Mercari Fees Explained
Mercari is the simplest fee structure in resale: one flat 10%, no listing fee, no monthly fee, and since January 2025 no separate payment processing charge. The one detail that catches sellers out is that the 10% includes buyer-paid shipping.
By Marginory team · Online sellers with hands-on experience across Etsy, Shopify & PODUpdated Fee data verified against official platform documentation
The whole fee structure
| Fee | Amount | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Selling fee | 10% of item + shipping | Every completed sale |
| Listing fee | $0 | Never — listings are free and unlimited |
| Payment processing | $0 | Removed for sellers on January 6, 2025 |
| Monthly / subscription | $0 | No paid tiers exist |
| Standard payout | $0 | ACH direct deposit |
| Instant payout | $3 | Optional, only if you want funds immediately |
| Promoted listings | Varies | Optional, opt-in per listing |
Source: Mercari help center — selling fees — verified 2026-08-08.
The January 2025 change
Until January 6, 2025, Mercari charged sellers 10% plus a 2.9% + $0.30 payment processing fee — an effective rate near 13% on most sales. That processing fee is gone, and the flat 10% is now the entire seller-side cost.
| Sale price | Old total fee | Current fee | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| $15.00 | $2.23 | $1.50 | $0.73 |
| $25.00 | $3.52 | $2.50 | $1.02 |
| $50.00 | $6.75 | $5.00 | $1.75 |
| $100.00 | $13.20 | $10.00 | $3.20 |
| $250.00 | $32.55 | $25.00 | $7.55 |
If you read a comparison article claiming Mercari costs about 13%, check its date. A large share of resale content still quotes the pre-2025 structure, which materially overstates what Mercari costs today.
What you keep at every price
| Sale price | Mercari fee | You keep | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| $5.00 | $0.50 | $4.50 | 10.0% |
| $10.00 | $1.00 | $9.00 | 10.0% |
| $20.00 | $2.00 | $18.00 | 10.0% |
| $35.00 | $3.50 | $31.50 | 10.0% |
| $50.00 | $5.00 | $45.00 | 10.0% |
| $100.00 | $10.00 | $90.00 | 10.0% |
| $250.00 | $25.00 | $225.00 | 10.0% |
| $500.00 | $50.00 | $450.00 | 10.0% |
| $1000.00 | $100.00 | $900.00 | 10.0% |
Free shipping assumed. The effective rate is genuinely flat at 10% — there is no fixed component, so unlike Poshmark and eBay, cheap items are not penalised.
That flatness is Mercari's real structural advantage. A $5 sale costs $0.50 here and $2.95 on Poshmark, which makes Mercari the only major platform where genuinely low-priced items still make sense to list individually. Run your own numbers →
Shipping is in the fee base
This is the one place Mercari's simplicity misleads. The 10% is charged on the whole transaction, so buyer-paid shipping is included:
| Item price | Buyer pays shipping | Fee base | Fee | Rate on item alone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $30.00 | $0.00 | $30.00 | $3.00 | 10.0% |
| $30.00 | $8.00 | $38.00 | $3.80 | 12.7% |
| $30.00 | $15.00 | $45.00 | $4.50 | 15.0% |
| $30.00 | $25.00 | $55.00 | $5.50 | 18.3% |
| $15.00 | $12.00 | $27.00 | $2.70 | 18.0% |
The last row is the warning: a $15 item with $12 shipping pays a fee equal to 18% of the item price. On low-value bulky goods Mercari's flat 10% quietly stops being 10%.
The buyer protection fee
Mercari adds a buyer protection charge of roughly 3.6% plus a fixed amount at checkout. It does not come out of your payout — but it does raise the total your buyer sees.
The practical effect is on conversion rather than margin. A $20 listing might display close to $22 before shipping, so if you are competing against an identical listing on another app, your buyer is comparing a slightly higher total. Worth remembering when a well-priced item is not moving.
How Mercari compares
| Platform | Seller fee | Fee on $50 | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| Depop | No selling fee — processing only | $2.10 | $47.90 |
| Mercari | Flat 10% | $5.00 | $45.00 |
| eBay | 13.6% + $0.40 per order | $7.20 | $42.80 |
| Poshmark | 20% at $15 and above | $10.00 | $40.00 |
Free shipping assumed. Depop's processing rate is a widely reported estimate, not a published figure.
Mercari sits second-cheapest and first on category breadth — Depop undercuts it on fees but only really works for fashion. Compare all four with your own numbers →
Pricing around the 10%
List price = (item cost + target profit) ÷ 0.90
Example: item cost $10, target profit $20 → ($10 + $20) ÷ 0.90 = $33.33. Mercari takes $3.33, you receive $30.00, and $20.00 is profit.
If the buyer pays shipping, add it to the numerator before dividing — otherwise the 10% charged on shipping comes out of your margin rather than theirs.