Online Selling: Your Real Profit After Shopee and Lazada Fees
Selling online feels great until you tally the fees. That ₱500 order is not ₱500 in your pocket — platform commissions, transaction fees, shipping counterparts, and vouchers all take a bite. Here is how to find your real profit after Shopee and Lazada fees, so every sale actually earns.
The hidden costs of every order
Each sale on Shopee, Lazada, or TikTok Shop carries deductions that are easy to overlook:
- Commission fee — a percentage the platform charges per sale, which often rises during promos and campaigns.
- Transaction / payment fee — a small cut taken on the payment processing.
- Shipping subsidy — “free shipping” promos are sometimes partly shouldered by the seller.
- Voucher counterpart — seller-funded discounts and campaign vouchers reduce what you actually receive.
- Item cost — what you paid for the product itself.
Worked example: a ₱500 order
Here is how a single ₱500 sale on Shopee really breaks down:
So a ₱500 “sale” is really about ₱190 of profit — and that is before any voucher. If you had priced with a thin margin, that same order could have left you with almost nothing, or even a loss after a campaign discount.
Price with the fees baked in
The fix is to know your total fee percentage per platform and set your prices so every sale still profits after the cut. A price that looks healthy on paper can quietly become a loss once Shopee, Lazada, or TikTok take their share and a voucher lands on top. Working backward from your target profit — the same idea behind markup versus margin — keeps you from underpricing.
Watch your fees per platform
Commission rates differ across platforms and change during mega-sale campaigns. The seller who tracks net profit per order — not just gross sales — is the one who knows which products and which platforms are actually worth the effort. If you are also filing taxes on this income, pair this with a clear view of your BIR tax option.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Shopee or Lazada charge sellers?
Fees combine a commission plus a transaction fee, and the total often lands in the low double-digit percentages — higher during promo campaigns. Rates change over time and by category, so always check your current seller fee schedule and compute net profit per order.
How do I price so I still profit after fees?
Add up your total fee percentage, your item cost, and your target profit, then set the selling price to cover all three. Pricing from cost alone almost always underprices once platform fees and vouchers are subtracted.
Should I sell on multiple platforms?
It can grow your reach, but each platform has different fees and rules. Track net profit per platform so you can focus effort where you actually earn the most, rather than assuming more listings automatically means more profit.
See your true profit per order
Our Online Seller Order Tracker logs each order’s fees and shows your real net profit — per order and per platform. Works in Excel and Google Sheets. Pay via GCash, Maya, or Maribank.