Mercari Fee Calculator

Mercari takes 10% of every sale, calculated on the item price plus whatever the buyer pays for shipping. Listing is free, there is no payment processing fee, and moving your money to a bank account costs nothing. The buyer pays a separate 3.6% Buyer Protection fee at checkout, which never touches your balance.

The 10% selling fee includes shipping

The part of the fee most sellers miss is the shipping. When a buyer pays $8 for a prepaid Mercari label, that $8 goes straight to the carrier, yet Mercari still charges 10% on it. On a $50 item that means a $5.80 fee rather than $5.00. It is a small amount per order, but on cheap items with heavy packages it can be the difference between a profit and a loss.

The 3.6% Buyer Protection fee

Buyers see this fee at checkout, added to your price and shipping. It does not lower your payout, but it does raise the total the buyer pays, so it is worth keeping in mind when you compare your price to the same item on another marketplace.

Getting paid: direct deposit or Instant Pay

Direct deposit is free and you can request one transfer a day. Instant Pay sends money to an eligible debit card within about 30 minutes for a flat $3, up to $600 a month. Because the $3 is charged per cash-out, waiting until you have several sales in your balance makes it much cheaper per item. The calculator lets you spread it across several sales.

Fees that only apply sometimes

• Authenticate: $5 per designer item you choose to have authenticated, plus $10 if you want a certificate.
• Cancellations: sellers who cancel orders often can be charged 5% of the item price, up to $25, after warnings.
• Label adjustments: if the carrier finds your package heavier or bigger than the label you bought, the difference is taken from your balance.

The calculator above does this for you, but the maths is short enough to do on paper:

1. Add the item price and the shipping the buyer pays (use 0 if you offer free shipping).
2. Multiply that total by 10% to get the Mercari selling fee.
3. Subtract the fee and your shipping label from the total to get your payout.
4. Subtract what you paid for the item and any supplies to get your profit.

As a formula: payout = (item price + buyer shipping) × 0.90 − label cost, and profit = payout − item cost − other costs.

To price backwards from a profit target, flip it around: price = (target profit + costs + label) ÷ 0.90 − buyer shipping. The "Price for a target profit" tab does exactly that and rounds up to a whole dollar.

The same $50 item, shipped four different ways. In every case the label costs $8, except where you buy your own for less.

Low-priced items are where fees hurt most. A $12 item with $6 buyer-paid shipping pays a $1.80 fee and nets $10.20 after the label. If the item cost you $5, your profit is $5.20, and a free-shipping version at $12 would leave you $4.80 before the item cost. Bundling small items is often the better move.

With a prepaid label, Mercari prices postage from the carrier, service and weight you pick, and the money comes out of the sale. Labels include shipping protection, and packages up to 100 lb can ship on a Mercari label.

Best vs Standard rates

Mercari offers cheaper "Best" rates for small packages: up to one cubic foot with no side longer than 22 inches. Larger boxes get the Standard rate, priced on size as well as weight, so entering accurate dimensions can lower your label cost.

Shipping on your own

You can also set your own shipping price and buy a label elsewhere. Mercari still charges 10% on the shipping the buyer pays, but you keep any difference between what you charge and what your label costs, and you take on the tracking and protection yourself.

Promote is free to use but not free in practice: it permanently drops your price by at least 5%, pushes the listing up in search and notifies everyone who liked it. Offers to likers work the same way with a bigger, temporary discount of at least 10%. In both cases Mercari's 10% is charged on the lower price, so the fee shrinks slightly while your payout drops by the full discount. Use the discount field in the calculator to see what a Promote or offer leaves you with before you send it.

A flat 10% makes Mercari one of the cheaper places to sell, especially for mid-priced items. The quickest comparison is to run the same numbers through each calculator:

The cheapest fee is not always the best home for an item: buyers, sell-through speed and shipping rules differ by app. Many sellers list the same item on several marketplaces and let it sell wherever the right buyer shows up first.

The Mercari marketplace this calculator covers is US only, and every price and payout is in US dollars. Mercari no longer operates in the UK and has never opened in Canada. Mercari Japan runs as a separate app with its own fees and shipping options. If you sell from Canada or the UK, our eBay, Poshmark and Depop calculators support those markets.

• Price shipping into the itemwhen you offer free shipping, so the 10% and the label don't come out of your margin.
• Measure the box. Small packages qualify for Best rates, which can be a few dollars cheaper per label.
• Weigh accurately. Underpaid labels are corrected from your balance after the carrier scans the package.
• Batch your cash-outs or use free direct deposit instead of paying $3 for Instant Pay on every sale.
• Leave room for Promote. List a little above your floor price so a 5% Promote or a 10% offer still clears your target profit.
• Bundle low-priced items. One label and one fee base on a bundle beat several tiny sales.