If you want to reach shoppers who are already browsing and ready to buy, selling on Shopee and Lazada in Singapore is one of the fastest ways to get a product in front of a large local audience. Both are established regional marketplaces with millions of active users, built-in payment handling, delivery integrations and marketing tools. You do not need your own website to start, which lowers the barrier for first-time sellers, side hustlers and established retailers testing online demand. This guide walks through how each platform works, what to prepare and how to run the day to day without getting caught out.
Because fees, policies and features on both platforms change often and differ between them, treat everything here as general orientation. Always confirm the current rules, commission structure and seller requirements in each platform’s official seller centre before you commit stock or set prices.
How the two marketplaces work
Shopee and Lazada both run on the same basic model: you register as a seller, list your products, and the platform brings the traffic, handles checkout and connects you to logistics partners. Buyers pay the platform, the platform releases funds to you after the order is confirmed or delivered, and you handle packing and dispatch. Both offer a mobile seller app and a desktop dashboard (Shopee’s is called Seller Centre) where you manage listings, orders, chat and promotions.
The differences show up in the details. Shopee is known for a very active in-app, gamified shopping experience with heavy use of vouchers, livestreaming and flash deals. Lazada has historically leaned into a more structured, category-driven catalogue and its LazMall tier for brands and authorised resellers. In practice most serious sellers list on both, because the audiences overlap only partly and the cost of maintaining a second storefront is mostly time, not money. Selling on Shopee and Lazada in Singapore at the same time is a common, sensible strategy once your operations can handle it.
Setting up your seller account
You can usually start as an individual seller and upgrade later, or register as a business from the outset. To sell as a registered business in Singapore you will generally need your ACRA business registration details, a local bank account for payouts, and identity verification. If your turnover crosses the GST registration threshold, you may need to register for GST with IRAS and account for it correctly; check the current rules with IRAS or a qualified accountant rather than guessing.
A practical setup checklist:
- Business and bank details: ACRA registration (if selling as a company), a bank account for disbursements, and verified contact details.
- Store identity: a clear shop name, logo, and a short profile that tells buyers who you are.
- Product data: accurate titles, high-resolution photos, honest descriptions, dimensions and weight for shipping.
- Policies: your return, warranty and response expectations, aligned with each platform’s buyer-protection rules and with CASE guidance on fair dealing.
Take time on photos and titles. On a crowded marketplace, the thumbnail and first three words of your title do most of the selling.
Understanding fees and pricing
Both platforms make money by charging sellers, typically through a combination of a commission on each sale, a payment or transaction fee, and optional paid tools such as ads, campaign participation or premium store tiers. The exact percentages differ by platform and often by category, and they are adjusted periodically, so do not rely on any figure you read second-hand. Open each seller centre, find the current fee schedule for your product category, and build those numbers into your pricing.
The mistake new sellers make is listing at their normal price and discovering their margin has vanished after fees, vouchers and free-shipping contributions. Work backwards instead: start from the price a buyer will accept, subtract every platform cost, subtract your product and packing cost, and confirm what is left is a margin you can live with.
| Consideration | Shopee | Lazada |
|---|---|---|
| Typical audience feel | Deal-driven, social, livestream-heavy | Catalogue-driven, brand tiers via LazMall |
| Seller dashboard | Seller Centre (web) and app | Seller Centre and app |
| Fees to check | Commission, transaction and campaign costs | Commission, payment and campaign costs |
| Marketing levers | Vouchers, flash deals, in-app ads, live | Vouchers, sponsored search, campaigns |
| Best first step | Confirm current category fees in-app | Confirm current category fees in-app |
Treat the table as a prompt for what to verify, not a source of rates. Every cell marked “fees to check” means exactly that: check them yourself, today, in the platform.
Listing, shipping and fulfilment
Good listings share a pattern: a keyword-rich but readable title, several clean photos on a plain background, a scannable description with specifications, and correct stock and variation settings. Fill in weight and dimensions accurately, because both platforms calculate delivery and may penalise mismatches.
For delivery, both marketplaces integrate with logistics partners and offer supported drop-off or pick-up options, and both run programmes where you can hold stock in their fulfilment network so they pack and ship for you. Doing it yourself keeps costs down and control high; using their fulfilment saves time as volume grows. Whichever you choose, dispatch within the platform’s stated window. Late shipping hurts your seller rating, and your rating quietly controls how often buyers see you.
Keep a simple routine: check orders at fixed times daily, print labels in batches, pack securely, and update tracking promptly. Reply to buyer chat quickly, because response rate is a visible metric on both platforms and slow replies cost you sales and ranking.
Growing sales without overspending
Once the basics run smoothly, growth comes from visibility and trust. Join relevant campaigns and mega-sale dates, but only with products where the numbers still work after the extra discounting. Use vouchers and bundles to lift average order value rather than just cutting price. Test the platforms’ ad tools with a small daily budget, watch which keywords convert, and scale only what pays back.
Reviews are your compounding asset. Deliver on time, pack thoughtfully, resolve issues without drama, and politely invite happy buyers to review. A steady stream of genuine positive reviews does more for long-term ranking than any single promotion. Above all, keep your data protection practices sound: handle buyer information in line with the PDPA and the PDPC’s guidance, and do not misuse contact details for unsolicited marketing.
Explore more
Deciding where to sell is a bigger question than these two platforms alone, so start with choosing an ecommerce platform before committing. Once orders arrive, tighten your shipping and fulfilment process, and when you plan campaigns, read our guide to running promotions and sales so discounts still leave you a margin.