Since I started seeing commercials for the Mercari selling app a couple of years ago I've tried it as an alternative to eBay, but only recently have I started seeing results. In the last month I actually sold as much on Mercari as eBay and I finally bought a couple of things too. So now I can do a little better comparing the two.
eBay has been around since the late 90s or so and thus is the old guard in online auctions and for listing and buying second-hand stuff that can range from cars to brand-new electronics to toys from 60 years ago. The first time I used it was around 2001 when I bought a 1984-ish gray Pound Puppy with brown spots and ears to replace the one I lost on a trip to Florida back in like 1987. In the ensuing years I've bought some other stuff, mostly action figures and occasionally electronics or movies or something like that.
I started selling a few years ago after trying to sell stuff on Amazon got too fucked up. I mean Amazon let some clown buy a brand-new laptop, use the thing for days (as evidenced by the default language being in Spanish), and then return it for a full refund with some bogus excuse about the mouse button not working--which wasn't true.
Anyway, unfortunately eBay's return policies haven't been much kinder to me as a seller. I mean I've had one person lie about an item being "broken" because they couldn't figure out how to get it to work. Instead of contacting the company to ask for help, they just lied and sent it back to me--and of course eBay let them.
Stuff like that had me again looking for an alternative and so when I saw the commercials for Mercari, I thought, What the hell?
Mercari is foremost an app but there is a Web version too. Since it is foremost an app, the listing process is streamlined for that. Which I find annoying for most things because you only get 40 characters in your heading and like 1000 characters in your description. That's fine if you're just listing an action figure or dress or book or something simple. It sucks when you're listing electronics and want to provide as many details about what it is as you can. eBay lets you put in a lot more detail--at least the web version. They recently added tools when you load pictures so you can crop or rotate or brighten or sharpen the pictures right on the site, which is nice.
But I will say sometimes eBay has too much detail. If you list a smart door lock or something like that, it'll have drop boxes for everything from the brand and model down to the color or which side of the door it goes on. If you haven't actually used the thing or even opened it--the only way to sell it as New, as I learned from that stupid laptop on Amazon--that can be hard to say.
Where I really like Mercari is the offer system. In eBay's system, someone can make an offer on something of mine and then I have to accept, decline, or counter. If I accept, then that person gets an email--and I usually send an invoice--and then I have to wait to ship until they pay. Which can take days, or in some cases people will ghost me entirely. Which doesn't make sense. You came to me with an offer, so why aren't you ready to pay? If you change your mind, be grown up enough to say something and cancel instead of just running and hiding like a little kid would. With Mercari there's none of that shit because when I offer, I have to include payment info. If the seller accepts, the payment is done and they can ship right away. If they decline, I don't get charged anything. It's much better to avoid delays or ghosting.
In shipping, I still like eBay because it has better specific options. Mercari's options are too broad. Basically they go by the weight and give you a general label. For USPS it might be up to 2lbs if you're using a small or medium box. For a larger UPS item it could be up to 60lbs. eBay's system is more specific so you're being charged more or less what you would at the counter of the UPS Store or post office. Maybe a little more because it's better to fudge your numbers on the high side so your item isn't returned to you.
Another good thing about Mercari is after the sale. I've sold lots of stuff on eBay but hardly anyone takes the time to give me a rating. On Mercari, the buyer has to inspect and rate the item before the seller gets paid. As a seller it kinda sucks to have to wait but on the plus side that means the buyer can't open the item, use it for days, and then return it. Because after you inspect and rate the item you can't return it. I haven't had it happen yet, but assume after the 3 days the buyer gets to rate the seller the seller gets paid even if they aren't rated.
Mercari also tells you when you sell the item how much they're taking in fees, whereas eBay is still not very transparent about this. In the past they would take their cut the next month, which was always annoying. In the last year or so they switched to taking it at the time they pay you, but they don't really tell you upfront what they're taking. Then like last month, after you sell stuff they take more money for...reasons. You can go on the site to find a PDF, which again is not very upfront.
This is one of those situations where I wish I could combine the two companies into one and take the best from both. I know that won't happen, but it would be nice if they could learn from each other and make the process better as both a buyer and seller.
If you haven't checked Mercari out, they can have some decent deals. The search function isn't all that great though. I'm not sure why it brings up items that have already sold except maybe to give you an idea of comparative pricing. The filters are pretty wonky too. When trying to filter a search, I noticed a lot of stuff drop off that should have still been included--and stuff stay on that really shouldn't have stayed. And you can't really seem to sort the results by price. In the end you have to do more work than searching on eBay but occasionally it can be worth it.
I haven't used it but I assume Mercari has better support than eBay, because eBay really has none. I mean the last time I needed help all they had was some phone number. I thought that was pretty lame for a company that does all its business online.
If you've tried Mercari and eBay, let me know what you think.
1 comment:
I've never heard about Mercari. I will have to check it out. Although, I haven't sold anything online in a long time. One time I wanted to sell a wheelchair because I ended up with an extra one. Ebay wanted so many details about it that I never even ended up listing it. The last thing I sold online was a rabbit hutch. I used the Facebook market place, and that was pretty easy because it's local. People come to your house to get the item.
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