Singaporean e-commerce platform Shopee announced Tuesday it increased its handling or transaction fee on all successful purchase to keep its business “sustainable.”
From 1.5 percent, the transaction fee was raised to 2 percent on August 1, said Shopee. The company imposes the fee in all successful transactions via its payment services.
“Shopee transaction fee is a handling fee Shopee charges sellers on all successful transactions via Shopee’s payment services such as credit card and debit card, cash on delivery payments, ShopeePay, and others,” it said.
The company meanwhile clarified the increase in fee was not related to the on-going discussion of imposing value-added tax (VAT) on digital platforms such as Shopee.
“This move aims to create a healthy e-commerce ecosystem that sustainably benefits both buyers and sellers in the long-run and facilitates seamless payment transactions,” Shopee told ABS-CBN News.
“Shopee’s goal has always been to provide the best user experience, and we want to build a sustainable business through strong local user engagement,” it added.
The e-commerce platform said it would continue to enhance its service with new features and to offer attractive promotions and campaigns.
Also read: SC: BIR cannot impose value-added tax to condominiums
Shopee increases seller transaction fee
Last week, the House ways and means panel approved a bill that would impose a 12% Value-Added Tax (VAT) on some local and digital goods and services providers as well as electronic transactions.
The still unnumbered substitute bill, which is a consolidation of three measures and a resolution, seeks to amend Section 105-A of the National Internal Revenue. It has a provision that would make a non-resident digital service provider such as Spotify, Netflix, Lazada, and others responsible for assessing, collecting, and remitting the VAT on the transactions processed on its platform.
The bill defines a digital service provider as “an entity that provides digital service or goods to a buyer through an online platform for purposes of buying and selling of goods or services or by making transactions for the provision of digital services on behalf of any person.”
The measure is expected to generate P10 billion in revenue for the government, P9 billion of which would come from foreign companies that are based in the Philippines.