Hugo Galvao de Franca Filho highlights an important aspect that many sellers overlook regarding the reputation thermometer on Mercado Livre, which operates based on three key metrics: complaint rate, cancellation rate, and the punctuality of deliveries. If any of these metrics exceed a certain threshold, the color indicator shifts from green to yellow, orange, or red, and this color is displayed next to every listing the store publishes.
Notably, none of these three metrics differentiate between new and returning buyers, yet returning customers often positively influence all three metrics simultaneously, as they already have established expectations for their orders.
What the thermometer actually measures?
Mercado Livre keeps sellers under specific limits to stay green: complaints capped around two percent of sales, cancellations near one percent, and on-time delivery above ninety percent. A store that stays under those limits earns the green badge, and consistent volume above that bar can also unlock the MercadoLider status, a further signal of reliability shown directly on the seller’s profile.
As explained by Hugo Galvao de Franca Filho, none of these numbers measure product quality directly. They measure whether the experience matched what the buyer expected going in, which is a slightly different question with a very different answer depending on who is buying.
Why repeat buyers move the numbers first?
A first-time buyer has no reference point for how long shipping usually takes from a given seller or what the packaging typically looks like, so any surprise, even a minor one, becomes a candidate for a complaint. A returning buyer has already been through one order and knows roughly what to expect, which removes most of the friction that turns a small hiccup into a formal complaint.
That difference shows up clearest in cancellations. A new buyer who is unsure about sizing or fit cancels more readily than one who has already received the product before and knows it works. A returning buyer who orders the same brand of dog food for the third time is not gambling on whether the bag matches the photo; they already know, and that certainty removes an entire category of reasons to cancel or complain. Fewer cancellations and fewer complaints from the same pool of orders push all three thermometer numbers in the same direction, without the seller changing anything about the product itself.
How that reputation turns into cheaper ads?
Mercado Livre Ads prices cost-per-click and impression delivery partly on seller reputation, so a store with a green thermometer pays less to reach the same number of buyers than a store further down the color scale. Reputation, in that sense, is not just a badge; it is a discount on every future ad campaign the seller runs.
According to Hugo Galvao, that connection is easy to miss because it shows up as a lower number on an ad invoice weeks or months after the reputation improved, not as an immediate reward tied to any single order.
What this changes about who gets attention?
Hugo Galvao treats returning customers as a lever on ad cost, not only on repeat revenue, since a base of buyers who rarely complain or cancel keeps the thermometer green with less active effort than chasing flawless service on every first-time order. Enjoy Pets tracks return-buyer share alongside reputation color for that reason, watching one as an early signal of where the other is headed.
What this means for the reputation number itself
Treating reputation purely as a customer-service metric misses half of what actually moves it. The other half, as Hugo Galvao mentions, comes from how many buyers a seller keeps, since that quiet portion of the order book tends to be the calmest one on record, and calm orders are what keep the thermometer green without anyone having to fight for it order by order.
