Mercari’s current US selling fee is a single 10% on the item plus whatever the buyer paid for shipping — not a category table, and not a processing stack. The 3.6% Buyer Protection line is charged to the buyer at checkout; it does not come out of seller keep. Cash-out is $0 by ACH; Instant Pay is a $3 flat.
Formula for a new or updated listing, organic: keep = (item + buyer-paid shipping) − 10% × (item + buyer-paid shipping). Listing is $0. Empty shipping counts as $0 in the fee base — paste a cell from Mercari’s prepaid table on article 169 if the buyer pays shipping. The 3.6% Buyer Protection line is not subtracted here.
Keep before COGS is leftover of item + buyer-paid shipping after the 10% selling fee. Instant Pay and Authenticate are optional flats subtracted after that. This card does not invent a seller processing percent and does not take 3.6% from you.
Same $40 SKU on Poshmark is not a 10% vs 20% slogan. Mercari’s 10% sits on item + buyer-paid shipping (article 169); Poshmark’s live get-started is $2.95 under $15 or 20% of listing price, with buyer $6.49 Ground Advantage beside that 20%, not in it. Instant Pay is $3 here; Poshmark withdrawals are free. Side-by-side keep: Mercari vs Poshmark seller fees.
Keep ≈ (item + buyer-paid shipping) − 10% × (item + buyer-paid shipping) − Instant Pay $0 or $3 − optional Authenticate − your COGS / label
That 10% is the selling fee on Fees on Mercari (article 169), updated 05/07/2026, opened 27 Aug 2026. The same page and Changes to our fee structure (article 2517) put the 3.6% Buyer Protection fee on the buyer. Do not copy an eBay-style category table or an Etsy-style processing % onto this marketplace — Mercari’s current organic stack is one selling percent plus optional cash-out and service flats.
For listings created or updated on or after 6 January 2025, Mercari charges the seller 10% of the combined item price and buyer-paid shipping. Buyer-paid vs seller-paid shipping is a listing choice. If the buyer pays shipping, that shipping dollar is inside the selling-fee base. If you cover shipping, the buyer-paid shipping term in this formula is $0 and you treat the label as your cost.
Prepaid labels are not a second percent. They are a published dollar table on article 169 (current 2026 rates, Ground Advantage and Priority Mail updated 7 May 2026). This page will not reconstruct the whole USPS / UPS / FedEx grid — open 169 for every cell.
Worked planning math using that formula (not a payout screenshot):
That $42.73 still holds the postage dollar the buyer sent toward the prepaid label. If the label actually costs $7.48, item leftover before your cost of goods is $35.25. The unique trap vs a 10%-of-sticker mental model: the extra $0.75 of fee exists only because shipping sat in the base.
Article 169’s buyer-paid chart: starting 6 January 2025, a Buyer Protection fee of 3.6% applies to the item price and buyer-paid shipping for new and updated listings. It shows on the buyer’s checkout page. Mercari says an additional payment processing fee will not apply on those listings, and that this fee is charged to the buyer (refundability depends on the return reason).
Do not subtract 3.6% from seller keep. A $40 sale is not “10% + 3.6% = 13.6% off the seller.” The seller line is 10% of (item + buyer-paid shipping). The buyer line is 3.6% of the same combined amount. Mixing them is how blogs overstate Mercari’s take from the seller.
Article 2517 restates the split the same way: sellers pay a flat 10% selling fee; buyers pay a flat 3.6% Buyer Protection fee; no additional payment processing fee for either side on the new structure. FAQs (article 2518) repeats that trio.
Article 169 opens with “Listing an item is always free on Mercari.” Seller Protection says the same: listing is free regardless of category, price, or volume, and Mercari charges a simple 10% selling fee on the item price and buyer-paid shipping only when the item sells.
On new and updated listings, article 169’s payment-processing section says no separate payment processing fee will be applied. Do not add 2.9% + $0.50 as a current seller fee. That pair is the legacy buyer-side processing fee article 169 describes for listings created before 6 January 2025 until those listings were updated: $0.50 plus 2.9% of the transaction price (item, shipping, service fee, and sales tax), charged to the buyer.
Article 169 still prints a historical row: existing listings created before 6 January 2025 would not have a selling fee applied until the listing was updated. Article 2517 said the new structure applied to new and updated listings starting 6 January 2025 and may take up to one week to reflect automatically across all existing listings. Article 2518’s FAQ said the same auto-apply window (and described a 6–12 January 2025 transition for items that had not yet flipped).
This page does not treat “no selling fee” as the current default. The keep card models new and updated listings at 10%. If a settled order in your account still shows the old buyer-side stack, use that statement — not a 2024 blog.
Article 2518 also said listings with negative earnings under the updated structure would be deactivated automatically, and that raising price by at least 10% was the published way to avoid that during the switch.
Mercari holds the buyer’s payment until the order is rated, then releases funds to your Mercari balance (Seller Protection: buyers usually have 72 hours from delivery to review and rate). Cash-out is a separate step. From article 169 and Seller Protection, fetched 27 Aug 2026:
| Cash-out | Published fee | Limits / timing |
|---|---|---|
| ACH direct deposit (successful) | $0 per completed cash-out | Once per day. Article 169: typically within 5 business days depending on the bank. Seller Protection: typically 5–7 business days. |
| Failed / rejected ACH | $2 non-refundable | Per failed direct deposit request (169). Seller Protection: $2 only for failed withdrawal transactions. |
| Instant Pay | $3 flat per cash-out | Once per day, up to $600 per month, eligible debit cards. About 30 minutes (169: can take up to 30 minutes depending on the bank). |
Article 169 notes that as of 6 January 2025 at 2:00 PM PT there is no longer a $2 fee per successful cash-out. The $2 is the failed-deposit fee now. Instant Pay is optional — leave it at $0 in the card unless you actually tap it.
Mercari prepaid labels are low, fixed rates with USPS, FedEx, and UPS (article 169: packages up to 100 lb; national shipping not supported for motorized items, furniture, bicycles, or major appliances). You choose buyer-paid or seller-paid at listing. Eligible prepaid labels include Shipping Protection up to $200 (First-Class Envelope up to $20).
The full table lives on article 169 (updated 7 May 2026). 169 prints Best rates in black and Standard rates below in gray; add package dimensions when you list to unlock Best rate if the package meets size limits (1 cu ft / 22″ longest side). This guide quotes only labeled cells we parsed from that mashed table — it is not a reconstructed carrier grid.
| Labeled 169 cell (opened 27 Aug 2026) | Printed rate |
|---|---|
| USPS Media Mail 1 lb / 2 lb / 3 lb | $4.99 / $5.99 / $6.99 |
| USPS First-Class Envelope (trading cards only) 1 oz / 2 oz / 3 oz | $0.74 / $1.03 / $1.32 |
| USPS Ground Advantage 0.25 lb (Best vs Standard, as printed) | $4.91 / $5.49 |
| USPS Ground Advantage 1 lb (Best vs Standard, as printed) | $7.48 / $7.59 |
Media Mail is only for eligible media categories (books, movies, recorded and printed music) and is subject to USPS search. First-Class Envelope is exclusively for the trading-cards category, with envelope size limits on 169. Paste the cell that matches the listing; do not treat $7.48 as “typical shipping” for every SKU.
Article 172 (overweight / oversized) says sellers pay overage. Wording from that page, opened 27 Aug 2026:
Article 169 also states packages over 150 lb are charged a flat freight rate of $2,500, and that over-100 lb (by weight or size) shipments must be shipped on your own. Article 172 notes packages over one pound are always rounded up (example: 3.25 lb needs a 4 lb label).
8% underpaid-label penalty: Shipping change announcements (article 485), 18 February 2025 entry, announced that starting 10 March 2025, items exceeding the purchased label’s actual weight or DIM weight incur an 8% penalty fee on the total adjusted shipping price. Additional charges are assessed in transit when the carrier reports actual and/or DIM weight. Articles 169 and 172 did not restate that 8% in the text opened 27 Aug 2026. It is official on the change-announcement page; it is not reprinted on 169/172 today. Confirm in your account if a statement line appears.
Article 169: cancelations should only occur if the seller cannot fulfill an order. If a seller has frequent cancelations, Mercari may charge 5% of the item price, $25 maximum, to cover transaction, operational, and/or shipping-label costs. You receive warnings before a fee is charged. The fee is subtracted from balance and/or charged to the card on file within 30 days after notification. Repeated cancelations can also remove listings and limit the account. This is not in the default keep card — it is a conduct fee, not the selling fee.
From article 169 and Authenticate fees (article 508):
508: you are charged when you submit photos. Combined $5 + $10 = $15 if you buy both. Refunds depend on the authenticator’s decision (unable to determine: full $5 or $15 back; not authentic: first-instance refund of $5 and $10, later instances refund the $10 certificate only). This is optional — leave the card at $0 unless you actually submitted the item.
Article 347 describes Promote / Offer to Likers / Time-limited Sale as tools that work by dropping your price. Mercari’s promo landing does not publish an extra ad percent or CPC. This guide will not invent one. You pay the 10% selling fee on whatever completed price the buyer actually pays.
| Tool (347) | Minimum drop vs historical low | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Promote | 5%+ (min $1), once per 24 hours, permanent | Boost in search and notify likers. New price cannot be below $1. Must be 5%+ below the historically lowest price to Promote again. |
| Offer to Likers | 10%+ (min $1) for 24 hours | Sent to a maximum of 50 most-recent likers. Binding if accepted. New Offer to Likers on an item once every 72 hours per 347’s table. |
| Time-limited Sale | 10%+ for 72 hours | Listing must be 7+ days old. Boosts search, can feature in Deals, notifies interested buyers. |
Put 0% ads in the profit calculator for these boosts. The cost is the price you dropped, not a hidden Mercari CPC.
$40 item, buyer-paid shipping empty / $0, ACH cash-out, no Authenticate
$40 item + $7.48 buyer-paid shipping (1 lb Best Ground Advantage cell from article 169 — not a typical-shipping average)
A $12 item with empty shipping: fee $1.20, keep $10.80 before COGS. Instant Pay $3 on that sale is a large bite relative to the sticker — that is why the card lets you toggle $0 vs $3 instead of baking Instant Pay into every organic run.
Same SKU on Poshmark? Use Mercari vs Poshmark for the resale-app compare (10% on item+ship vs $2.95 / 20% listing). Other stacks: eBay fees explained, Etsy fees explained, Etsy vs Amazon.
10% of the combined item price and buyer-paid shipping, charged to the seller when the item sells. Listing is $0. No separate seller payment-processing fee on new or updated listings. Source: article 169, updated 05/07/2026, fetched 27 Aug 2026.
No. 3.6% is a buyer checkout line on item + buyer-paid shipping. Do not subtract it from seller keep. Articles 169, 2517, and 2518.
Yes. Keep = (item + buyer-paid shipping) − 10% × (item + buyer-paid shipping). Prepaid labels are dollar cells on article 169, not a percent. Seller-paid shipping is not added to that 10% base; it is your label cost.
$3 flat, once per day, up to $600/month, about 30 minutes. Successful ACH is $0 once per day; $2 non-refundable on failed/rejected deposits. Articles 169 and Seller Protection.
Listing is always free. 2.9% + $0.50 is the legacy buyer-side processing fee on pre-6 Jan 2025 listings until updated — not a current seller fee on new listings.
Do not treat that as the current default. Article 169 said the selling fee waited until an existing pre-6 Jan 2025 listing was updated; article 2517 said existing listings would auto-update within about a week. This page models 10% on new and updated listings.
Start with Fees on Mercari (169), fee-structure change (2517), FAQs (2518), Seller Protection, overweight / oversized (172), shipping change announcements (485), Promote / Offer to Likers (347), and Authenticate fees (508). Then match a settled order in your seller account. Last checked for this page: 27 Aug 2026.
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