How to start on Mercado Libre from scratch
I sell on Mercado Libre from Argentina, bring goods in from China and run my own warehouse in Buenos Aires. Everything written here has been tested on my own shipments, not retold from someone else’s guides.
People write to me with almost the same thing. “What should I sell?” “Where do I find a supplier?” Fair questions, but not the first ones.
Mercado Libre is three marketplaces in one
Three kinds of trade live on it at once.
- A classifieds site, like Craigslist. People sell things from around the house.
- An ordinary marketplace, like Amazon or eBay.
- Logistics. Warehouses, delivery, returns.
Everyone sells there. The neighbour with one pram, a reseller with a hundred SKUs, a factory with an official store. The barrier to entry is low, and that is your chance.
The first step is not a product
Not a product, not a company, not China. Post one listing. Anything. An old phone, a child’s bike, whatever you find at home.
It sounds silly, but in an hour you will learn more than in a week of reading guides.
- How the seller dashboard is built from the inside.
- What the platform asks you when you publish.
- What an order looks like when it lands.
- How Mercado Envíos shipping works and what it costs.
Until you have gone round this loop by hand, everything else stays theory.
This is where most people drop out
People spend months picking a niche and working out margins in a spreadsheet, and never once hit “Publish”. Six months later they know everything about Mercado Libre and have sold nothing.
Do one thing today. Post a listing. After that there will be something to talk about.
What to do after the first sale
Once a listing works, the real question shows up: what is left from the sale. The platform commission takes from 11% of the price, and in expensive categories it reaches 18%. Shipping and taxes come on top.
Run your own product through the profit calculator. If the number works, pick a country: conditions in Argentina and Brazil differ a lot.
Working out your unit economics?
Our free calculator works out profit, margin and ROI with commission, shipping, taxes and ads included, across all 6 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Uruguay and Chile.
Open the calculator → ⭐ PRO — customs and unit-economics tables Ask in the chat 🚀 Three ways to start