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Japan’s largest online flea market reminds users that selling used school swimsuits is prohibited

Casey Baseel Aug 6, 2026
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Even if they’ve been professionally cleaned, used school swimsuits are too dirty for this marketplace.

Mercari is Japan’s largest online flea market, a place where individual sellers offer an extremely wide range of new and used items. It’s not just collectibles that Mercari deals in, either. Previously, for example, we’ve looked at the Mercari market for such niche products as ATM envelopes and curses.

That doesn’t mean that Mercari will allow the purchase and sale of any and everything on their site, though. On August 3, Mercari posted a statement that it does not allow the sale of used school swimsuits, of the type worn by Japanese elementary, middle, and high school students.

School swimsuits, or “school mizugi” as they’re called in Japanese, are usually nondescript black or navy-blue swimwear, shorts for boys and a one-piece bathing suit for girls, used during P.E. class swimming units. There’s often a space for the student to write their name on the garment, and some schools have the institution’s emblem printed on them as well.

▼ Mercari photo examples of new school swimsuits

Overall, though, school swimsuits are designed for functionality over fashionableness, and they’re so plain-looking that you’ll never really catch someone wearing their school swimsuit to the beach, public recreational pool, or anyplace else where they’re swimming for fun outside of their required educational curriculum.

As something that’s only going to be worn for a short time and in very specific circumstances, and the rate at which kids grow meaning that they probably won’t be able to use the same school swimsuit for two school years in a row, they might seem like the sort of thing that budget-pressed families would want to purchase used or sell off when no longer needed but still in usable condition. However, while not specifically mentioned by Mercari in its statement, there’s a certain segment of the Japanese population that has a less than wholesome interest in school swimsuits, viewing them through the same prurient lens that some people do school uniforms. For such would-be buyers, the desirability of a school swimsuit is tied to it having actually been used, and it’s understandable that Mercari doesn’t want to be part of the pipeline for such skeevy transactions.

So with hot summer weather here and demand up for swimwear in general, Mercari has posted a reminder that, even if they’ve been professionally cleaned, the site does not allow the posting of used school swimsuits for sale.

Mercari does allow users to sell/purchase used non-school swimsuits, including specialized competitive swimming suits, though they must be free of any written names of previous wearers or school emblems. The sale and purchase of new, unused school swimsuits is also allowed, though these too must not have any specific school’s crest or emblem.

Postings that are found to be in violation of the policy will be removed, and any sales that managed to slip through the cracks and be placed will be cancelled prior to shipping, with banning of the seller’s account also a possibility, as was also the case for Mercari merchants who tried selling Slime eyedrops and ultrasound photos.

Source: Mercari via Oricon News via Otakomu
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert image: Mercari
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