Another Round of Mercari Shipping Rate Increases, Or: How a Company Seems Determined to Keep Shooting Themselves in the Feet
Will this be the death blow for the once formidable app? (Credit: Imgur) In my initial review of Mercari, I noted that the shipping rates are a big part of what makes the marketplace work, assuming you know how best to take advantage of them. I suppose that original theory still works, but it's going to take a little more strategic planning than it did in the past, as Mercari has unleashed another round of shipping markups, which went into effect on February 25th. Not a big deal, or just a part of doing business, you may be thinking? After all, shipping rates across all carriers just went up last month, so the timing of this certainly makes sense. However, it was less than a year ago (April, 2018) that the rates last went up, so for them to go up again--by as much as 52% in some categories--makes Mercari seem less and less like a viable long-term solution for many sellers. Let's analyze these over the previous year's increases, shall we? April, 2018 price i...