Eleven Reasons NOT TO SELL ON Mercari
Warning: this post contains lots of words. This requires an ability to read and an attention span of more than 3.4 seconds.
During this pandemic, many people who are staying at home have more free time and less income, so they're cleaning out their homes and finding new ways to earn money. Online selling platforms and apps such as Mercari may be appealing because they allow people to generate income in uncertain times. I'm an experienced seller and I recently joined Mercari mainly because of their low selling fees. I personally don't know anyone who sells on Mercari, otherwise I would have been armed with valuable lessons and useful information. So after many months of experience high volume selling on Mercari, I'm writing this post to warn everyone about the dangers and scams of selling on Mercari. Here's what I wish I knew before launching my Mercari business. Read on for eleven reasons not to sell on Mercari.
Side note - ALL photos in this post are owned by this author and are protected by copyright.
A Brief Background
In my first three months of selling, I generated over five figures in sales on Mercari. I worked hard all day and night every single day reselling brand new authentic items in a popular category at prices at least 30% below retail. I learned a lot about Mercari and why Mercari is NOT legit and why Mercari is NOT safe for sellers.
Some background on the things that I've experienced during my time on this app:
Random users steal my product photos on a regular basis because I take high quality, well-lit professional, and visually appealing photos. These users harass me via messages when I politely ask them to remove MY COPYRIGHTED photos. Mercari's "customer service" will provide a canned bot reply to your requests for help. Furthermore, Mercari's messaging interface for buyers and sellers encourages harassment, non-stop inappropriate behavior, and many hours of wasted time. Dozens of times per day users send messages with a number. For example, on a listing with $150 price tag, they'll message with "60". Do these same jackasses take an item to the cashier at a store and try to bargain? I hope not. Digital stores deserve the same level of respect for prices. NOT EVERYTHING IS NEGOTIABLE. If you want to make A REAL OFFER, use the buttons that MERCARI provides for committing some money to purchase an item! Obviously, I won't accept $60, because the app buttons don't allow for an offer that low. In general, Mercari users do not respect prices, most of them behave abominably, many are illiterate (or too lazy to read detailed item descriptions), and most of them lack the ability to follow simple instructions.
This blog post has over 20, 037 page views with good reason. If you find yourself featured here, then too bad, you've earned it with your bad behavior. If you don't want to be featured here, then behave with dignity and manners.
Here's why Mercari is unsafe for sellers and why it is NOT worth selling on Mercari:
1. Mercari has dishonest and fraudulent buyers. I had two buyers who claimed I was selling fakes just so they could return their items. The REAL reason for their returns? The item did not fit or they had buyers' remorse. Mercari's return policy does NOT allow returns due to fit, but they do allow returns for claims of inauthenticity. Buyers know this and they leverage it. Fun fact: I sold authentic items that I purchased directly from the manufacturer. I listed and described my items in extreme detail with well lit, professional photos. As a fashion expert, I pride myself in having a thorough knowledge of fashion trends, photography, and selling authentic items that are in high demand. I would not even know where to buy fakes, nor would I try to pass off fakes as authentic. I am an honest person to the core. I pride myself in that. Lesson: beware of 1% to 5% of your buyers lying in order to return. Below, an example of a rude, dishonest, and inappropriate Mercari user named Lauren Wooten of Meridian, Mississippi.
She knew the item was authentic, and sent me a rude message. Then she claimed in her rating that the item was "fake as sh**". She wore the item, and turned around and sold that exact same item as authentic. OK, hypocrite. Thanks, Mercari for allowing buyers to lie and curse in their reviews.
2. Mercari is overflowing with inexperienced, unintelligent buyers. This is not a place for polite, erudite consumers. Mercari buyers have no boundaries, LOVE TO TROLL, they message sellers for no reason at all, are sometimes impolite, and need to have their hands held through the entire sale process. They rarely add items to their cart and buy. That would be too easy for sellers. They prefer to make offers, send unnecessary messages (due to lack of boundaries, lack of confidence, or loneliness) or receive offers. This involves a lot of bending over backwards for sellers to answer stupid questions all day long. I know this because of the hundreds of unnecessary messages that users would send me every single day. It's extremely time consuming and mentally exhausting. Why? Because 98% of the questions they asked me were answered in the listings. These users had no boundaries, and were far too quick to send messages. They were not reading the listings. They won't spend 60 seconds to read an item description.
In ten months and five figures of sales, I have never once made a sale with someone who has asked me "what's your lowest?" Does a poker player reveal their cards? NO. If a Mercari user is TRULY interested in buying, they will use the offer button feature to submit a binding offer. Users who message are NOT SERIOUS BUYERS. Do not allow them to waste your time.
Sellers and potential buyers, an answer to this question NEVER results in a sale. Ignore these questions, block these users, and move on. People who ask "how low can you go" are NOT going to buy. Save yourself the time. This is business, and time is money.
People who ask "what's your lowest" are NOT buyers. They are time wasters.
Special shout out to rude user "ukijatouka" for her reactive rudeness and inability to apologize for requesting me to pay $5 to authenticate a non-designer item. (I have hundreds of non-designer items listed and I will not pay $5 to authenticate them because it's a tremendous waste of money.)
What she should have written is she had any manners:
"I'm sorry, I hit the request authentication button by accident. Thank you for letting me know about the tags. I did not know that."
Instead, she played the victim role, was reactive, and failed to acknowledge her mistake. The button does
NOT POP UP. It's present, but you have to actively tap it or click on it.
3. Mercari has non-existent customer service. Don't waste your time calling them because you'll get a recording that will hang up on you. Their messaging "customer service" is run by bot software, not humans. The same goes for their returns. When a buyer requests a return, it's granted without human approval. If you are a Mercari seller with an issue, consider yourself screwed. Mercari will always side with the buyer. This drives good, honest sellers away to competitors. Without good sellers, your app will eventually flounder and fail.
4. Mecari has a blind rating system which favors buyers. After a buyer receives their purchase, they have three days to provide a rating. Once a buyer rates the seller, the seller then HAS TO rate the buyer before the funds are released to the seller. At this time, the seller can not see how they were rated. So a buyer can give you a poor, dishonest, or inaccurate rating, (and yes, they can even use profanity) and you can give them a good rating. This process favors the buyer, and there are many bad/rude/picky/dishonest buyers on Mercari.
5. Mercari has a lot of felons, low-income users, and fraudulent buyers. After I was scammed by Suzan Berro of Dearborn Michigan, I began to Google my buyers' names. I was amazed at how many of them had criminal records, especially for fraud. Warning! Those orders need to be cancelled before you ship them because they are only going to result in fraudulent returns and headaches.
Do your research and vet your buyers as soon as you receive offers and before you ship your items.
Read your buyers' reviews, see how long they've been on the app, check their cancellation rate, and Google them to avoid the people who may cause problems. Decline users who have no reviews, bad reviews, lots of cancellations, automatic ratings, or no purchase history.
6. Mercari has loads of technical glitches. Three such gems are: Mercari failing to send me a shipping label once I've made a sale, the "unknown error" pop-up that would occur when I'd accept a buyer's offer, and the "transaction failed" message when I'd accept a buyer's offer. The "unknown error" was never acknowledged or rectified by Mercari in my dozens of requests to them for assistance. The "transaction failed" is due to the buyer not having the funds, expired credit cards, unverified credit cards, stolen credit cards, and other buyer failures, lack of funds, or scams. Mercari does not admit to any of these errors, nor do they fix any of them. I have lost trust in Mercari because it is unreliable and untrustworthy for sellers. Combined with a complete lack of customer service to help with such issues, and you can see why Mercari is a terrible place for professional, high volume sellers.
7. Mercari has lots of rude users. For example, the predictable users who message with a lowball number, the users who demand free shipping or ask you to lie about the weight of items for reduced shipping, the users who ask for you to donate the item, the users who ask you to hold an item until they get their disability check, and so on. You get the picture. This isn't a classy, polite group of people. Block these users and move on. You don't want to sell to them. They'll only cause problems. It's preferable to wait for a reputable buyer who won't cause you any problems.
For example, special warning about Mercari and Poshmark user Leighna Johnson of Alabama, who stalks people across other platforms and uses multiple accounts to do so. This is evidenced by this review from another Mercari user. Report, block, and move on.
Here are some more of her reviews as a seller.
8. Mercari cancels order for no reason. This happened only three times, but I was never given a reason as to why the orders were cancelled. This is unprofessional and untrustworthy at best. This makes sellers lose trust in Mercari.
9. Mercari has an inconsistent authentication program. Sometimes my listings were put through the authentication process, sometimes they were not. It seemed completely random. ikely by software) before they go live and are viewable in search results.
Fall 2020 update - now they are charging $5 to authenticate each item. If you're like me and you have hundreds of listings, this could potentially cost you THOUSANDS of dollars. Plus, if a buyer opens a case, Mercari WILL NOT stand behind the authentication because it's done by a THIRD PARTY. Total waste!
Unless you are selling high end designer luxury goods, do not pay for authentication when buyers ask or when listing new items. It's a waste of money and time.
10. Mercari has high shipping costs. Unlike Poshmark, Mercari did not negotiate discount bulk shipping rates with USPS. (The rates for UPS and FedEx are also high on Mercari.) As a result, Mercari buyers are more likely to want a lower selling price to make up for the high costs of shipping, especially when items weigh 2-3 pounds or more. Prepare to reduce your profit margins because buyers often want free shipping and some will even ask sellers to lie about the weight of items for reduced shipping fees. Tacky, I know.
11. Mercari values scammers and dishonest buyers over professional sellers. Mercari will not hesitate to process a return, suspend accounts, or penalize sellers at the word of any buyer, even (and especially if) that buyer is lying. They immediately take the word of any buyer over that of a professional seller with 1,000 sales. This drives up the costs of doing business on the app and the raises the fees that sellers have. So buyers, when you commit fraud, it HURTS EVERYONE.
Mercari, you need to become more credible, attract high caliber buyers (not the low class scammers that gravitate toward your app), and ask your sellers to prove their case before penalizing them without cause.
Be safe out there!
Remember these red flags:
1. Users who ask "what's your lowest" especially when the listing clearly states that the price is firm.
2. Users whose payment fails more than once.
3. Users who ask for free shipping when the listing states that shipping is paid for by the buyer and isn't negotiable.
4. Users who ask what color an item is when it's clearly stated in BOTH the description and the listing.
5. Users who ask you to place items on hold for several weeks.
6. Users who ask what gender/category/size an item is when it's clearly stated in the description AND the listing.
7. Users who demand that they receive an item within two days. (These people are unrealistic and impossible to please. Bad reviews are inevitable with such users.)
8. Users who message with a number and nothing else. This is not the swap meet. (A number is not a formal offer. This is just tacky and inappropriate. This is also a waste of time.)
9. Users who question the authenticity of your NON-DESIGNER items when the description AND the photos tell them how precisely to verify authenticity.
10. Buyers who want to change their shipping address after the item has shipped.
11. Buyers who claim they can't find their package when it was scanned in as "handed to an individual".
Mercari is not a recommended place to sell unless you want to be inundated with stupid and unnecessary messages all day.
Mercari shoppers, take this advice: DO NOT MESSAGE SELLERS with questions. Think about it mindfully before you fire off questions that MAY ALREADY BE ANSWERED. I know you don't like to read words and sentences, but you should control your impatience by reading product descriptions first. All the words should not intimidate you. For example, asking for shipping reductions, free shipping, why an item has a certain price, if an item is available, what color an item is, and other time-wasting issues. Also, if a seller does not respond to you in under 10 minutes, be patient! Don't send additional messages.
