MercadoLibre.com
Encyclopedia
MercadoLibre.com or MercadoLivre in Portuguese (Brazil) is a website
dedicated to e-commerce and online auctions. It is eBay
's Latin America
n partner. MercadoLibre is Latin America's number-one e-commerce site. It is currently present in Argentina
, Brazil
, Chile
, Colombia
, Costa Rica
, Dominican Republic
, Mexico
, Ecuador
, Peru
, Portugal
, Panama
, Uruguay
and Venezuela
.
n countries and Mexico. Marcos Galperin
, current CEO, began the company while still in business school at Stanford University. Finance professor Jack McDonald had been helping Marcos to contact potential investors, and asked John Muse, an invited speaker and co-founder of the Hicks Muse private equity fund, if Marcos could drive him to his private plane. Before boarding his plane, Muse expressed his desire to have his fund invest in the idea and soon thereafter the company started. MercadoLibre received funding from JPMorgan Partners, Flatiron Partners, Hicks Muse Tate and Furst, Goldman Sachs, GE Capital and Banco Santander Central Hispano. In September 2001 eBay acquired 19.5% of MercadoLibre in exchange for eBay's recently acquired Brazilian subsidiary of Ibazar.com.br. In this transaction, MercadoLibre also became eBay's exclusive partner for the Latin American region. Ebay currently holds a 18.37% share in MercadoLibre.
In 1999, MercadoLibre was chosen to be an Endeavor (non-profit)
Entrepreneur.
In November 2005, MercadoLibre acquired 8 DeRemate's operations (till then, DeRemate (or Arremate.com in Brazil) was MercadoLibre main competitor in the region). The acquisition includes: Brazil
, Colombia
, Ecuador
, Mexico
, Peru
, Puerto Rico
, Uruguay
and Venezuela
.
In 2006, MercadoLibre.com launched new operations in Costa Rica
, Panama
and Dominican Republic
.
In August 2008, MercadoLibre acquired the remnant DeRemate operations, including: DeRemate Argentina, DeRemate Chile, DeReto Colombia, DeReto Mexico and Arremate.com (Brazil). This way, the company seeks to strengthen its leading position in Argentina and Chile.
In 2010, MercadoLibre.com launched new operations in Portugal
History in Spanish
), credit card
s and money order
s. When sending money to a seller, the customer puts his or her trust in the seller to send the item. Once the transaction is finished, the seller and the buyer write feedback on each other.
When MercadoLibre absorbed the DeRemate regional sites other than Argentina and Chile in 2005, MercadoLibre became a monopoly. Although other sites have emerged, none of them have been able to challenge MercadoLibre similar to eBay's monopoly in English speaking countries. In September 2008 MercadoLibre acquired whole ownership of DeRemate, including the Deremate.com site it had launched to renew its challenge for Latin American domination.
For Sellers:
Currently the company support area lacks knowledgeable people regarding the laws of the countries they sell in. Although they have people that would contact you within 24 hours if an issue arises, the people or support desk will not provide support to sellers that have proper documentation to sell new imported items. For example the section that sells dietary supplements currently sells products that are not allowed for sale in a country it is advertised in without a permit from the government. However when a legitimate company actually furnishes the permits, 'Florencia' who represents the Argentinian company support desk disallows products, even though regulated products are already being sold in the system by people who have never furnished any permits, but who have simply illegally brought in products for personal use and then decided to sell them for a profit. Business and corporate companies and sellers are cautioned to consider selling on the website, unless the articles are not regulated in the sellers country as there is no recourse using their current system (as of 07/03/2011).
MercadoLibre does not take a stance on customer issues. The company employs a "buyer beware" policy in relation to fraud.
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
dedicated to e-commerce and online auctions. It is eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
's Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n partner. MercadoLibre is Latin America's number-one e-commerce site. It is currently present in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
and Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
.
History
MercadoLibre was established in August of 1999 in Argentina and rapidly expanded to Brazil (as MercadoLivre.com), other South AmericaSouth America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
n countries and Mexico. Marcos Galperin
Marcos Galperin
Marcos Galperin, born in 1971, is the CEO of MercadoLibre.comMarcos began the company while still in business school at Stanford University. Finance professor Jack McDonald had been helping Marcos to contact potential investors, and asked John Muse, an invited speaker and co-founder of the Hicks...
, current CEO, began the company while still in business school at Stanford University. Finance professor Jack McDonald had been helping Marcos to contact potential investors, and asked John Muse, an invited speaker and co-founder of the Hicks Muse private equity fund, if Marcos could drive him to his private plane. Before boarding his plane, Muse expressed his desire to have his fund invest in the idea and soon thereafter the company started. MercadoLibre received funding from JPMorgan Partners, Flatiron Partners, Hicks Muse Tate and Furst, Goldman Sachs, GE Capital and Banco Santander Central Hispano. In September 2001 eBay acquired 19.5% of MercadoLibre in exchange for eBay's recently acquired Brazilian subsidiary of Ibazar.com.br. In this transaction, MercadoLibre also became eBay's exclusive partner for the Latin American region. Ebay currently holds a 18.37% share in MercadoLibre.
In 1999, MercadoLibre was chosen to be an Endeavor (non-profit)
Endeavor (non-profit)
Endeavor is a non-profit organization that pioneered the concept of High-Impact Entrepreneurship in emerging markets. Its mission is to “lead the global movement to catalyze long-term economic growth by selecting, mentoring, and accelerating the best High-Impact Entrepreneurs around the...
Entrepreneur.
In November 2005, MercadoLibre acquired 8 DeRemate's operations (till then, DeRemate (or Arremate.com in Brazil) was MercadoLibre main competitor in the region). The acquisition includes: Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
and Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
.
In 2006, MercadoLibre.com launched new operations in Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
and Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
.
In August 2008, MercadoLibre acquired the remnant DeRemate operations, including: DeRemate Argentina, DeRemate Chile, DeReto Colombia, DeReto Mexico and Arremate.com (Brazil). This way, the company seeks to strengthen its leading position in Argentina and Chile.
In 2010, MercadoLibre.com launched new operations in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
History in Spanish
The MercadoLibre system
MercadoLibre works 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. But the main selling option MercadoLibre's community use is fixed price (80%). The seller offers a product at a fixed price and the first buyer who offers that amount, gets the product. The customer must then pay before receiving the item bought or by meeting with the seller in person, they can make the transaction face to face. There are various methods of paying, such as "MercadoPago" (MercadoLibre's version of PayPalPayPal
PayPal is an American-based global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to paying with traditional paper methods, such as checks and money orders....
), credit card
Credit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
s and money order
Money order
A money order is a payment order for a pre-specified amount of money. Because it is required that the funds be prepaid for the amount shown on it, it is a more trusted method of payment than a cheque.-History of money orders:...
s. When sending money to a seller, the customer puts his or her trust in the seller to send the item. Once the transaction is finished, the seller and the buyer write feedback on each other.
MercadoPago
MercadoPago is MercadoLibre's safety payment system. When adding MercadoPago in its listings, sellers allow buyers to choose among many payment alternative methods such as cash, bank transfers and credit cards or installments, among others.MercadoSocios
MercadoSocios MercadoLibre's Partners Program, allow small, medium and large websites to accumulate benefits through MercadoLibre's online promotion. Payments are generated once new users register and make operations referred by partners and when commissions are paid to MercadoLibre related to activity coming through partners websites.MercadoSolidario
MercadoSolidario is MercadoLibre's section where foundations and non profit organisations sell products or organise charity auctions without paying any fee to MercadoLibre as part of its fundraising activities.Criticism
General:When MercadoLibre absorbed the DeRemate regional sites other than Argentina and Chile in 2005, MercadoLibre became a monopoly. Although other sites have emerged, none of them have been able to challenge MercadoLibre similar to eBay's monopoly in English speaking countries. In September 2008 MercadoLibre acquired whole ownership of DeRemate, including the Deremate.com site it had launched to renew its challenge for Latin American domination.
For Sellers:
Currently the company support area lacks knowledgeable people regarding the laws of the countries they sell in. Although they have people that would contact you within 24 hours if an issue arises, the people or support desk will not provide support to sellers that have proper documentation to sell new imported items. For example the section that sells dietary supplements currently sells products that are not allowed for sale in a country it is advertised in without a permit from the government. However when a legitimate company actually furnishes the permits, 'Florencia' who represents the Argentinian company support desk disallows products, even though regulated products are already being sold in the system by people who have never furnished any permits, but who have simply illegally brought in products for personal use and then decided to sell them for a profit. Business and corporate companies and sellers are cautioned to consider selling on the website, unless the articles are not regulated in the sellers country as there is no recourse using their current system (as of 07/03/2011).
MercadoLibre does not take a stance on customer issues. The company employs a "buyer beware" policy in relation to fraud.
External links
- MercadoLibre's Countries Hub
- MercadoPago's Countries Hub
- MercadoLibre's Affiliates Program "MercadoSocios"
- MercadoLibre's NGO´s Program "MercadoSolidario"
- Mercado de Ventas non paid competence for Mercado libre
- Enlistalo a competitor in the classified ads market for Mercado libre
- motosderemate motosderemate