First 200 Mississippi businesses are Founding Merchants
Selling on Mercari?
Mercari's fees are low. The question is where they go.
Mercari's 10% selling fee is genuinely low, so this isn't a 'you'll earn far more per sale' pitch. On Good Circles the comparable margin doesn't vanish to a platform - it becomes a ~10% saving for your customer and funding for a local nonprofit, the platform takes 1% of profit, and there's no ad spend or merchant card cost.
A $100.00 sale, side by side
A $100.00 sale that costs you $60.00, at a 25% tax rate. Full accounting, all the way to after-tax profit and the total local value of the sale.
| Per $100.00 sale | Good Circles | Mercari |
|---|---|---|
| Customer pays | $90.00 (saves $10.00) | $100.00 |
| Platform fee · ads · card | $0.30 · $0 · $0 | $10.00 · $0 · in fee |
| Donation to a local nonprofit (deductible) | $3.00 | — |
| Pre-tax profit | $26.70 | $30.00 |
| After-tax profit (25%) | $20.02 | $22.50 |
| Customer saves / community funded | $10.00 / $3.00 | $0 / $0 |
| Total local value created | $33.02 | $22.50 |
On this example your after-tax cash is comparable ($20.02 on Good Circles vs $22.50), but Good Circles creates about $10.52 more total local value — the equivalent margin goes to your customer and a local nonprofit instead of the platform, and it lowers your taxable income.
Mercari terms verified 2026-06-22 (mercari.com/us/help_center/article/169); 10% selling fee on item price + buyer-paid shipping. Seller payment-processing and cashout fees were eliminated Jan 6, 2025 (a 3.6% Buyer Protection fee is charged to the buyer, not the seller). Good Circles takes a 1% fee on profit, with no ad spend and no merchant card cost (the customer pays credit card processing if they use a card). Illustration, not tax advice.
Calculator
Run your own numbers
Your price, cost, tax rate, and current ad spend. This uses your numbers — not a sales pitch — to show your after-tax profit on each platform and the total local value of every sale.
Your platform
$0.00
after-tax profit / sale
Good Circles
$0.00
after-tax profit / sale
Total local value created per sale
$0.00 on Good Circles vs $0.00 on your platform
your after-tax profit + your customer's savings + community funding
Line-by-line, per sale
| Per sale | Platform | Good Circles |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue (list price) | ||
| Less: customer savings (10%) | ||
| Less: COGS | ||
| Less: platform fee | ||
| Less: ad / marketing | ||
| Less: card processing | ||
| Less: donation (deductible) | ||
| Taxable / pre-tax profit | ||
| Less: income tax | ||
| After-tax profit | ||
| Memo: customer saves | ||
| Memo: community funded | ||
| Memo: your after-tax cost to deliver that value | — |
Illustration only — not tax advice. Deductibility depends on your entity, income, and how the arrangement is characterized; confirm with your CPA. Competitor "fee" is the typical published all-in rate (verified 2026-06-22); set the fee and your ad spend to your real numbers.
The honest version
We won't pretend Mercari is expensive - its 10% selling fee is one of the lowest in resale. On base fees your take-home per sale is similar to Good Circles, sometimes slightly higher on Mercari, because the ~10% you give your customer is real.
But on Good Circles that value isn't lost - it goes to your customer (a saving that brings them back) and a local nonprofit, instead of to the platform, and it lowers your taxable income. You also create far more total local value per sale. Run your own numbers in the calculator below.
Questions
Mercari vs Good Circles — FAQ
Are Mercari's fees lower than Good Circles'?
Mercari's 10% selling fee is low - on a per-sale cash basis it can leave you slightly more than Good Circles, because the ~10% you give your customer on Good Circles is real. We're not going to pretend otherwise; the difference is where that value goes.
So why sell on Good Circles?
Because the equivalent margin becomes a saving for your customer (who is local and comes back) and funding for a local nonprofit, instead of a platform's revenue - and it's deductible, lowering your taxable income. You create much more total local value per sale.
Can I use both?
Yes - keep Mercari for national resale reach and use Good Circles to sell locally with customer savings and community funding built in. Good Circles is free to join with a 1% fee on profit.
Keep more of what you earn
Free to join. A 1% fee on profit only when you sell. The first 200 Mississippi businesses are Founding Merchants.