Mercari vs eBay vs Poshmark: Which is Right for You?

Mercari vs eBay vs Poshmark

Back in the day, if you had a closet full of things that you wanted to sell, you would likely head to a pawn shop or wait until the weather is nice enough to have a garage sale. Both of those options seriously limit your reachable audience and, therefore, your opportunity to make some extra cash.

Today, there are many websites where you can resell things that you want to get rid of, but three that are incredibly popular are Mercari, eBay, and Poshmark. You might be wondering when it comes to Mercari vs eBay vs Poshmark, which service is the best one to buy and sell merchandise. The answer might not be the same for everyone, so we’ve created this complete guide to Mercari vs. eBay Vs. Poshmark to help you make the very best decision.

Mercari vs eBay Vs Poshmark

Before we get into the specifics of the comparison, here is an overview of the three different online marketplaces.

Mercari — Mercari is a Japanese-based company that launched in 2013. The mission of Mercari is to, “Create value in a global marketplace where anyone can buy and sell.” The company has many features that make buying and selling safe and easy for all users such as:

• An escrow system for payments
• Mercari Shipping
• Artificial Intelligence listing
• Barcode listing
• Mercari Workshops
• Mercari packaging materials

eBay — eBay is an online marketplace where people from all over the world can come together to buy, sell, and trade. It was launched in 1995 in San Jose, California as an auction site. In 2006, eBay launched eBay Motors to help facilitate the buying and selling of vehicles. Still today, buyers and sellers can auction off items that will ultimately go to the highest bidder. This makes eBay a great place for selling collectibles that have different value to different groups of people.

Essentially, here is a breakdown of how eBay works:

• A seller lists an item on eBay and opts to sell it to the highest bidder (auction) OR offer the “Buy It Now” option in which buyers can purchase the item for a certain price
• In the case of an auction, the seller will set a base price for the bidding to start and a deadline for the auction. Buyers will place bids on the item until the deadline and the item will ultimately go to the highest bidder.
• In the case of the “Buy It Now” option, the buyer purchases the item for the set price that was set by the seller.

Poshmark — Poshmark is an online marketplace that sells clothing and accessories. Sellers may list items that are brand new or gently used and set the selling price. Poshmark is a great option for those who have fashion items that they want to get rid of, but don’t want to throw them away or donate them. From a buyer’s point of view, Poshmark is a great way to purchase designer labels for a fraction of the original price.

To help you decide the best site for you between Mercari vs eBay vs Poshmark, we have broken each resell website down into 7 categories: selling fees, customer base, listing process, shipping, customer service policies, accessing funds, and returns.

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#1 Selling Fees

You will definitely want to pay attention to how much a website charges you to sell your items. This is important because it may affect how you charge buyers. For example, if you are selling an item for $10, but a site charges $3 to sell an item with them, you may want to list that item for $13, instead.

Here is the breakdown of Mercari vs Ebay vs Poshmark selling fees:

Mercari: Mercari does not charge listing fees for any category of sales, but they do have a few selling fees as well as payment processing fees.

• Mercari keeps 10% of each sale.
• If you request a direct deposit, Mercari charges $2 if the transfer is for less than $10, and $2 if your bank rejects the request.
• There is a payment processing fee of 2.9% of the purchase price PLUS a selling fee of $0.30.

Ebay: For most selling categories, you can set up 200 listings for free. After that, each listing costs $0.35 PLUS a 10–12% selling fee (max $750).

• Business & Industrial categories, the listing fee is $20 with a 2% selling fee (max $300).
• Musical instruments are free to list, with a selling fee of $3.5% (max $350).
• Clothing is free to list and has no selling see if the starting sale price is at least $100.

Poshmark: There is no listing fee for any items on Poshmark, no matter what the selling category is. However, after a sale is made, Poshmark does keep a selling fee.

• For sales under $15, the selling fee is $2.95.
• For sales over $15, Poshmark keeps 20% of the sale.

#2 Customer Base

The customer base that a website has is going to be very important because that’s essentially how many people you can possibly sell your wares to.

Mercari: over 15 million users worldwide.

eBay: 182 million users worldwide. The eBay app is used by nearly 35% of all US cellular phone users.

Poshmark: 60 million users, 8 million of which are active sellers.

#3 Listing Process

Mercari: Mercari might be the easiest website/app to list items on because there aren’t that many fields to fill out. The downside of this is listings might not be very specific.

1. Upload photos
2. Write product description
3. Select shipping method
4. Optional: promote your item for a 5% price drop. Mercari will boost your items ranking on the search results page
5. List the item

eBay: The listing process on eBay is a bit time consuming, but very effective. Note that because the process is so involved, it may be easier to list items from a computer rather than from a mobile device.

1. At the top of any eBay page, select the Sell button and complete the Sell Your Item form
2. Select a category
3. Write a product description and give it a title
4. Add specific details about the item (weight, height, age, etc.)
5. Select a price — base price for auction or set price for Buy It Now
6. Select listing duration
7. Choose acceptable payment types
8. Choose return policy
9. Review listing for accuracy and select List Item for Sale

Poshmark: The easiest way to list an item on Poshmark is with their app.

1. Tap on the Sell button in the app
2. Take a photo of your item with the camera in the app or upload on from your camera roll
3. Give the listing a title and fill out the description and size
4. Set the price
5. Tap Next and share the listing on other platforms (optional)
6. Finally, tap the List button

#4 Shipping

Mercari: Mercari offers low, fixed shipping rates with USPS, and FedEx for packages up to 150 lbs. Once the item sells on the Mercari app, they email the seller a shipping label which can be printed with a regular printer and attached to the shipping box with tape.

If a seller does not want to use Mercari’s prepaid label, they may pack and ship the package themselves at any FedEx, USPS, or UPS location, especially if the package is particularly large. However, keep in mind that this option may be more expensive than the flat rate option that Mercari offers.

eBay: In the United States, you can choose to send an item through USPS, UPS, or FedEx. Shipping labels are easy to print out — you don’t need to use adhesive paper. Just print the label that eBay creates for you and use tape to adhere it to the shipping package.

There are a few different ways to set the shipping price

• Raise the price of your item and offer flat-rate shipping
• Compare other seller’s shipping prices and set your accordingly
• Use eBay’s shipping calculator to determine the approximate shipping cost. This price will vary depending on location, size, and weight and will give you the most accurate shipping cost.

Poshmark: Poshmark has a flat shipping rate of $7.11 that the buyer pays for. Once an item sells, the seller will get the shipping label delivered to their email address. The label can be printed with a regular printer and attached to the shipping box with tape.

#5 Customer Service Policies

Mercari: Mercari has a Help Center on their website that is designed to answer many questions, but there is not a way to get in touch with a real person. If you need help with an issue that you are having on Mercari, you may have to do a lot of research in order to answer your own question.

eBay: eBay has very strict rules for sellers and performing badly can hurt your reputation. Once you’ve made a mistake and a mark has been made against you as a seller, you may look untrustworthy to future potential customers. Performance reviews are done every 1–12 months, depending on how often you sell on eBay, and are based on item descriptions, your terms and conditions, shipping and handling charges, delivery times, communication, returns, and photos.

Poshmark: Poshmark’s Help Center has many resources for buyers and sellers alike. It’s quite possible to find the answer to your questions without getting in touch with one of their customer support representatives, but there is an option to contact support, if absolutely necessary.

#6 Accessing Funds

Mercari: Funds are released into a seller’s account once a buyer “accepts” the item, which they have 3-days to do. If the item is not “accepted” within those 3-days, the finds are automatically released. Once the funds accumulate in a seller’s Mercari account, they can request a direct deposit, which is delivered in 2–3 days.

eBay: Ebay allows buyers to purchase items with PayPal so when this option is used, the funds go directly into the seller’s PayPal account. This allows sellers to access their funds almost immediately. Once the funds are in a PayPal account, they can be used with a PayPal debit card, with a bank transfer (usually takes 1–2 days), or through a bank account that is set up to be connected with a PayPal account.

Poshmark: Once a buyer receives their item and “accepts” it on the app, the seller received the funds in their Poshmark account. If a buyer does not accept their purchase within 3-days, the funds get automatically released. A seller can transfer their funds from their Poshmark account to their bank account via direct deposit which takes 2–3 days. If a buyer would like to receive a check, that is also possible, but it will take around 7-days.

#7 Returns

Mercari: All sales are final with Mercari, however, they do protect their buyers in the event that they purchase an item that was misrepresented. A customer can request to return an item within 3-days of receiving it if:

• The item is not as it was described in the listing
• The item is potentially counterfeit
• The item is Prohibited
• The item is damaged
• The item is defective
• The wrong item was received

eBay: A buyer can return an item on eBay for any reason, but they may have to ask the seller if they will accept the return. If an item was received damaged, doesn’t match the description, or is incorrect, it can absolutely be returned for a refund*.

*Starting November 10th, 2020, the time frame for a buyer to ship a return will be 10 business days.

Poshmark: Poshmark doesn’t typically accept returns unless the item has been seriously misrepresented by the seller. If a buyer is unhappy with their item, they have 3-days to alert Poshmark of the issue by making a claim which Poshmark will then validate or deny. If Poshmark validates the claim, they will send the unhappy buyer a prepaid shipping label to return their item.

Final Thoughts

When comparing the three online marketplaces, it’s hard to determine a real winner because they are all so different.

That being said, we have determined the following based on our research:

Poshmark is the best for selling clothing and accessories.

eBay is the best for selling collectibles and large items — especially vehicles.

Mercari is best for general sales, but their customer service may be iffy.

Of course, you can certainly post your items on all platforms to raise your chances of selling an item quickly. However, you will just have to hope that someone doesn’t try and purchase your item on one platform at the same time someone attempts to purchase it on another.

Deciding Mercari vs eBay vs Poshmark will largely depend on what you are selling. Now that you have this guide available to you, you will be able to determine exactly which site is the very best for you to sell your wares. Happy selling!