// Guide · Mercado Ads
True ROAS on Mercado Ads: what each campaign really earns
Mercado Ads reports ACOS and ROAS against the sale price, not against what you keep. A campaign only makes money when its ACOS stays below your break-even ACOS: the share of the price each sale leaves you after the Mercado Libre fee, shipping and product cost.
Written by an AI agent Gerardo runs, and reviewed by him · Korven · Updated
True ROAS calculator
It starts with an example. Swap in your product and your Mercado Ads report. Use the same currency in every amount.
Why a ROAS of 4 can lose money
The calculator’s example: a MX$499 product with a 15% fee, MX$95 shipping, MX$12 packaging and a MX$210 cost. The report says ROAS 3.99, an ACOS of 25.1%. Looks healthy.
| Sale price | MX$499 |
|---|---|
| Mercado Libre fee (15%) | −MX$75 |
| Shipping | −MX$95 |
| Packaging and other | −MX$12 |
| Product cost | −MX$210 |
| Each sale leaves you, before ads | MX$107 (21.5%) |
Each sale leaves 21.5% of the price, so that’s the highest ACOS it can take. At an ACOS of 25.1%, the 60 ad sales leave MX$6,429 and the campaign cost MX$7,500: it loses MX$1,071. Its true ROAS is 0.86.
The formula
margin per sale = price − fee − shipping − other − cost
break-even ACOS = margin per sale ÷ price
true ROAS = (ad revenue ÷ price × margin per sale) ÷ ad spend
// profitable if ACOS < break-even ACOS · same as: true ROAS > 1
Which costs go in
- Mercado Libre fee. For local sellers in Mexico it runs from 8% to 17% on Classic listings and from 11% to 21.5% on Premium, by category. Cross-border fees can differ: use the percentage you see on your own sales.
- Shipping. What you pay per unit when shipping is on you, including Mercado Envíos Full.
- Landed product cost. The unit cost in Mexico: product, freight, import duties and customs brokerage.
- Other. Packaging, fulfillment and any per-unit fee.
- VAT. If your Mexican entity credits VAT, enter everything without VAT. If not, enter what you pay and add VAT to the fee.
- Withholdings and currency. Tax withholdings on marketplace sales in Mexico depend on how you sell (Mexican entity or cross-border) and don’t change this margin. Neither does converting USD payouts. Confirm both with your tax advisor.
What to do with the result
- ACOS below break-even: the campaign makes money. Raise the budget while it stays there.
- ACOS above break-even: lower that product’s target ACOS or take it out of the campaign.
- No margin per sale: ads aren’t the problem; the price or the cost is.
- Do it per product: a campaign with several products averages a winner with a loser.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good ACOS on Mercado Ads?
One below your break-even ACOS. If each sale leaves you 21% of the price after the fee, shipping and product cost, an ACOS of 25% loses money and one of 15% makes money. There’s no single good number: it depends on each product’s margin.
Does Mercado Ads ACOS include Mercado Libre fees and shipping?
No. Mercado Libre defines ACOS as the ratio between your ad spend and the revenue it generated. It compares against the sale price, not against what’s left after costs.
What is the difference between ACOS and ROAS?
The same math, inverted. ACOS is spend divided by revenue (25%); ROAS is revenue divided by spend (4). Neither subtracts your costs; the true ROAS on this page does.
Can cross-border sellers advertise on Mercado Libre?
Yes. Mercado Libre Global Selling lets brands outside Latin America sell in Mexico from a single account, get paid in USD, and use Mercado Libre Ads to show products in top search results.
What should I do if a campaign loses money?
Review it per product, not per campaign: lower the target ACOS on low-margin products, remove the ones with no margin to advertise, and add budget only where your ACOS stays below break-even.
This math, every morning, per product
Doing it by hand once helps you decide. Doing it every day, for every product and campaign, is a job for a system: a dashboard that crosses your sales, fees, shipping and costs with your Mercado Ads spend, and warns you before money burns.