For those who sell on Mercari but have no money left.

It sold on Mercari.

Sales have increased.

Every time I see a notification,

"Oh, that's nice"

is what I think.

This.

It feels incredibly good.

But.

You must not misunderstand here.

What's important is,

not sales.

It's profit.

This is super important.

I used to be the same way.

If I sold 100,000 yen worth on Mercari,

"I earned 100,000 yen this month!"

is what I thought.

But in reality, it's different.

Cost of goods.

Shipping costs.

Packing materials.

Sales commissions.

Transportation costs.

After deducting various expenses,

the money left in your hand is less than you thought.

This.

It's a common occurrence in product sales.

Sales are visible.

But profit isn't visible unless you calculate it.

This is the scary part.

Even though you're selling,

for some reason, no money remains.

Even though you're busy,

your bank balance doesn't grow.

The reason this happens is,

you're only looking at sales,

and not looking at profit.

The calculation you need to learn for Mercari sales,

is extremely simple.

Sales - Expenses = Profit

Just this.

For example,

You sold 100,000 yen on Mercari.

However,

you spent 70,000 yen on inventory and shipping.

In this case,

the profit is 30,000 yen.

What you should look at for taxes and tax returns is,

basically this profit.

Not the 100,000 yen in sales,

but the 30,000 yen in profit.

If you get this wrong,

your perspective on the numbers will be off.

It is the same in dating.

"I spent 50,000 yen on dates this month"

even if you say that,

in reality,

it includes transportation costs.

Gift expenses.

Cafe expenses.

Meal expenses.

When you look closely,

you sometimes realize you're spending more than you thought.

Mercari is the same.

Looking only at sales feels good.

But,

when you look at expenses, you see the reality.

This is it.

So,

what counts as an expense in Mercari reselling?

Roughly speaking,

it's the spending necessary to make a sale.

There are six typical examples.

First.

Cost of goods sold.

The cost of buying items for resale.

For handmade items, it's the cost of materials.

This is the easiest expense to understand.

Second.

Shipping costs.

Mercari shipping.

Click Post.

Takkyubin (Courier service).

Yu-Packet Post.

Shipping costs incurred to send the product.

These are also expenses.

Third point.

Packing materials.

Envelopes.

Cardboard boxes.

Tape.

OPP bags.

Bubble wrap.

Cushioning materials.

Things used for this kind of packaging.

It seems minor, but

it adds up to quite a significant amount.

Fourth point.

Sales commission.

The fee deducted when an item is sold on Mercari.

This is also an expense.

Since it is automatically deducted from sales,

many people are not aware of it.

But it is a number you should definitely look at.

Number five.

Communication expenses.

Research.

Listing.

Customer support.

If you use your smartphone or the internet for these tasks,

a portion may be considered an expense.

However,

if you also use them for personal purposes,

you should not count the entire amount as an expense,

but rather divide it based on the usage ratio.

Be careful here.

Number six.

Utility costs.

If you work from home,

you may be able to claim a portion of your electricity bill for your workspace as an expense.

Just like communication expenses,

it's not the whole amount, but a proportional share.

In other words,

only the portion used for business.

This way of thinking is important.

What matters for expenses is,

whether it was necessary for Mercari sales.

This is the key.

It is dangerous to claim everything as an expense.

Separate your daily living expenses from,

the expenditures necessary for product sales.

Please be conscious of this.

And,

one more important thing.

Expenses are,

weak without records and proof.

This,

is extremely important.

"I think I bought it"

"I probably used it"

"It's just an expense, somehow."

This is tough.

Receipts.

Sales slips.

Purchase history.

Transaction history.

Credit card statements.

Keep these things.

This is important.

My past self,

was quite sloppy about this.

Putting receipts in my wallet.

Leaving them all crumpled up.

Thinking I'd look at them later, but leaving them be.

Before I knew it, they were gone.

This.

It's Mr. Chin.

Before filing my tax return,

"What was this purchase for?"

"What was this payment for?"

"Where's the receipt?"

is what happens.

It's a total nightmare.

So,

what you should do from now on is simple.

Receipts and slips,

take a picture with your smartphone.

Keep them as data.

Save them to the cloud.

Keep your transaction history without deleting it.

Even just doing this,

will help you a lot later on.

If you try to keep everything neatly stored on paper,

many people won't be able to keep it up.

In that case, take a picture with your smartphone.

Sort them into folders.

Manage them by month.

That's all you need.

Consistency over perfection.

This is important.

But honestly,

doing everything by hand is a hassle.

Writing it down in a notebook every time.

Entering it into Excel.

Organizing receipts.

This,

is quite a chore.

Especially if you are doing this as a side hustle.

You have your main job.

You have housework.

You have shipping.

You have sourcing.

And on top of that, entering expenses manually.

It's just plain exhausting.

That's where you should use,

accounting software.

The most common ones are,

Money Forward Cloud.

freee.

These kinds of services.

If you use this,

expense management becomes much easier.

When you link your bank account or credit card,

it automatically imports your statements.

Furthermore,

based on the payment details,

this is inventory purchase.

this is communication expense.

this is shipping cost.

it even suggests journal entry categories like these.

You can also take photos of receipts with your smartphone to register them.

This.

It is truly convenient.

Tax returns,

are painful because you do them at the last minute.

Trying to organize,

a whole year's worth of numbers at once is a nightmare.

However,

if you record them automatically on a regular basis,

it becomes much easier.

People who succeed in Mercari reselling

look at the numbers.

Which products are selling.

What the profit margin is.

How much shipping costs.

How much is spent on packaging materials.

How much is left in their pocket.

They look at these things.

Conversely,

people who don't look at the numbers

do things by intuition.

"It seems to be selling"

"I'm probably making a profit"

"Things are going well this month"

But,

when you actually calculate it,

there is almost nothing left.

This.

It happens all the time.

Reselling is,

Just selling isn't enough.

Keeping the profit is what matters.

Increase your sales.

Manage your expenses.

Understand your profits.

These three go together as a set.

If right now,

you are selling on Mercari,

but have no money left,

first, look at the numbers.

Sales.

Cost of goods.

Shipping costs.

Fees.

Packaging materials.

Other expenses.

Calculate these.

Then look at the profit from there.

Don't just stop at,

"100,000 yen in sales!"

How much is the profit?

Look this far.

Once you can do this,

your perspective on product sales will change.

For example,

if you are only selling products with low profit margins,

reconsider your sourcing.

If shipping costs are too high,

reconsider your shipping methods.

If packaging materials are expensive,

reconsider how you buy your supplies.

When you look at the numbers,

you can see points for improvement.

This is a strength.

Summary for today.

What is important in Mercari sales is,

not revenue, but profit.

Revenue - Expenses = Profit.

Typical examples of expenses are,

sourcing costs.

Shipping costs.

Packaging materials.

Sales commissions.

Communication expenses.

Utility costs.

And,

Always keep receipts and transaction records.

If you use accounting software,

you can automate much of the record-keeping.

People who panic before filing their tax returns,

usually haven't been keeping records regularly.

To help your future self,

start now.

That's it.

Just by doing it now,

things will be much easier later on.

Mercari reselling,

is fun when things sell.

But,

once you learn to look at the numbers,

You will become stronger.

Don't rely on intuition,

make decisions based on numbers.

Don't look at sales,

look at profits.

Automate your expense management,

and focus on sourcing and listing.

Let's build this workflow.

For those who make numbers their ally,

product sales will grow rapidly.