Does Mercari Ship to the UK?

No, Mercari doesn’t ship directly to the UK. That answer actually covers two separate platforms that share the same name: Mercari Japan, a Japanese secondhand marketplace for anime merchandise, Japanese fashion, and collectibles, and Mercari US, an unrelated US-based marketplace more like eBay. Neither delivers to a UK address directly, but the reasons, and the ways around it, are genuinely different for each, so it’s worth knowing which one you actually mean before looking for a solution. 

Mercari Japan: Why You Can’t Just Sign Up

This is the bigger barrier of the two. Mercari Japan requires a Japanese phone number and a Japanese IP address just to verify an account, so it’s not a shipping restriction you can work around with a forwarding address, you can’t actually get into the platform from the UK in the first place. Listings are almost entirely in Japanese, payment is tied to Japanese banks and payment methods, and most sellers only offer domestic Japanese shipping through carriers like Yamato Transport or Japan Post.

Because of this, the standard way UK buyers access Mercari Japan isn’t a forwarding service at all, it’s a proxy buying service. These services hold their own verified Mercari account, purchase the item on your behalf using their own Japanese details, and then ship it on to you internationally. Buyee is the only officially partnered proxy service for Mercari Japan, though other proxy shopping companies operate in the same space. This is a fundamentally different setup to ordering from a UK or US retailer that simply won’t ship internationally, since there’s no account for a UK buyer to use at all, proxied or otherwise.

Worth being upfront about: this isn’t a service Atvido offers or has plans to. Atvido’s forwarding model works by giving you an address to shop with directly, and Mercari Japan’s account restrictions mean that model doesn’t apply here. If Mercari Japan is specifically what you’re after, a dedicated proxy buying service is genuinely the right tool for it.

Mercari US: A Different Platform, and a Solvable Problem

Mercari US is an unrelated company, a US-based marketplace for secondhand and new items, closer in spirit to eBay or Poshmark than to Mercari Japan. Unlike Mercari Japan, there’s no barrier to creating an account or browsing from the UK, the issue is simply that sellers ship within the US only, so a UK delivery address isn’t accepted at checkout the way a US one would be.

This is the kind of gap a standard US forwarding address solves. You’d use a US address in place of your own at checkout, the seller ships domestically as normal, and the order gets forwarded on to you in the UK afterward.

Atvido will soon offer exactly this. Alongside our existing UK and German addresses, we’re launching a dedicated US address, so you’ll be able to shop Mercari US, and any other US-only marketplace or retailer, the same straightforward way you can already shop UK and EU stores with Atvido. There’s no exact launch date yet, but it’s coming soon. Sign up for early access and we’ll let you know the moment US addresses go live.

Alternatives, Depending on Which Mercari You Mean

For Mercari Japan: a proxy buying service is the realistic route, not a workaround to avoid but the standard way this platform is accessed internationally. Buyee, as Mercari’s official partner, is the most established option, though a few other proxy shopping services operate in the same space and are worth comparing on fees before committing to one.

For Mercari US: existing US parcel forwarding services already offer this today if you don’t want to wait for Atvido’s US address to launch. Secondhand marketplaces like eBay and Depop also sometimes carry the same items resold by buyers who already have US access.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Mercari Japan the same company as Mercari US?

No, despite sharing a name and a similar secondhand marketplace concept, they’re separate companies with separate platforms, separate accounts, and separate rules. Being able to use one doesn’t give you any access to the other.

Can I create a Mercari Japan account from the UK?

Not directly. Account verification requires a Japanese phone number and Japanese IP address, which is why proxy buying services, rather than forwarding addresses, are the standard way UK buyers access the platform.

Why does Mercari Japan need a proxy service instead of just a forwarding address?

Because the restriction isn’t about shipping, it’s about account access itself. A forwarding address only helps once you’re able to place an order, and UK buyers can’t create a working account on Mercari Japan without a proxy service handling that step for them.

Is Mercari a legitimate platform?

Yes, both platforms are legitimate, established marketplaces, Mercari Japan launched in 2013 and Mercari US is publicly traded, with millions of active users between them. As with any secondhand marketplace, it’s still worth checking individual seller ratings and reviews before buying, since quality and reliability vary seller to seller rather than being guaranteed by the platform itself.