Mercado Livre seller coupons: who pays and how they cut into profit when combined with a promotion

Mercado Livre seller coupons are paid by you, from the budget you set, and stack with an active listing promotion. That’s where the risk lies: on a R$ 100 product that earned R$ 26,45 in profit, a 10% promotion already cuts profit to R$ 20,25. Add a 10% coupon, and it drops to R$ 11,79 per sale. To match your original profit, the two discounts combined would need to more than double your sales.

Coupons are a great way to win back abandoned carts and move stock. They only become a problem when you create one without running the numbers. Few sellers do, because the coupon appears separately from the promotion discount. Here are the rules and the math.

#How seller coupons work

• Where to create one: Promotions Center > Create promotion > coupon for Mercado Livre shoppers.
• Public or code-based: visible to everyone or only to people with the code.
• Scope: choose which listings are included and set a minimum purchase amount.
• Type: a fixed amount in reais or a percentage, with a discount cap.
• Budget: set the total amount you’re willing to spend. Once it runs out, the coupon stops.
• Validity: up to one month.
• Use: each buyer can use the coupon once, and only one coupon can be applied per sale.
• Requirements: green reputation; active, new listings that aren’t Free listings.

And the most important rule: the discount stacks with the active promotion on eligible products.

#Who pays for the coupon

The seller coupon comes out of your payout. It appears as a discount you pay for on the sale. Coupons created and funded by Mercado Livre itself don’t come out of the seller’s pocket, so they aren’t included in your cost calculations.

There are two details Mercado Livre doesn’t explain publicly. Check them in the sale details:

• Commission basis: the documentation doesn’t say whether the fee is calculated before or after the coupon. Check the fee line on your first orders with a coupon.
• Tax basis: the amount the buyer actually pays, after the coupon discount, is what goes on the invoice. Confirm with your accountant.

#The math: promotion plus coupon

A R$ 100 product, 300 grams, 12% commission on Classic, 6% tax on the amount paid, R$ 40 cost, and R$ 0,60 packaging. In the worst case, with commission calculated before the coupon:

With the promotion, shipping drops to a lower tier, which helps a little. Add the coupon, and the R$ 9 discount comes entirely out of your profit because the product cost and shipping don’t change. The buyer sees "19% off"; you lose 55% of your profit per sale.

For the math on a promotion by itself, including Mercado Livre’s shared funding, see Mercado Livre promotions: the shared funding almost no one checks.

In practice. A home decor store created a 15% coupon to "move stock" at the end of the year and included every listing. Half were already on a 10% promotion. The coupon budget ran out in four days, and the store celebrated. But when they reviewed the orders, 30% of sales for products with both a promotion and a coupon were below cost: the combined discount reached 23,5% of the price, more than their margin. The coupon moved the stock—and moved it at a loss.

#When coupons make sense

• Products with high margins, above 30%, that can handle the combined discount.
• Slow-moving stock that costs more to hold than to sell at a discount (with FULL, this can happen after the fourth month). See how FULL works.
• Code-based coupons to encourage repeat purchases, with a minimum purchase amount that increases order value.
• Fixed amount with a minimum purchase, instead of an open-ended percentage: "R$ 10 off purchases over R$ 150" costs much less than "10% off everything."

#When to avoid them

• Products already on promotion, unless you’ve calculated the combined discount.
• Margins below 20%: a 10% coupon takes half your margin or more.
• Putting every listing in the coupon: choose the ones with enough margin to handle it.
• Budget without a realistic cap: set your budget based on how much profit you're willing to give up, not the revenue you expect.

#How to decide on the maximum discount

For each product, the total discount it can handle (promotion plus coupon) is roughly its margin before the discount, minus the minimum profit you want to keep. A product with a 26% margin that needs to keep 10% can handle about a 16% combined discount, no more. Learn how to calculate each product's margin in profit margin: how to calculate it.

#How coupons affect profit on each order

Coupons you pay for appear separately from the price and promotion, so many stores leave them out of their calculations. Since October 2026, Milewa has deducted seller-funded coupons from the profit on each Mercado Livre order, shown as a separate line, and calculates tax on the discounted amount. Coupons funded by Mercado Livre itself aren't included because they don't come out of your pocket. See exactly how much each coupon cost, order by order.