Guide to selling on Shopee
Last updated: 26.12.2024
Learn how to set up your Shopee store and start selling on one of the biggest marketplaces in Southeast Asia.
Key takeaways
- Shopee is a leading e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia. It’s slowly expanding into Latin America too
- Shopee doesn’t charge anything for setting up a seller account or listing a product. You’re only charged a commission fee when you sell a product
- Sellers on Shopee benefit from seamless shipping, supported by various logistics partners across multiple countries.
- Shopee International Platform (SIP) enables cross-border selling, allowing you to expand your business globally with a single account
- With World Account, Shopee Singapore sellers can easily manage multi-currency funds, make conversions and withdraw proceeds to AUD to any other currency
Introduction
The eCommerce industry in Southeast Asia is gaining momentum quickly and Shopee is at the forefront of it. It is one of Asia’s most popular e-commerce websites, with over 3 million monthly traffic.
Shopee was founded in Singapore in 2015 and the online shopping marketplace has quickly established itself as a leader in Southeast Asia, surpassing its competitors like Lazada. By the third quarter of 2023, Shopee had already processed over 2.5 billion orders.
Shopee SG quickly became popular and its success was replicated in other Southeast Asian countries. Shopee’s annual 9.9 Super Shopping Day campaign in 2021 attracted over 82 million visits from Singapore alone.
Shopee now has a big presence in countries like Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore.
Shopee can be a good place to start if you plan to expand your retail business in Asia. You can start your operations with Shopee Singapore and slowly expand your reach across Southeast Asia with the same Shopee seller account and logistics networks.
Keep reading to learn more about how to sell on Shopee.
Table of Contents
What is Shopee?
Shopee is a popular B2C and C2C online marketplace in Southeast Asia owned by the Sea Group. The marketplace works as an intermediary between sellers and buyers. Since its launch, it has slowly expanded into East Asia and Latin America. Shopee now has a presence in 10+ countries.
Here’s the complete list of Shopee supported countries (as of September 2024):
| Southeast Asia |
East Asia |
Latin America |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Is Shopee legit?
Yes, Shopee is a secure and legit marketplace where millions of customers buy products from verified and reliable sellers. As a seller, you can start listing products on the marketplace and withdraw funds as per the platform’s payment cycles. Shopee also takes steps to help sellers reach a wider audience. According to a report, 145k Shopee sellers in Malaysia achieved a 25% growth in 2022.
All new sellers have to undergo a verification process before they can sell on the platform.
Does Shopee support cross-border sellers?
Shopee supports cross-border sellers through Shopee International Platform (SIP). It allows sellers to sell their products across various Shopee regions and take their business global.
SIP is currently available in Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand.
With SIP, sellers can sell their products globally while only managing their store in one source country. There are no extra costs involved. As a seller, you only need to manage your local Shopee store and Shopee will manage the end-to-end operations of your overseas stores, including:
- Pricing and product listings
- Marketing (like ads, discounts, flash deals)
- Customer service
- First to last mile fulfilment
Not every Shopee seller can directly apply for SIP. There are different eligibility rules for different countries. For instance, if you have a store on Shopee Singapore, you need a good fulfilment rate and a minimum of 1 completed order in a month to become eligible for SIP.
Shopee Malaysia doesn’t clearly state the eligibility rules. Instead, you will be notified directly once you are eligible to sign up for SIP.
As a seller, you’re responsible for arranging shipment to Shopee warehouses and Shopee handles the rest from there.
You get paid in your base currency and the payment process for international orders is the same as for domestic orders. Since you get paid in your base currency, there are no foreign exchange risks or delays in payment.
When you become eligible for SIP, you’ll be notified. To enrol in the program, you’ll have to fill up the onboarding form.
After onboarding, you can start listing your products in different Shopee regions and manage them all through the same seller account.
Benefits of selling on Shopee
Popular marketplace in Southeast Asia
Shopee is one of the most visited e-commerce marketplaces in Southeast Asia. With millions of visitors and a great online presence, Shopee gives you the opportunity to expand your business into Asia through a reliable partner that your prospective customers already trust.
Seamless shipping
Shopee has various shipping partners that make it easy for sellers to fulfil orders. Sellers can choose any supported shipping partners, arrange the shipment through the Shopee app, and automatically send tracking details to customers. The shipping fees are also automatically calculated, saving you from the hassle of constantly negotiating with shipping companies.
Optimum seller support
Through Shopee Seller Centre, you get access to various tools to manage and grow your online business. Apart from tools for managing orders, you also get access to a bunch of other tools, including:
Promotional tools for offering incentives to customers
- Discount
- Vouchers
- My Shop’s Shocking Sale
- Shipping Fee Promotion
- Seller Coins
Engagement tools to improve shop loyalty
- Live Streaming (Shopee Live)
- Review Prize
- Chat Broadcast
Paid targeting tools to increase traffic and conversions
- Shopee Ads
- Off-Platform Ads
- Affiliate Marketing Solution
Easy to communicate with customers
With Shopee, you can chat directly with customers and sort out their queries or complaints in real time. It’s also possible to set up automated messages for customers when they have added your products to the cart but have not made the purchase yet.
Support for international and domestic payment options
Shopee offers customers a wide range of payment options, including debit cards, credit cards, PayNow and ShopeePay.
ShopeePay is the platform’s digital wallet, which allows customers to pay for their orders directly through their Shopee account. The various payment methods encourage more customers to place orders.
- Open 15+ local currency accounts with local account details
- Direct CNH payments to 1688.com
- Pay suppliers, partners and staff in 40+ currencies and 130+ destinations
- Collect secure payments from 100+ marketplaces and payment gateways, including Amazon, AliExpress, Paypal and Shopify
- Lock in currency conversion rates for up to 24 months
Different e-commerce businesses you can do on Shopee
Shopee supports different e-commerce business models, including:
Dropshipping
Shopee supports dropshipping as an e-commerce fulfilment method. With dropshipping, products bought by customers through an online store are directly shipped to them by the supplier, manufacturer, or dropshipping agent. Online retailers don’t keep any inventory or ship the product themselves. Instead, they only focus on marketing their products and managing customer service. Dropshipping has low upfront costs, but the margins are low because of high commissions. You should consider using Alibaba dropshipping or AliExpress dropshipping for your Shopee store.
White labelling
You can also sell white-labelled products on Shopee. It involves sourcing products from a manufacturer and selling them under your brand name. Usually, product manufacturers can help relabel and rebrand the product with your brand’s logo and colours. You can easily find white-label products on wholesale B2B marketplaces in 1688 and Alibaba.
Retail
You can directly source products from manufacturers and wholesalers to resell them at retail prices on Shopee. It’s not uncommon to find Shopee sellers that source products from China and sell them at a profit on Shopee.
Wholesale
It’s also possible to sell wholesale products in large quantities on Shopee. You can set discounted prices for customers who buy a minimum order quantity to encourage them to buy more.
How to start selling on Shopee Singapore
1. Register as a Shopee Seller
Your first step should be to register as a Shopee seller. If you are based in one of the countries that Shopee supports, you will be automatically redirected to the regional Shopee website. If you are not based in Shopee-supported countries, you can manually go to a regional Shopee store and open an account.
You can create a seller account on the Shopee website or mobile app available for iOS, Google Play and Huawei users.
Account registration only requires a valid phone number and email address. It’s necessary to maintain accuracy and ensure no issues during the account verification process.
There are two types of seller badges you can acquire on Shopee:
- Preferred badge is given to sellers who have been identified and verified through in-depth document review
- Mall badge is given to sellers who are either brand owners or authorised distributors of a brand
2. Add your bank account details
You’ll also have to add your local bank account details and link them to your Shopee seller account. For instance, if you are signing up on Shopee Singapore, you’ll need an SGD bank account.
3. Customise your shop
Your shop name will help build trust, confidence and loyalty among customers. It’s important that you choose a memorable and unique name that aligns with Shopee’s policy on shop naming.
Next, you can use the Shop Decoration tool to customise your shop home page for mobile and PC.
4. List your products on Shopee
You can start listing products on Shopee once your account is verified. An attractive and effective product listing is necessary to attract potential customers and drive sales. Before adding a new product, explore Shopee’s main product categories to see which category your product fits into. You should also review the prohibited and restricted items policy.
Here are the main components of an optimum product listing
- Product name: Add a title that’s clear, crisp and easy to understand
- Product description: Provide a detailed product description that includes the major features and benefits of the product
- Product images: Include high-quality images from different angles
5. Shipping and fulfilment
Sellers can manage shipping themselves or through Shopee Supported Logistics (SSL) partners. Shopee has partnerships with major delivery companies in every country, allowing sellers to get fixed shipping rates and outsource the fulfilment process.
For instance, Shopee Supported Logistics partners in Singapore include:
- Shopee Express (SPX)
- Speedpost Standard (SingPost)
- Ninja Van
- J&T Express
- uParcel
Before sending your orders through Shopee, make sure you are aware of the packaging guidelines and standardised shipping fees.
6. Marketing and promotions
There are many marketing and promotional tools available on Shopee that you can use to improve the visibility and sales of your Shopee store, including:
- Flash sales
- Campaigns
- Discounts
- Shopee ads
Shopee seller fee: What does it cost to list products on Shopee?
While Shopee doesn’t charge anything for opening a new seller account or listing a product for the first time, there are other fees involved, including:
Commission fee: It applies to sellers who have registered for 120 days or more. You’re only considered a registered seller on Shopee when you take your first product listing live.
Transaction fee: It is the handling fee charged by Shopee for successful transactions.
Service fee: Sellers who sign up for the Coins Cashback Programme are charged a service fee, which is a percentage of the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) on a product level.
How to receive money from Shopee?
For Shopee Singapore, you’ll need to set up a SGD Receiving Account.
If you’re a seller on Shopee Singapore, you can withdraw your sales proceeds into your World Account.
The World Account lets you set up receiving accounts in over 15 currencies, including SGD, AUD, CNH, USD, EUR, GBP and more.
You can hold your multi-currency funds, make conversions at competitive foreign exchange rates, remit to your bank account, or pay third-party suppliers abroad. You can even make purchases at wholesale sites like 1688.com directly with your World Account balance. With a few simple steps, you can withdraw your Shopee Singapore sales proceeds into the World Account.
Here are the steps to receive money from Shopee Singapore into your World Account
Step 1: Set up the Receiving Account
- On your World Account dashboard, go to the “Collection” tab
- Then click on “Manage Accounts” > “Add a New Receiving Account“. You can then select the currency of your Receiving Account
- Once the account is set up, you can click on “Details” to get the account details
Step 2: Link your Receiving Account to Shopee Singapore
- On Shopee Seller Centre, go to “Finance” > “Bank Accounts”
- Click on “Add Bank Account”
- Enter your Receiving Account
Note: We currently do not support collection from Shopee sites in countries other than Singapore. If you need to collect from other Shopee sites, please let our support team know. We’ll be sure to inform you once we support the functionality.
Disclaimer: The information contained is general only and largely our views. Before acting on the information you should consider whether it is appropriate for you, in light of your objectives, financial situation or needs. Although information has been obtained from and is based upon multiple sources the author believes to be reliable, we do not guarantee its accuracy and it may be incomplete or condensed. All opinions, estimates, mentioned products/services and referenced material constitute the author’s own judgement as of the date of the briefing and are subject to change without notice. WorldFirst shall not be responsible for any losses or damages arising from your reliance of such information.
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