Mercari alternatives
Mercari users often look for alternatives due to high fees, poor customer service, and issues with app functionality. Alternatives like eBay and Poshmark offer different fee structures and selling experiences, while Amazon provides a vast retail option and Etsy focuses on handmade and unique goods.
Why users look for alternatives to Mercari
- High fees and shipping costs are a significant deterrent for both buyers and sellers.R4R7R19R22
- Customer service is frequently criticized for being unhelpful, unresponsive, or relying on automated responses, especially when dealing with issues like incorrect pricing, refunds, or lost shipments.R1R3R6R20
- Sellers experience issues with scam buyers, unexpected shipping adjustments, and a lack of seller protection.R1R26
- Buyers face problems with sellers canceling orders and relisting at higher prices without repercussions, and listings sometimes lack accurate descriptions or photos.R14R24
- The app's interface and functionality can be frustrating, with issues like poor search filters, QR codes not loading, and automatic charging to old addresses.R10R12R16R18
The alternatives
Amazon Shopping offers a vast selection of merchandise with good pricing and quick delivery for many items, making it a reliable option for those needing products in a hurry R52. However, recent updates have introduced an Alexa AI chatbot that some users find annoying and detrimental to the search experience, causing the app to be slow, crash, or fail to load images R51.
Better for: Amazon Shopping is better for users who prioritize a wide variety of new products, competitive pricing, and fast shipping for general shopping needs . It suits those who are less concerned with peer-to-peer selling and more with a traditional retail experience, provided they can tolerate the app's recent AI integration issues R51.
Head-to-head: Mercari vs Amazon ShoppingEtsy is a platform known for supporting small businesses and offering unique, handmade, and artistic products R66. Users appreciate finding one-of-a-kind items and having positive experiences with sellers . However, the app has issues with messages freezing, search filters not working effectively, and some users report a recent influx of AI-generated content and drop-shipped items, making it harder to find genuine handmade goods R65R67R68. Shipping fees can also be a concern for some buyers .
Better for: Etsy is better for buyers looking for unique, handmade, or vintage items and who want to support small businesses R66. It suits those who value artistry and individuality over mass-produced goods, provided they are willing to navigate occasional app glitches and potentially high shipping costs R65R68.
Head-to-head: Mercari vs EtsyeBay is generally good for buyers, offering a wide range of products R79. However, recent app updates have been heavily criticized for a new user interface that prioritizes live feeds over personalized content like watched or recommended items, making the app less user-friendly for many R81R82. Sellers on eBay often report high fees and a lack of protection, with some being charged even after buyers cancel orders R79. The app also experiences freezing issues .
Better for: eBay is better for buyers who are comfortable with its auction-style listings and wide product variety, especially if they can overlook the recent app interface changes R79R82. It might suit sellers who are experienced with the platform and its fee structure, but new sellers should be aware of potential issues with fees and seller protection R79.
Head-to-head: Mercari vs eBay online shopping & sellingOfferUp is a marketplace for buying and selling items, with some users finding success selling large items like cars or mattresses . However, the app is plagued by excessive and interruptive ads, including full-screen video ads for cheap products, which significantly detract from the user experience R93R94R95. Users also report issues with spam from local businesses, a worthless search engine, and a high prevalence of fake accounts, stolen merchandise, and scammers R96. Additionally, the app can be laggy and glitchy, and some users have issues with unwanted notifications R94.
Better for: OfferUp is better for users looking to sell or buy large, local items where shipping is not a factor, such as vehicles or furniture . It suits those who are willing to deal with a high volume of ads, potential scams, and app performance issues for the chance to find or sell items locally R93R95.
Head-to-head: Mercari vs OfferUp Buy & Sell MarketplacePoshmark is an app for selling and buying, particularly clothing and accessories, with some users finding it easy to use for listing and selling R108. However, many users report that it has become harder to sell without paying to promote listings, and items can sit for a long time R107. Recent updates have also been criticized for making the interface worse, removing features like visible follower counts and likes, and prioritizing live shows over user preferences R110. The introduction of ads has also negatively impacted the shopping experience .
Better for: Poshmark is better for casual sellers who are patient and willing to engage with the platform's social aspects, or for buyers specifically looking for fashion items R108. It suits those who are not deterred by the need to promote listings for visibility and can adapt to frequent, sometimes unpopular, app updates R107.
Head-to-head: Mercari vs PoshmarkYou should stick with Mercari if you find its interface easy to use for listing and selling, appreciate the variety of merchandise, and have had positive experiences with customer service and dispute resolution R2R11R13R15. It can be a good platform for finding collectibles and unique items, and some users find it addictive in a positive way R5R35.
Evidence note: All alternatives had sufficient reviews to form a pitch.
Frequently asked
Are Mercari's fees high?
Is Mercari customer service helpful?
Is Mercari good for sellers?
What reviewers actually said
Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.
- [R4] Mercari 1 star: Fees are extremely high
- [R7] Mercari Buyer protection fee: Just another way to make money on both ends of the transaction, ebay doesn’t do this.
- [R19] Mercari Easy to use: Easy to use but fees and mailing is so expensive. Wish they could do free shipping like vinted and depop
- [R22] Mercari Robbery: You guys Robb me On every sale because of shipping gfy
- [R1] Mercari Not the best: Super easy for scammers to operate on this site. Either as a seller or buyer. As a legitimate seller, selling a Mercari is a headache with very poor customer service
- [R3] Mercari Items go down more than 10%: Always enjoyed Mercari but, and I know I’m not the only one this happens to, when I place my items on sale, the price is only supposed to go down 10%, yet it goes down much more. I’ve messaged them SEVERAL times and NOTHING GETS DONE! Their customer service needs a major reset!!
- [R6] Mercari refunds: people don’t accept the refund so ur broke for like 4 days until the app gives u ur money back.
- [R20] Mercari No customer service: Just bots that scan your complaint for key words and then send unhelpful information with zero resolution. They are not reading anything that is sent to them, or they can’t read English.
- [R26] Mercari No protection to sellers poor support: Selling on Mercari has been one of the most frustrating experiences I’ve had. Their seller protection feels nonexistent. I shipped an item using the label they provided, and after delivery I was charged an unexpected shipping adjustment that wiped out almost all of my earnings. Mercari refused to provide any documentation from the carrier showing the actual w
- [R14] Mercari Items need more decriptions: Buying just looking at a picture is not cutting it. I have purchased a hat and a pair of shoes which appear red in the listing photos but turn out being hot pink. Sellers do not put color in the listing. I search by color and your search engine thinks these items are red too. I hate pink and now I have 2 really nice items in the wrong color!
- [R24] Mercari Sellers Cancelling Orders: Disappointed that my last three orders were canceled and all were subsequently re-listed at higher prices. Could not leave a review for the seller afterwards. Very disappointed. Sellers don’t get any repercussions for canceling orders. They should have to pay a fine for canceling.
- [R10] Mercari QR Codes don’t load: I’ve been selling through Poshmark for 3 years and have never had a problem with their QR codes.
- [R12] Mercari Waste of time, terrible importing tool.: This tool wrote AI descriptions guaranteeing items are “like new” - they aren’t and that there is “free shipping” - there isn’t. This doesn’t even appear in my listings I’m importing from. No way to turn this AI slop off and it picks just whatever photo it likes from your listings for the main photo. It also doesn’t import all photos. So bizarre. It’s 2am a
- [R16] Mercari Ridiculous Interface: I’ve bought and sold on multiple marketplaces (eBay, Depop, Poshmark, etc.), and this was by far the most frustrating purchasing experience I’ve had. I made an offer on an item, and when the seller accepted, Mercari automatically charged me using an old shipping address saved in my account instead of what I selected via PayPal. There was no opportunity during the offer accep
- [R18] Mercari Worst selling app: Truly the worst selling app when it comes to filtering what you’re looking for. You could search for lululemon shorts and tshirts, shoes, toys, etc would pop up. Just about everything and anything. I honestly think it’s on purpose.
- [R51] Amazon Shopping Alexa ai slop now forced.: I am not going to support Ai slop. All I want to do is look at results of a search not be forced to chat with a stupid ai. The app is cumbersome, sloppy and freezes often now after the update. Hey alexa, you’re horrible.
- [R52] Amazon Shopping Great Work: Now most people have issues with online shopping but this was the most comfortable and reliable way to shop…. 5⭐️s
- [R53] Amazon Shopping Terrible Payment System: While it offers many options and stores, getting it to process payment is terrible. I have to submit payment several different ways and there is never a notice which delays my orders. Deliver sucks too. Never a one day or fast delivery.
- [R54] Amazon Shopping this is a great app but they got the wrong bed frame for me.: I am writing a bad review because when I ordered the bed it was white and had LED lights but when it came it was all yellow brown color and it looked way more different compared to the bed I bought and it costed $130 just for it to come like this? Cmon Amazon I know you guys can do better.
- [R65] Etsy Problem with messages in App: I am unable to read messages through the app. I am able to write them, but when the seller responds and I try to view their response it freezes the app. This has happened on both the iPhone and iPad. And there is no way to report a problem with the app on the website or through the app. This seems to be the only way to send a message to Etsy about a bug with the App
- [R66] Etsy Supporting Small Businesses: Love the products from small businesses!!!
- [R67] Etsy The app itself: I have been having issues with the Etsy interface not doing what it is meant to do. Not just me. Why am I not able to click on things on one page but not anything on my discover?
- [R68] Etsy Fix the search filters: The filters for searching products needs desperately to be updated. Especially considering as a seller, you have to fill out so much information in detail, shoppers should be able to search for items with filters like categories that don’t disappear at random. Especially clothing sizes.
- [R79] eBay online shopping & selling Good for buyers, bad for sellers: If you sell, you will get ripped off and waste time, not to mention incredible fees. Good for buying only. Amazon or Facebook much better for sellers.
- [R80] eBay online shopping & selling App Issues: The 7 Jul 26 app update crashed the app! eBay gets more ridiculous by the day! Sell to the Game Stop dude, PLEASE!
- [R81] eBay online shopping & selling Good app for sellers and buyers but improvements needed.: Why isn’t there anyway to turn off the eBay live feed? I use this app mostly as a seller and it clutters up the feed. There should also be a seller selection since you have to “drill” into the seller zone where your listings are and other useful information. Can you please give us an ability to shut down the live sellers?
- [R82] eBay online shopping & selling Terrible app update: The home landing page is all live feeds. No watched items, recently viewed items or recommended items. This will seriously reduce the amount of items I purchase on eBay! At least give app users the option between live feed or watched items.
- [R93] OfferUp Buy & Sell Marketplace No good: It’s annoying how you notify about things I like but not even planning on buying. Also looks like if you dont pay for promoting your listing dont get any promotion at all and last, ads are extremely annoying
- [R94] OfferUp Buy & Sell Marketplace Laggy: Great app, but it lags a lot sometimes overall great however. Maybe no add’s?
- [R95] OfferUp Buy & Sell Marketplace Ads: Too many Ad pop-ups and very interruptive to the app.
- [R96] OfferUp Buy & Sell Marketplace Spam: Anytime I try and search for something I see one local business spam constantly for “Financing”. It wouldn’t be an issue if I could hide the post or block the seller but no I can’t see I just have to scroll constantly until I don’t have to see the spam anymore, ridiculous.
- [R107] Poshmark Aggressive upselling: The casual seller who is clearing out their closet will find that it can take six months to over a year to sell an item. Every time a listing is created or edited Poshmark pushes promotions. With millions of listings this is an absolute waste of money. Unable to opt out of the constant invitations to “posh parties”. So even if you just want to know if your listing sold, you
- [R108] Poshmark AMAZING: This is such a good app idea! I have been wanting to save money but also make money from home. Now I can do both in one single app! I definitely recommend this app so everyone and it’s super simple to use!
- [R109] Poshmark Poshmark: It’s not like EBay or marketplace at all. You pay a lot in my opinion to post something most of the time not worth it.
- [R110] Poshmark I hate every update: I hate every new update. I dislike that you can no longer see how many followers a person has. I dislike that you can no longer see how many likes you have at first glance. I dislike that you can't see how many a new alert you have. It used to show a number. No one seems to follow anyone anymore and no one seems to share anything anymore. The ease of use and the community fe
- [R2] Mercari Very satisfied: Good serious website very easy to buy and sell. Great customer service and the deals you find in Mercari, you won’t find anywhere
- [R15] Mercari Easy for new seller: Mercari has been easy to use for listing and selling items. The app is simple, shipping labels are easy to create, and I was able to get paid smoothly. Helpful platform for new sellers.
- [R17] Mercari Selling: Been selling here since 2018 and it is the fairest online platform I have found. Love it and would recommend to anyone.
- [R5] Mercari Addictive!: I quit smoking weed and social media over a year ago. I told myself that I would use all the time and money I save to buy clothes and vintage jewelry. I now have a MASSIVE collection of super cool stuff from Mercari! It’s a much more healthful dopamine fix and I get to wear everything instead of lighting it on fire,
- [R11] Mercari Online shopping experience: Great selection on merchandise and was a great experience all the way around A+A+A+
- [R13] Mercari Awesome App: I am new to shopping on Mercari. I have made two or three purchases now. I have been highly satisfied with each purchase. I heard great things about the app which prompted me to shop here. I am highly satisfied so far.
- [R35] Mercari You can find anything!: I have found so many childhood items on Mercari. Loved items that I didn’t inherit from grandma are here. All you have to do is search.
Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store