Price and instalments — three numbers that change everything

Continuing the conversation about listings. Today, money and the three numbers that move sales.

33,000 pesos

Some buyers pay for the Mercado Libre subscription, about 3,500 pesos a month. Its main perk is free shipping on items from 33,000 pesos.

Hence the non-obvious bit. An item at 32,000 sells worse than an item at 33,001.

A subscriber sees your price of 32,000 and thinks: shipping costs money, I will look for something from 33,000 with free shipping. And off they go to a competitor. Even if your final price including shipping is lower, the buyer does not do that maths. They see the free-shipping badge and click it.

If your product costs between 30,000 and 32,999 pesos, consider whether you can raise it to 33,001. Sometimes sales grow precisely because of that, higher price and all.

33,001 pesos

Above that amount every buyer sees the free-shipping badge. And the fixed fee of 1,330 to 4,550 pesos on every sale disappears, per the scale in force since 1 September 2026.

And here it is important not to fool yourself. Free shipping for the buyer is not free for you. The shipping cost lands on the seller.

Mercado Libre helps by discounting the rate according to your reputation:

• green reputation, the platform pays 50%, you pay 50%;
• yellow or no reputation, the platform pays 40%, you pay 60%;
• red or orange, the whole rate is yours.

The fixed fee disappears, but a shipping cost appears. Whether that pays off is decided by the weight of the product and your reputation. A light product and green reputation, most likely worth it. A heavy product needs its own maths.

So always put shipping into your unit economics as a separate line. Before you set the price.

Instalments

When you create a listing you choose how a person can pay. That is not just convenience. The choice affects sales and your position in search.

There are three options.

No instalments. The person pays the whole sum at once or takes bank instalments at a high rate. It costs you nothing, but you sell worse and rank lower in search.

Instalments at a small rate. The person pays in parts and overpays a little, but noticeably less than at a bank. It costs you about 5%. Sales rise and your search position improves.

Interest-free instalments. The person pays the same sum split into parts. It costs you about 9%. Conversion rises even more, but the margin sags.

The logic is simple. Without instalments it is cheaper for you but you sell less. With instalments it costs more but you sell more.

I use instalments at a small rate. It suits the buyer, it does not cost me much, and I rank higher in search. I switch on interest-free instalments only when the margin is large.

How I do it

• a price above 33,001 pesos;
• instalments at a low rate;
• a video in the listing through Clips;
• main photo, the bare product with no captions;
• extra photos, infographics and details;
• a title with the words people search by;
• every spec filled in.

Want your listing pulled apart? Come to the chat.