Mercado Livre Flex Shipping: how it works for sellers and when it boosts profit

With Flex Shipping, you deliver the same day using your own vehicle or a hired service, and Mercado Livre pays you a bonus per shipment. For products priced from R$ 19 to R$ 78,99, the bonus is the full Flex fee, from R$ 7,99 to R$ 14,99 depending on weight and distance. For new products priced R$ 79 or more, the bonus drops to 10% of the fee, and you need a green reputation to qualify. That’s why Flex is almost always a good deal for mid-priced products, but a cost decision for expensive ones.

Flex is the fastest way to add the "Arrives today" badge to your listing without sending stock to FULL. But it changes who pays for delivery, so you need to run the numbers before turning it on.

#How Flex Shipping works

Here’s how a Flex order works:

1. The buyer sees "Arrives today" (or tomorrow) and places an order.
2. You print the label with a QR code and pack the order.
3. Your own or hired delivery driver scans the code in the Flex Shipping app and takes the package.
4. At delivery, the buyer confirms receipt on the driver’s phone.
5. The sale amount and shipping bonus become available 2 days after delivery.

In your dashboard, you set delivery days (weekdays, Saturday, Sunday), the cutoff time for same-day orders, how many shipments you accept per day, and your delivery area. You can also offer next-day delivery only, with less visibility.

Mercado Livre does not provide a vehicle or driver. You make your own arrangements with the delivery driver and pay them directly.

#Requirements for using Flex

• Yellow or green reputation.
• Mercado Livre Shipping enabled on your account.
• A way to deliver orders, either yourself or through a third party.
• Products weighing up to 30 kg that already use Mercado Livre Shipping. Flex can be used alongside FULL on the same listing.

Flex offers start appearing 7 days after activation. When you activate Flex, you get a predefined delivery area near your address, which you can adjust. In the seven capitals with delivery radius zones (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Porto Alegre, and Brasília), the area is divided by distance. In other cities, it can extend up to 200 km from your address.

#How much Flex costs and earns

There are two tables: the fee, which is the shipping cost, and the bonus, which is the portion of that fee you receive.

Flex fees (São Paulo, Rio, Curitiba, BH, Salvador, Porto Alegre, and Brasília):

In other cities: R$ 7,99 up to 0.5 kg, R$ 8,99 from 0.5 to 5 kg, and R$ 11,99 over 5 kg.

Shipping bonus, based on the price:

Tables verified on the Mercado Livre Seller Center in October 2026.

#Flex or pickup: which is more profitable?

The official shipping cost table by weight and price range applies to Full, Coleta, and Agências. With Flex, you handle delivery, so the calculation becomes: what you pay the delivery driver minus the bonus you receive.

Suppose you pay a motorcycle courier R$ 12 per delivery for an 800-gram package in an area near a state capital (R$ 8,99 fee):

The delivery cost is what makes all the difference. If you pay R$ 20 per delivery, Flex costs more than pickup in every price range below R$ 150 for this package: R$ 11,01 versus R$ 8,45 below R$ 79, and R$ 19,10 versus R$ 14,45 to R$ 19,05 above that. If you make several deliveries per route, the cost per package drops, making Flex a better deal in every range.

So the first question isn't "Should I turn on Flex?" It's "How much does each delivery cost me?" Divide what you pay the delivery driver per day by the number of packages they deliver.

In practice. A small cell phone parts store in Curitiba turned on Flex only for products priced from R$ 30 to R$ 70. With a regular motorcycle courier making 25 deliveries per route, the cost per package was about R$ 6, and the R$ 7,99 bonus covered the cost with some left over. For products over R$ 79, the store kept using pickup: the bonus dropped to less than R$ 1, making the courier a pure expense.

#What hurts Flex: late deliveries

Flex performance is measured by successful deliveries. Delivering late or leaving a package to be rescheduled counts as an unsuccessful delivery. To keep the badge, you need 97% successful deliveries per week. Below that, listings lose visibility and may no longer show "Arrives today" the following week.

Rescheduling and extra costs due to rain or traffic are your responsibility. Delivering before 9 p.m. helps avoid rescheduling.

Three practical tips:

• Set a realistic daily capacity, not an ideal one. Any sale you can't deliver that day becomes a late delivery.
• Set the cutoff time based on when the delivery driver actually leaves.
• Start with the nearby area and expand after a few weeks without late deliveries.

#Flex and reputation: what else to consider

Flex and your reputation affect each other. You need a yellow or green reputation to use it, and the bonus above R$ 79 is available only with a green reputation. At the same time, late deliveries count as unsuccessful deliveries, one of the factors that affect your reputation. I wrote about this in reputation is more than vanity.

#How to decide using the numbers

1. Calculate your actual cost per delivery.
2. Group your listings into two price ranges: R$ 19 to R$ 78,99 and over R$ 79.
3. In the first case, Flex almost always wins if the cost per delivery is close to the fee.
4. In the second, compare Flex’s net cost with the shipping cost in the pickup table (see Mercado Livre fees in 2026) and only turn it on where Flex is cheaper or where “Arrives today” boosts conversion enough to make up the difference.

After turning it on, check each order during the first month. Milewa shows the margin for every Mercado Livre order based on what the marketplace actually charged and credited, by listing, so you can see where Flex increased profit and where it only added work.