How to Make an Offer on Mercari (Buyer and Seller Guide)

For buyers

How to make an offer as a buyer

Mercari lets buyers negotiate on most listings through the Make Offer button. The flow is the same on the app and the website, and it takes under a minute.

Before you start, add a valid payment method to your account. Because an accepted offer charges you instantly, Mercari requires payment details on file before it will submit your offer.

1. Open the listing: Tap the item you want. Make Offer appears below the Buy Now button on eligible listings.
2. Tap Make Offer: This opens the offer entry screen. If you do not see the button, the seller has disabled offers on that item.
3. Enter your price: Type the total you want to pay. Your offer must be at least 10 percent lower than the listing price, but not so low that it gets auto-rejected.
4. Submit the offer: Confirm your payment method and send. The seller is notified right away and has 24 hours to respond.
5. Wait for the response: The seller can accept, decline, or counter. If they accept, your card is charged and the item ships to you.

Negotiation

Countering offers and the rules that bind you

When a seller counters, Mercari shows their new price and you can accept it, decline it, or send another counteroffer. The back-and-forth continues until someone accepts or an offer expires.

The most important rule on Mercari is that offers are commitments. Once you or the seller accepts, the transaction completes and the buyer is charged. There is no cooling-off step, so treat every number you send as a price you would happily pay.

For sellers

How sellers send Offer to Likers

Offer to Likers is a seller tool that sends a private discounted price to every shopper who has liked your item. It is one of the fastest ways to convert interest into a sale, because likers already signaled intent.

Mercari requires the offer to be at least 5 percent below your current listing price, and the discounted price is sent to all likers at once. Each liker who receives it has 24 hours to buy at that price before it expires.

1. Open your active listing: Go to the item in your selling list. You need at least one like for the option to appear.
2. Tap Promote, then Offer to Likers: Mercari groups this under the promotion options for the listing.
3. Set the discounted price: Enter a price at least 5 percent below the current listing price. A bigger cut tends to convert better.
4. Send the offer: Every current liker is notified privately. They can buy at the offer price for the next 24 hours.

Seller strategy

Smart Pricing versus manual offers

Beyond Offer to Likers, Mercari has Smart Pricing, which automatically lowers your listing price over time toward a floor you set and can auto-send offers to likers as the price drops. It is hands-off, but you give up control of the exact number.

Manual Offer to Likers gives you precision: you choose the timing and the discount. Many sellers use Smart Pricing for aging inventory and manual offers for items they expect to move fast.

Tips

Offer etiquette that gets a yes

Lowball offers get declined or ignored. A reasonable first offer sits roughly 10 to 20 percent below the listing price, which signals you are serious without insulting the seller.

Check recent sold prices for the same item before you offer. If similar items sold for close to the asking price, the seller has little reason to discount. If they sold for less, you have leverage to point to.

• Do not lowball: Offers far below market usually get declined and can sour a seller on negotiating further.
• Be ready to pay: Acceptance charges your card instantly, so never offer on something you might back out of.
• Bundle for a better deal: Ask the seller to combine multiple items into one listing so you can offer on the bundle and save on shipping.
• Move quickly: Offers expire in 24 hours, so respond to counters promptly to keep the deal alive.

Sell across more channels

Price with real comps and list everywhere

Whether you are offering as a buyer or fielding offers as a seller, the right number comes from data. The same sold-comp logic that tells a buyer when to push for a discount tells a seller where to set a price that still leaves room to accept offers.

FlowLister is AI eBay listing software that turns a single photo into a reviewable, priced eBay draft using sold-comp pricing, then crosslists it so the items you also sell on Mercari reach more buyers. You stay in control: every draft is yours to edit before it goes live.