What you do
You photograph something you own, write a short listing and set a price. A
listing can hold up to 12 photos.
When it sells, you pack it and post it. You have three business days to get the
package to the carrier.
Listing costs nothing. You only pay when something sells.
What it pays
Mercari keeps 10% of the sale. A second Mercari page says the same, and
says it is charged only when an item sells.
That 10% is taken on the item price plus any shipping the buyer paid. There
is no separate payment processing fee for you.
You may price an item from $1 to $2,000. So one sale can leave you with
about $0.90 or about $1,800.
Neither number is a wage. Mercari publishes nothing about what a typical seller
earns, per sale, per week or per month. We are not going to make one up.
The number that catches people
Shipping is where small sales die.
If you offer free shipping, the label cost comes out of your money. The
cheapest label Mercari publishes is $4.91, for a quarter-pound package.
So a $5 item with free shipping earns you $4.50 after the fee, then loses
$4.91 to the label. You paid to give it away.
You choose at listing time whether you or the buyer pays shipping. On
cheap items, that choice is the whole profit.
When you actually get the money
Not when it sells. You are paid after the buyer rates you. They have 72
hours from delivery to do it. If they never do, Mercari rates it 5 stars for
them after three days.
Then a bank transfer takes about five business days and is free.
Faster payment costs a flat $3, is capped at $600 a month, and only
works inside the phone app.
A transfer that bounces costs you $2.
Who this fits
This fits you if you have things in the house you do not want.
It fits if you cannot leave home much. It is done from a phone, though you do
need to get parcels to a carrier.
It fits if you want to start with no money. Listing is free.
It fits if you would rather do small bursts of work than fixed hours.
Who should skip this
Skip this if you cannot pack and post things reliably within three business
days.
Skip it if your items are cheap and light. Fees plus shipping can leave you with
nothing.
Skip it if you need money fast. You wait for delivery, then for a rating, then
for a transfer.
Skip it if you are under 18. A 13 to 17 year old can only sell through an
account held by a parent or guardian.
Skip it if you sell high value items and will not verify your identity. Above
$2,000 needs authentication and extra ID checks.
How to start, step by step
- Check your age. You must be 18, or the age of majority where you live.
- Weigh the item before you list it. The weight decides the label price.
- Decide who pays shipping, and write the price around that.
- Take clear photos. You get up to 12.
- List it. It costs nothing.
- When it sells, post it within three business days.
- Wait for the rating, then move the money to your bank.
Before you pay anyone: Mercari never charges you to list. Keep every message and payment inside the app, because moving a deal off the platform removes its protection.
Your first week
Day 1. Pick five things, and weigh every one of them. This is the step people
skip, and it is the one that decides whether you make money.
Day 2. Look up the label cost for the heaviest one. Compare it to the price you
were going to ask.
Day 3. List three items. Make one of them buyer-paid shipping and one
seller-paid, so you can see the difference in what sells.
Day 4. Pack a box before anything sells. Knowing you can hit the three day
window matters more than speed.
Day 5. Work out your real profit on the first sale. Sale price, minus 10%,
minus the label if you paid it, minus tape and boxes.
A scale is the one that pays for itself. Guessing a package’s weight is how you
end up paying the carrier’s extra charge.
As an Amazon Associate, Side Gig Finder earns from qualifying purchases. These links help pay to keep this site running. We picked these items before we checked if they earn us anything.
- A smartphone with the Mercari app You list by taking photos, and the fast payout only works inside the latest version of the app. The website alone will not get you paid in thirty minutes.
- A checking account in your own name Direct deposit is the only free way off the platform, it only goes to a checking account, and one bank account can be tied to one Mercari account.
- A government photo ID Needed before the fast payout will turn on, and needed again if you ever list an authenticated item over $2,000.
- A kitchen or postal scale You pick the shipping label weight yourself, and Mercari makes you pay the carrier's extra charge if you pick too low. A scale is the difference between a sale and a loss.
- Boxes, tape and padding The label is the only shipping cost Mercari covers. Everything you put around the item is yours to buy.
- A printer Handy but not required. Mercari labels can be shown as a QR code and printed by the carrier at drop-off. You can start without it.
We do not print Amazon prices. Check the price on the page.
The downsides
Ten percent of every sale goes to Mercari.
Shipping can eat a small sale completely.
You are paid late, and the timing is not fully in your hands.
Using your own label removes Mercari’s $200 loss and damage cover.
Mercari contradicts itself on its own site. Shipping savings appear as an
average of 54% on one page and up to 40% on another. The prepaid
label weight limit is under 50 lb on one page and up to 100 lb on
another. Check the label price for your actual parcel rather than trusting
either claim.
Tax paperwork is on you. Mercari collects a W-9 at the federal threshold
and sends a 1099-K by January 31. That form shows the gross sale, not your
profit.
Questions people ask
Does it cost anything to list? No. Listing is free, and the 10% comes out
only when something sells.
When do I get paid? After the buyer rates you, or automatically three days
after they do not. Then about five business days to your bank.
Is there a hold on new sellers? Mercari does not publish one. It does
reserve the right to limit an account. We record that as unknown rather
than telling you there is no hold.
Do I owe tax on this? If you cross the threshold you get a 1099-K, and it
reports the gross amount, not your profit. What you owe depends on
your own situation, so ask a tax professional. We do not give tax advice.
Sources and dates
- Mercari, help center, Fees on Mercari, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Seller Protection, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Fees on Mercari, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, FAQs about our new fee structure, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, FAQs about our new fee structure, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Creating a Listing, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Creating a Listing, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Seller Protection, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Ratings for Sellers, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Getting paid, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Getting paid, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Seller Protection, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Fees on Mercari, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Fees on Mercari, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Getting paid, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Shipping for Sellers, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Creating a Listing, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Fees on Mercari, Current 2026 Shipping Rates table, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Fees on Mercari, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Fees on Mercari, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, How It Works, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Shipping for Sellers, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Shipping for Sellers, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Creating a Listing, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Shipping for Sellers, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Seller Protection, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Minors policy, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Minors policy, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Minors policy, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Getting Paid, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Getting paid, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Helpful Income Tax Information for Sellers, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Helpful Income Tax Information for Sellers, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Helpful Income Tax Information for Sellers, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Creating a Listing, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Shipping for Sellers, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Mercari, help center, Fees on Mercari, checked Sep 2, 2026.
What we could not confirm
- OQ1: Mercari publishes no figure at all for what a typical seller earns per sale, per week or per month. Its own Gross Sales Report is per-seller data shown only to that seller. No income claim can be made on this page beyond the fee arithmetic.
- OQ2: Mercari contradicts itself on shipping savings. The fee page says an average of 54% off retail carrier rates [F20]; the How It Works page says up to 40% [F21]. Both are Mercari's own pages, checked the same day. Neither number should be printed as the number.
- OQ3: Mercari contradicts itself on the prepaid label weight ceiling. The Shipping for Sellers guide says under 50 lbs [F36]; the fee page says up to 100 lbs [F37]. Do not print either as settled.
- OQ4: Mercari does not publish any new-seller payout hold, waiting period, or first-sale reserve. The closest published statement is a general right to limit an account or its funds on suspicious activity [F26]. Silence here is unknown, not no. Widely repeated third-party claims about first-payout holds were not found on any Mercari page and are not recorded.
- OQ5: The help center articles at /article/91/ (When do I get paid?) and /article/195/ (Why is my payout on hold?) render no body text to a plain fetch, so the payout-hold question could not be answered at its own dedicated page. The facts above come from the pages that do render.
- OQ6: Mercari does not publish how long a typical item takes to sell, or what share of listings sell at all. No sell-through rate exists here.
- OQ7: The $4.91 cheapest label [F18] is a cell in the Current 2026 Shipping Rates table and is for a 0.25 lb USPS Ground Advantage package only. Anything heavier costs more, and the rates rose on 7 May 2026 for a USPS fuel surcharge [F19], so this figure moves.
- OQ8: Mercari does not publish a federal 1099-K dollar threshold on its own tax page; it says only that the IRS sets one [F33]. The current threshold must be taken from the IRS, not from Mercari, and was not checked in this pass.
- OQ9: Whether Mercari charges the 10% selling fee on sales tax as well as item price and shipping is not stated on the fee page. eBay states it does; Mercari does not say either way.
- OQ10: eBay was checked first and rejected. eBay's own fee page publishes clear final value fee percentages, but www.ebay.com began returning a bot-check page with HTTP 200 and zero body text after two requests, so no eBay quote can be machine re-verified by scripts/facts-check.mjs. Poshmark was checked second and rejected: its fee numbers live only in a Salesforce-rendered help center that serves no text to a plain fetch, and no poshmark.com static page publishes the commission.
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