International online marketplace guides

Selling on the Mercado Libre online marketplace

Online payment using a smartphone - Photo by Pexels

Selling on the Mercado Libre online marketplace

Getting started on Mercado Libre

Mercado Libre, meaning free market in Spanish, is an online marketplace operating in 15 Latin American countries.

It is the 7th most visited online retail site in the world, with almost 175 million active users.

Mercado Libre operates a cross-border trade programme, which covers the 5 Latin American countries of Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Columbia. However, if you utilise the cross-border trade programme, you will need to ensure your products can be imported into the chosen country and that these products are compliant with local regulations.

To register as a seller, you must register for an account with all the requested company information.

Mercado Libre offer users an automated translation system - but sellers should also have all translations verified.

As sellers become more active and begin to receive feedback - it is this feedback that ranks sellers into "Best Sellers" and those seller's products appear further up the search rankings. 

Markets

Mercado Libre is a business-to-consumer (B2C) market place, selling to customers in Latin America

Sectors

You can sell on Mercado Libre if your business is in one or more of the following sectors:

  • Textiles
  • Apparel
  • Technology
  • Food and drink
  • Sports
  • Electronics
  • Health and beauty
  • Children's items
  • A place to buy everything

Subscriptions and fees

Mercado Libre do not charge listing fees and only a percentage commission on items sold.

As a seller on Mercado Libre, the level of commission charged will vary upon your location.

Sellers in Mexico will be charged commission of 17%. Sellers everywhere else will be charged commission of 16%.

Contact us

Get in touch with our trade advisers who can help you sell on international online marketplaces.

Disclaimer

All information provided on this web page is for general guidance only. Due diligence on a given third party or listing remains the exclusive responsibility of the end user. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the details represented, Scottish Enterprise cannot endorse, recommend or accept responsibility for any transactions conducted between the user and a given third party or listing provided on this web page. Scottish Enterprise has compiled these guides using secondary sources and all information was correct at the time or writing.