Cross-border information01 Shopee releases incentive policy for inviting sellers to join
According to Shopee, to help sellers quickly seize Southeast Asian market opportunities, starting from September 1, 2026 (Beijing time), Shopee invites existing Shopee sellers to recommend sellers who currently operate on Southeast Asian cross-border content e-commerce platforms but have not yet
If eligible new sellers are successfully referred, both the referrer and the referred new seller will receive $50 in ad credits for Shopee advertising!
I. Eligible participants and conditions
Existing Shopee sellers can recommend qualified new sellers to join Shopee.
2. Referred new sellers
Referred new sellers must meet all of the following conditions:
Complete the “Shopee quality seller survey” and fill in the referrer’s Shopee store ID in question 12, “If you were referred by an existing Shopee seller, please provide the referrer’s Shopee store ID.”
The content e-commerce platform store has an average daily GMV (sales) of more than $400.
From September 1, 2026 (Beijing time) onward, open a Shopee store for the first time in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines and activate store selling rights.
Shopee will verify seller status on the 20th of each month (or one working day earlier if it falls on a holiday): 1) the store is in normal status, not frozen or vacation mode; 2) at least 10 products are available for sale in the store, and if the other content e-commerce platform store has fewer than 10 products, the Shopee store must have at least the same number of products as that store; 3) products in the Shopee store must belong to the same category as those in the content e-commerce platform store.
02 55% of rural social media users in the Philippines shop via TikTok Shop
A new study jointly conducted by Ogilvy, WPP Media and Fifty5Blue shows that consumption in rural Philippines is rapidly digitizing.
55% of rural social media users shop through TikTok Shop, but only 21% use digital payment methods; cash and cash on delivery remain mainstream.
The study shows that about 92% of rural households have internet access, 98% of them go online via mobile phones, and 99% of respondents use smartphones to watch streaming content.
Facebook and Messenger remain the most important information entry points, with 60% of rural consumers using Facebook daily and 92% able to use Messenger.
However, rural consumers are still more cautious in payment and brand choices. Due to concerns about scams, refunds and after-sales issues, and insufficient digital payment infrastructure in some areas, many consumers prefer cash on delivery or transactions through merchants that support GCash.
Trust is also a key factor. 92% of consumers verify information sources, and 91% will keep buying familiar brands. This means that although TikTok Shop has penetrated the rural Philippine market, what really determines transactions remains price, practicality, payment convenience and brand trust.
03 Indonesia confirms tax collection will start next month
Shopee, Lazada and other platforms will withhold directly
Indonesia’s Directorate General of Taxes has confirmed that the platform withholding mechanism for seller income tax will officially take effect on October 1, 2026, initially covering Shopee, Lazada, Tokopedia and Blibli.
This means eligible sellers will no longer fully pay the relevant income tax on their own; instead, platforms will directly withhold 0.5% PPh Article 22 income tax at transaction settlement.
Indonesia’s tax authority stressed that this is not a new tax, but a change in tax collection method, from self-declaration and payment by sellers to withholding, payment and declaration by large e-commerce platforms.
For individual sellers, if annual turnover does not exceed IDR 500 million and they submit a declaration to the platform as required, they can be exempted from this 0.5% platform withholding.
This policy means that the role of platforms such as Shopee and Lazada in Indonesia is further extending from transaction platforms to tax collection infrastructure, and the connection between seller transaction data and tax declaration will become more direct.
Seller Home Review
Shopee is using ad credits to encourage existing sellers to bring in new ones, while Indonesia will begin platform withholding of 0.5% income tax from October, raising compliance costs in Southeast Asia. Sellers should quickly assess the tax impact and seize the support dividends for new content e-commerce sellers.
Source: Cross-border Southeast Asia
Original link: https://www.amz123.com/t/W1YS7iu1
