Where have I been?
So I disappeared for a bit. I've been spending time managing my physical collections. While I still love my Doctor Who: World's Apart NFTs (I'm still waiting on the release of the actual game), I collected a lot of stuff over the years. So I started looking into ways to sell off a bunch of old stuff that I don't need. I looked at Ebay, Etsy, Facebook marketplace, local auctions... Then I found Mercari, and I felt like I was looking at the future.
Why did I choose Mercari?
The first thing I noticed with Mercari is the lack of fees. I can list as much as I want. I only pay when my items sell. So if I don't sell this one-of-a-kind collectible (I deal a lot in animation art), it's no loss. Ebay and Etsy charge to list things in the first place. I do have an etsy store and a website where I sell shirts and stuff in that POD approach, but to place a one-of-a-kind thing on Etsy is absolutely pointless and Ebay charges just to create the listing. So I turned to Mercari.
Mercari allows you to create listings in the app for free. So I have hundreds of listings for things that are literally one-of-a-kind. I can put up to a dozen photos of each piece to show a general image, then get into detail. It's almost like this app was designed specifically for collectables.
Drawbacks?
Of course! To get the money out of the app, you either pay a rush fee or wait a few days. It's not an immediate transfer unless you pay for it. So I don't pay. I have the advantage of being able to wait a few days for the cash to hit my account. To me, it's not a big deal. The app does hold your money till you ask for it too, but I'm not sure that's actually a drawback. It may actually foster a whole new trading market type.
New Market type?
This is where I really start enjoying Mercari. I've enjoyed bartering at conventions and markets for many years. We usually trade according to dollar value. This just makes sense: to make sure we exchange evenly, we trade items for items at similar values. Mercari basically allows us to do this, but as a massive collective. I'll send one piece out to somebody in Texas, and I want something that another person has in Michigan. Through Mercari, I can apply the credit I get for sending out that piece to Texas to getting the piece from Michigan. I've been doing this a whole lot.
Bartering?
Yes, there is a message system in the app that allows us to communicate and make offers for the items posted. There's literally a "make an offer" button. This sends a predesigned message to the "seller" and they can accept or respond with a counter offer at the push of a button. It's all too easy. I've essentially traded some stuff that was just sitting in my closet for holiday gifts, tools, clothes, and enhanced the collections I decided to keep. I don't ever want to stop.
