Should I sell on Mercado Libre or have my own store?

Short answer

Mercado Libre brings traffic from day one, but takes a fee per sale, competes on price and the customer belongs to the platform. Your own store costs more to start, but it's your brand, your customers and your margins. Many businesses use both: Mercado Libre for volume and their own store to build the brand.

Mercado Libre

Pros: lots of people already shop there, so sales can come quickly.
Cons: a fee on every sale, rules you don't control and your product next to competitors', often cheaper.

Store platforms (Shopify, Wix and similar)

Pros: quick to set up with templates, no coding needed.
Cons: a monthly subscription, a design that looks like other businesses and limits on customisation.

Your own custom store

Pros: your brand's design, no platform fee per sale, fast and shaped around how your customers buy. The customer base is yours.
Cons: a bigger upfront investment, and traffic doesn't arrive by itself: you bring it with social, Google or ads.

Our take

If you're just testing whether your product sells, Mercado Libre is a good first shop window. Once you have returning customers and a brand to look after, your own store starts to pay off more.

Related service: E-Commerce

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