2026.08.18

BOOTH vs Creema vs Mercari Shops: Japan Marketplace Fees Compared in 2026

swiftwand

Open the fee pages of Japanese marketplaces side by side and you get 5.6 percent, 10.67 percent, 10 percent, 3.6 percent plus 40 yen. Comparison stalls there, because those numbers are not measuring the same thing. One platform applies its rate to the total payment including postage; another applies it to the item price alone. Some add a fixed amount per order; some charge a monthly fee in exchange for a lower rate.

Ten percent of what matters more than ten percent. This article puts the main Japanese venues into one table and then works out what each actually deducts at real price points. All figures are taken from official pages as of August 2026, in an area where revisions are frequent.

Three things that make rates incomparable
The fee table, August 2026
What actually gets deducted
Where the paid plans break even
Fees are not the deciding factor
Sources

忍者AdMax

Three things that make rates incomparable

First, the base. When the rate applies to the item price only, a 2,000 yen item with 1,000 yen postage is charged on 2,000 yen. When it applies to the total settlement, the same order is charged on 3,000 yen. Same percentage, different money.

Second, fixed amounts. A few tens of yen per order matters enormously at 500 yen and barely at all at 5,000 yen. Someone selling small trinkets and someone selling functional parts should not choose the same venue.

Third, the split between sales commission and payment processing. A low-looking commission with a separate processing fee can total more than a single higher rate that includes everything. The only fair comparison is how many yen leave you on one sale at a given price.

The fee table, August 2026

Venue	Sales or service fee	Payment fee	Monthly	Payout fee
BOOTH	(item + postage) x 5.6% + 45 yen	Included	0	200 / 300 yen (splits at 30,000)
Creema	total settlement x 10.67% incl. tax	Included	0	200 / 275 yen (splits at 30,000)
minne	order total x 10.659% incl. tax	Included	0	220 yen
Mercari Shops	proceeds x 10%	None	0	200 yen
BASE Standard	3%	3.6% + 40 yen	0	250 yen (+500 admin under 20,000)
BASE Growth	0	2.9%	16,580 yen	Same
STORES Free	Included in payment fee	5.5% and up	0	Payout the following month
STORES Standard	Included in payment fee	3.6% and up	3,300 yen	Same

Several footnotes matter. The BOOTH rate shown is for shipping from home; downloads and warehouse dispatch are charged on the item price alone at 5.6 percent plus 45 yen, with a separate warehouse handling fee. minne offers preferential rates to minne PLUS members, officially down to 10.45 percent. The BASE Growth monthly figure is the annual-payment equivalent; paying monthly costs 19,980 yen. The STORES Standard figure of 3,300 yen is likewise the annual-contract monthly rate, against 3,960 yen on a monthly contract. Some payment methods raise the rate: BASE adds one percentage point for PayPal, Amazon Pay and PayPay.

What actually gets deducted

Recomputed as yen deducted on a single sale, postage excluded, the picture becomes readable. At roughly 150 yen to the dollar these are about 3.3, 13 and 33 dollars respectively.

Sale price	BOOTH	Creema	minne	Mercari Shops	BASE Standard	STORES Free
500 yen	73	about 53	about 53	50	73	about 28
2,000 yen	157	about 213	about 213	200	172	110
5,000 yen	325	about 534	about 533	500	370	275

BOOTH is the cheapest of the marketplaces above 2,000 yen, because a fixed 45 yen plus a low rate beats a flat ten percent as prices rise. Below about 1,000 yen the fixed component dominates and Mercari Shops becomes competitive. Creema and minne sit almost on top of each other, which is expected given rates of 10.67 and 10.659 percent.

STORES Free looks cheapest across the board, but that compares payment fees only. STORES and BASE are storefront builders where you bring your own traffic; the marketplaces bring buyers. They are not competing on the same axis, which is the next section.

Where the paid plans break even

For STORES, moving from Free at 5.5 percent to Standard at 3.6 percent saves 1.9 points. Dividing the 3,300 yen monthly fee by 0.019 gives roughly 170,000 yen in monthly sales as the crossover.

BASE is more involved. Standard combines a 3.6 percent plus 40 yen payment fee with a 3 percent service fee, totalling 6.6 percent plus 40 yen. Growth is 2.9 percent alone. The rate gap is 3.7 points plus 40 yen per order. At an average order of 2,000 yen that is 114 yen saved per order, so recovering the 16,580 yen monthly fee takes about 146 orders, or roughly 290,000 yen in monthly sales. Higher order values reduce the order count but land at a similar revenue figure.

Fees are not the deciding factor

Two venues with identical rates can produce completely different results, because the buyers differ. Creema and minne are handmade marketplaces whose visitors arrive expecting craft goods and are comfortable paying for them. BOOTH grew out of a creator community and is unusually strong for digital downloads, which matters if you sell design files. Mercari Shops inherits an enormous general audience trained on second-hand pricing, which brings volume and price pressure together.

A practical order of operations: pick the venue whose audience matches what you make, verify the fee base rather than the headline rate, and only then optimise for cost. A two-point fee difference is worth far less than listing where buyers for your category already are.

Rates in this area change often, and several of the figures above were revised during late 2025 and 2026. Check the official pages before making a decision.