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The story
A post went up on 5channel’s “Nandemo Jikkyou G” (Live/Sports Chat) board claiming that rice ordered through Mercari arrived discolored. Rice prices have kept climbing in recent years, pushing more people to hunt for cheaper deals on flea-market apps — but many sellers on these platforms are private individuals with no food-safety permits, meaning buyers have no way of knowing how the rice was stored or when it was milled. The thread filled up with comments like “buying food on Mercari is scary” and “just buy it at the supermarket,” while others drew a line, saying “canned goods or instant noodles are fine.” Opinions split over just how much food-buying on flea-market apps people are willing to tolerate.
What people said
You'd buy a case of drinks online though, right?
I'd buy canned goods or dry foods, but only from a proper name-brand maker.
I'd go as far as cup noodles, but not anything perishable.
Guess it's time to keep re-rolling? ("Gacha" = random-draw loot mechanic, used as slang for the luck of being born into your circumstances.)
Honestly, that's close to a bad pull on the country gacha too.
Background and Points of Debate
Flea-market apps like Mercari run on person-to-person (C2C) transactions, which is a key difference from online retailers or physical stores: sellers aren’t required to hold a food sanitation permit or verify their identity. Rising rice prices in recent years have pushed more people to hunt for deals on flea-market apps, but the risk of buying rice with an unknown milling date or storage history has long been flagged as a concern. The thread split between those who see buying food through person-to-person deals as inherently risky, and those who argued that sealed, brand-name items like canned goods or dry foods are fine — showing that where people draw the line varies from person to person. The phrase “no complaints, no returns,” commonly used in listings, tends to be cited by sellers as grounds for refusing return requests, but it doesn’t actually guarantee the food is safe. What’s easy to overlook when buying food on a flea-market app is that there’s no quality assurance from the platform itself — it’s strictly a deal between individuals.
※This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5channel (“Nandemo Jikkyou G”) thread “[Photo] Mom in Tears: “This Is What Arrived After I Bought Rice on Mercari”.”
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