I built a bot that reads every question posted to a Mercado Livre store and replies automatically — in under 30 seconds, 24/7, using Claude AI. Here's exactly how it works and why response time is a competitive moat in Brazilian e-commerce.

Why Mercado Livre Questions Are a Ranking Signal

Mercado Livre's reputation algorithm ("Reputação") scores sellers across five metrics. Response time is one of them — specifically, answering questions in under 1 hour moves your badge from "yellow" to "green". Green sellers get:

Higher placement in search results

"MercadoLíder" eligibility (unlocks free shipping, lower fees)

Higher conversion (buyers trust responsive sellers)

The problem: a human checking questions every hour is expensive. Missing nights and weekends costs rankings.…