Tips on purchasing from Mercari Japan using the 8mart Japan Mercari Marketplace

Here at 8mart Japan, we receive many requests every day from customers around the world about the good deals they find on Japan's largest, "Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) marketplace".

Mercari Marketplace

FAQ

 

We inspect the items ordered by our customers according to our standards upon arrival to ensure that they are as trouble-free as possible, and we have prevented many problems that might have arisen with our customers.

(This is our standard service included in our basic service fee.)

However, we are not an authorized distributor, but an intermediary and cannot be held responsible for any problems such as wrong quantity or color, scratches, dirt or damage that were not described on the sales page, malfunction, counterfeit or non-genuine products.

To help prevent running into such problems and to ensure a worry-free shopping experience for all of you, here are some tips we'd like to share with you all!

1. Check Seller’s Ratings

Let's say you're shopping around and you find a good deal on an item. You find 2 listings with the same price and item condition, which one should you choose?

While it may not be a 100% indication of which seller is more trustworthy seller, it can't hurt to check the seller's ratings!

Sometimes a seller will have a lower rating because buyers have found that their item was in worse condition than the pictures and description of the item, their item was inadequately packaged, did not ship in the time frame listed, etc.

Also, be sure to check out and see how many ratings (which indicates how many transactions they've had) the seller has. Those with more ratings tend to have more experience and therefore fewer problems. We like to advise our customers to try to find sellers with 30 or more transactions as a seller.

For example, based on the 114 transactions, the seller below has 114 positive ratings (which you can see when you click on View on Mercari).

This is a very geeky tip, but even if you buy an item from a seller with 100-200 high ratings, you may run into trouble when you buy.

In such cases, when we look at the seller's reviewers, we notice that many of them have thousands or tens of thousands of purchase histories. Many of them are our competitors.

Many of our competitors, unlike us, do not inspect their purchases at all. As a result, they give high ratings to malicious sellers even if they receive different or fake products.

2. Check product information

If you find the item you are looking for within your budget and the seller's ratings are good enough for you to trust, then be sure to check the photos, the item name, description, and condition of the item(s) being listed.

If you find any discrepancies in the product photos, name, description, or condition of the item, you may be receiving an unwanted item. Please make sure that all product information is consistent.

The condition of an item is subjective to the seller. Therefore, there is a possibility that you may receive an item that is not in as good condition as the condition of the item described.

Before placing an order, please check the seller’s reviews to see if anyone has written that they received an item in poor condition.

Also, be wary of the following keywords or phrases

- "Operation has been confirmed." （動作確認済み）

This is often used for home appliances, games, etc. However, we cannot confirm or guarantee that the product will work properly, as it depends on the environment in which the product is used.

If you want a product that works reliably, or if you want a warranty in case of malfunction or failure, we recommend that you purchase directly from an authorized distributor.

- "Korean shop product" （韓流ショップ品/韓国ショップの商品になります）

In the case of K-pop merchandise such as photo cards, if the seller states in the product description or profile that the item is a "Korean shop product", it is very likely that the item is a replica purchased from an unofficial store.

(The "Lomo card"（ロモカード） is also used to represent an unofficial product.)

- "The price is for one card only."（トレカ1枚の料金となります）

In some cases, the seller has uploaded multiple photo cards or a photo card and a CD, but the description states that only 1 photo card is for sale.

Please just keep in mind that this is just a general guideline and you should use it with discretion.

3. Shipping Times and Estimates

In a hurry to get an item? Make a note of the time frame in which the item you're interested in will be shipped. Sellers can choose from 3 different shipping time frames:

- 1-2 days

- 2-3 days

- 4-7 days

(While most sellers ship within the time frame listed, we sometimes run into issues where the seller doesn’t do so.)

Please keep in mind that items sent out mid-week will often arrive the following Monday or Tuesday, or if a public holiday falls on a weekday, there will be delays.

Sometimes it can take up to 2 weeks for an item to arrive at our warehouse.

We hope these tips will be helpful to you! We will continue to update it as we think of more✨