MercadoLibre.com
MercadoLibre.com is a website dedicated to online auctions. It is eBay's Latin American leg, as it was formed in association with the American online auction company. The website claims to be Latin America's number one auction site. Most sellers at MercadoLibre only speak Spanish, but some speak English as well.
History
MercadoLibre was established in 1999 as a way for eBay to profit from buyers from Mexico, Central and South America. The original group of countries to have MercadoLibre pages was Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Venezuela. In 2004, it was rumored that MercadoLibre was considering opening pages in Puerto Rico and Spain.
The MercadoLibre system
MercadoLibre works pretty much in the same way as eBay does: customers bid for an item, and the customer with the highest bid after a determined date wins the item. The customer must then pay before receiving the item bought. There are various methods of paying, such as "Compra Inmediata" (MercadoLibre's version of PayPal), credit cards and money orders. When sending money to a seller, the customer puts his or her trust in the seller to send the item; in other words, there is always a risk of fraud by the selling party. One marked difference from the English-language eBay is that many sellers prefer not to sell their items to customers outside their own country. For example, a seller from Venezuela may state that he or she will only make business with Venezuelan customers.
MercadoLibre items
While at eBay, a customer is likely to find, for example, Barbie dolls, airplane models and autographs, MercadoLibre customers are more likely to find other items. This is due to various reasons. The economic recessions that many Latin American countries have experienced are reflected in MercadoLibre's webpages, where a customer may find items such as houses, airline tickets (which are not uncommon on eBay either), cars and boats. Also, the Hispanic culture plays a part in MercadoLibre's sales. Many items found there reflect a part of Latin American life. For example, while at Ebay a sports jersey collector may find NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB jerseys, at MercadoLibre, customers are much more likely to find association football jerseys. European clothing and collectibles can also be found at MercadoLibre.
Countries with MercadoLibre linksArgentinaBrazilChileColombiaEcuadorMexicoPeruUruguayVenezuela
External Links
MercadoLibre.com's home page
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