Mercari Updates Shipping With New Carrier Rates, Quietly Drops Underpaid Penalty Fee
Mercari US has announced updated shipping prices to reflect new carrier rates while quietly dropping controversial underpaid postage penalty fee.
The marketplace says sellers will receive their "lowest best rate labels yet", while also saying that shipping prices are rising 2% on average.
USPS increased its shipping prices on July 13*. As a result, Mercari's prepaid USPS label rates will rise by 2% on average starting July 28, 2025—still well below the carrier's published increases, including a 7.1% hike for USPS retail rates for Ground Advantage.
Want to save more? Our new Best rate labels can lower your shipping costs even more when your package meets size limits.
The good news:
Starting July 28: Save more with Best rate labels. Add package dimension info when you list to unlock lower Best rate pricing — an average of 6% cheaper than our current standard rates.
If your package meets size limits (1 cu ft / 22″ longest side), Best rates apply. If it's larger, standard rates apply, and we'll price by dimensional weight for a more accurate label.
Fashion ships for less. Our new $7.97 flat rate — up to 5 lb when size limits are met — gives sellers one of the most competitive options for shipping fashion items.
Mercari still beats retail rates. Mercari prepaid labels still offer an average of 40% savings** compared to retail carrier rates. Plus, every label offers up to $200 in Shipping Protection and $20 for First-Class Envelope.
The new rates will go into effect for newly created listings or items which are edited on or after July 28, and existing listings will be automatically moved over to the new rates on August 22.
Seller can view the full rate guide here, but here's an excerpt for example:
But the really big news in this update is that Mercari appears to have quietly dropped the controversial underpaid postage penalty fee they introduced in earlier this year.
Liz Morton
In March, Mercari announced that packages which exceeded size and weight limits would not only be charged the difference in any shipping overage from the carrier, but also an additional 8% penalty fee as well.
That same section of the policy has now been updated to remove any mention of a penalty fee.
Instead, it now simply links to a page where Mercari gives a more in depth explanation of how the carriers calculate oversized or overweight pages, and that sellers may be charged for any additional shipping overages - but again, does not mention anything about a penalty fee paid to Mercari on top of whatever the carrier may charge.
The 8% penalty fee received massive pushback from sellers, with one Reddit thread receiving over 200 responses, so it's good to see Mercari taking that feedback to heart and apparently changing course - though it would have been even better if they had explicitly stated the change in their announcement rather than just quietly dropping any mention of the penalty fee from the policy.
And it's also worth mentioning that, just like marketplaces like eBay and Etsy, since Mercari's buyer and seller fee calculations are both applied to the total sale including shipping cost, shipping increases also act as a de facto fee increase and will inflate both revenue and GMV reported in subsequent earnings calls.
What do you think of Mercari's new shipping rates and quiet removal of the underpaid penalty fee? Let us know in the comments below!
