Mercari Introduces AI-Powered Importer To Help Sellers Cross List Items From eBay & Depop
Mercari is introducing an AI-powered listing import tool to help sellers easily list items from their eBay and Depop stores, hoping new fee structure will entice more cross listing to boost sales on the platform.
The new tool allows sellers to enter their store or user URL to import all listings or to enter individual item URLs if they only want to copy over specific items.
While Mercari tells sellers to "make sure all listing text and images are your own", there is no verification required and nothing preventing someone from entering URLs for other sellers' items to be imported.
When importing single URLs, the process loads fairly quickly but it may take longer to import an entire store.
Once it's imported, you can (and should) edit to check the information and make any changes neccessary.
Mercari says they are using AI to power this feature and unfortunately, as with their image-based AI listing tool, the bot doesn't always get it right.
For example, this listing imported from Depop was incorrectly categorized in Men's Shoes when the category on Depop, URL, item title and description all clearly show they should be in Women's Shoes. Mercari's AI also incorrectly labels the brand as Cole Haan when it should be Bass.
Even if you are using the tool as intended, only to import your own listings, you're still going to need to check the details on every one to make sure their AI systems haven't added incorrect information or miscategorized the item, which could limit the usefulness and actual time savings involved versus simply copy and pasting the information yourself.
YouTuber DovesInTheCrosswalk also encountered some technical issues when trying to use the new tool, again calling into question how much a timesaver it really might be.
It's also important to note this tool is only a one time extraction of item details - if you make edits on eBay or Depop later on it will not automatically update the Mercari listings and if you sell the item on another platform, the inventory will not automatically synch or be set to zero either.
The launch of this new tool is clearly designed to try to entice sellers with the new "Zero Selling Fee" structure Mercari announced last week.
Liz Morton
The rollout of the new fee structure has been messy as buyers balk at being charged payment processing and services fees at checkout, fees were incorrectly charged to both buyers and sellers, and seller anger forced Mercari to temporarily backtrack on a $2 per direct deposit fee.
It's interesting that Mercari targeted eBay and Depop specifically for the initial phase of this tool as both sites have been testing similar ideas in other regions, all with the goal of taking a greater slice of the consumer to consumer resale market.
Depop recently announced they are dropping the 10% commission fee in the UK with sellers still charged payment processing fees and buyers charged a service fee of "up to" 5%.
Liz Morton
eBay also recently began testing fee free selling for private (non-business) sellers in the UK, mirroring changes they made in the German market last year.
Liz Morton
Notably, while eBay's initiatives so far have been limited to only private/non-business sellers, they have not come along with shifting the fee burden to buyers - yet.
Fee-free selling for private or consumer-sellers has been very successful for eBay in the German market and eBay is currently in the midst of a strategy pivot back to a broader consumer-seller focus as CEO Jamie Iannone touts C2C success to investors and Chief Business Strategy Officer Stefanie Jay is confirmed to have departed the company in January.
More information about Mercari's AI listing importer can be on their help and FAQ page.
Let us know in the comments below what you think of the new listing importer from Mercari!
