- This topic has 10 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 3 months, 4 weeks ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
So this week Mercari made huge changes. Selling on Mercari is now fee free.
CEO of Mercari U.S., said in a statement. “With the removal of selling fees across our platform, we’re setting the new standard for peer-to-peer marketplaces and incentivizing even more sellers to choose Mercari. With zero selling fees, Mercari sellers can price their items more competitively and keep their earnings, making it the best choice for everyone looking to sell their unused items.”
How did they pay for this? Buyers have to pay a payment processing fee of $0.50 plus 2.9% of the transaction price. However, importantly that fee does not apply if you are using your Mercari balance. Sellers have a fixed $2 fee per cash out.
Also interesting: buyers have 72 hours to return the item for any reason for free (at seller expense).
At first this sounded horrible, but then I thought I usually spend my Mercari balance on either inventory or something my family can use. So I don’t cash out often. Then, I thought I hardly ever get returns or negative review, even on Ebay. There are a few more returns than there used to be, but it’s still a small percentage.
The labels on Mercari aren’t super cheap but not horrible. USPS is 4 oz , 8 oz, 12 oz, 1 lb-2.9 lbs, and 3 lbs at $4, $8, $6, $7, and $18.40.
In addition to cutting seller fees on its platform, Mercari has also turned its eye to improving customer experience on its website. Last April, the company turned to AI software ChatGPT to create its shopping assistant Merchat AI, enabling customers to receive product recommendations based on the questions they ask the software.
Overall, it will be interesting to see what happens with this giant experiment in the marketplace. I’ve always liked the efficiency of Mercari. As a buyer, I’m going to be bringing the bundle lowballs though. I made an offer this morning and there was the processing fee but also a 1.5% or so “service fee” added. It said that fee was to pay for marketplace improvements. On a $20 offer taxes, shipping, and fees added quite a bit to the total. How many buyers will pay attention and back out?
-
You missed the largest fee of all: service fee. The fees sellers used to pay are now being charged to the buyer as a service fee. This fee is in addition to the payment processing fee of 2.9% + $0.50. The service fee is up to 10% of the purchase price but Mercari is refusing to release what fee percentage is being applied in each category/brand for some reason. This fee is not on every listing at the moment only new listings and listing that seller’s have edited since the terms of service change on Wednesday. However, soon the fee will be applied to even those listings. That may explain why you saw only a 1.5% service fee.
For smaller dollar items the service fee may not seem like much but it quickly adds up. For example on a $250 item, the final price ended up being $317.55. The math: $250 purchase price + $13.17 shipping + $25 service fee + $9.44 payment processing fee + $19.94 tax (which is applied to all of the fees) = $317.55.
As a buyer, I would abandon my cart after seeing that large of a difference but I guess time will tell what the rest of the market thinks.
-
-
buyers have 72 hours to return the item for any reason for free
Apparently Mercari failed in Britain within two years in part because they allowed buyers to be refunded and keep the item if the buyer declared it was ‘fake’. The British operation was run by Japanese staff, who assumed that it would operate as it did in Japan, where scams are rare.
Also, loading fees onto the buyer post-purchase probably wouldn’t work in the UK or Europe, where legislation makes brick-and-mortar shops show the plus-VAT price on shelves. Online, both prices are shown where there’s B2B sales.
-
Yes I read that Mercari is super successful in Japan but has struggled to replicate that here as well because Americans are less reasonable consumers. I guess they are trying to set themselves apart and allow US buyers to return at will, while paying a premium for that comfort and privilege. This is also in line with Mercari’s general efficiency focus – hassle free. They are hard core and dispatch crappy sellers from their site. Meanwhile, the other platforms are moving away from free returns. It’s a gamble for sure.
They are going after Gen Z sellers and buyers, the biggest growth demographic, which is very smart. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mercaris-2023-reuse-report-predicts-secondhand-market-will-double-to-325-billion-by-2031-301884361.htmlThey do a lot of advertising on YouTube, another area where EBay just fails.
I’ve thought about this some more and I also like it for another reason. If you are good at making titles with great key words you will be rewarded by their AI. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mercari-launches-merchat-ai-a-new-shopping-assistant-powered-by-chatgpt-301800139.html
Mercari rewards freshness like EBay does but they don’t hide listings. AI will dig up old listings that fit the request. Also there is none of that Poshmark sharing bs. They also have the advantage of being the fastest platform to list on. We’ll see.
-
-
-
-
Update: Mercari is reportedly sponsoring the return labels. So no free returns for sellers. Super interesting. The podcasters I heard were kind of keeping things as is and had a bump in sales due to the publicity. Everyone is wondering if buyers will accept the difference at checkout.
-
I’ve done a little browsing with the Merchat AI search tool. One thing that did strike me is that plain white backgrounds make the item stand out. I looked at Moorcroft pottery vases- for example there’s a nice vintage vase but it’s photographed in front of some white vitreous tiles, as if the seller uses a public lavatory to stage their photos. Well, that’s halfway there…
Next step, AI trains the sellers.
-
Haven’t heard much yet about the results of the big Mercari experiment. One seller on a FB Mercari group says they are beta testing bundling items as a seller. I hope they roll that feature out. I started this week moving some of my lowest dollar items over from Ebay since I am butting up against my 1000 basic store listings – I had marked them down to $5 but not sure they are even being seen at all on Ebay anymore.
Mercari got rid of the returns for any reason policy pretty quickly. So, their changes were all pretty much pro-seller. As a buyer, I don’t like the added fees but I have still gone forward with some bundles on there.
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.