Mercari strengthens measures against unauthorized listings of Kurazushi "Chiikawa" collaboration prize items

Mercari announced on September 7th that it is working with Kura Sushi to remove fraudulent listings and other issues regarding the uproar surrounding Kura Sushi's Chikawa collaboration campaign. Answered to the ITmedia NEWS editorial department.

Kura Sushi is participating in the ``Right Holder Protection Program,'' which accepts information provision and deletion requests from business operators, which led to the collaboration. There are already cases where products have actually been removed.

"For listings related to Kura Sushi's collaboration campaign, we exchange necessary information with the company, and if we determine that they fall under prohibited acts or prohibited items, we take measures such as canceling the transaction, deleting the item, or restricting its use.Mercari prohibits the listing of items that are not in the seller's possession at the time of listing, or items that have been obtained through illegal channels, such as stolen items." (Mercari)

As of 6:40 p.m. on the 7th, there are multiple collaboration goods listed, and not all of them have been deleted.

Mercari also mentioned the possibility of future listing bans. "We will make decisions and respond in line with the policy announced in October 2025, which states that we will take measures, including banning listings, for products that have the potential to seriously compromise the safety and security of the marketplace, such as a rapid increase in fraudulent listings, troubles, and extreme price fluctuations."In this case as well, we are continuously checking the status of reports and transaction trends, and will make decisions from time to time regarding the necessity of responding based on the situation.

On August 21st, Kura Sushi launched a collaboration campaign in which they will prepare all five types of figurines as prizes for the game "Bikura Pon!", which can be played once with five plates. However, there were complaints on social media that even after winning multiple times, no figures were given out, and on flea market sites, a large number of figures were being put up for sale from the start, prompting many to suspect that employees were stealing the prizes and reselling them.

On the 2nd, the company released a statement apologizing and said it would investigate the facts. Later, on the 4th, a new campaign was launched to give away an original teacup for every 3,000 yen including tax, but three days before distribution began, the teacups were listed for sale on Mercari, sparking controversy as ``there may have been embezzlement by an employee.'' Finally, on the 5th, Kura Sushi announced the cancellation of the campaign due to the discovery of fraud by an employee.