I’ll prequel this with if you have a lot of stuff you’ll have a lot to sell so it’s swings and roundabouts really AND I’ve spent money to get to the point of having things to sell! However since working with Mercari a fairly new to the U.K. selling app I’ve been using it to sell unwanted things I have in my house that clutter my life! This isn’t an ad or paid work with them but it’s how it started out for me as I worked with them on a campaign a while ago, but since then have been ‘organically’ using it (aka I’ve been using it because I want to!) to sell my stuff.
Now I’ve used lots of ways to sell things in the past including being an admin of the Beauty Box Swaps Facebook page which helped me to sell (and buy!) lots of makeup, but it’s not so searchable and Facebook marketplace seems to have taken some trade away from it and so I was looking for a way to sell things and clean out my stash! Luckily Mercari came along at the right time!
How It Works
So how does Mercari work? Firstly you need an account- sign up here and use my code to get £10 to spend (off orders £15+ and only until 3rd Sept at 4pm- goes back to £5 to spend after that)
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Once you’re set up you can select the categories you’re interested in and these will appear on your home feed. To sell simply Press the button at the bottom and get going! Images are square so take them that way I say, and aesthetically pleasing photos sell products better. If it’s clothes make sure it’s photos of them on you as that really helps to sell!
Pricing
When pricing the item remember:
- Postage is included in the price! So make sure you account for that- minimum price is £3 and it’s whole numbers only to sell- no random pricing here!
- As always descriptions help and you can hashtag to make your item be seen more in relevant searches
Posting
Once someone’s paid you can either post through Hermes by going through the steps in the app and printing out the label given (this cost is taken straight from your sold price) or post through your own means- I use a mix of this and Royal Mail. The downside to posting through Royal Mail is that you have to pay for it before receiving any funds from your buyer so you need to have money to do so!
Fee Free Selling
Once the buyer receives it they have to rate you- you rate them back and then you receive your money. You’ll receive all of the selling price though as THERE’S NO FEES! I’m presuming it’s because they make their money by holding onto the buyers cash for a few days. If a buyer doesn’t rate you they’ll auto rate after a certain time providing there’s no issues that have been raised. I once received a damaged eyeshadow palette and Mercari paid for me to send it back to the seller- so they are super helpful too!
Once you have the money you simply request a withdrawal and it it process to go into you bank account for you! (Or you can spend it buying stuff on the app too!!)
How it’s Worked For Me
So far I’ve sold 91 items or bundles on the app plus some instant sales which are items that Mercari buy from you and you get the money straight away (rather than waiting!) and I’ve withdrawn a grand total of £867!!!! Now a couple of hundred of that I’ll have spent on postage but I’ve still cleared at least £700 as some of those have been sent to one person when they’ve bought multiple things and I’ve also spent money too (about £110!) on bags and makeup mainly! So that’s on top of what I have withdrawn.
I’ve still been using Facebook market place for my bulkier home items as it’s location based it’s easier to find buyers local to collect them and eBay for more niche sales and for more sized products. I have sold some clothing on Mercari but find Accessories and makeup sell that much better. So let me know if you sign up and what you buy /make and be sure to give me a follow on there too!