The first year of e-commerce in the Philippines: Shopee, Lazada, or TikTok Shop first, and whose name should the store use?

Short answer: You cannot open Shopee cross-border in the Philippines simply by applying yourself ². Open one store, not three, in the first year. Before choosing a platform, decide whose name the store uses, where stock sits, and who replies to messages.

Scenario: a skincare owner wants to "quickly" open a Shopee store in the Philippines

Your skincare products sell well on Shopee in Taiwan, and you know the seller dashboard inside out. Last month, an industry peer said Taiwanese goods are popular in the Philippines. You open the seller center and look for the "cross-border" button, thinking that you can translate product pages into English, convert the prices to pesos, and leave the store there to see what happens.

After clicking through a few pages, you find that it does not work that way. Some platforms require a Philippine company registration, some cross-border programs require a platform invitation, and your products are cosmetics, which need local registration with the Philippine FDA before being listed — and that registration cannot be held in your Taiwan company's name. Then a second question emerges: if goods ship from Taiwan, how long will customers wait? A third is even more practical: before ordering, someone asks in Taglish, "Do you have something for oily skin?" Who answers?

Those three questions are exactly the three things to settle in the first year. The platform is only the final step.

Settle three things before choosing a platform

First: whose name the store uses

The Philippines' three major platforms have different rules on who can open a store. This is the first thing to clarify:

Two rules apply across platforms:

• The Internet Transactions Act (RA 11967) has been fully implemented since June 20, 2025. Online merchants must register with the DTI e-commerce office and disclose their company name, address, and contact details ⁵⁹.
• Food, health products, and cosmetics require registration with the Philippine FDA regardless of the platform. The FDA continues to work with platforms such as Shopee and Lazada to remove unregistered products ⁶. A cross-border store does not remove this requirement, and the registration can only be held by a licensed company in the Philippines — which is why whose name the store uses must be decided first.

In practice, there are three first-year routes: establish your own Philippine company (the minimum paid-up capital requirement of 25,000,000 pesos also applies to foreign-owned online-only retail companies ⁷), use a platform's cross-border program (while the registration issue remains), or place goods in a partner's warehouse and list the store under a licensed importer's name. The third route is how our Consignment package works: the licensed importer applies for and holds the registration, the data belongs to you, and the contract requires the importer to cooperate with the transfer, so you do not start from scratch; the FDA transfer or re-notification procedure still applies.

Second: where stock sits

For a cross-border store, goods ship from Taiwan, customers see an "overseas seller," and delivery takes longer. For a local store, stock sits in a Philippine warehouse and ships quickly, but you must import it first, clear customs, and pay tax (the 12% value-added tax and customs duty are payable at import ⁸). When volume is low in the first year, we usually recommend putting stock in a partner's warehouse and selling as it sells, rather than making the first customers wait two weeks to save on storage.

Third: who replies to messages

Return to the scenario's question, "Do you have something for oily skin?" Philippine consumers commonly ask questions through platform chat before ordering, in English or Taglish, and platforms also count response speed in store performance. There is no option to say "we will handle it once there are orders" — without replies, there will be no orders.

Which should you open first in the Philippines: Shopee, Lazada, or TikTok Shop?

Once the three things are settled, our general view is:

• Open one store in the first year, usually either Shopee or Lazada. Both accept local stores and cross-border mechanisms. Get the product pages, pricing, and reply process working smoothly on one platform first.
• Leave TikTok Shop for the second year or until you have a local team. It requires a Philippine company and depends on livestreams and short videos. Without someone creating content locally, an open store is still empty.
• Open all three once you know who will buy and at what price. Adding platforms then expands a proven setup; it is not a test.

When we do not recommend starting e-commerce yet

• Product registration has not been started and you do not have a licensed importer. Settle the registration route first, otherwise an opened store can only remove the listings.
• No one can reply during Philippine hours. Taiwan and the Philippines are in the same time zone, which is easier than North America, but "the same time zone" does not mean "someone is replying."
• You only want to leave a store on the platform and see what happens. Platforms look at response rate, delivery speed, and ratings. Their algorithms will push an unattended store where no one sees it.
• Your Taiwan price already has a thin margin. Platform commissions, payment processing, shipping, and the 12% value-added tax may leave the first year's gross margin unable to hold up. The landed-cost article explains this in detail.
• You do not yet know whether the product will sell in the Philippines. The right platform still does not matter if no one buys. Start with a Market Test.

Frequently asked questions

Can a Taiwan Shopee seller directly sell cross-border to the Philippines through Shopee? You cannot open it simply by applying yourself. Shopee's cross-border program is invitation-only ², Lazada accepts applications from Taiwan companies ³, and TikTok Shop accepts only Philippine companies ⁴. Products regulated by the FDA need local registration with the Philippine FDA before listing regardless of where they are sold from ⁶.

Should we open all three platforms in the first year? We do not recommend it. Open one store first, review the numbers after three months, then decide whether to add another.

Who replies to messages after the listings go live? In the Consignment package, a partner team looks after the store. If you will do it yourself, first make sure someone can reply during local hours.

One small next step

If you have completed a Market Test, the Consignment package (NT$50,000–60,000, with the Market Test fee credited toward the Consignment package) handles three things together: the store is listed under a licensed importer, stock is in a partner's warehouse, and someone looks after the store. If you have not done a Market Test, start there.

This article is rewritten from the March 2026 article, "The 2026 Southeast Asian e-commerce market: three opportunities for Taiwanese brands." Last verified: October 1, 2026. Platform rules change faster than regulations, so check each platform's seller center again before you list products.