Installation and setup

Requirements

• CS-Cart and Multi-Vendor 4.17.2 or later (4.21.x supported).
• Administrator access to the store’s admin panel.
• A Mercado Libre seller account of one of the seven sites (Mexico MLM, Brazil MLB, Argentina MLA, Chile MLC, Colombia MCO, Uruguay MLU, Peru MPE) and your own application (App ID and Secret Key) created in the Mercado Libre developer center (developers.mercadolibre.com, “My applications”). In Argentina, Mexico, Brazil and Chile Mercado Libre allows creating an application only after the account holder’s data is validated.
• Products with a barcode (it becomes the SELLER_SKU of the item; a valid GTIN/EAN is also sent as GTIN) and images reachable from the internet (Mercado Libre downloads them).
• A public https address for your store: the redirect address of the application and the notification address must be https.
• A cron job on your server (see Configuration).

Install the add-on

1. Download the kv_mercadolibre-<version>.zip package from your Kavio Labs or CS-Cart Marketplace account.
2. In the admin panel, open Add-ons > Manage add-ons.
3. Click the gear button and choose Manual installation, then upload the archive.
4. Find Mercado Libre Marketplace Connector in the list and make sure its status is Active.
5. Enter your license key under Settings > License (Kavio Labs downloads) and click Check now.

Create your application at Mercado Libre

1. Log in to the developer center with the owner account of your solution (a legal entity is recommended by Mercado Libre) and choose Create new application.
2. Name the application. Mercado Libre’s developer terms ask that the name of an application does not contain the words “mercado”, “libre”, “pago”, “envios” or “credito”, or look like a Mercado Libre brand; use your shop name.
3. As Redirect URI enter exactly the address shown on the add-on’s Connection page (it must match character for character and be https; on a Multi-Vendor store each vendor panel has its own address).
4. Scopes: read and write. The add-on needs offline access (refresh token); it is granted with the authorization.
5. As Notifications callback URL enter the notification address shown on the Connection page and tick the topics Orders (orders_v2), Items and Shipments. Mercado Libre signs nothing: the key inside the address is the only protection, keep it private.
6. Copy the App ID (client id) and the Secret Key.

Connect Mercado Libre

1. Open Orders > Mercado Libre channel and the Connection tab. Enter the client ID and client secret for the mode you want, choose the site, the listing type, the shipping option and an optional seller warranty in days. Save.
2. Press Connect to Mercado Libre. You are sent to Mercado Libre: log in with the main seller account (a collaborator or operator account cannot grant the application) and allow it. You come back to the Connection page and the add-on tests the connection: the green message names the authorized seller and site.
3. Switch to Live mode only after the whole flow worked with test users.
4. Set up categories, attributes and rules (see Usage).
5. Add the cron job from the settings page (Cron section), every minute is fine. Overlapping runs are prevented.

Test mode: Mercado Libre has no sandbox

Mercado Libre provides test users instead of a sandbox: they live on the production API and can trade with each other without fees. With a token of your application create one seller and one buyer for your site:

curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer <access token>" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"site_id":"MLM"}' https://api.mercadolibre.com/users/test_user

The answer contains the user id, nickname and password (Mercado Libre has no call to read them again: save them). You can create up to 10 test users per account; they expire after a while and can be replaced. Authorize the add-on in Test mode with the test seller, and keep the test items’ titles to “Item de Prueba - Por favor, NO OFERTAR” as Mercado Libre asks. The test and live modes are two sets of credentials on the same API: switching mode needs a new authorization.

Multi-Vendor

By default the marketplace owner connects one Mercado Libre account for all vendors (Marketplace owner mode on). Switch it off to let each vendor connect their own application and account in the vendor panel (Connection tab); each vendor then maps, lists and ships on their own. Each vendor panel has its own redirect address.

Update

1. Upload the new package the same way. Your settings, credentials, authorization and data are kept.
2. The add-on adds missing tables and settings by itself on the first request after the update.

See CHANGELOG for what changed in each version.

Uninstall

Open Add-ons > Manage add-ons, click the add-on’s gear button and choose Uninstall. This removes the add-on’s settings, language variables and database tables, including the stored credentials, tokens and mappings. Items already on Mercado Libre stay there; remove the application’s access in your Mercado Libre account if you stop using it.