Handling buyers
Buyer messages follow the support features enabled for your store. Automatic replies have conditions; review to-dos and drafts, and answer complaints and refunds yourself.
Connected support features handle buyer messages according to your store settings. Check which features your store has enabled, then review the console’s to-dos. A reply draft does not mean the buyer has received a reply.
A message that only says thank you gets a fixed, non-AI automatic reply only in shops where operations has switched this on; you cannot change that setting in the console. No automatic reply is sent if the message is more than 15 minutes old, the shop’s connection does not support this check, or the original conversation cannot be read back and matched — those wait for your reply. When the console shows a draft, check whether it was actually sent using the send record and the platform’s original conversation.
Three routes
Answerable automatically — the system replies directly
Common questions matching a standard answer (delivery, payment methods) receive a fixed business-Japanese reply only when general automatic replies are enabled for your store, its support channel is connected, and the message meets the reply conditions. Otherwise, review the to-do and confirm the reply yourself. Afterwards the console records ✅ 自動返信完了 stating which message was answered and with what, so you can always see on the support page what the system said on your behalf. If sending fails, it is recorded as ⚠️ Auto-reply 送信失敗 instead, asking you to add a line by hand.
Needs your call (soft escalation) — a to-do in the console
When the system is not sure how to answer (no suitable standard reply, or not confident enough), it does not reply. It puts the Japanese draft it prepared into the console’s to-do list and waits for you (phone push is sent only when enabled, subscribed and supported by an available channel). You can see the buyer’s original Japanese and the machine translation, and the AI attaches a suggested draft with a confidence score. If it reads right, press Send and it goes out as-is; you can also rewrite the draft into your own words first (type in your own language — it is turned into polite Japanese on send). If you do not want to deal with it now, press Skip. If it is beyond your judgement, press Escalate to ops, which converts it into a hard escalation you must handle personally.
Mercari · さくら商店 · Buyer t****o
Buyer (original Japanese) 値下げは可能ですか？
🌐 Machine translation: Could you lower the price?
🤖 AI suggestion · confidence 86%
コメントありがとうございます。1,100円まででしたら対応可能です。
Type in your own language — it is turned into polite Japanese when you send.
Complaints / refunds / legal (hard escalation) — you answer yourself
In these cases the system neither replies nor drafts anything. The console raises a 🚨 red to-do card and notifies you on your phone; you answer the buyer directly:
- Refunds / returns / complaints, or mentions of lawyers · police · litigation
- A claim that the item is counterfeit or defective
- Emotional language (lots of exclamation marks, evident anger)
- You or the buyer asking again within the same thread
This card carries no AI draft — only Reply in your language and Escalate to ops. Type in your own language and the system translates it into Japanese to send, or hand it to operations directly. Operations may also receive a notification email.
🚨 Needs your own reply · no auto-reply
Mercari · さくら商店 · Buyer t****o
Buyer (original Japanese) 偽物ですか？返金してください。
🌐 Machine translation: Is this a fake? I want a refund.
Once a hard escalation has notified you, whether you handle the refund directly on the platform or the system provides a starting point follows the platform’s and operations’ actual process for now. This page will be updated once that is settled.