With over 10 billion JPY in transactions and 20 million active users per month, Mercari is Japan’s largest community-driven marketplace. However, despite its overwhelming success, the platform lacks built-in support for foreign languages, making navigation challenging for non-Japanese speakers. This can be particularly frustrating for those looking to buy or sell items but struggling with the language barrier, which is a shame as the marketplace has great deals available for anyone to find.
Luckily, we at Guidable are here to help you navigate the market with ease, using our guide in Navigating the Marketplace: A Guide to Using Mercari in Japan.
So, Are You Ready to Delve Into The World of Great Deals on Mercari?
Looking forward to a great experience in finding deals and more? Buckle up as we guide you through navigating Mercari in Japan!
Signing Up and Navigating Mercari as a Foreign Resident
Photo credit: Mercari Website Screenshot
Before using Mercari, we have one major tip to make your life easier! We suggest using a computer browser to use Mercari, as you can download the Google Translate extension for your browser. With this extension and a click of a button, you can turn the entire page to English making it easier for you to navigate. However, it should be noted that as it is a machine translation, some parts may be confusing or sound unnatural, so you should manually check the translation through an outside app such as ChatGPT, etc.
Then, you can start using Mercari by signing up and filling out your info. To access more features, you can also complete the identity verification process, which allows you to access more features and gives your transaction partner a feeling of safety.
Finding The Best Deals and Making a Purchase
Photo credit: Mercari Website Screenshot
To find the best deals in Mercari, first and foremost, you need to type what you’re looking for in the search bar. Typing your query in alphabet and Japanese yield different results, so be sure to try both if you’re struggling to find what you want (you can also use various apps to translate the query)!
Then, as the results show up, you can narrow them down using the filter function (left arrow), where you can choose the categories, brand, size, price, color, etc. You can also set the page view differently (right arrow) to show products from cheapest to most expensive, recommended products first, new products, etc.
For some branded products, you can choose to filter with the safe appraisal option, which, for a fee, lets Mercari’s team physically verify your product’s authenticity before delivery.
Shipping, Delivery, Post-Purchase and Tips
Photo credit: Mercari Website Screenshot
After deciding on the product you want to purchase, you can double-check its details besides the images. In this section, the written description of the product along with the shipping costs, estimated delivery time, region of origin, etc. is written.
Once everything is confirmed, you will register your address to which you want the product delivered. Depending on the delivery courier, you can also choose the delivery method, such as leave-at-the-door delivery, delivery box/TAQ-Bin delivery, and face-to-face delivery.
And with that, your purchase will start to be processed by Mercari and the seller! After the seller confirms the purchase, there will be a messaging section for you and the seller to ensure a smooth process until the product arrives. You can use a translation app for this too! We recommend using AI software such as ChatGPT to generate more polite and natural messages in contrast to direct-machine translation apps such as Google Translate.
So, Have You Become a Pro at Navigating The Mercari Marketplace?
And with that comes the end of our guide to navigating the marketplace! Have you learned how to use Mercari in Japan? Let us know in the comments! We hope that our guide helped you become a pro. Don’t forget the browser extensions and other tools to help you get the many great deals Mercari has to offer!
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Featured image credit: Canva
