{"id":453,"date":"2026-08-26T15:00:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T07:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgpaynowqr.com\/blog\/?p=453"},"modified":"2026-08-26T15:12:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T07:12:55","slug":"shopee-vs-lazada-vs-own-website-singapore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgpaynowqr.com\/blog\/shopee-vs-lazada-vs-own-website-singapore\/","title":{"rendered":"Shopee vs Lazada vs Own Website: Where Should Singapore Sellers Focus?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You have limited hours in a week and limited money for stock. So you keep asking the same question every few months: is this channel still worth it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe you started on Shopee and the payouts have been shrinking. Maybe you added Lazada for the extra reach. Maybe someone told you TikTok Shop is where the buyers are now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then somewhere in the back of your mind is the idea that you should probably build your own website, except that sounds like a lot of work for a shop nobody knows about yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So which one deserves your attention: Shopee, Lazada, or your own website?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’re going to answer that with real numbers rather than gut feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, What Are We Actually Comparing?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop<\/strong> are marketplaces. They already have millions of Singapore shoppers browsing daily. You list a product, their algorithm decides who sees it, and they take a cut of every sale. So that means the crowd is already there, and you pay for the privilege whether or not the customer would have found you anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your own website<\/strong> is different. There’s no crowd walking past, unless you yourself bring the customers in through Instagram, WhatsApp, word of mouth, search, or ads. Nobody takes a cut, but nobody sends you traffic either. It’s the shophouse on a quiet street: cheaper to run, harder to fill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when you compare these two, then the fees that are advertised on marketplaces are not really payment fees. It’s a customer acquisition fee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Each Platform Takes From a $50 Sale<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let’s use one product across all four channels: a general category item (fashion, skincare, home goods) listed at $50 with no discounts. All figures are in Singapore dollars unless marked otherwise, and all rates include 9% GST, since that’s what actually comes out of your payout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Channel<\/th>Cmmsn<\/th>Svc fee<\/th>Txn \/ pymnt fee<\/th>Total rate<\/th>Fees on $50<\/th>You keep<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
TikTok Shop (non-BXP)<\/td>8.175%<\/td>n\/a<\/td>3.27%<\/td>11.45%<\/td>$5.73<\/td>$44.27<\/td><\/tr>
Lazada (non-SPA)<\/td>10.90%<\/td>n\/a<\/td>3.27%<\/td>14.17%<\/td>$7.09<\/td>$42.91<\/td><\/tr>
Shopee (non-Mall, non Promo Xtra)<\/td>14.17%<\/td>n\/a<\/td>3.27%<\/td>17.44%<\/td>$8.73<\/td>$41.27<\/td><\/tr>
Shopee (non-Mall, on Promo Xtra)<\/td>10.90%<\/td>5.45%<\/td>3.27%<\/td>19.62%<\/td>$9.82<\/td>$40.18<\/td><\/tr>
Your own store (PayNow via SGPayNowQR)<\/strong><\/td>0%<\/strong><\/td>0%<\/strong><\/td>0%<\/strong><\/td>0%<\/strong><\/td>$0.00<\/strong><\/td>$50.00<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Your own store (card via Stripe)<\/td>0%<\/td>n\/a<\/td>3.4% + $0.50<\/td>n\/a<\/td>$2.20<\/td>$47.80<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>
Each fee is charged separately and rounded to the cent, which is why the dollar figures do not always match the headline rate exactly. Credit card rates from Stripe’s Singapore pricing page<\/a>.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A few things to highlight from the table above:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shopee is the most expensive of the three, and it just got more expensive.<\/strong> On 28 August 2026 Shopee raised commission rates again<\/a>. For a non-Mall seller in a general category, commission went from 7.63% to 10.90% inside its Promo Xtra programme, and from 11.99% to 14.17% outside it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Btw, Promo Xtra is the new name for Coins Cashback. It became the Promo Xtra Programme (PXP) on 18 May 2026<\/a>, and existing members were moved across automatically. If you join it, your commission drops to 10.90%, but the 5.45% service fee takes your total to 19.62%. Stay out and you pay 14.17% commission with no service fee, so 17.44% total, but you lose the Shopee-funded vouchers, campaign microsites and Flash Sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Non-Mall seller, general category<\/th>Before 28 Aug 2026<\/th>From 28 Aug 2026<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Commission, on Promo Xtra<\/td>7.63%<\/td>10.90%<\/td><\/tr>
Commission, not on Promo Xtra<\/td>11.99%<\/td>14.17%<\/td><\/tr>
Promo Xtra service fee<\/td>5.45%<\/td>5.45%<\/td><\/tr>
Transaction fee<\/td>3.27%<\/td>3.27%<\/td><\/tr>
Total, on Promo Xtra<\/strong><\/td>16.35%<\/strong><\/td>19.62%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Total, not on Promo Xtra<\/strong><\/td>15.26%<\/strong><\/td>17.44%<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lazada sits in the middle now.<\/strong> Since 9 February 2026, Marketplace sellers in general categories pay 10.90% commission inclusive of GST, on top of a 3.27% payment fee<\/a>. Sellers who join the SPA programme keep the older, lower commission rates and pay a 4% service fee on top of them instead. Full breakdown, including the LazMall rates, in our Lazada seller fees guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TikTok Shop is now the cheapest.<\/strong> It spent years undercutting everyone, but then pushed through three fee changes in nine months, and a non-BXP seller now pays 11.45% baseline in Fashion and FMCG. Since 1 April 2026 the transaction fee is calculated on a base that includes TikTok’s own platform discounts<\/a>, so you pay a transaction fee on money that never reached your account. Shopee does the same thing, incidentally: its 3.27% is charged on the final payment amount including Shopee vouchers, coins and rebates. Lifestyle and electronics sit a little lower on TikTok, between 6.540% and 8.175% commission depending on sub-category, so check yours rather than assuming the headline rate. We covered all of it in our TikTok Shop fees post<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One clarification that trips people up: Shopee’s 5% technical support fee, which started rolling out in February 2026, applies to overseas sellers selling into Singapore<\/a>. If you’re a local seller, it doesn’t hit you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now Scale It to a Real Month<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One sale is abstract. Here’s the same seller doing 100 orders a month at $50, which is $5,000 in monthly revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Channel<\/th>Fees per month<\/th>Fees per year<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Shopee (on Promo Xtra)<\/td>$982.00<\/td>$11,784<\/td><\/tr>
Shopee (not on Promo Xtra)<\/td>$873.00<\/td>$10,476<\/td><\/tr>
Lazada (Marketplace, non-SPA)<\/td>$709.00<\/td>$8,508<\/td><\/tr>
TikTok Shop (non-BXP)<\/td>$573.00<\/td>$6,876<\/td><\/tr>
Your own store (PayNow)<\/strong><\/td>$0 commission<\/strong><\/td>$0 commission<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At this volume, the gap between the cheapest marketplace and the most expensive is about $4,908 a year. But the gap between any marketplace and your own store is $6,876 to $11,784 a year in commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your commissions are used to drive marketplace traffic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before you conclude that everyone should abandon marketplaces tomorrow, hold on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That $982 a month you pay Shopee isn’t a waste. It gets more traffic to the marketplace, which gives you more opportunities to be discovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop spend enormous sums on advertising, app development, logistics networks and voucher campaigns to keep Singapore shoppers coming back. When one of those shoppers lands on your listing, the platform did the work of getting them there. That’s why they charge you 11% to 20% for a customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your own website has none of that. On day one it has no visitors, no reviews, and no reason for anyone to trust it with their money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So a straight fee comparison is misleading. A fairer question is: what is your cost of acquisition? Is it reasonable to spend 11% to 20% of your revenue to acquire the customer on your own?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Problem With Marketplaces<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It’s perfectly fair to pay a commission to the marketplace to get you a customer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem is, the marketplace charges you the same percentage on every order. Your first order from a brand new customer costs 19.62%. Your fifth order from the same customer, also costs 19.62%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So you’re paying a finder’s fee for a customer you already found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For sellers with genuinely repeat products (skincare, coffee, snacks, pet supplies, supplements, baby items), this is where the money quietly leaks. A customer who reorders six times a year is charged a discovery fee six times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So now let’s model the same 100 orders a month, but 40 of them are new customers discovering you on Shopee, and 60 are repeat customers ordering through your own store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cost item<\/th>Monthly<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Shopee fees on 40 discovery orders (19.62%)<\/td>$392.80<\/td><\/tr>
Own store fixed costs (hosting, domain, plugin)<\/td>~$40.00<\/td><\/tr>
PayNow fees on 60 repeat orders<\/td>$0.00<\/td><\/tr>
Total<\/strong><\/td>~$432.80<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Same 100 orders, all on Shopee<\/td>$982.00<\/td><\/tr>
Monthly saving<\/strong><\/td>~$549.20<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Annual saving<\/strong><\/td>~$6,590<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Same revenue. Same orders. Same customers. The only change is that the orders which didn’t need a marketplace stopped paying for one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That $6,590 savings could be six months of paid ads. Or it could be the difference between a business that is profitable and one that isn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Costs That Do Not Show Up in the Fee Table<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Everything above counts only the mandatory marketplace fees. In practice, very few sellers pay only those fees. Additionally, you can pay for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advertising.<\/strong> All three platforms have moved towards a pay-to-play model where organic reach for a small seller is limited. Shopee’s own worked example puts its AMS commission at 10% of purchase value<\/a> when you run ads, and that sits entirely outside the rates in our table. Lazada Sponsored Solutions and TikTok’s GMV Max work the same way, and for competitive categories they’re close to compulsory if you want volume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campaign periods cost extra now.<\/strong> Since 18 May 2026, Promo Xtra sellers pay an additional 1.09% spike service fee<\/a> on every order placed during Double-Digit campaigns, the 15th Mid-Month Sale and the 25th Super Shiok Sale. That takes a general-category seller to 20.71% during those windows, and it applies whether or not you nominated anything for the campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-funded vouchers.<\/strong> Mega sale events like 11.11 and 12.12 usually require you to fund part of the discount yourself. The traffic spike can be huge, but so is the margin hit, and the fee percentages are still charged on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Optional programmes that stop feeling optional.<\/strong> Promo Xtra on Shopee and SPA on Lazada both promise better visibility in exchange for a service fee. Joining is voluntary in theory. In practice, sellers who skip them often find their listings buried, which is why our Shopee comparison above treats the Promo Xtra row as the realistic case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Affiliate commissions on TikTok Shop.<\/strong> If creators promote your products, you set and pay that rate yourself. It comes out of your margin on top of the 11.45%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of this makes marketplaces a bad deal. It just means the true take rate for an active seller sits above the mandatory numbers, often by several percentage points. Whatever figure you calculate from your payout reports in step one below, treat it as a floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Your Own Website Actually Costs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Singapore<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The fixed costs are less scary than most sellers expect. We broke this down properly in How much does it cost to run a WooCommerce store in Singapore<\/a>, but the short version:<\/p>\n\n\n\n