15 Tricks to Selling on Mercari for Faster Sales!
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As the world becomes increasingly digital, more people are finding ways to make money online. Ecommerce platforms have skyrocketed in popularity since the COVID pandemic, and Mercari is one of the most popular selling apps available.
Mercari makes buying and selling stuff incredibly easy. All you have to do is download the app, create your listings, and start making money. Selling items on the app is one of the best side hustle ideas, provided you know the trick to selling on Mercari.
In this post, I’ll give you the best Mercari selling tips to help you turn your side hustle into a money-making machine.
The Best Tips & Tricks to Selling on Mercari in 2023
If you’re a Mercari seller, your goal is to make more sales faster. This is possible if you know the tricks to sell on Mercari.
However, there’s no one-size-fits-all trick to selling on Mercari. The tips below will help you determine what works best for you.
1. Write Detailed Descriptions
One of the best tricks to selling on Mercari is writing detailed descriptions of your items. Ensure you include everything from size and material to details like the condition of the items.
Buyers typically look for specific items, and you should provide them with enough information to make informed decisions. Additionally, including keywords related to the items you’re selling helps buyers find them more easily.
Think of the description section as a pitch to the buyer, and use language that will convince the buyer to buy your item.
2. Take High-Quality Photos
The photo of the item will either break or make a sale. Picture the buyers scrolling through similar items on the app. What will make them stop and pay attention to your items?
Take high-quality photos of the item, zooming in on the most important aspects like size and material. The buyer cannot touch and examine the item, so you should do your best to provide complete details in the photos.
You can use editing apps to help create a nice background, improve the lighting, and more. However, make sure you indicate any flaws to avoid buyer disputes.
3. List During Prime Shopping Times
Another trick to selling on Mercari is listing during peak shopping times. Listing your items during popular buying times increases their visibility and the chances they’ll get bought.
According to SaleCycle, Wednesday and Thursday are the best days for online sales, so you can try listing your inventory during peak shopping times.
Scheduling your listing around popular buying times is a great strategy to boost your visibility and get your items out there. You can do your research by tracking your sales to see what times work best for you.
4. List Name-brand Items
Brands that people are already familiar with sell a lot faster than no-name brands.
There’s nothing wrong with selling no-name brands, but you’ll have an easier time selling items people love. Designer bags, shoes, and clothes “fly off the rack,” so to speak.
While your end goal may not be to sell brands like Nike, Adidas, and Coach, you can use them to build a sizeable following before launching your other products.
Even if your items fall into other categories, you can use name-brand clothing, shoes, and accessories to get buyers to visit your page.
5. Stage Your Items
One of the challenges of selling items online is that it’s hard for the buyers to imagine what it’s like to own the item.
You can overcome this challenge by staging or modeling your items. The more emotional connection the buyer has with a specific item, the more the chance they’ll buy it.
If you’re selling clothes, for instance, you can increase your sales by using a dummy to show how the clothes would look on a person. You can stage other items by taking creative photos, like soccer shoes on a soccer field.
6. List Less Common Items
Mercari is a popular platform with many sellers and different types of items, and most of these items are from people you’ve never heard of.
One trick to selling on Mercari is to sell unique items.
Picture buyers scrolling through the app, seeing the same things repeatedly. Going against the grain helps your page stand out, increasing the chances that your items will sell faster.
You can research best-selling items on Mercari and tailor your products to your target audience.
7. Relist Items Regularly
Seasoned sellers on the app are familiar with another simple trick to selling on Mercari; relisting products that didn’t sell.
The algorithm on most platforms tends to treat newer listings favorably, so they’ll get increased visibility.
Mercari has a convenient “relist” button, which you can click on to copy the details from the item into a new listing form. This way, you don’t have to manually enter the details again.
Just remember to delete the old listing to avoid making duplicate entries.
8. Price Your Items Intelligently
Finding the right price for your items can be challenging, considering you have to consider your margin of profit while still pricing them competitively.
One important trick to selling on Mercari is to price intelligently.
You can use the Mercari smart pricing feature, which allows you to set a floor price, the minimum you’re willing to accept for the item. The app then automatically updates your listing price depending on the demand for your product until the item sells.
9. Offer Free Shipping
While this tip might not be the best strategy for everyone, it’s worth considering for some people.
Free shipping is one of the strategies that help to attract as many buyers as possible. Sometimes buyers use a search filter for “free shipping” items only, and your products may be eliminated.
For this trick to work, you need a wide enough margin. Factor in the shipping costs into the listing price and other Mercari seller fees.
10. Negotiate With Buyers
Engaging with negotiators is another simple but effective trick to selling on Mercari.
Haggling is not fun for sellers, but it’s a healthy part of almost every business. You list the items for slightly higher than the lowest amount you’ll accept, so you have the margin for negotiating.
Leaving a little wiggle room, especially for slower-moving items, helps you build meaningful relationships with your buyers, who may turn into repeat customers.
11. Use Promotions and Offers
You can use promotions to effectively market your products to prospective buyers.
The Promote and Offers features on the app are great tools that can help you get started. When you reduce your listing price by 5% or higher, Mercari notifies everyone who liked the item.
For the Offers feature, if you lower your listing price by 10% or higher, the app notifies the previous 50 likers. This is targeted marketing, which is the best Mercari selling trick.
12. Crosslist Your Items
Listing your items and selling on Mercari is a wonderful experience, given the convenient features built into the app.
Still, there are other marketplaces that are just as popular or even more. There’s no downside to listing your items on these platforms as well.
There are several other platforms and apps like Poshmark, Depop, and eBay, where you can list your items manually from Mercari or use crossposting software to manage all your listings from one place.
13. Try the Mercari Pro Seller Program
Mercari has a Pro seller program with many features and benefits that help you make more money. For one, you get a badge visible to all buyers who visit your profile.
Other perks of the program include:
- Inventory management
- Free promotion
- 24-hour support
- Bulk import tool
- Enhanced analytics
14. Ask for Reviews
One simple trick to selling on Mercari is encouraging buyers to leave reviews on your account.
You can only receive positive reviews by being honest about your items, engaging actively with buyers, and shipping items on time.
If you have several cancellations or negative reviews, Mercari warns the buyers, who will be less likely to purchase your items. The more positive reviews you have, the easier it’s to attract new customers.
15. Reinvest in Your Account
The last trick to selling on Mercari is reinvesting your profit in your business.
Think of it like any other business with expenses to cover. You can spend some of your money to cover seller fees, shipping costs, and anything in between.
You can also expand your business by using some money to purchase more items to resell on Mercari.
What Is Mercari?
Mercari is a popular marketplace platform that connects buyers and sellers. You can sell almost anything on the app, provided it can be shipped.
While there are many apps like Mercari, its comprehensive range of services sets it apart. Mercari processes all payments, protecting buyers and sellers from being ripped off, a real threat in the ecommerce world.
Mercari also restricts in-person meetings, requiring sellers to ship the items to the buyers instead. Before you buy or sell anything on the app, you must verify your identification. This is another security measure that protects Mercari users.
How Does Mercari Work?
The app has a pretty simplified process, so it shouldn’t be hard to figure out how to sell on Mercari. Here’s a quick overview how Mercari works:
1. Create a Mercari account: Sign up for a new account on their official website. You’ll need to share personally identifiable information, some of which is optional. Providing at least three pieces of identification earns you a purple shield.
2. Create your listing: To list your items, click on the “sell” button. Upload photos of the items, then enter the listing details. You’ll fill in details like the item’s size, brand, category, description, and condition. You can set the price of the item manually or enable smart pricing. Mercari charges a 10% seller fee, so factor this into your prices.
3. Connect with buyers: Mercari notifies you every time a buyer “likes” the item, makes an offer, or sends a message. Every offer lasts 24 hours, during which you can counter, decline, or accept it.
4. Ship the item: You can mail the item using Mercari’s label or your own. Once you’ve sent it, you can track it in the app. The buyer has three days to confirm receipt and rate you as a seller.
5. Receive payment: The payment for the item will be credited to your account once the process is over. You can transfer your money via direct deposit or instant pay, where you’re charged a $2 flat rate.
Some items are more popular on the app than others. Here are a couple of the best-selling items on Mercari:
- Electronics
- Women’s clothing
- Trendy bags
- Video games
- Sporting goods
- Children clothing
- Men’s shoes
- Children’s shoes
Extra Reading: How to Sell on Mercari
Best Mercari Alternatives
While Mercari is a great app for buying and selling stuff, it may not be the best fit for everyone.
Whether Mercari didn’t work for you or you’re looking for other apps to sell stuff online, here are some of the best Mercari alternatives:
- Poshmark: A popular marketplace that’s more focused on clothing, shoes, and accessories. If you want to list items in other categories, try other platforms.
- Rebag: An online reselling platform for luxury items like designer bags, jewelry, shoes, and clothing.
- Depop: A clothing resale app popular with fashion bloggers and social media influencers. This is the best app to list items like vintage clothing and accessories.
- OfferUp: An ecommerce platform focused on local listings. Pickup is done in person, so shipping costs are eliminated.
- ThredUp: A clothing resale site for selling secondhand clothes. Unlike other peer-to-peer platforms, you sell the clothes to the company instead.
- SidelineSwap: This online selling platform specializes in sporting goods and related accessories. If you’re looking for a marketplace to sell used sports equipment, SidelineSwap is the app for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is It Hard to Sell Things on Mercari?
It’s not hard to sell things on Mercari, provided you know the tips and tricks to get buyers to notice your items.
Mercari is one of the most beginner-friendly ecommerce platforms. You can conduct all your business from your smartphone using the app.
2. What Sells Fast on Mercari?
Some of the most popular item categories on Mercari include electronics, shoes, designer clothing, name-brand shoes and bags, and children’s toys.
If you’re looking to get started, perhaps you should consider selling items in these categories.
3. How Do You Increase Your Chances of Selling on Mercari?
The best way to increase your sales on Mercari is to use the app’s features, like Promote and Offer, to your advantage.
Dropping your prices by 5% or 10% helps to promote your listings to interested people, increasing the chances that you’ll sell the item.
4. Is It Worth Selling on Mercari?
Mercari is a safe, legitimate, thriving marketplace connecting millions of buyers and users.
It’s one of the best platforms for sellers who want a diverse market to sell almost anything. The app’s features make it very convenient for both buyers and sellers.
5. How Much Does the Average Person Make on Mercari?
An average person, with a steady stream of items to sell on Mercari can make anywhere between $50 and $500.
However, there are people making serious money on the platform, so it all depends on what your goals are.
6. Is Depop Better Than Mercari?
Both are great platforms to buy and sell items, so it depends on what you want to sell.
You can sell about anything on Mercari, but Depop is more geared toward fashion items like vintage clothing and accessories.
If flexibility is particularly important to you, you’re better off with Mercari.
Final Thoughts
Mercari is one of the best ecommerce platforms where you can list and sell your items as a side hustle, decluttering project, or actual business.
With these tips and tricks to selling on Mercari, you shouldn’t have a problem launching or growing your business.
Keep in mind that this is just another business, and there’s going to be stiff competition. All you have to do is keep a level head and make informed decisions regarding your activities on the app.
Who knows, your side hustle could grow into a full-time job!
Happy selling!
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