You may have heard about Poshmark and Mercari. These two platforms are rising stars of e-commerce, where some sellers can make a full-time living. The question is, which is the better option for selling online?
We would love to give you a simple answer, but it really depends on what you want to sell, and how you want to sell it.
To make the choice a little easier, we decided to take a closer look at each platform and make a complete Poshmark vs Mercari comparison. Keep reading to see what we found!
The choice between these selling platforms comes down to your individual needs as a seller.
Both Poshmark and Mercari provide easy access to an online marketplace, where you can sell a variety of items. But when you look a little deeper, some differences start to emerge.
Founded back in 2011, Poshmark can best be described as a social e-commerce platform. In other words, it’s halfway between a social network and a selling platform.
This combination has proven very popular. At the latest count, Poshmark had over eight million sellers, who have listed over 75 million items with a gross value of $1.4 billion. And there is good evidence to suggest that some full-time sellers on the platform make six, or even seven, figures a year.
Much like eBay, Mercari is a platform with a focus on resale.
Originally created in Japan, this app is known for being very easy to use. Visit either the App Store or Google Play and you will see outstanding user reviews. Sellers also benefit from integrations with several top logistics companies.
The site currently has 19 million active users, generating an impressive $4 billion in sales per year.
Now we have done the formal meet and greet, it’s time to get better acquainted with both Poshmark and Mercari. Here’s a complete head-to-head breakdown of the two platforms:
Before you can start selling on either app, you first need to create an account.
Poshmark isn’t too demanding here. Along with an email address and password, the app merely asks for your name and address — and then you can jump straight into listing items for sale.
Mercari is similarly straightforward. Instead of asking for your name and address, the app encourages you to add a username, and payment details for any sales you make.
We wouldn’t describe signing up with either platform as time consuming or frustrating. Top marks all round here.
However, one thing to bear in mind is that these platforms are only available in select regions.
To sign up with Poshmark, you’ll need to be in the United States, Canada, Australia, or India.
Mercari previously operated in Europe, but the app has now retreated to just two locations: Japan and the United States.
The listing process is similarly smooth on both apps. There are a few different fields you can fill in, but not all of them are required.
Poshmark feels like a trimmed down version of Amazon here. You can create a title and description, and then add categories, tags, brands, sizes, colors, and your listing price. For sellers running a series operation, the system also provides a few basic stock-management features.
Mercari offers a similar array of options, although it’s a little more stripped back. The emphasis on reselling is made clear by the Condition field, where you can choose anything from New to Poor.
Both platforms allow you to upload product photos. Poshmark can only handle eight, while Mercari can take twelve.
Overall, Mercari seems a little more basic and user-friendly, whereas Poshmark presents more like a traditional e-commerce app.
The choice between Poshmark and Mercari might start to become clearer when you look at the supported product types on the two platforms.
As the name implies, Poshmark’s customer base has a preference for high-end luxury items. In particular, fashion is the focus — although you can sell certain home goods on the platform. Here is the full list:
The best sellers on Poshmark are generally products from big brands; while you may be able to sell a generic pair of jeans, you probably won’t be making big money.
In contrast, Mercari is more like an upmarket garage sale. The platform lets you sell almost anything, from collectibles to beauty products. Some of the key categories include:
Fashion sells well on Mercari, but well-established sellers report that devices, video games, figurines, bags, and outdoor goods also get a lot of interest.
To summarize: Poshmark is mainly about high-end fashion, while Mercari is like a posh flea market app.
Another key area that separates these two platforms is the selling process.
As we mentioned before, Poshmark is like the lovechild of Amazon and Instagram. The interface actually looks a lot like Instagram, and buyers can follow their favorite sellers to see their latest listings.
While you don’t necessarily need to embrace this social aspect, the most successful sellers on Poshmark work on building a following. And as with social media, you should include keywords in your titles and descriptions if you want your listings to be discovered.
In contrast, Mercari offers a far more traditional selling experience. If you have sold anything on eBay before, the process will feel familiar.
Price, product, and timing are the main factors in making a sale on Mercari. Shoppers look for value, and uploading products at peak times of day means you will reach people sorting by newest. You can also add keywords to your title and description, which are used for Mercari’s built-in search engine.
Bear in mind that, much like eBay, shoppers have the option to “Make an offer” on Mercari. That means you may get people trying to strike a bargain.
So, which platform is gonna make you more money? Let’s take a look at the raw selling fees first:
Poshmark fees:
Mercari fees:
To understand what that means in the real world, we can look at a couple of examples.
Say you’re selling a bracelet for $13. On Poshmark, you will get to keep $10.05. With Mercari, you would keep $11.02. It’s a small difference, but actually quite significant on a product in this price range.
At the other end of the scale, perhaps you might try to sell a bag for $85. Poshmark would let you keep $68. With Mercari, your profit would be $73.74.
In both of these scenarios, Mercari allows you to keep more of the sale price. And that holds true for all but a narrow price range, just under $15.
Sellers on both Poshmark and Mercari are responsible for the logistics of shipping. However, there is a difference in how the two platforms handle the process.
Poshmark keeps things very simple: you get a flat rate of $7.11 for shipping costs, as paid for by the buyer. In return, you need to use USPS Priority Mail. This ensures the item will reach your buyer in 1–3 days.
Mercari is much more flexible. The platform offers discounted shipping fees with three providers, or you can choose your own option.
The amount you receive for shipping is determined by the weight of the items you need to send.
If you choose to use one of Mercari’s partners (USPS, FedEx, or UPS), you get a prepaid shipping label to print out. If you don’t mind coughing up some extra dough, you can even drop your item off at your local partner service point and let them handle the packing and printing.
If you decide to go DIY, you will need to cover the cost of shipping in your sale price and handle the tracking information yourself.
One reason why sellers like Poshmark is that the platform has a policy of no refunds. That means no hassle with returns, either.
Mercari gives buyers three days to assess items. In that time, they can ask for a refund via the platform. The good news is that Mercari takes care of the process from start to finish. However, if they approve a request, you have to accept it.
When it comes to getting your hands on your money, both platforms offer a couple of different options for withdrawals.
With Poshmark, you can request your money via direct deposit or check. Funds become available three days after a sold item has been delivered.
You can also request a direct deposit from Mercari. But if you don’t want to wait up to five days for the money to arrive, you can utilize the Instant Pay feature.
This allows you to transfer up to $500 per month in earnings straight to your bank account. It takes a maximum of 30 minutes for the money to show up. The only catch is that Mercari takes a $2 payment processing fee every time.
Bear in mind that neither platform supports PayPal.
Phew, that was a lot to get through. If you arrived looking for specific answers, hopefully we have covered them.
On a more general level, the choice between Poshmark and Mercari is a little simpler.
Poshmark is a great place to sell designer clothes. The platform takes a fair chunk of the sale price, but it makes up for that to some degree by providing a large audience of engaged shoppers. It is relatively easy to use, and sellers will like the no refunds policy.
Mercari is a marketplace where you can sell almost anything, although brands do well here. The platform has slightly lower fees, and partnerships with shipping providers for easier logistics. The app probably has slightly better usability overall. The only downside is that it has a smaller audience.
Want to reach more potential buyers and pump up your sales? Here are our top five tips for making money on Poshmark and Mercari:
Products made by big brands tend to get top billing on both Poshmark and Mercari. If you want to make consistent sales, try to list items from Nike, Adidas, Gucci, or another brand with a famous name.
Over time, building a following on Poshmark can be a good way to generate sales. But when it comes to product discovery, this platform relies heavily on keywords. For this reason, make sure to be very descriptive in your titles and product descriptions — mention the brand, the size, the style, the color, and so on.
Mercari is a very dynamic marketplace. As stock comes and goes, the price for the same item can rise and fall rapidly. In addition, many shoppers sort by newest in search of a bargain — so newly listed items often sell quickly.
The platform actually has a feature to manage the price fluctuations, called Smart Pricing. This lets you set a price range on any item, and Mercari will change the actual sale price depending on the market — particularly good for anyone just running a side hustle.
However, experienced sellers also tend to relist items frequently. This means that your listing goes back to the top of the time-ordered pile, and you have the chance to adjust your price by hand.
You know, you might not need to choose between Poshmark and Mercari after all. That’s because you can just cross-post between these two apps.
Some sellers do this manually, via copy and paste. This is relatively easy, because both platforms share common listing fields.
Alternatively, tools like Crosslist can handle the cross-posting process for you.
Wherever you decide to post, make sure you upload plenty of good product photos.
Poshmark and Mercari are both very visual apps, where shoppers will see the images of your items long before your carefully-composed description.
Where possible, try to take your photos in a well-lit environment. Use a clean background, or use an editing app to remove distractions.
Probably the easiest way to clean up your product photos is with Pixelcut. Our app can remove any background in seconds, with zero skill required.
You can also insert a new background, mess around with drop shadows, and export your images at the perfect size for each platform. And the whole workflow takes a couple of minutes.
Download Pixelcut today to see how easy product photography can be!
Join more than 10 million small businesses, creators and entrepreneurs that use Pixelcut to grow their business.