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Checking a Mercari Seller Before You Buy: Ratings, Seller Badges, Seller Levels and the ID-Verified Badge
What should you look at on a Mercari Japan seller's profile and listings before buying? Based on Mercari's help centre, here is how the Good and Bad ratings work, the five seller badges, seller levels based on items sold, and what the ID-verified badge does and does not mean.
Written by Koetsu Co., Ltd.
When buying from an individual seller on Mercari Japan, besides the photos and description you will probably wonder whether the seller is reliable. Profiles and listings show ratings, seller badges, a seller level and an ID-verified badge. Based on Mercari's help centre, this guide explains what each one is based on and how to use them when checking a seller.
Ratings: Good or Bad
At the end of a transaction on Mercari, the buyer leaves a receipt rating and the seller leaves a rating. Both choose either Good (良かった) or Bad (残念だった). The two ratings are published at the same time, once both sides have rated and the transaction is complete.
The star mark on a profile is an overall score calculated from ratings across all transactions. According to the help centre, the list shows up to the latest 100 ratings. Reading recent comments, not just the stars, gives a better sense of how the seller packs, ships and communicates.
A rating can later be changed from Bad to Good, and a rating comment can be deleted, but a Good cannot be changed to Bad and comments cannot be added or edited. Mercari says it cannot judge whether ratings between users are fair, so it does not change or delete ratings even if someone feels they are unjust. Treat ratings as each user's personal judgment and weigh them with other information.
The five seller badges
Seller badges are marks shown on every listing by a seller who meets certain conditions. The help centre describes five of them.
| Badge | When it appears (from the help centre) |
|---|---|
| High rating | Ratings from buyers meet a set standard; only Good ratings in recent transactions |
| Ships within 24 hours | Average shipping time is within 24 hours for items set to ship in 1–2 days |
| Replies within 12 hours | Replies to comments on listings within 12 hours on average |
| Has accepted bundle requests | Has accepted a bundle purchase request in recent transactions |
| Automatic bundle discount | Has set up an automatic bundle discount |
Each badge is a guide based on past performance, such as recent transactions or averages. A ships-within-24-hours badge, for example, is not a promise that this particular item will ship within 24 hours, so check the days-to-ship field on the listing as well.
Seller levels are based on items sold
Seller levels are a ten-step scale based on the number of items sold. Level 1 means 0 sold and Level 2 starts at 1; the thresholds then rise through 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500, and Level 10 starts at 1,000. The only criterion is the number of sales, and sellers cannot turn the display on or off.
In other words, the level shows volume, not quality. A seller with a low level may simply be new and still very careful. Use the level as one reference point together with ratings and badges.
What the ID-verified badge does and does not mean
The ID-verified badge is shown on the profile, My Page and listings of users who have completed Mercari's in-app identity verification. It is not given to those who submitted ID documents another way, it cannot be switched on or off, and it may take some time to appear after the conditions are met.
The help centre stresses that the badge does not mean Mercari endorses the user; it is meant as a guide for safer trading. A seller without the badge is not necessarily a problem, and a badge does not guarantee the condition of an item.
A checking order before you buy
- 1. Photos and description: condition, accessories, size and days to ship
- 2. Ratings: the stars and what recent comments say
- 3. Seller badges, level and ID-verified badge: as guides to past performance
- 4. Anything unclear: ask in a comment before buying
Whether you need to comment before buying is covered in our guide on commenting before buying on Mercari, and how to contact a Mercari Shops seller in our guide to contacting Mercari Shops. Mercari Shops are run as shops, so what you see there may differ from the individual-seller information described here.
Ratings, badges and levels are all guides built from past transactions, and none of them guarantees how this transaction will go. Combining them and asking about anything unclear before buying helps you shop with confidence. Help centre content can change, so check the official pages for the latest details.
Sources and further reading
- Mercari help: how ratings work (Japanese)(Checked: )
- Mercari help: changing or withdrawing a rating (Japanese)(Checked: )
- Mercari help: seller badges (Japanese)(Checked: )
- Mercari help: seller levels (Japanese)(Checked: )
- Mercari help: the ID-verified badge (Japanese)(Checked: )
