Scammed on Mercari and they released the funds.

I had a horrible experience with Mercari. Thought I would share it here to warn everyone.

I recently purchased a book from a seller on Mercari. Tracking said the book was delivered on Aug 4th but I never received it. Two other packages arrived just fine that day and I work from home, so I know it wasn’t stolen.

I immediately reached out to the seller and Mercari to report the issue with the order. In the meantime I contacted USPS to inquire about the package. USPS was really efficient and was able to locate my package. They said the address on the package was not mine and the resident at the “wrong” address who opened my package said it was a weird package because it was filled with tissue papers and random stuff. USPS lady said I was scammed. I immediately reported everything to Mercari. They started a return process to prevent auto rating on Aug 5th and then said they would reach out to USPS and it could take 3-7 days to hear back. In the meantime, I was waiting to hear back from USPS as well to retrieve the package. Oh and the seller got back to me saying they didn’t have a record of the label to show what the delivery address is (how is that possible?!)

A day later (Aug 6 today), Mercari released the funds to the seller saying USPS said the package was delivered to the correct address so they suggested me to work with carrier on compensation for misplaced package on their possession. So they basically blamed everything on USPS, released the funds and then gave the seller a neutral rating.

I tried to call them and nobody picked up due to high call volume. I left more messages asking for explanations and answers.

Not sure if I can get the money back but thought I would share the experience here. I don’t feel like Mercari protects buyers at all.