How Do I Make an Offer on Mercari? A Seller’s Guide
If you have ever stared at a listing that has been sitting for two weeks and thought, ‘I just want this thing gone,’ you already understand why Mercari’s offer system matters. Making and receiving offers is one of the fastest ways to turn stale inventory into cash, but there are a few mechanics worth knowing before you start accepting the first number a buyer throws at you.
How the Offer System Works on Mercari
Mercari has two distinct offer flows, and mixing them up is a common source of confusion.
- Buyer-initiated offers: A buyer taps ‘Make Offer’ on your listing and submits a price. You get a notification and have 24 hours to accept, counter, or decline. If you do nothing, the offer expires automatically.
- Seller-initiated offers (Offer to Likers): You push a discounted price to everyone who has liked your listing. They have 24 hours to accept before the offer disappears. This one requires you to drop the price by at least 10 percent below your listed price, and Mercari temporarily hides the original price from non-likers.
Both tools live in the same general space, but they serve different purposes. Buyer offers are reactive, meaning you respond. Offer to Likers is proactive, meaning you go after warm leads who already showed interest.
Step-by-Step: How to Make an Offer as a Buyer
If you also buy on Mercari, or you want to understand exactly what your buyers are experiencing, here is the process from the buyer side.
- Open the listing you want to purchase.
- Tap the Make Offer button below the item photos. If this button is not visible, the seller has turned off offers for that listing.
- Enter your offer amount. Mercari requires the offer to be at least 75 percent of the listed price, so you cannot submit a lowball that is more than 25 percent below the asking price.
- Tap Submit Offer. The seller has 24 hours to respond.
- Wait for an acceptance, a counter, or silence. If the seller counters, you then have 24 hours to accept or decline their number.
One practical note: once you submit an offer, you cannot edit it. If you typed the wrong number, you need to let it expire or ask the seller to decline it so you can resubmit.
How to Respond to Offers as a Seller
This is where most resellers spend their time. Handling offers well can mean the difference between a quick sale and a listing that sits another month.
When a buyer sends an offer, you have three choices:
| Action | When to use it | What happens next |
|---|---|---|
| Accept | The offer meets your floor price or you just want the item gone | Transaction locks in immediately, buyer pays |
| Counter | The offer is close but not quite there | Buyer has 24 hours to accept or decline your counter |
| Decline | The offer is too far below your floor or the item is priced firm | Offer closes, buyer can submit a new one or move on |
A useful habit is to know your floor price before any offer comes in. If you paid $12 for an item and need at least $20 to cover fees and make a small profit, do not accept $18 in the heat of the moment. Write the floor on a sticky note, keep it in a spreadsheet, or just do the math ahead of time. Mercari charges a flat 10 percent selling fee, so factor that in when you set your minimum.
For items that have been listed more than three weeks without activity, it is usually worth countering rather than declining, even if the offer is lower than ideal. A small profit clears shelf space and frees up cash for better inventory.
Using Offer to Likers Strategically
Offer to Likers is one of Mercari’s most underused features. Every time someone likes your listing, they are raising their hand and saying they are interested. Sending them a time-limited discount is a low-pressure way to nudge them toward buying.
A few things to keep in mind:
- The minimum discount is 10 percent off your current listed price. If an item is listed at $30, you need to offer at least $27.
- You can only send one Offer to Likers per listing every 7 days, so do not fire it off the same day you list.
- The offer is private. Only your likers see the discounted price, which creates a sense of exclusivity without publicly lowering your listing.
- After the 24-hour window closes, your price automatically reverts to the original amount.
A good routine is to review your likes every Sunday evening, then send Offer to Likers on anything that has been sitting for two or more weeks. Pairing that habit with regular relisting keeps older inventory circulating. Tools like SellerSync handle the repetitive parts of that routine, including scheduled price drops and relisting, so you can focus on sourcing and pricing decisions instead of manually working through a long inventory list.
If you want a deeper look at how relisting fits into this system, this guide on how to relist on Mercari covers the process and timing in detail.
Pricing Your Listings to Attract Good Offers
The offers you get are largely a reflection of how you price in the first place. If you list at $25 hoping to get $20, buyers will offer $15. If you list at $22 and your floor is $18, the offers you receive tend to be more serious.
A few pricing habits that lead to better offer conversations:
- Build a small negotiation buffer: Price 10 to 15 percent above your actual target so you have room to counter without going below your floor.
- Check sold comps first: Search Mercari’s completed sales for the same item. Pricing in line with recent sold prices attracts buyers who are actually ready to buy, not just dreamers.
- Avoid round numbers when possible: $24 reads cheaper than $25 in a browse grid, and it still gives you room to counter at $21 or $22.
- Update prices on slow listings: If an item gets zero offers or likes after two weeks, a price drop of $2 to $3 can put it back in search results and attract new attention.
Timing matters here too. Listings get the most visibility when they are fresh, so knowing the best time to list on Mercari can make your pricing strategy work harder without any extra effort on your part.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a seller make an offer to a specific buyer on Mercari?
No, Mercari does not allow sellers to send direct offers to individual buyers the way some platforms do. The Offer to Likers feature goes to everyone who liked your listing, but you cannot target a single person unless they send you an offer first and you respond.
What happens if I ignore an offer?
The offer expires after 24 hours and neither party is penalized. That said, declining promptly is better practice because it frees the buyer to shop elsewhere instead of waiting, and it keeps your response metrics clean.
Can I retract a counter-offer I already sent?
Once you send a counter, you cannot pull it back. If you made an error, your best option is to message the buyer, explain the mistake, and ask them to decline so you can resend a corrected counter.
Does accepting a lower offer affect my seller rating?
No, your star rating on Mercari is based on buyer reviews after a completed transaction, not on the price you accepted. Accepting a low offer does not hurt your standing on the platform.
Why does the Make Offer button not appear on some listings?
Sellers can disable the offer feature on individual listings. If the button is missing, the seller has chosen to list at a firm price and is not accepting offers on that item.
Once you understand how both sides of the offer system work, it becomes a reliable tool rather than a source of frustration. Set your floor prices in advance, respond to offers promptly, and use Offer to Likers on anything with likes that has not moved in a couple of weeks. Small consistent habits like those add up to faster turnover and steadier income over time.
We build SellerSync, a Chrome extension that takes the busywork out of selling on Mercari, so you can spend less time managing listings and more time sourcing and shipping.