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The story
Mercari’s stock closed trading on September 16 down ¥247 (6.39%) from the previous day at ¥3,621. That marks a roughly 29% drop in about a month from its year-to-date high of ¥5,111 set on August 10, following three sharp sell-offs since the start of September. What drew attention during this downturn was the ban on listing the latest Pokémon Card series, along with criticism over resale and misuse. On 5channel threads, users traded observations that even after the ban policy was announced, a search still turned up the targeted items for sale, alongside the view that Mercari can’t bring itself to enforce strict regulations since scalpers are paying customers too. Criticism that the platform has become a breeding ground for criminal proceeds coexisted with an investor’s-eye view that over-regulating would cut into sales and hurt the stock price.
Published 9/16 (Wed) 16:25
ITmedia NEWS
Mercari’s stock closed trading on September 16 down ¥247 (6.39%) from the previous day at ¥3,621. It had marked a year-to-date high of ¥5,111 on August 10, but after three sharp sell-offs since the start of September, it fell about 29% in roughly a month.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
The headline alone sounds self-contradictory
It's the resellers (scalpers) people hate, I'd guess
Not regulated at all lol
Everyone saw that coming
All talk, as usual
Regulation's way overdue
Why does a piece of paper with some sparkles on it go for tens of millions of yen
There should be a law capping prices at like 1,000x the production cost
That's been a thing since way back in the Yu-Gi-Oh! days
Some old guy's amateur artwork sells for tens of billions of yen
If you reject that logic, you might as well say paintings and art are worthless too
Probably just goes by whichever gets the most complaints?
That's basically what it's become now
It's a form of speculation
Feels like it really heated up once overseas celebrities started buying them up in bulk
everyone could jump ship in an instant
Not really
Having the most users is what wins in the end
but the shipping fees are insanely high.
If you're not careful, shipping ends up costing more than the item itself.
It's a tricky business.
There's always secondhand shops
Good momentum, but they'll probably let it slide since it's a hassle
They should at least crack down on the blatant cases
Go back to using イエサブ (Yellow Submarine, a hobby/trading-card shop chain) like the old days?
Though these days it's more about pouring money into digital gacha and collecting that way
Do it like the old days — hold swap-meet events where everyone brings their cards
For students, just trade with friends
That's what they were made for in the first place — trading cards aren't supposed to be a way to make money
Even this smallish listing ban was enough to tank the stock
I hate to say it, but that's just how it is
That's why it's the Japanese government's fault for not regulating this by law
Why is it just left unchecked?
Because officially, they deny it
Same here
Normally I'd buy, but there are just too many problems
It's a breeding ground for crime and trouble
If you get too hung up on ESG, it won't grow
You've gotta just go by the numbers
i.imgur.com/2gV4WsX.jpeg
It's messed up how the "shrink-wrapped" label means absolutely nothing (shrink wrap is supposed to prove the box is unopened)
Nintendo should really just sue already
Mercari pays its employees well but doesn't pay dividends,
so shareholders are basically thinking "I don't care if it's resale or whatever, just turn a profit, push the stock up, and buy back shares"
I remember buying in at ¥2,500 and just sitting on it for about a year
Right after the Switch shortage panic in the early days of COVID, huh
If Mercari couldn't be used for criminal activity, the company's value would plummet
Background and Points of Debate
Mercari is a platform that facilitates consumer-to-consumer flea-market transactions, and since how strictly it restricts listings directly affects the volume of goods in circulation and its transaction totals, investors tend to react sharply to regulation-related news. What split opinion in the thread was how effective the ban actually is: some pointed out that even after the “ban” was announced, a search still turned up the targeted items for sale, raising doubts about enforcement — alongside the opposing view that “if they actually crack down hard, sales will drop, and that’s bad for the stock.” Concerns that flea-market apps are being used to cash out stolen goods or launder money have circulated in some corners for a while, but Mercari itself denies any involvement, and it’s worth noting the posts in this thread are ultimately just speculation on an anonymous message board. The original article doesn’t attribute the stock’s decline to any single measure, and the breakdown behind each of the three recent sharp drops hasn’t been made clear.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (News Speed+) thread “[Stock Price] Mercari Shares Plunge, Down 30% in a Month — Latest Pokémon Card Listing Ban Draws Backlash, Resale and Fraud Criticism Continues.”
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