing. Mercari just recently announced their Pro Selling Program (beta) which is by invite only, and one of the  big selling points was that there were no processing fees. As of now, that info is current: (https://www.mercari.com/us/become-a-pro-seller/). And now they're saying there ARE now going to be processing fees. So the question is: Is becoming a Pro Seller the means to avoid these processing fees? Or is Mercari contradicting themselves? Or have they back peddled altogether. One thing is for certain, this news has stopped my cross-posting migration dead in its tracks from eBay to Mercari. I only sell 3% of my active Mercari listings as it is, which doesn't justify moving everything over there. Neither do they have the traffic or functionality that eBay has for THEM to justify these new processing fees. They are still a bare bones selling platform trying to play with the big boys. So as much as I hate eBay and wish someone would send THEM a pig head filled with anthrax or a dirty bomb, I'll have to stay for another year until I decide to shell out the money for my own website. But make no mistake about it, someone out there is going to have enough of eBay one day soon and seriously go off the deep end. We're all secretly hoping for it. I just can't help but say so.

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by: Tiffee Jasso This user has validated their user name.

Thu Sep 3 02:32:49 2020

Every payment processor charges fees.  For sellers to complain processing fees is about the same as the airheads who believe shipping is free. You all know how we feel about those who complain that they did not get free shipping.  

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by: fashionista This user has validated their user name.

Thu Sep 3 10:01:44 2020

@tiffe  of course that's true. but their big "hook" was "10% everything included"

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This user has validated their user name. by: RKTOYS

Sun Sep 6 18:57:14 2020

And now they're 13% or 14%, just like everybody else.



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