How to add tracking to a Mercari order
The right tracking number is on the Order Status page, checked before it went in, because Mercari will not let you change it later.
Checked against Mercari's article on updating tracking information on September 13, 2026.
Before you start
- The label or drop-off receipt in your hand, not a photo you took earlier.
- The Order Status page for the sale.
- Two minutes to check the number, because this entry is permanent.
Steps
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Hand the package over first
Mercari's sequence starts at the counter: "After dropping off the package with the carrier, tap I Shipped It" (Mercari help centre, checked 13 September 2026).
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Open the Order Status page for the sale
Go to the sold item and open its Order Status page.
You should see the order, waiting for a tracking number.
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Read the number off the label, digit by digit
Compare it against the label or receipt in your hand. A transposed pair here cannot be corrected.
You should see a number you have checked twice, not one you remembered.
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Provide the tracking number on the Order Status page
Enter the number on the Order Status page.
You should see the number saved against the order.
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Select I Shipped It
On the Order Status page, select I Shipped It.
You should see the order marked as shipped.
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Message the buyer the number
Mercari's documented remedy for any tracking change is a transaction message, so send it while you have the label in front of you.
If it goes wrong
- You entered the wrong number
There is no edit. Mercari: "Just notify your buyer of the new tracking number in a transaction message. At this time, we are unable to remove or modify tracking numbers." Message the buyer with the correct number and keep your drop-off receipt.
- You shipped without giving Mercari a number
Mercari: "If you ship on your own without a valid tracking number or fail to provide the tracking number on the Order Status page, the transaction may be canceled, even if the item has already been sent".
- You were looking for a carrier list
Mercari's help centre documents the Order Status page and I Shipped It, and does not publish what carrier options exist or whether a free-text entry is offered. We have not verified one, so work from what your own account shows rather than from a list you read elsewhere.
What happens next
Tracking is the payout gate: "If you opt to ship on your own, you'll need to provide tracking information before you can get paid." The number also has to earn a carrier scan, because Mercari's policy says that without a possession scan from the shipping carrier "the seller is responsible for a lost or damaged item". Shipping Protection of up to $200 ($20 on a First-Class Envelope) needs a Mercari prepaid label, so on your own label the claim is yours to file with the carrier.
The number printed next to the label
Buy USPS or UPS per order and the tracking number sits with the label and the order reference, so there is nothing to copy from a crumpled receipt. Scan-to-ship brings up the right order from the parcel in your hand, which is the other half of not entering the wrong number.
Related questions
No. Mercari states it is "unable to remove or modify tracking numbers", and the documented remedy is to message the buyer the correct number.
On the Order Status page for that sale, before or with I Shipped It. Mercari names that page as the one it checks.
Mercari's documented order is drop-off first. The scan is what a buyer and a carrier claim both rest on, so early marking helps nobody.
Mercari documents a transaction message as the way a buyer learns a new number, so send one rather than assuming.