Mercari Slashes Buyer Fees, Hopes To Entice Last Minute Holiday Shoppers
On the heels of this week's big announcement about another fee structure shake up coming in January, Mercari is hoping for a Q4 GMV bump with 0% buyer service fee promotion to entice last minute holiday shoppers.
7 Days Of Savings, 0% Service Fee
Unwrap a week of Ho-Ho-Holiday savings with our best deal of the season!
Starting on December 11 at 12 PM PST, enjoy 7 days of 0% Service Fee* and dive into a treasure trove of amazing deals across all categories from trusted sellers. Payment processing fee, buyer-paid shipping cost, and taxes are still applicable.
Here’s how it works:
- Find your item
- Buy it now
- We’ll take care of the rest
To improve the likelihood of your items arriving by December 25th, we recommend placing your orders by December 13. Take advantage of this special week to find great deals and save on Service Fee. Don’t miss out—this offer expires December 18 at 11:59AM PST.
As always, it's important to read the fine print - buyers will not be charged the 10% service fee during this promotion, but they will still pay the 2.9% + $0.50 fee for payment processing on the total transaction including item price, shipping, and sales tax.
Official terms and conditions: Starting December 11, 2024, at 12:00 PM PST and December 18, 2024 at 11:59AM PST (“Promotion Window”), buyers will not be charged the 10% Service Fee for completed transactions that are initiated during the Promotion Window.
Not applicable to offers accepted after the Promotion Window. Buyers will be charged all other applicable fees, including payment processing fees, taxes, and buyer-paid shipping costs. Mercari reserves the right to update or alter these terms or end this promotion at any time, without notice.
Reactions to the promotion are overwhelming positive, with many sellers hoping they may finally see buyers returning to the platform and completing purchases.
But some commenters on Reddit are questioning the timing, worrying that doing this so close to Christmas risks packages not making it in time for the holiday due to delays caused by weather and increased volume carriers typically experience this time of year.
A big sale this close to the holidays feels like a recipe for disaster. If postal service is as slow as usual, I bet half these items won’t arrive before Christmas. Would have been a lot better a week ago. Interesting that they’re trying to lure people back in before the fee change. It will only keep the customers whose purchases arrive on time though.
100%, this would have made more sense during Black Friday not halfway through December
While the timing may not be ideal, Mercari likely felt pressure to launch this promotion any way in an effort to get the most out of what is left of peak season for Q4 following the announcement they'll be updating the fee structure again in 2025 after disastrous results from changes made earlier this year.
Liz Morton
Starting January 6th, the 10% commission fee will move back to the seller side of the marketplace, while buyers will pay a 3.6% "Buyer Protection Fee" instead of the 2.9% + $0.50 fee currently applied.
Our new fee structure:
We’re reintroducing a selling fee and lowering the buyer fee. This new fee structure aligns the benefits you receive with the fees you pay.For Sellers
- A flat 10% selling fee applies to item price and buyer-paid shipping
- Free ACH direct deposits for successful withdrawals. A $2 fee applies only for rejected deposits. Limit to one direct deposit per day.
For Buyers
- A flat 3.6% Buyer Protection fee applies to item price and buyer-paid shipping
- No additional payment processing fee
- Buyer Protection includes: A cancelation and refund policy, returns on eligible items, trusted transactions and 24/7 customer support
Understandably, Mercari wanted to get the announcement about the fee changes out early to help calm investor concerns about the future and performance of their US marketplace, but that also creates a potentially risky scenario where buyers may simply choose to wait until after those changes take effect and they are no longer being charged the current service fee to make purchases.
So, in order to help mitigate the risk of stalling sales ~2 weeks before Christmas, Mercari has thrown a Hail Mary pass with this promotion, hoping their note encouraging buyers to act quickly will be enough to ensure most items intended to be given as gifts will still make it on time.
