Shopee and Lazada vs Your Own Online Store: Which Is Better?

New to selling online? Our guide to selling online in the Philippines covers the basics: Facebook, shipping, COD and registering your business. This guide goes deeper on one question: marketplace or your own store.

1. Marketplace vs own store, side by side

2. What Shopee and Lazada actually charge

Marketplace fees changed several times in the past two years, and they differ by category and seller type. These are the fee types you'll see as of late 2026. Rates here come from public seller guides and reports, so treat them as approximate and check your Seller Center for the rates on your shop.

• Commission: a percentage of each sale, set by product category. For regular sellers, reported rates run from a few percent up to around 10%. Shopee Mall and LazMall sellers usually pay more.
• Transaction or payment fee: for processing the buyer's payment. Shopee's transaction fee is reported at 2.24% of the buyer's payment, and Lazada's payment fee is widely reported at a similar level.
• Order processing fee (Shopee): reported at ₱5 per successful order since September 2025, with the first 50 orders each month waived.
• Seller Growth Support Fee (Shopee): a category-based percentage that took effect on 11 May 2026, reported at around 1% to 1.5% per completed order. In the same change, Shopee reportedly dropped the separate fee for its Coins Cashback program.
• Optional programs: free shipping and cashback or voucher programs that make your listings more visible, each with its own fee when you join.
• Vouchers and campaign discounts: to be featured on big sale days like 11.11 and 12.12, you often fund part of the discount yourself.
• Ads: sponsored listings charged per click or impression.
• Shipping: weight-based rates, and sometimes a seller share when you join shipping programs.

New sellers often get a break at the start. Lazada says commission only applies once a seller has been on the platform for more than 90 days, and Shopee has also offered fee-free periods for new shops. Plan your prices for after the promo ends.

Withholding tax is separate. Under BIR Revenue Regulations No. 16-2023, marketplaces withhold 1% on half of your gross remittances (0.5% in effect). It's an advance on your income tax, not a platform fee, and small sellers under ₱500,000 a year can submit a declaration so it isn't withheld. This isn't tax advice, so ask an accountant.

Find your real number: open a few completed orders in your Seller Center, add up every fee in the payment breakdown, and divide by the order amount. Seller guides in 2026 put total deductions anywhere from the mid single digits to around 20% of the selling price, depending on category and programs.

3. A worked peso example

In our selling online guide we used a simple 10% for all fees. Here's a more detailed breakdown of one ₱1,500 order. The marketplace rates are examples only, not the rate for your category, and some fees are calculated after vouchers, so your real figures will differ a little.

That's before optional programs, vouchers and ads. Add a ₱50 shop voucher to compete on a sale day and the marketplace order costs you ₱223.60.

Now say 100 of your monthly orders are repeat customers who would happily buy from your website. With a payment gateway, you'd save about ₱136 per order (₱173.60 minus ₱37.46), or around ₱13,600 a month. With a GCash QR and manual checks, the saving is closer to ₱17,360.

The honest other side: your own store costs money too. A custom store with our Seller Center starts at an estimated ₱18,599, plus a Supabase database subscription of US$25 a month. At ₱136 saved per order, about 137 repeat orders cover the build. You'll also spend time or money bringing buyers in, and you may need to cover shipping promos the marketplace used to subsidize. For more on build prices, see our website cost guide.

4. Traffic: who brings the buyers

This is where marketplaces win, and it's the main reason not to leave them. Shoppers open Shopee or Lazada already wanting to buy. They search, compare and check out in a few taps, and big sale days bring waves of buyers you could never reach alone.

A new website gets almost no visitors on its own. Your buyers will come from:

• People who already know you: past marketplace buyers, Facebook followers and walk-in customers.
• Google: people searching your brand name, or products like "handwoven bag Philippines". Ranking takes months of good product pages, and nobody can promise it.
• Your Google Business Profile, if you have a physical shop or pickup point. See our Google Business Profile guide.
• Your Facebook page, with the store link in every post. Our Facebook page vs website guide explains how the two work together.

So the realistic goal isn't to replace the marketplace. It's to move the buyers who already like you to a place where you keep more of each sale.

5. Control, price wars and account risk

Price wars

On a marketplace, your listing appears next to sellers offering the same thing, sorted by price. Buyers compare in seconds, so many sellers end up cutting prices, joining every campaign and funding vouchers just to stay visible. Your margins shrink even when sales look good.

Rules you don't control

Fees, search rankings, shipping programs and campaign terms are set by the platform and can change with short notice. A fee change of 1% or 2% sounds small, but on thin margins it can wipe out your profit.

Account risk

Marketplaces enforce their rules with penalty points for things like late shipping, too many cancellations, prohibited listings or trying to take deals off-platform. Reported thresholds can lead to listings being hidden or a shop being frozen for weeks. If the marketplace is your only sales channel, one bad month can stop your income.

On your own store, you set the prices, the policies and the look. The trade-off is that you also handle everything the platform used to: customer questions, payment checks, returns and building trust.

6. Who owns your customers

On a marketplace, the buyer is the platform's customer first. You see what you need to ship the order, but the rules don't allow you to use those details to sell to them outside the platform. When a loyal buyer wants to reorder, they go back to the marketplace, see your competitors again, and you pay the fees again.

On your own store, every order builds your own list: names, mobile numbers, emails and what they bought. That lets you:

• Message past buyers when their favorite item is back in stock.
• Offer reorder reminders for things people buy again, like skincare, coffee or pet food.
• Handle bulk and corporate orders properly, with quotes and invoices.

Under the Data Privacy Act, ask for consent before sending promos, give people an easy way to opt out, and keep their details secure.

7. The "use both" strategy

This is what we recommend to most growing sellers:

1. Let the marketplace do discovery. Keep your best sellers there at competitive prices and join the campaigns that make sense.
2. Make your own store the home for everything else: repeat buyers, bulk and wholesale orders, corporate gifts, custom and made-to-order items, pre-orders, and your full range, including slow movers you don't want to pay ads on.
3. Give buyers a reason that isn't just a lower price: bundles, bulk pricing, a loyalty perk, early access to new designs, or personalization. That keeps your marketplace listings healthy too.
4. Use the same brand name everywhere, so anyone who searches it on Google finds your website.
5. Put a thank-you card in every parcel with your brand name, care tips and where to find you, for example "For bulk or custom orders, visit our website." Never ask buyers to cancel an order or pay you directly for a marketplace order. That breaks marketplace rules. Policies on parcel inserts can differ, so check your platform's current rules before printing.
6. Send your Facebook and Instagram followers to your website, not only to your marketplace shop.
7. Take payments the way buyers like: GCash, Maya, cards and COD. Our guide to accepting GCash on your website compares QR codes, GCash for Business and payment gateways.

8. When marketplace-only is fine

Your own store isn't always worth it yet. Staying marketplace-only makes sense when:

• You're still testing products and don't know what sells.
• Most of your items are cheap impulse buys, and few buyers ever come back.
• You don't have time yet to answer website inquiries and check payments.
• Almost all your sales come from big sale days and platform vouchers.

Once you notice the same names ordering again, or buyers asking "can I order 50 pieces?", that's the sign your own store will pay for itself.

9. How GensanWeb can help

Seller Center: a custom online store plus order management, with GCash and COD checkout, inventory and profit reports. It starts at an estimated ₱18,599, plus a Supabase database subscription of US$25 a month paid by you. See how the Seller Center works, or try Habi & Co., a sample store we built (not a real shop) with a GCash and COD checkout.

Not ready for a full store? Our Starter Website is ₱3,499 for up to 5 pages, with a free .com domain and hosting for 1 year, free SSL, Messenger, Call and WhatsApp buttons, and basic SEO. It's a simple way to show your catalog, take bulk and custom inquiries, and link to your marketplace shop. You check the finished site before you pay.

Either way, start with a free homepage preview. No obligation.

10. Frequently asked questions

What are the seller fees on Shopee Philippines?

Shopee charges several fees on each successful order: a commission based on your product category, a transaction fee (reported at 2.24% of the buyer's payment), a ₱5 order processing fee, and since May 2026 a category-based Seller Growth Support Fee. Optional programs, vouchers and ads cost extra. Rates change often, so check your Seller Center for the rates on your shop.

Is it cheaper to sell on my own website than on Shopee or Lazada?

Per order, usually yes. A GCash QR costs nothing and a payment gateway costs roughly 1.3% to 3.5%, while marketplace fees commonly add up to around 10% or more once programs and vouchers are included. But you pay to build the store and you have to bring your own buyers, so it pays off best for repeat customers and bulk orders.

Can I sell on Shopee, Lazada and my own website at the same time?

Yes, and many sellers do. Use the marketplace to reach new buyers and your own website for repeat customers, bulk orders and custom orders. Follow each platform's rules, though: marketplaces don't allow you to move a marketplace order or chat off the platform.

Do Shopee and Lazada withhold tax from my sales?

Yes. Under BIR Revenue Regulations No. 16-2023, marketplaces withhold 1% on half of a seller's gross remittances, which works out to 0.5%. It's an advance on your income tax, not a platform fee, and sellers whose gross remittances for the year don't exceed ₱500,000 can submit a sworn declaration so it isn't withheld. Ask an accountant about your situation.