How to Setup a Shopee Store

How to Set Up a Shopee Store (Or How To Sell in Shopee)

By Ramon King III, Managing Director - Lokal

Last updated July 18, 2024

Contents

What is Shopee?

E-commerce industry steadily grows every year globally. By 2023, 22 % will consist of retail sales through ecommerce around the world. In Southeast Asia itself, the market share value is projected to exceed $150 billion by 2025 which is currently valued at $38 billion. One of the fastest growing e-commerce platforms across Asia is Shopee.

Founded by Forrest Li in 2015 under the Sea Group (formerly known as Garena) in Singapore, Shopee originally began as a social-first, mobile-centric C2C marketplace. Over time, the app-based platform launched features to rival that of rising e-commerce sites like Lazada and AliExpress, becoming the Shopee we know today: a hybrid B2C marketplace that can serve customers across the region.

Shopee is most popular in the Southeast Asian region, with the platform being present in Singapore (.sg), Malaysia (.com.my), Thailand (.co.th), Indonesia (.co.id), Vietnam (.vn), Taiwan (.tw), and the Philippines (.ph). It’s also present in 2 countries outside the ASEAN area, namely: South Korea (.kr) and Brazil (.com.br).

Why should I sell on Shopee?

As of June 2020, Shopee has recorded an average of 2 million orders per day. Compared to its 2019 statistics of 19 million visits per month, they recorded about 36 million visits per month at for the first half of 2020. This surge is due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions where people turn to online shopping as a way to buy their everyday needs.

Not to mention, sellers can also benefit from no commission or listing fees — in other words, signing up as a seller is totally free, and anyone can be a seller! Cross-border sellers are welcome, and can benefit from English, Chinese, Thai, and Indonesian language support the platform provides. Aside from this, transaction fees are also generally low, ranging from 1.5-2% depending on your country.

The platform also accepts a wide range of products, with product categories being the following:

Automotive
Computers and Accessories
Gaming and consoles
Groceries and pet food
Health and Beauty
Home and Living

Home Appliances
Mobile and Gadgets
Sports and Outdoors
Kids toys, clothing, and fashion
Travel and Luggage
Men's and women's fashion

Amongst all the categories, Home & Living, Beauty, and Fashion are the top ones to take note of. On the other hand, here are the list of things you can’t sell on Shopee platform:

Animal and wildlife products
Alcohol (Unless you have a valid license that has been approved by Shopee)
Artifacts and antiquities
Used cosmetics
Counterfeit currency and stamps

Credit and debit cards
Currency or credits, including digital currency or credit and stored value cards
Drugs, medicines of any type, and drug-like substances
Embargoed goods
Firearms, weapons, replicas, stun guns, and more

Overall, Shopee is a good choice for small business owners and sellers who want to test out the Southeast Asian market.

How do I set up a store on Shopee?

Fortunately, setting up shop on Shopee is easy and can be done in just a couple of steps.

1. Head over to the Shopee website and click on Sign Up, which you can find in the upper right hand corner of the page.

Lokal builds and manages your Shopee store

2. You’ll be greeted by this prompt. Simply add and verify your phone number.

3. You’ll be prompted for a password following your verification. Just make sure your password is between 8 and 16 characters, with at least one lowercase and one uppercase letter.

4. After you enter your password, you’ll be redirected back to the homepage. Following this, click Seller Center, which you can find in the upper left corner of the page.

5. Once there, you’ll be redirected to this page and prompted to complete your details, such as your full name, address, and phone number. When you’re done with this, scroll down from the left tab to Shop Profile.

Lokal builds and manages your Shopee Seller Account

Lokal manages your Shoppe Seller Account

6. In your Shop Profile, complete the 3 main components: your shop name, images and videos, and your shop description. When it comes to choosing our shop name, try to make it distinctive and memorable. For your images and videos, select at least 5 in order to have a strong brand identity. Finally, for your shop description, make sure it’s short and succinct, and that it can attract shoppers to your store. Consider including something about your shop’s history, main products, and even when you’re most active in chat.

Things to Note When Naming Your Shop

When it comes to naming your store, Shopee has some policies and guidelines you need to abide by. They are as follows:

Do's

Use a trademark or brand name only if you are the brand owner (Shopee will require some evidence!)
Choose a name that contains at least 5 characters, but nothing over 30 characters
Select a name that isn’t already used on Shopee (You can do this by looking up shop names in the search bar of the platform)

Don'ts

Include the word “Shopee” in your store name
Use vulgar, prohibited, offensive, or sensitive words in your shop’s name
Add emoticons or special characters
Have it as all/only numbers
Make your shop name full of irrelevant product names
Place personal information in your shop name
Include commercial promotions like free shipping
Add links to external websites or platforms (i.e. www., .net, .com)

When you’re done, you’ve finally put up your shop! The next thing to do is create listings of your products.

How do I list products for my Shopee store?

Once you’ve established your store, you can start putting up your products. Before this, however, take note to read Shopee’s Prohibited and Restricted Items Policy .

1. From the Seller Center , look for the Product tab and click on My Products . Your page should look like this.

2. Click on Add New Product, input your Product Name then choose the Categories and Sub-Categories your product falls under.

3. Then, add a detailed Product Description, along with some high resolution Photos and Videos. Input all the other necessary information needed as well, which can vary based on your product.

4. Select your shipping settings by inputting the Weight and Parcel Size. Shopee will automatically recommend some logistics providers for your product. Take note that different shipping providers may have different shipping fees based on the size and weight.

5. When you’re done, simply click Save and Publish at the bottom of the screen. Add as many products as you have.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some frequently asked questions about Shopee stores that you may find yourself asking.

What are the fees that need to be deducted or paid?

Joining Shopee is totally free! The only thing that gets deducted is your Transaction Fee, which can range from 1.5% to 2% depending on the country, and gets taken from the buyer’s purchase monies. If you’re a Shopee Mall seller, you’ll be charged a commission fee. This is calculated as 3 to 5% of the product listing price, minus any seller-borne vouchers or price discounts.

How can I get paid on Shopee?

The options for payment can differ based on your country. For instance, in Singapore or Thailand, buyers can only pay via debit card, credit card, or bank transfer. Cash on delivery isn’t available for these countries. However, for countries like the Philippines and Taiwan, customers have the option to pay via:

Cash on delivery
Credit or debit card
ATM transfer
Online banking transfer
Over-the-counter payments

How can I get free shipping for my store on Shopee?

You’re qualified to get free shipping by simply having a valid Pickup Address. Once you do, a notification in the app will be sent to you within 7 days notifying you that you’re qualified for free shipping.

Then from there, follow these steps:

Click Free Shipping. Tap on “Get Voucher” to get Free Shipping vouchers
Tap on “View Vouchers” to go to “My Vouchers” where you can view your claimed Free Shipping vouchers.

How can I become a preferred seller on Shopee?

Aside from strictly complying with Shopee’s Policies and Guidelines, your store must sell genuine quality products, have competitive prices, and great seller ratings and customer satisfaction to become Preferred Seller. Being a Preferred Seller is by invitation only, and some criteria must also be followed:

Monthly new orders - Minimum 75
Unique buyers per month - Minimum 35
Chat Response Rate - Minimum 70%
Shop Rating - Minimum 4.6
Penalty Points - 0 in the current quarter
Products - 100% authentic, no counterfeit products
Ready Stock - 95%

Keep in mind that Shopee’s teams are responsible for selecting Preferred Sellers, so make sure you follow the guidelines strictly.

Who will do the shipping? What logistics options do we have?

The shipping options depends on your country of origin. We’ve compiled a list of available shipping companies below:

Singapore

NinjaVan
Singapore Post

Malaysia

NinjaVan
ABX Express
Gdex
Poslaju
J&T Express
POS Malaysia
Skynet

Indonesia

JNE
J&T Express
Black Arrow Express

Philippines

LBC Express
Black Arrow Express
Shopee Xpress Tracking
XPost Integrated

Thailand

Thailand Post
Thai Parcel
NinjaVan Thailand

Is it free to sell on Shopee?

Yes, it’s free to sell on Shopee! The only time you need to pay is if you’d like to be part of Shopee Mall, which requires a 315USD fee to register.

LET'S GET STARTED

Thinking of starting your Shopee shop? Let us help.

Our team at LOKAL will help you scope out your web design project, provide analysis on your existing marketing status, or do initial scoping on your long-term marketing campaign.

You can also send us an email at hello@agencylokal.ph.

Contact Us

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Email: hello@agencylokal.ph

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LOKAL provides boutique business solutions for small businesses in Australia and the Philippines. With decades of experience, LOKAL provides search engine optimisation, digital marketing, digital public relations, executive recruitment, and outsourced team operations.