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🇨🇱 Mercado Libre in Chile

The friendliest market for a test run: the trade agreement with China zeroes the duty, and purchases up to USD 500 carry only recoverable VAT.

19.9 Mpopulation
+40%GMV growth year on year
8–21%ML fee
0%duty with Form F

Mercado Libre fees and charges

What the marketplace withholds on every sale. Check the exact rate for your category in your seller dashboard.

Clásica fee
8–17%
The basic listing type, rate by category. Gives the buyer up to 6 interest-free instalments.
Premium fee
usually +3–4 pp
More expensive, but gives up to 12 interest-free instalments and priority in search results.
Flat fee on cheap items
700 / 1 000 CLP (≈ USD 0.7–1)
Charged on items under CLP 19,990 (≈ USD 21).
IVA on the fee
19% on top
The marketplace charges VAT on its own fee. A registered seller recovers it as credit; for everyone else it is a cost.

Shipping

The biggest cost after the fee — and the main reason cheap products go into the red.

Free-shipping threshold
from CLP 19,990 (≈ USD 21)
Above this price you pay for the buyer's shipping.
If the item is below the threshold
The buyer pays for shipping
You are charged a flat fee.
Volumetric weight
L×W×H ÷ 4000
A harsh divisor, as in Argentina: bulky goods get expensive fast.
Reputation discount
Green −50%, yellow −40%
The gap between a newcomer and a green seller is half the shipping cost.

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.

For an individual or sole trader: Pro Pyme Transparente

The company pays no profit tax — profit passes straight to the owner and is taxed at their personal rate on a 0–40% scale. For a small seller that rate is usually low.

For a company: SpA under Pro Pyme

IVA 19% on the markup and IDPC at 12.5% — the reduced rate runs through 2027 inclusive.

Imports and customs

Two import channels with different economics. Picking the wrong channel costs more than picking the wrong product.

Air parcel

Purchases up to USD 500 through foreign marketplaces carry only 19% IVA, collected by the platform at checkout. Nothing extra is due at the border.

Container

A 6% duty, or 0% with a certificate of origin: for China that is Form F, which covers almost the entire product range.

Recovery

With a certificate of origin the entire customs payment is recoverable IVA. The difference between working legally and off the books is literally 19% here.

Registration

There is no USD 3,000 threshold for registering with the SII — that is a common myth. Registration is mandatory once you sell systematically.

What you need to start

The order of steps specific to Chile — it differs from the rest of the region.

  1. File the inicio de actividades with the SII — without it IVA is not creditable
  2. Ask your Chinese supplier for a Form F certificate — that is the difference between 6% and 0%
  3. Choose the Pro Pyme regime: the company's profit tax is zeroed
  4. Check the SEC or SUBTEL requirements for your category
  5. Bear in mind that banks report to the SII on accounts with a high number of incoming transfers

Useful reading

Breakdowns from our blog, with examples and numbers.

All blog posts → (RU)

Frequently asked questions

Is it true that in Chile you do not need to register until USD 3,000 of turnover?

No, that is a myth — no such threshold exists in law. Registration with the SII is mandatory once you sell systematically. On top of that, banks report accounts with a high number of incoming transfers to the tax office, so off-the-books sellers are visible straight away.

How much tax is there on a parcel up to USD 500?

Only 19% IVA, and the marketplace collects it at checkout. Nothing extra is due at the border. The old USD 41 duty-free allowance has been abolished.

What is Form F and why do you need it?

A certificate of origin under the free trade agreement between Chile and China. With it the duty drops to zero on almost the entire product range instead of the standard 6%. You have to ask the supplier for it in advance — it cannot be issued retroactively.

Tools for Chile

🧮 Profit calculator

Fees, shipping, instalments and taxes in Chile — it works out net profit and margin. Free.

Open →

📦 PRO bundle

A unit-economics sheet for the country, a customs calculator, an import guide and a country handbook — 19 files.

View →

🏬 Warehouse in Argentina

Receiving, storage and dispatch into Full. No contract, no minimum volume.

Terms →

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 Chile makes sense for you.