A Beginner’s Guide to Save Yourself from Fraudsters
Is Mercari legit? Online shopping has become the most significant trend for buyers these days. During the Coronavirus pandemic, most people preferred shopping online than going to stores to ensure their safety. According to some reports, the online business saw a sudden surge due to a heavy load of customers participating in online supermarket runs.
How is that even possible if we talk about online shopping and forget Mercari?
Mercari is known to be the most popular online shopping market. The most exciting fact about Mercari is that you can almost all types of items that too in affordable rates.
Sounds exciting?
Well, before you move straight onto Mercari’s site to fill in your stock, here are some shocking revelations about the authenticity of Mercari. Is it safe to buy from this online shopping platform? Or, you should not ever visit Mercari’s site.
To know your answer to the question: “Is Mercari Legit?”, we have explained some important points which you should go through before making your first purchase from this online store.
Mercari— A little Introduction
For people who are new to the word “Mercari,” let us read a detailed introduction to this shopping market.
Mercari is a widely known shopping place that is among the e-commerce sites. Mercari runs in Japan and the United States of America. To date, Mercari has become the most famous among the Japanese.
What’s the exciting part?
It provides non-retailers a prominent platform to sell their new, used or unused items. All you have to do is to sign up. Interestingly, you might not even be required to pay any registration fee for becoming a seller on Mercari. However, each sale would make you pay 10% of the total amount to Mercari to continue working as a seller.
Is Mercari Legit?
Being the most commonly installed app globally, Mercari has some severe and not-so-cool revelations attached to it. Many people have claimed Mercari to be an extremely unsafe place for people to buy or sell goods.
Besides, buyers have shared some negative reviews mentioning that Mercari wasn’t safe as scammers pretend to be sellers on Mercari without being checked by the company.
Thus far, there is no proof for all of these claims by a single individual. All these negative reviews are nothing but revengeful statements by the users.
If we take Mercari’s reputation and sale into account, we can say that Mercari is 100% legit to be used as a shopping platform. It gives the customers the freedom to enjoy shopping without even stepping out of their doors.
More from e-commerce category: Letgo Review
Negative Reviews About Mercari
Now is the time to ask another question. Why would someone post a negative review for a website? Well, there could be so many reasons. However, considering Mercari’s case, it is mainly because of some hard and fast rules for people buying and selling on Mercari.
To avoid fraudulent activities, the team of Mercari keeps a strict check over the buying and selling on this platform. If someone from the purchaser or retailer tries to attempt illegal activity, they are frequently reported to the higher authorities and punished accordingly.
Being a seller, it gets even harder to verify yourself for the selling process. The company would ask you for some Identity verification documents, legal documents, registration proof, etc. After becoming a legit seller, all of your product pictures should be visible to get approved for sales.
All of these activities make it to people writing nasty and negative comments about the website.
How Can I Stay Safe on Mercari?
No online shopping platform can become legit until you start taking the needed precautions. When buying online, one has to be extremely careful, especially for websites involving retailers.
A seller could ask you for several details in the chatbox. In such as case, if you agree and send your personal information to this unknown individual, it is you who are responsible and not the platform itself.
There are the following most essential ways through which you can stay safe on Mercari.
1. Read the Company’s Policy
Almost all websites come with a privacy policy. For people using Mercari, there comes a section under the name “Payment Terms.” When making any purchase, look for the payment conditions. Understand and educate yourself about how Mercari accepts their payments.
Besides talking about the payment mode, this section will also guide you on how to stay safe from being scammed.
2. Make Contact Through the Website
After you visit any product’s page, you will see the seller’s name just under the product description. When you click it, you will see a box appearing with “Contact Seller.” This platform will let you discuss any specifications of the product being bought.
If a seller asks you to talk through Skype or any off-the-site platform, reject instantly. The company provides these chat boxes to ensure liability and keep the customers safe. Under these chat sections, sellers are bound to talk nicely and avoid trying any fraudulent activity.
Therefore, to use a secure communication channel, make sure that you do not talk to the seller through any other medium
3. Never share your Personal Information
Once you are done reading Mercari’s privacy policy, you will understand the importance of not sharing your personal information with any seller.
There might be hundreds of people asking you to share your bank details, addresses, phone numbers. However, if someone tries to ask you for your pin codes, bank codes, or any personally identifying information, then it might be a red sign to step back and report them.
Make sure that you take visible screenshots as proof of the conversation. No matter how much the other person insists you, never drop your private information to any seller on Mercari.
The Bottom Line
As we conclude, we have come to the point that, Mercari being the world’s top online shopping platform, is completely legit. Thousands of people buy and sell on this site daily. There is still no clear proof of any fake activity being held of Mercari. It is now up to you to take your safety measures.
