Mercari Local Delivery Service Abruptly Discontinued Amidst US Leadership Shakeup
Mercari has abruptly discontinued their Local delivery offering, giving users less than 24 hours notice to make adjustments to their listings.
The service, originally launched in 2021, leveraged a partnership with Uber to provide local delivery in many cities across the country with fees starting at $15.99 for smaller items up to $199 for large bulky items like furniture.
Team Mercari
Building on the success of rollouts in major cities including San Francisco, New York, and Houston, the local delivery offering previously known as Mercari Now will launch nationwide as Mercari Local.
With delivery logistics powered by Uber, Mercari Local provides casual sellers and avid collectors with an even easier way to exchange must-have items, everyday goods and unique treasures with their neighbors – all from the comfort of their own homes.
This partnership brings the reliability of Uber’s technology to local selling and shopping. Uber’s technology platform matches nearby delivery people, helping to enable the on-demand delivery of almost anything within hours of purchase.
For added convenience, no packaging is required, which is ideal for bulkier listings that are expensive and hard to ship, such as small household furniture, kitchenware, fitness equipment and baby gear.
At the time, Mercari US CEO John Lagerling said, "When you think about the traditional American garage sale, it’s as much about connecting with your neighbors as it is about decluttering and cleaning out your space. With Mercari Local, we’ve reimagined the way people can buy, sell, and connect with their local communities, allowing them to do so all without leaving their house. Our exciting new partnership with Uber now offers an even easier way to buy and sell almost anything, making resale even more accessible for people across the U.S.”
Local was clearly a reaction to the pandemic-era ecommerce surge and may have made sense as a business move during that time, but as that surge faded, Mercari has faced significant struggles with falling sales and negative buyer reaction to fee structure changes made earlier this year.
After laying off ~45% of US staff in June and being unable to turn the tide back to GMV growth, Lagerling will be "resigning" at the end of the year and Founder/ Japan CEO Shintaro Yamada will lead both Japan and US operations in 2025.
Liz Morton
While Mercari has not yet said specifically what they plan to do with fees, they have hinted at the possibility the leadership change could also lead to changes to the fee structure when speaking to investors last month.
Q6. What exactly will the change in the management structure in the US change? Moreover, are you considering returning to the original fee model?
...Regarding returning to the original fee model and other such changes, at present, we have not seen the effects that we had expected. Therefore, we will be flexibly considering options such as revising the fee model as part of our strategy in the US going forward.
But they aren't waiting for the management shift to start making other changes to the site, with some features and programs being cut with little to no notice to sellers, like the discontinuation of Smart Offers earlier this month.
Liz Morton
And now Mercari Local appears to be the next victim, with sellers reporting on Reddit they received less than 24 hours notice that they will need to update listings that only offer Local Delivery to avoid having them deactivated.
Wonder why it will be discontinued. Maybe not used enough? Or fees are too high. I liked having a local option and have utilized it many times when convenient. Oh well.
It's probably being removed because of too many glitches it used to be against the terms of service to do local sales and their code is so messy that some users that have talked about meeting up have gotten banned I'd say that and not that many people using the feature in general is the prime reason
Some sellers speculated the service never really gained traction against more popular options to find local items like Facebook or Craigslist.
In my 3 years of selling on Mercari I’ve never once sold anything local delivery. I always select the option for local delivery or shipping too. Even have listed some stuff local delivery only. That kind of stuff sold best for me on FB Marketplace or Craigslist.
On the few occasions I found something I wanted to buy on Mercari, that happened to say the seller was local, I would usually just pop open Facebook, search marketplace for the same thing, and “Voila!” No delivery fee, and I’d get it slightly cheaper than the price on Mercari.
Do you think discontinuing Mercari Local is a good move and how will it impact your buying and selling on the site? Let us know in the comments below!
