Poshmark vs Mercari

If you are looking to build a side hustle with reselling and trying to decide which platform to sell on this is the post for you! We have been resellers for the past 18 years in addition to selling on Poshmark for the past 10 years. We will compare selling on Poshmark vs Mercari.

Fees

As a reseller, we are in business for Profits! Fees have an impact on those profits. Let’s compare the selling fees on Poshmark vs Mercari.  When selling on Poshmark there just two fee structures. If an item has a final sale price of $15 or less you are charged a flat selling fee of $2.95.  An item that has a final sales price of over $15 has a 20% commission. Poshmark does not charge a listing fee.

Mercari, recently published they will change their fees starting, on October 1st, 2020. The new fee structure is as follows, all new listings will incur an additional 2.9% + $.30 payment processing fees when an item sells. Previously Mercari had one of the simplest fee structures out there! Prior Mercari charged a flat 10% commission on the final sale, this brings the commission rate to 12.9% + $.30 per listing. 

2020 Mercari Fee Total Comission

12.9% + $.30 per final sales price. 

For bank transfers under $10, there is a $2 transfer fee.   

When it comes to comparing Poshmark vs Mercari fees, Mercari wins the fee structure.

We will compare the fees involved with selling a pair of shoes with a final selling fee of $40.

Poshmark 

$40 x .80% (20%-100%=80%) = $32 Profit

Mercari

$40 x .90% (12.9% Mercari Fee -100%= 87.1%) = $34.84 – .30 (Process Fee) $34.54 Profit

Shipping

When looking at Poshmark vs Mercari, shipping is very easy on both platforms. On Poshmark the buyers pay a flat shipping rate of $7.49 unless you as seller provide a discount. The shipping rate covers packages 5lbs and less.

  On Mercari,  the sellers are responsible for setting up the shipping.  If you have sold on Poshmark for some time and decide to sell on Mercari as well shipping can require slightly more work.  Unlike Poshmark on Mercari, you are required to fill out a shipping section on each listing.  In this section, you will need to know the weight of each item along with the dimensions before you can submit a listing. On Mercari you can elect to also offer free shipping.  You will soon find out how good we have it on Poshmark shipping. Mercari allows sellers to select from three shipping vendors to ship through USPS, UPS, and FedEx. Mercari has negotiated shipping rates through each vendor which are significantly less then if you ship directly through each vendor.  Below we will compare shipping an item on Poshmark vs eBay.

Estimate to Ship a 5 lb item Priority

Poshmark Cost – $7.49 (USPS)

Mercari Cost- $10.40 (UPS)

Mercari Cost- $17.71 (USPS)

If that item was able to fit in a flat rate:

Small Box – $8.30

Medium Box- $15.05

Large Box – $21.10

As you can see shipping items on Poshmark will be cheaper in most cases. The one exception you will find that is a much better option on Mercari is when shipping items that are under 16oz. Items under 16oz qualify for first-class shipping. First Class Shipping with the USPS on Mercari is $4.99. When shipping on Mercari you will need to either pad your price with the shipping cost to offer free shipping or pass that fee on to the buyer which can be expensive. Passing the fee on to a buyer can make or break a deal. The one major issue that we have with the shipping on Mercari is the ability to not use the Priority flat rates.

For example, the cheapest shipping option to ship a 5lb item is $10.40 if you could use a padded flat rate envelope the cost would be $7.40 through the USPS. Lastly, we have noticed that UPS is the best option to use when shipping on Mercari. With that comes the hassle of needing to either drop off directly to a UPS store or to schedule a pickup. When shipping with the USPS you can place items directly in your mailbox at your home for pick up. 

Listing Process

Listing items on Poshmark and Mercari is very straightforward. Both listing processes are very user-friendly and easy to understand. As mentioned, Mercari listings require slightly more information than on Poshmark. Other than the added shipping field listing on each is nearly the same. 

Poshmark only allows users to submit 8 photos per listing, which are in a square format. Mercari allows users up to 12 photos. Mercari allows up to 40 characters in the title compare to Poshmark’s 50 characters in the title. The description field on Poshmark only allows 500 characters compare to Mercari’s 1000 character limit. 

Exposure 

Mercari initially started in Japan in 2013 as of 2019, Mercari has 15 million users. Poshmark was founded in 2011, and as of 2019 has 50 million users.  Poshmark has built a strong presence as a selling marketplace in a short time frame. Macari often referred to as the flea market app allows users to sell just about anything in any condition.   Many sellers who sell on Poshmark sell on Mercari, Why? You now have more possible customers. There are many times that sales may slow on one platform when sales pick up on the other. 

What You Can Sell

The Poshmark platform was built around selling clothing and fashion apparel until recently were they now allow home good items to be sold as well. You can just about sell anything on Mercari, in just about any condition. 

Biggest Complaint With Mercari

Our biggest complaint against selling on Mercari is exposure Mercari has a much smaller user base compared to Poshmark. Many of our items are listed on Mercari as well but we receive more low ball offers than sales. Mercari requires sellers to update listings after 30 days of being listed, we have found it more of a nuisance. Additionally to keep listings near the top Mercari has a “Promote” button which you can use to drop your listing price to likers or everyone.    

Complaints User Have with Poshmark 

Probably the largest complaint you will hear from users who are selling on Poshmark is the interaction required. Poshmark takes work a good bit of work! The platform is built around requiring a lot of interaction. As a seller, you need to continue to share your listings in order to keep your listing fresh and at the top of the platform. If you’re a seller who has 1000 listings this could take you 30-60 minutes each time. In order to bring in steady sales on Poshmark, you need to share your closet 3-4x times daily. That’s where we come in, Closet Assistant was built by resellers and is aimed to help you share your closet on Poshmark with ease. Poshmark is built just like Instagram or Facebook, you follow people, people follow you the more you have the better!

Conclusion

We have sold on both platforms and still sell on both to this day. They have their advantages and disadvantages, for a new seller, Poshmark is the easier of the two. If your goal is to selling fashion and clothing Poshmark is the better choice. 

Happy Selling!

Other Blog Post

Our blog is filled full of Poshmark Tips! Check out our other post to learn more!

Sourcing for Poshmark 

How to Increase Poshmark Sales

Increasing Followers on Poshmark

Virtual Assistant’s – The Facts

Celebrities on Poshmark 

Learn To Ship on Poshmark