Is Mercari overpriced now, or did I just miss the train?

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So, I’ve been using Mercari Japan for nearly 3 years now, and in the beginning it was my absolute favourite place to buy cards.

When I started, I had zero idea what I was doing, so I had to do a lot of trial and error, spending hours sifting through pages and pages of items, then finding something that I was interested that was sold, but using the terms in the listing to search further.

I was able to find some interesting things; I’ve found a CoroCoro Mew card that cost me around 6,500 yen back in 2021, a crap ton of unopened promo packs from the Dragon V Get Challenge, some awesome Jumbo cards like Shadow Lugia and Charizard, and some other stuff.

But I foolishly held off on picking up any of the base, jungle, or fossil holos, because they were so affordably cheap and posts were always in full supply, so I never worried about them dwindling. I never worried about any of the bigger cards I couldn’t afford either that were in the $40-120 range (sky tree rayquaza, nobunaga rayquaza, delta species cards), and others, because they seemed to always pop up as well at a consistent rate.

This seemed to remain the same until the last 6-8 months, and now… well Jesus things are a lot different :sweat_smile: most of the cards that were in the 10-20 range are now in the 60-120, and anything in the 25-50 range is anywhere from 40-200. It’s all over the place. A lot more sellers are using eBay, and a lot more cards outside of the base set Charizard (which was always typical) get sold in the first 30 minutes of a post.

Did I miss my opportunity? I mean, I needed to wait to financially afford the majority of the cards I wanted to buy anyways, but, did I miss my opportunity to buy them at a reasonable price? Or do you guys think the price will settle?

Is there another place worth looking at for cards? If I could I would just go to Japan, but that’s not really an option :sweat_smile:

Hell, my friend used to be able to get me card cubes from Mandarake in Japan; it came with a vintage holo on the front, and a bunch of vintage bulk inside for around 800-1,500 yen or more depending on the size, and now they don’t even sell those over there anymore, so I don’t know if it’s any better there :skull:

Any suggestions on buying, or opinions on mercari?

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Buyee has been running 10%-20% off coupons for quite some time now. A lot of good cards have been bought.

Give it time, it will replenish again for good deals

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If you are comparing with 2021 prices then I think the boat has left , encountered the iceberg and already at the bottom. However, I can easily cite you personal examples of cards that I got last year which are much cheaper compared to this year. I truly believe for certain Japanese promos the prices have really settled and might settle even further compared to the prices from last year and half. But these are still relatively higher than 2021 prices in my personal observations. 22-23 and 24 seemed like peak prices for Japanese cards on Mercari. I still have some “great deals” but they are more for binder conditioned copies, which fall under the “some scratches and dirt” filter.

I also wonder if sellers feel the same way of missing the boat for selling cards at the peak price? Maybe you will see more cards coming out next year. But no one can predict that for sure.

Cheers!

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A lot more people are combing mercari than any time in the past, so a lot of buyer competition for raw cards with grading potential has increased sellers asking prices. A lot of sellers want a cut of the graded card price, without taking the time to submit to PSA themselves although there are a lot more PSA slabs on there than any point in time.

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I think the price increases are due to a mix of things. First, as people have mentioned here more buyers are combing through Mercari for deals esp. when a 10-20% coupon hits 1-2 times per month for the past year.

Another factor is people in Japan started regularly grading Pokemon cards so there’s less raw cards ending up on the market esp. ones that are NM or better condition. PSA started grading in Japan back in 2018 but it really picked up in popularity in the last 1-2 years. In 2023 Japanese cards had a “2020 moment” and prices skyrocketed like 5x or more for certain cards. Many prices have cooled off since 2023 summer but some cards may have long-term increases.

Just my 2 cents.

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Market optimization has really accelerated since 2020, and even since 2022-23 as well. All the factors people have pointed out previously (PSA in Japan, increased middleman presence, coupons, etc.) definitely contribute to this. Buying from middlemen has become a lot more normalized now and it isn’t just the exclusive purview of people who have spent years in the hobby.

Because the optimization has hit pretty much everywhere, you aren’t going to get “deals” in the sense of underpriced cards relative to condition/availability elsewhere. If things get more affordable on Mercari, it’s likely because things are getting more affordable everywhere else. The best thing I have used Mercari for is finding items/cards which aren’t available on eBay or other marketplaces, even if I need to overpay a bit.

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You can still get great prices on things if you are lucky. The boat has not left it’s just very small now in a huge harbour

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Mercari implemented 100% buyers fees. Meaning they screw the buyer will every fee imaginable and the seller with 0%. So even if you get a great deal, the fees just ruin it and its pointless. They also dont offer free cigarettes after they screw you.

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This thread has been about Mercari Japan.

Are you talking Mercari USA?

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Mix of huge influx of people using it, shops using it, everything being priced based of it and the coupons. You can always find good deals, but its not like it was. Half the time, even with coupon, you might as well just buy from ebay for less.

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I agree with a lot of sentiments in this thread.

You really need to price check between several different sites now to make sure you’re getting the best price for the condition you’re after. As a lot of people here have said, the more widespread usage has diminished supply from what it was, though it’s not impossible to find deals.

I pretty much exclusively use Mercari for rare or niche cards I can’t find anywhere else (like my unlimited XY8 cards), so I’m okay with “overpaying” if it’s the only copy I’ve ever seen for sale.

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