Guide to selling on Lazada as an international seller
Last updated: 30 Jul 2025
Discover how to expand your business in Southeast Asia by selling on Lazada, one of the region’s largest e-commerce platforms
- Lazada operates in 6 Southeast Asian countries, offering a gateway to 35M+ monthly users across diverse regions
- International sellers can list products in local currencies and use Lazada’s fulfillment centers to streamline logistics
- Lazada charges no fixed monthly fees. Instead, sellers pay commissions, payment fees and shipping costs based on sales and product type
- Use WorldFirst to collect, hold and convert Lazada earnings in 20+ currencies, ensuring competitive exchange rates
Lazada is one of the biggest e-commerce marketplaces in Southeast Asia, with an annual revenue of over $4.4 billion (as of 2023). The marketplace is the most popular in the Philippines, with 35 million monthly users, followed by Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Singapore.
If you are planning to expand your business in Southeast Asia, Lazada can be the easiest and quickest way to enter the vast market.
In this detailed guide, we take a look at everything you should know about selling on Lazada as an international seller.
Table of Contents
What is Lazada?
Lazada is an international e-commerce marketplace with a presence across Southeast Asia. Founded in 2012, it became a part of the Alibaba group in 2016 and the company’s headquarters are located in Singapore.
Currently, Lazada operates in the following countries
- Philippines
- Vietnam
- Malaysia
- Thailand
- Indonesia
- Singapore
After Shopee and Tokopedia, Lazada is the third biggest player in the SEA region. In some countries like Thailand, Lazada is the second biggest marketplace, right after Shopee.
The marketplace has millions of products listed on its platform, with the home and living category being the most popular. Other categories include fashion, health and beauty, groceries, pets and electronics.
Can you sell on Lazada as an international seller?
Lazada allows international sellers to list their products on the platform even when they aren’t based in the countries listed above. For each Lazada region, you can set up a store, customise product listings and add prices in local currency. It’s a good idea to start with one or two regions and slowly expand your store operations to more Lazada-supported countries.
To make shipment and fulfilment easier, Lazada has an international fulfilment centre in Hong Kong, which works pretty similarly to Amazon FBA. As a seller, you can ship all your products to the fulfillment center in bulk and let Lazada manage all the logistics. Whenever you receive a new order, Lazada will be responsible for shipping, returns, customer service and even lost packages.
International sellers can manage multiple Lazada stores across different countries with a single account. To become a cross-border seller on Lazada (also known as LazGlobal seller), you need a registered business and you shouldn’t be based in the country you’re trying to sell.
Pros and cons of selling in Lazada as a cross-border seller based in ANZ
Let’s take a look at the main pros and cons of selling on Lazada as an international seller
Pros
- Easy expansion into multiple Southeast Asian countries with access to a wide consumer base
- No fixed monthly cost for setting up a seller account. You only pay commissions on each sale you make
- Existing infrastructure with logistics and payment support
Cons
- Sellers incur different types of fees, including commission fees, payment processing fees and shipping fees
- Shipping bulk products to Lazada warehouses can get expensive and cut through your margins, making it difficult to compete with local sellers in terms of pricing
Cash on delivery is a popular method of payment in Southeast Asia, which can be risky and increase the return rate
Step-by-step guide to start selling on Lazada
1. Setup your seller account
There are three types of seller accounts supported on Lazada:
Lazada Seller: This option is only for local sellers who want to sell products in the region where they are located. For instance, if you are located in Singapore, you can sell on Lazada Singapore directly with no commission fees. You don’t have to be the authorised distributor of products
LazMall Seller: If you have a trademark for a product or you’re the authorised distributor of a brand, you can sign up as a LazMall seller and offer exclusive products on the platform
LazGlobal Seller: This option is especially for international sellers based abroad who want to sell their products in Southeast Asia. You can ship your goods to a Lazada global shipping warehouse and let Lazada handle all the customer fulfilment for you.
To become a LazGlobal, you’ll need the following documents:
- A business license (This applies to both companies and sole traders)
- A corporate or personal Alipay account for identity verification (In case you are using a personal Alipay account, you’ll also have to upload photos of your ID, a photo of you holding the ID and a photo of you holding the business license)
Lazada also requires cross-border sellers to deposit up to 3000 RMB to sell their products on the platform (The exact deposit can vary depending on the region). You only need to put in the deposit once to open your stores in up to 6 countries. Currently, there is a 90-day no-deposit policy, which means you can put up the deposit any time before the 90 days are over.
If you decide to close down your Lazada store in the future, the deposit will be refunded to you within 30 days.
2. List your products
After activating your seller account, you need to list at least 5 products to take your Lazada store live. You can manually list each product or use Lazada’s bulk upload feature to add multiple products to your store.
Here are the steps to add products to your store:
1. Go to your Seller Center account → click on Products → Select ‘Add Products’
2. Add the product title, category and brand (If applicable)
3. Add the key features of the product under the product highlight section. Use bullet points to keep the content concise and engaging
4. Now, add the actual product description with as many details as you’d like to include. You can also add product images here. Lazada recommends adding a minimum product description of 50 words and at least one image
5. The next field you’ll have to add is ‘What’s in the box,’ which helps detail everything the customers will receive in their package. For instance, if you’re selling a rechargeable toy, add ‘toy and battery charger’ here. In case there are no extra add-ons, you can just add ‘product only’
6. Select product variations (size and colour), if applicable. In case you’re adding a new colour, it’s also recommended to add images for the different colour options available
7. The last step is to add pricing, quantity, package dimension and weight. Before you add pricing, make sure you factor in the shipping fees and other Lazada’s commissions
While listing products, keep a note of the following:
- Not all products are allowed to be sold on Lazada. Always check the updated prohibited products list before you take any product live
- Lazada doesn’t support or allow dropshipping
- Once you have created the initial listing, you can reuse it to sell the same product across different regions. Lazada lets you translate product descriptions into local languages and set prices in local currencies
- Open 15+ local currency accounts and get paid like a local
- Pay suppliers, partners and staff worldwide in 100+ currencies
- Collect payments for free from 130+ marketplaces and payment gateways, including Amazon, Etsy, PayPal and Shopify
- Take control of spending with the World Card, a business expense card that saves you more with 1% cashback. Learn more
- Save with competitive exchange rates on currency conversions and transfers
- Lock in exchange rates for up to 24 months for cash flow certainty
3. Shipping/ fulfilling orders on Lazada
There are different ways to fulfil your orders on Lazada. You can choose to manage the entire fulfilment process yourself or let Lazada handle it for you.
Fulfilment by Lazada
Lazada Global Shipping program is an end-to-end shipping solution that lets cross-border sellers manage the ‘selling’ part of the business while Lazada takes care of shipping. You also get access to competitive international and domestic shipping rates.
Here’s how fulfilment by Lazada works:
1. You send a bulk product shipment to any of Lazada’s international fulfilment centres. In case you are sourcing products from a supplier, you can ask your supplier to directly send products to any of the fulfilment centres
2. Lazada manages order fulfilment on your behalf. When a new order comes in, the Lazada team manages the store, selection and order shipping. It’s also responsible for managing returns and lost packages in case things go wrong
The shipping costs for FBL can depend on which fulfillment center you are sending your products to, how long they are stored there and how much they weigh. Spreading out shipments across different fulfillment centers can help cover more regions and enable faster local delivery to customers.
Delivered by seller
You can also use third-party logistics (3PLs) to fulfill your orders locally. Lazada has a list of logistics partners that you can connect with to streamline operations and get better rates. You can also find your own partners to manage the entire shipping process yourself. Opting for this means potentially saving more on commissions and shipping costs, but you’ll also have to spend a lot of time managing shipping and returns.
Lazada seller fees and charges
While the exact seller fees charged by Lazada can depend on the region you’re registering in, these are the main fees you’ll be expected to pay as a Lazada seller.
Commission fee
Lazada does not charge a fixed monthly fee. Instead, it takes a small percentage of the products you sell on the platform. Commission fees can vary depending on the product category and region.
Payment fee
A percentage of the total transaction cost, including the item price and customer shipping fee, is charged as the payment fee. Usually, Lazada charges a 2% payment fee.
Shipping fee
The shipping fee will depend on whether you are opting for Fulfilment by Lazada or third-party partners. The weight and dimensions of the package will also determine the exact shipping amount.
Advertising fee
These are optional charges that you’ll have to pay if you use ads on Lazada to boost the visibility of your product listings.
Cancellation fees
You may incur a cancellation fee if the order is returned and the reason is attributed to the seller. For instance, if the order is returned because the product quality wasn’t as expected or if the received product was entirely different from the ordered product, then you’ll be charged with a cancellation fee.
How do I withdraw my Lazada balance?
You’ll be able to see your net sales in Seller Balance for all the orders that have been marked as delivered for that week. With funds in your Seller Balance, you can either withdraw funds manually (the first request is free, but subsequent requests may attract a fee) or wait for automatic withdrawal, which is usually done every Monday (excluding the Philippines).
Use WorldFirst’s multi-currency account to collect, hold and convert funds in multiple currencies. The World Account supports over 20+ local currencies, including USD, CNH, AUD, GBP and SGD.
So, if you want to sell on Lazada Singapore, you can open a local SGD account without needing a local address. The account will be under your business’s name and you’ll get the local bank account number as well as the sort code for it.
Add the bank account details to your Lazada seller account to collect your seller earnings in local currency and keep them until you’re ready to transfer them home. You can also use the collected funds to make the same currency transfers with zero foreign conversion fees.
WorldFirst offers access to competitive exchange rates and fast transfers, allowing you to manage cross-border payments with zero hassles and headaches
Disclaimer: The information contained is general only and largely our views. Before acting on the information you should consider whether it is appropriate for you, in light of your objectives, financial situation or needs. Although information has been obtained from and is based upon multiple sources the author believes to be reliable, we do not guarantee its accuracy and it may be incomplete or condensed. All opinions, estimates, mentioned products/services and referenced material constitute the author’s own judgement as of the date of the briefing and are subject to change without notice. WorldFirst shall not be responsible for any losses or damages arising from your reliance of such information.
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