The Trick To Selling On Mercari – Learn The Best Mercari Tips And Tricks For Sellers

By Rory Ackerman •  Updated: 08/25/22 •  8 min read
Filed under: Side Hustles

As one of the fastest-developing selling and reselling markets, Mercari is the new big deal for those that wish to get rid of some household items for a decent price. However, is it possible to make your selling business on Mercari more than just your side hustle?

In this guide, we’ll tackle some Mercari selling tips that can get you more buyers, and most importantly – bigger profit. 

What’s Mercari And How Does It Works?

Mercari is an online marketplace that quickly gained more than 100 million users worldwide. It, therefore, gives you a great opportunity to sell various items, since there are many potential buyers out there.

Online Marketplace

One of the best things about the platform is that when you register as a seller, Mercari only collects 10% off of every sale. This makes it cheaper than the alternative of eBay and other selling platforms.

It’s completely free to list your item on Mercari. Even so, it takes some skill and practice, so we are here with the best tips for selling on Mercari. Whether you plan on using the platform as a way of getting some cash for old household items. or for reselling similar to drop shipping, we’ll deal with the main tips:

Top 10 Mercari Selling Tips

There’s no universal Mercari selling tip, so you’ll have to consider it as more than just a selling platform. By using the full potential of the platform, you’ll open the doors up for more profit. Here are our top 10 picks for Mercari selling pointers that work in 2022:

1) Start By Making Some Pure Profit Sales

Most Mercari sales start with personal items that you simply don’t plan on using ever again. It’s one of the best ways to start and get some instant profit since you don’t have the need for such products.

Once you make a couple of personal item sales, you’ll have the necessary budget to upgrade your game. It’s a perfect way of getting to know the platform and how it works with each purchase. As you build up your budget, you make better offers to your customers, and one of them includes free shipping.

2) List Your Products With Free Shipping

The shipping cost might turn off some potential buyers when it comes to choosing your item over someone else’s. One of the ways to solve that issue is to offer free shipping to your clients.

There’s even a search filter on Mercari that lets buyers browse through the free shipping items only. So, you can ensure that your product appears on that shortlist for the customers to see. It doesn’t even mean you’ll need to lose money on the item.

Free Shipping

You can be smart and simply raise the price by just a few dollars to cover a part of shipping expenses. On the other hand, you’ll have much better chances of selling your item quickly and without much effort.

3) Include Detailed Item Descriptions

Shipping costs aren’t the only thing that turns customers off on certain Mercari products. Moreover, there are various listings just waiting to be uncovered, but the poor product description makes it waste away to never be seen.

While there are many re-sellers on Mercari, most people are just selling their own stuff. Likewise, there are many customers and potential buyers that might like your item but need more details. Especially if you plan on selling designer clothes or pieces of furniture, you should include the sizes and dimensions of your items.

You might also want to include the color and fit for designer clothes. Think about what you would be looking for if you were considering buying such an item.

4) Be Wise With The Price Of Your Listings

Mercari buyers are also partially there for the thrill of getting the goods at more convenient prices. So, if someone is looking for a particular item, they might want to choose the option that costs the least.

But, Mercari collects 10% on every sale, and a few additional fees like the $0.30 processing fee. So, make sure to list the item at a slightly higher price, and slowly lower the price little by little if necessary.

Try to occasionally drop the price for just one day to see if it will attract new buyers. Of course, you need to calculate the price throughout the entire process to make sure that you sell fast and still get some profit out of it.

5) Give Bundle Sales a Shot

Some Mercari sellers place their items in a bundle, and these seem to sell quite well. If you have a lot of products from the same category, like old baby clothes that your children are not wearing anymore, you might sell them easier in one shot.  

Bundle items tend to sell more in various categories, especially if you drop the price when compared to the cost of each item individually. You can browse the search results for bundle items and figure out what sells the best. 

6) Take Clear Pictures

This might sound a bit plain, but if you post clear pictures, you’ll stand a better chance of selling the product. It’s simple – people tend to overlook the items that appear in poor-quality photos.

It makes it look like you just want to get rid of a certain item, and that it might not be the best option for buyers. Not everyone is ready to turn a blind eye to a lower price, so make sure your lighting is good.

Also, you should take photos from different angles so the item is represented clearly. Artificial light can sometimes help if you have a lamp bright enough, but natural light might be the best option.

7) Drop The Prices Strategically

One of the best ways to sell new listings on Mercari is by lowering the price after some time after posting the item. You heard it right – it might boost your sale if you drop the price soon after you post an item.

Although it might sound like a silly move for those that wish to make a great profit from the sale, the benefit is in Mercari’s algorithm. The platform sends automated notifications to buyers that have liked your items in case you lower the price by 10% or more.

One of the best tactics for doing so successfully is to post an item at a slightly higher price, so once you drop it, it still makes a good profit for you. On the other hand, you’ll get cheap advertising, and who would say no to that?

8) Send Offers To Likers

After some time of creating the listing, you can see the notifications of buyers that like your post. At some point, you can use the promote feature to send a better offer to your likers. 

You can reduce the price just a tiny bit, and all of the item likers should receive a notification from Mercari. It will inform them that the item they previously liked is now for sale at a better price, so you might make a few easy sales there.

Many buyers are actually waiting for you to do this, as they like dozens of items and wait for the best offers from sellers. It’s a similar method to purposely lowering the price by 10%, only this way you get to input the new price of the listing.

So, a difference of just a few bucks can mean the sale for you in this scenario.

9) Take Your Time With The Tags

Did you know that a Mercari search depends on keywords? It’s much like Google or any other search engine, so you should consider doing some keyword research. You can type in the keywords for the type of product you are trying to sell, and see which descriptions work best.

If you don’t know the best keywords for your type of product, simply type the name and the brand on Google or Amazon. This way, you can get the best idea of specific keywords that suit your line of products the best.

10) Try The Drop Shipping Method

You’ve probably heard of all those drop shipping tactics on Instagram and similar platforms. Well, you can do something like that on Mercari as well. It’s not exactly considered cheating – you’ll just be advertising the products that you’ll buy from the funds once it’s purchased on Mercari.

Shipping Method

However, the product can be from Walmart or other marketplaces where you’ll grab it at a better price and simply earn a profit on the difference. You can also use professional photos from those sites to blend in with your various listings to give out an impression of a serious business seller. 

Final Thoughts

There’s no secret to selling on Mercari – it’s just a selling platform for those looking to earn a few extra bucks. However, you can make it a real strategic approach if you use some of the tips mentioned in our guide or even all of them.

Make sure to place reasonable offers and to re-list your old listings to give them a new chance. It’s a great side hustle due to the chance to sell multiple items in a bundle and to send offers to likers which is a feature that you should certainly use.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ):

How much does the average Mercari seller make?

According to a Parade article, an average US Mercari seller can earn around $114 per month. However, it completely depends on your inventory and the type of items that you are selling. The listing price is also important since it’s a competitive market with high demand for quality, yet cheap items.

Can Mercari be a full-time job?

If you’ve heard the stories about people making a living out of Mercari alone, you’ll have to think twice before you make it your goal. First of all, full-time Mercari sellers rarely sell their own items. They boost the sales by earning on the difference between the items they find on other platforms and then sell on Mercari for more money.

How to sell Mercari items faster?

If you wish to boost sales in terms of speed and efficiency, maybe it’s time to explore Mercari offers and notifications. By dropping the price of your product by at least 10%, everyone that liked your product will receive a notification that they have 24 hours to buy at a better price.

How does Mercari’s algorithm work?

The Mercari app uses an algorithm that updates the price of certain products based on the demand for that item category. So, you can have a clear idea of the best price for your item to list perfectly and achieve faster sales.

Rory AckermanRory Ackerman

Rory Ackerman

Hi, I'm Rory! I've worked in the banking industry for quite some time and wanted to help provide my expertise with all things credit related. In my spare time I like to play video games and collect sports cards.

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