Same numbers as our fee index CSV 2026-09-19 · seller-fee-index-2026-09-19.csv · Seller fee index + CSV (2026-09-19).

Same listing. Two take-homes. — keep $96.25 vs $90.00 on $100 · planning / before costs

RealRateCalc team · checked 6 Oct 2026

✓ Rates checked 2026-10-06 against How to ship - US

Same closet SKU. Two US resale apps. The keep story is processing vs a selling percent, an optional 12% Boost, and two shipping models — not a two-column mill that shouts “Depop 0%, Mercari 10%.” Depop Help still prints no selling fee for US sellers, then takes 3.3% + $0.45 on item + shipping + tax (Depop fees explained). Mercari’s 10% sits on item plus buyer-paid shipping (Mercari fees explained). Ignore processing or Boost and the 0-versus-10 headline is a lie.

The unique angle: 0% vs 10% is the wrong unit

A zero-versus-ten headline is the wrong unit. Depop’s published selling fee is 0% for US sellers. The line that actually comes out is payment processing — 3.3% plus a $0.45 flat — on a combined amount that can include shipping and tax the seller never keeps. Mercari’s published selling fee is 10% of a different combined amount (item + buyer-paid shipping), with no separate seller processing percent on new or updated listings. Optional Depop Boost is a third line: 12% that only fires after a boosted interaction and a purchase inside 28 days. Same $40 SKU, organic vs boosted, is a different keep story than the sticker percents.

Depop: Seller fees and charges (updated 21 Jul 2026, fetched 28 Aug 2026), Boosted Listings, Marketplace fee. Mercari: Fees on Mercari (article 169) (updated 05/07/2026), article 2517, article 2518. Line-by-line stacks: Depop seller fees explained and Mercari seller fees explained.

1. Depop’s cut is processing, not a selling percent; Mercari’s 10% is the selling percent

Depop Help, “Seller fees and charges,” updated 21 Jul 2026, opened 28 Aug 2026:

“No Depop Selling fees will be charged to sellers based in the UK, US, or AUS.”

The same table’s US processing row is 3.3% + $0.45 via Depop Payments (Stripe), “charged on the item sale price plus shipping costs and any applicable taxes.” The 15 Jul 2024 newsroom note that removed the old 10% US selling fee said “the usual payment processing fee will still apply.” Zero selling fee is not a $0 cost.

Mercari article 169, for listings created or updated on or after 6 January 2025: the seller pays 10% of the combined item price and buyer-paid shipping. Empty shipping in the card is $0 in that base. There is no separate seller payment-processing fee on those new or updated listings. Do not add 2.9% + $0.50 as a current Mercari seller fee — that pair is the legacy buyer-side processing line on pre-6 Jan 2025 listings until updated.

Same $40 sticker, both shipping fields empty, $0 tax, organic:

• Depop: 3.3% × $40 = $1.32, plus $0.45 → $1.77 out, keep $38.23 (~4.4% of $40 — not 0%).
• Mercari: 10% × $40 = $4.00, keep $36.00.
• Delta: Depop keeps $2.23 more on this empty-ship organic run. That is processing vs 10%, not 0 vs 10.

On $12 empty-ship organic, Depop’s $0.45 flat already bites: 3.3% × $12 = $0.40 + $0.45 = $0.85 (~7.1% of $12), keep $11.15 vs Mercari $1.20 / $10.80. The cheap-sticker story is the flat, not “about 3.3% vs 10%.”

2. Boost is the flip. “0% vs 10%” is a lie if you ignore it

Boosted Listings (updated 24 Jul 2026) and the seller-fees table (US/UK row, footnoted “new listings from 23 March 2026”) both print 12% for US sellers:

You’ll only pay a boosting fee if a buyer interacts with your boosted listing (views, clicks, or likes it) and then purchases the item within 28 days.

Boost is 12% on the item sale price (excluding taxes) and, if you have not used a Depop Shipping label, the shipping cost. It is in addition to processing. Mercari Promote / Offer to Likers / Time-limited Sale (article 347) work by dropping your price — Mercari does not publish an extra ad percent or CPC. Do not invent one and stack it on Mercari’s 10% to “make the compare fair.”

Same $40, $0 ship, $0 tax, Boost fires (Depop label, so shipping is out of the 12% anyway):

• Depop: processing $1.77 + Boost 12% × $40 = $4.80 → $6.57 out, keep $33.43.
• Mercari still: keep $36.00 after $4.00.
• Delta flips: Mercari +$2.57. Boost $4.80 alone is already larger than Mercari’s entire 10% on this sticker.

Stale 8% wording: an older Help article, I don’t recognise a fee or charge, still mentions an additional 8% Boost fee. Current US published rate on Seller fees (21 Jul 2026) and Boosted Listings (24 Jul 2026) is 12% from 23 March 2026. This card models 12%. Confirm the receipt if a sale started before that date.

3. Same shipping dollar, two bases — and Depop has no published US label grid

Mercari prepaid labels are a published dollar table on article 169 (Ground Advantage and Priority Mail updated 7 May 2026). This page will not reconstruct the whole USPS / UPS / FedEx grid. Quote only labeled numbers already parsed on the Mercari explained page — paste the number that matches the listing:

If the buyer pays that Mercari label, the number sits in the 10% base. The $7.48 Best Ground Advantage 1 lb row is a labeled number, not a “typical shipping” guess.

Depop How to ship - US describes Depop Shipping via USPS versus “Other” (you arrange tracked shipping). That article did not print a public US weight-tier dollar table on the fetch of 28 Aug 2026. Gap, same class as Poshmark’s unread Fee Policy: blogs quote unofficial ~$4.49 / ~$7.69 style tiers. This page will not. The $7.48 preset reuses Mercari’s 169 number as a same-SKU shipping dollar pasted onto Depop processing — it is not a Depop official rate.

$40 + $7.48 ship, $0 tax, organic:

• Depop processing base $47.48 → 3.3% = $1.57 + $0.45 = $2.02. Keep from item+ship $45.46. If the label actually costs $7.48, item leftover is $37.98.
• Mercari fee base $47.48 → 10% = $4.75. Keep from item+ship $42.73. Item leftover after that label $35.25.
• Comparable leftover: Depop $37.98 vs Mercari $35.25 — delta $2.73. Do not compare Depop’s $45.46 keep-from-item+ship to Mercari’s $35.25 leftover; both still have to buy the postage dollar.

Flip Boost on with a Depop Shipping label (shipping out of the 12%): processing $2.02 + Boost $4.80 = $6.82 out of $47.48, keep $40.66, leftover $33.18 vs Mercari $35.25 — Mercari leads by $2.07. Self-arranged shipping puts $7.48 inside Boost too: 12% × $47.48 = $5.70, leftover $32.28. Processing still follows shipping either way (Help’s processing number does not carve out Depop labels).

Mercari overage is a different trap: article 172 bills the seller the extra weight (or zone-6 residential retail if Mercari has no number; $2,500 over 150 lb). An 8% penalty on the total adjusted shipping price for underpaid labels was announced on article 485 (18 Feb 2025 entry, starting 10 Mar 2025). Articles 169 and 172 did not restate that 8% in the text opened 27 Aug 2026. Confirm a statement line in your Mercari account.

4. Buyer fees stay on the buyer. Tax sits in Depop processing if you paste it

Do not subtract Depop’s Marketplace fee or Mercari’s 3.6% Buyer Protection from seller keep. What is the Marketplace fee? (updated 21 Jul 2026) applies to US and UK buyers buying in USD or GBP: up to 5% of the item purchase price plus a fixed amount of up to $1, excluding taxes and shipping. Exact amount is shown at checkout. Help does not publish one exact percent — this card will not invent 4.2% or any other unofficial midpoint. Mercari articles 169, 2517, and 2518 put 3.6% on the buyer at checkout (item + buyer-paid shipping). A $40 sale is not “Depop 3.3% + $0.45 + 5% + $1” or “Mercari 10% + 3.6%” off the seller. Mixing them is how blogs overstate both takes.

Depop State Sales Tax in the US (updated 2 Feb 2026) says Depop calculates, collects, and remits US sales tax as a marketplace facilitator, and that the tax element is included when calculating the Payment Processing fee. Mercari’s published 10% base is item + buyer-paid shipping — tax is not added to that 10% on article 169. Leave tax empty ($0) unless you are pasting a receipt line. This page will not clone a 50-state tax engine.

Cash-out is the other non-percent line. Mercari: successful ACH is $0 once per day; Instant Pay is a $3 flat (once per day, up to $600/month, about 30 minutes); failed/rejected ACH is $2 non-refundable. Depop How do I get paid? - US (updated 12 Aug 2026): funds hit Depop Balance 2 business days after delivered or 10 business days after the sale, whichever comes first, then up to 5 days to the bank after withdraw. Gap: that article does not publish a withdrawal fee. This card does not subtract a Depop cash-out flat. Leave Instant Pay at $0 unless you actually tap it on Mercari — on a $12 sale, $3 is a large bite relative to Mercari’s $1.20 selling fee, and Depop still has no published withdrawal fee to match it.

Worked: same $40 organic, then the 169 number, then Boost

Flip Mercari Instant Pay to $3 on that $12 organic run and Mercari remaining leftover is $7.80 vs Depop $11.15. Depop still has no published withdrawal fee to subtract. Confirm a bank line if your Depop statement ever shows one.

When Depop’s keep lead holds vs when Boost (or Instant Pay) flips it

No hype — processing, Boost, and the shipping dollar decide, not the brand of app.

• Organic, empty shipping, $0 tax: Depop processing 3.3% + $0.45 vs Mercari 10% of item is the $2.23 gap on $40 ($38.23 vs $36.00). Honest only when shipping is actually $0 and Boost did not fire.
• Pasted Mercari 169 number as the same shipping dollar: both percents follow that dollar. $7.48 costs $0.25 extra Depop processing and $0.75 extra Mercari selling fee. Comparable leftover $37.98 vs $35.25. Do not compare Depop’s $45.46 keep-from-item+ship to Mercari’s $35.25 leftover.
• Boost on: 12% of item plus processing can exceed Mercari’s 10%. $40 empty-ship Boost: Depop $33.43 vs Mercari $36.00. The 0% selling-fee headline does not survive a boosted thin-margin SKU.
• Self-arranged shipping + Boost: shipping joins Depop’s 12% on top of processing that already followed it. Mercari still has no matching ad %.
• Cheap stickers: Depop’s $0.45 on $12 is already ~3.8 points before 3.3% runs. Mercari stays 10%. Organic Depop still leads ($11.15 vs $10.80); Boosted Depop does not ($9.71 vs $10.80).
• Instant Pay: $3 is optional and Mercari-only. On a $12 SKU it erases Mercari’s leftover vs organic Depop. Do not invent a matching Depop cash-out flat.
• Do not steal bases: subtracting Depop’s Marketplace fee or Mercari’s 3.6% from the seller, inventing a Depop label grid, or treating Boost as 0% “because selling is free,” is how this compare becomes a blog fiction.

Volume, Mercari Authenticate $5 / $15, cancelation 5% ($25 max) after warnings, Depop bundle processing-once, and returns are outside this SKU snapshot. Put those on the explained pages, not as a blended resale tax.

How to use the profit calculator with this compare

1. Open the seller-fee calculator (hub: /seller-fees/ / realratecalc.com).
2. Depop scenario: commission 0. Transaction 3.3, flat 0.45. Put shipping you charged in the shipping field so it sits in the processing base. Leave extra % at 0 unless this sale actually paid Boost — then 12, and only include self-arranged shipping in that 12% if Help’s own-label rule applies. Do not enter the buyer Marketplace fee as a seller percent. Paste tax only from a receipt.
3. Mercari scenario: 10% on item + buyer-paid shipping. Paste a 169 number if the buyer pays it. Leave extra % at 0. Do not add 3.6% or 2.9% + $0.50 on the seller side. Instant Pay $3 only when you tap it.
4. True COGS and pack in cost fields. This page’s “keep” is platform take-home, not profit after thrift.
5. Confirm a settled payout in each seller account. Both companies can change this.

Same SKU versus Facebook Marketplace local is processing vs cash meetup, not a 10% race: Depop vs Facebook Marketplace. Same SKU on Poshmark is a third stack — $2.95 under $15 or 20% of listing price, shipping not in that % on get-started: Depop vs Poshmark (Boost shrinks that lead; it does not flip $40 empty-ship the way it can vs Mercari 10%) and Mercari vs Poshmark. Handmade / Amazon referral: Etsy vs Amazon seller fees. eBay is a category-table stack: eBay fees explained.

FAQ

Keep $96.80 on Shopify — see Shopify fees Open the profit calculator Depop fees explained Mercari fees explained Depop vs Poshmark Depop vs Facebook Marketplace Mercari vs Poshmark

Seller-fee hub · Etsy vs Amazon (handmade / Amazon referral — not this resale-app compare) · realratecalc.com