🇧🇷 Mercado Libre in Brazil
The region's largest market and its most complicated tax system. The ceiling on turnover is the highest here — and so is the price of a mistake in your numbers.
Mercado Libre fees and charges
What the marketplace withholds on every sale. Check the exact rate for your category in your seller dashboard.
Shipping
The biggest cost after the fee — and the main reason cheap products go into the red.
Work out the exact cost for your product and price in the free calculator— it has the rates and thresholds of all six countries built in.
Taxes: two routes
The regime you pick determines both your tax burden and whether you can import goods at all.
A flat DAS of about R$82 a month. The turnover limit is R$81,000 a year. It does not work for importing — only for the very beginning with locally sourced goods.
Simples is a single percentage of turnover, starting at about 4% and rising. For an importer working at volume, Lucro Real is better: nearly the whole tax cascade is recoverable.
Imports and customs
Two import channels with different economics. Picking the wrong channel costs more than picking the wrong product.
Up to USD 50 the duty is 0% for an individual buying through a certified marketplace. From USD 50 to 3,000: 60% minus a USD 30 deduction (Portaria MF 1.342/2026), plus ICMS of 17–20% depending on the state.
II duty by NCM code + IPI + PIS 2.1% + COFINS 9.65% + ICMS calculated inside the price + AFRMM at 8% of the ocean freight.
On Lucro Real: IPI, PIS, COFINS and ICMS. On Simples nothing is recoverable — the entire cascade lands in your cost.
AFRMM is not included in freight quotes — people forget it and get a surprise at customs.
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What you need to start
The order of steps specific to Brazil — it differs from the rest of the region.
- Choose your regime: Simples to start, Lucro Real to import at volume
- Get a CNPJ and appoint a resident representative
- Check your product's NCM code — II and IPI depend on it, and neighbouring codes can differ several times over
- Budget for your state's ICMS: it ranges from 17% to 20%
- Work out your landed cost including AFRMM before signing a freight contract
Useful reading
Breakdowns from our blog, with examples and numbers.
Frequently asked questions
How much tax is there on a parcel from China to Brazil?
Up to USD 50, when bought by an individual through a certified marketplace, the duty is zero. From USD 50 to 3,000 it is 60% minus a fixed USD 30 deduction, plus ICMS of 17–20% depending on the state. A USD 100 parcel works out at roughly 62% in taxes.
Simples or Lucro Real for importing?
Simples is the worst regime for an importer: nothing is recoverable and the whole cascade goes into your cost. On Lucro Real the only real tax is the duty and AFRMM; everything else comes back as credit. On a shipment the difference can be several times over.
What is AFRMM and why does everyone forget it?
It is a maritime levy — 8% of the ocean freight cost under Lei 14.301/2022. Carriers do not include it in their quotes, so it surfaces at customs.
Tools for Brazil
Fees, shipping, instalments and taxes in Brazil — it works out net profit and margin. Free.
A unit-economics workbook for the country, a six-country customs calculator, books on importing directly from China and a country playbook — 36 files.
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Receiving, storage and dispatch into Full. No contract, no minimum volume.
Let us look at your case
Tell us what your product is and where you plan to sell — we will run the economics and tell you whether Brazil makes sense for you.