Platform-Specific Advisory

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Tips for transacting safely on Shopee

No of Scam Reports:
2023: 109
2022: 311

Verification of seller identity

'Preferred' and 'Mall' Badges

Look out for sellers with the ‘Preferred’ and ‘Mall’ badge.

The ‘Preferred’ badge is a sign of assurance for the sellers’ product and service quality. All ‘Preferred’ sellers are identified and verified through the collection and verification of official identification documents (e.g. NRIC).

The ‘Mall’ badge marks official brand owners or authorised distributors for a brand. Mall sellers are authenticated and verified with authentication documents (e.g. ACRA and Letter of Authorisation/Trademark).

1 Shopee Preferred & Mall Sellers (sized)

Other businesses and individuals selling on Shopee are verified through their registered mobile phone numbers.

Updated Seller Verification Features

As of December 2022, all new sellers are required to verify their identities using Government-issued records (e.g. NRIC, FIN and ACRA), upon registration on Shopee.

Sellers will only be allowed to start selling on Shopee upon successful verification of their identities. Shopee Agents will reject documents that are unclear, invalid, modified, forged, duplicated, unacceptable and expired. Rejected sellers’ shops will be hidden from the platform and will not be visible to users. Rejected sellers will be prompted to resubmit documents with clear and accurate information.

For a step-by-step guide and a visual demo on the above process, please refer to the Shopee Seller Education Hub ‘Verifying Seller Identity via Seller Centre and Shopee App’ article.

In addition to verifying new sellers, Shopee has also completed the verification of all the existing sellers in phases from Oct’23 till Feb’24. Existing sellers have to undergo verification checks against Government-issued records upon logging in to the Shopee Seller Centre to list products and manage orders. Similar to the process for new sellers, existing sellers will need to submit information and photos of their personal or business documents for verification.

Use of in-platform secure payment solutions

All payments within the Shopee app are protected by Shopee Guarantee, which is a safety feature that withholds payments to sellers until users confirm that products are received. Users are advised to make transactions only within the app.

We encourage users to actively report any sellers who request to transact outside of the Shopee app.

Learn more about Shopee Guarantee here: shopee.sg/m/shopee-guarantee 

2 Shopee Guarantee (sized)
Maintenance of transaction records and user data

Shopee maintains records of transactions and communication performed within the platform. We remind users to only transact and communicate with sellers within the Shopee app to facilitate investigation and dispute resolution should the need arise.

Reporting and dispute resolution mechanism

In the event of unfulfilled transactions, a return/refund can be requested promptly via the Shopee App. Please note that users will be able to raise a return/refund if they meet the following requirements:

 

  • Expected delivery date has passed, but they have yet to receive your parcel, or 
  • The Courier has delivered the parcel and the order status is updated to Delivered.

Return/refund request will be processed within an average turnaround time of 2.5 working days and users will be notified of the outcome via in-app push notification and email:

 

  • For Refund Only cases, Shopee will review the case and come back to you on the resolution.
  • For Return and Refund cases, you will be required to return the product in order to receive your refund (unless otherwise specified).

 

We have also implemented a Return and Refund After Order Completion (RRAOC) feature where buyers are now able to raise return and refund requests in our app after clicking ‘Order Received’ as long as it is within our Shopee Guarantee period (15 days after buyer’s orders have been delivered).

 

Learn about the conditions to raise a return/refund request:

 

Other features
Use of in-platform chat

Users should only download the official Shopee app here.

 

Shopee will only contact users via the following official channels:

1. Shopee’s official WhatsApp business account

2. Official Shopee social media pages

3. Shopee App notifications

4. Official email addresses that ends with shopee.com

 

Learn more about how you can deal safely on Shopee here:

[Account safety] How do I avoid scams?

Seller and product ratings

Buyers can rate the product and service offered by a seller upon the completion of orders. You can make an informed purchase by reviewing the videos, pictures, ratings, and reviews left by previous buyers.

Seller Penalty

Sellers on Shopee may receive penalty points if they do not meet the platform's minimum standards. The Seller Penalty Points system actively monitors and tracks seller performance, ensuring that they uphold high service standards. 

 

Sellers may be penalised for the following:

 

  • Non-fulfillment - if ≥10% orders (out of total orders) were either cancelled, returned or refunded due to seller fault in the past 7 days
  • Late shipment - if ≥5% orders (out of total orders) were shipped late in the past 7 days
  • Listing violations (e.g. prohibited listings, IP infringement or counterfeit)
  • Poor customer service (e.g., rude or abusive replies in chat)
  • Fraud (e.g., empty parcels)
  • Unfair competition (e.g., brushing of orders or reviews)
  • Inappropriate social selling content on Shopee Feed and/or Shopee LIVE

 

The accumulation of penalty points will result in the removal of selected seller privileges (e.g. exclusion from marketing campaigns, deboosting of listings) or even account suspension.

 

You can find out about the Seller Penalty Points system here:

Seller Penalty Points system

Information to Consumers

Information on Risk-Related Issues

Shopee is committed to ensuring all our users enjoy a safe and secure shopping experience. We regularly publish content on our communications channels that help users identify and report suspicious activities. They include: 

 

  • Updates on scam advisories at Shopee SG Help Centre and information on risk-management (e.g. How do I protect myself from scams?) 
  • Social media posts to raise awareness of latest scam trends 
  • Push Notifications and Electronic Direct Mails to alert users and raise awareness of scam tactics 

Information on Product Listings

Shopee employs a range of automated and manual screening processes to identify and prevent the listing of items that do not meet our platform's guidelines.  We remove listings that violate relevant laws and regulations, our Terms of Service and Prohibited & Restricted Items Policy.

Users may report the following issues to Shopee:

i) Inappropriate product/suspicious listing 

Users can report inappropriate/suspicious listings to Shopee by selecting the “Report this product” option on the product listing’s page.

 

Learn about how to report inappropriate products here:

[Feedback] How can I report an inappropriate product?

 

ii) Inappropriate seller behaviour

Users can report offensive chat messages by selecting the “Report this user “option via chat or the shop’s main page.

 

Learn how to report inappropriate user behaviour here:

shopee

No of Scam Reports:
2022: 311
2021: 376

Tips for transacting safely on Shopee
Verification of seller identity

'Preferred' and 'Mall' Badges

You can protect yourself by looking out for sellers with the ‘Preferred’ and ‘Mall’ badge.

The ‘Preferred’ badge is a sign of assurance for the sellers’ product and service quality. All ‘Preferred’ sellers are identified and verified through the collection and verification of official identification documents (e.g. NRIC).

The ‘Mall’ badge is a sign that marks official brand owners or authorised distributors for a brand. Mall sellers are authenticated and verified with authentication documents (e.g. ACRA and Letter of Authorisation/Trademark).

1 Shopee Preferred & Mall Sellers (sized)

Other businesses and individuals selling on Shopee are verified through their registered mobile phone numbers.

Updated Seller Verification Features

As of December 2022, new sellers will be required to verify their identities based on Government issued records (e.g., NRIC, FIN and ACRA), upon registering for a shop on Shopee. Shopee Agents will verify the legitimacy of the documents by cross checking the information submitted by sellers with the photo submitted, along with other sources (i.e. SG Work Pass, Business Filing Profile of ACRA).

Sellers will only be allowed to start selling on Shopee upon successful verification of their identities. Shopee Agents will reject documents that are unclear, invalid, modified, forged, duplicated, unacceptable and expired. Rejected sellers’ shops will be hidden from the platform front end, restricting its visibility to users. Rejected sellers will be prompted to resubmit with the correct information.

For more details on the above process, please refer to the Shopee Seller Education Hub ‘Verifying Seller Identity via Seller Centre and Shopee App’ article for the step-by-step guide and visual demo.

In addition to verifying new sellers, Shopee is also progressively implementing identification verification checks for existing sellers. Verification checks against Government-issued records will need to be completed for all existing sellers upon logging in to the Shopee Seller Centre (which is necessary for sellers to list products and manage orders). Similar to the process for new sellers, existing sellers will need to submit information and photos of their personal or business documents for Shopee Agents to verify their legitimacy.

Tips for transacting safely on Shopee
Use of in-platform secure payment solutions

All payments within the Shopee app are protected by Shopee Guarantee, which is a safety feature that withholds payments to sellers until users confirm that products are received.

You can safeguard your transactions by only transacting within the platform. We encourage users to actively report any sellers who request to transact outside of the Shopee app.

Learn more about Shopee Guarantee here: shopee.sg/m/shopee-guarantee 

2 Shopee Guarantee (sized)
Tips for transacting safely on Shopee
Maintenance of transaction records and user data

Shopee maintains records of transactions and communications performed within the platform. We remind all users to only transact and communicate with sellers within the Shopee app. This ensures all relevant transaction records are available to facilitate subsequent investigation and dispute resolution should the need arise.

Tips for transacting safely on Shopee
Reporting and dispute resolution mechanism

In the event of unfulfilled transactions, you should promptly raise a return/refund via the Shopee App. Note that you will be able to raise a return/refund if you meet the below requirements:

  • Your expected delivery date has passed, but you have yet to receive your parcel, or 
  • The Courier has delivered the parcel and the order status is updated to Delivered.

Learn more about the conditions that will allow you to raise a return/refund request:

3 Shopee - Return Refund Request (sized)

Your return/refund request will be processed within 7-9 working days and you will be notified of the outcome via in-app push notification and email:

  1. For Refund Only cases, Shopee will review the case and get back to you on the resolution.
  2. For Return and Refund cases, you will be required to return the product in order to receive your refund (unless otherwise specified).

Learn more about how you can raise a refund/return request here: shopee.sg/m/return-refund

 
Tips for transacting safely on Shopee
Use of in-platform chat

Use of in-platform chat (sized)

Learn more about how you can deal safely on Shopee here: bit.ly/how-to-deal-safely-on-Shopee

Tips for transacting safely on Shopee
Seller and product ratings

Shopee provides an open space for buyers to rate the product and service offered by the seller upon completion of orders. You will be able to make better judgment on your purchase decision by viewing the videos, pictures, ratings, and reviews left by previous buyers.

Tips for transacting safely on Amazon.sg
Seller Penalty

Shopee has a Seller Penalty Points system which monitors and tracks seller performance to ensure sellers maintain good service standards. 

 

Sellers may be penalised for the following:

  • Non-fulfillment - if 10% or more of orders (out of total orders) were either cancelled, returned or refunded in the past 7 days
  • Late shipment - if 10% or more of orders (out of total orders) were shipped late in the past 7 days
  • Listing violations (e.g., having prohibited listings, IP infringement or counterfeit)
  • Poor customer service (e.g., giving rude or abusive replies in chat)
  • Fraud (e.g., sending empty parcels)
  • Unfair competition (e.g., brushing of orders or reviews)
  • Inappropriate social selling content on Shopee Feed and/or Shopee LIVE

 

Sellers who commit any of the above may be given penalty points. Depending on the number of penalty points accumulated, selected seller privileges will be removed temporarily (e.g. exclusion from marketing campaigns, deboosting of listings etc). You can find out more at seller.shopee.sg/edu/article/6897

 

Tips for transacting safely on Amazon.sg
Information to Consumers

Information on Risk-Related Issues

Shopee is committed to ensuring all our users enjoy a safe and secure shopping environment. We regularly put out content on our communications channels to ensure that users can better identify and report potentially suspicious activities. This includes: 

  • Regular updates on scam-related advisories on the Shopee SG Help Centre with relevant information on risk-related issues (e.g. How do I deal safely on Shopee?
  • Regular social media posts to raise awareness of latest scam trends 
  • Push Notifications and Electronic Direct Mails to remind users and raise awareness 

 

Information on Product Listings

Shopee employs a range of automated and manual screening processes to identify and prevent the listing of items that do not meet our platform's guidelines and criteria. For example, users are able to report suspicious listings to Shopee through the ‘Report this Product’ option on the product listing’s page