Marketplace Fees Are Getting Out of Hand — Here's Why You Need Your Own E-Commerce Website
Marketplace Fees Are No Longer a Small Price to Pay
Selling on Shopee, Tokopedia, and TikTok Shop feels effortless at the start. No technical setup, just upload your products and buyers are already there. But that convenience comes at a cost — and that cost keeps climbing every year.
From mid-2025 through 2026, Indonesia's three largest marketplace platforms have been consistently raising their fees. For small and medium sellers, each new policy announcement means another slice taken out of an already thin margin.
This article breaks down exactly how much marketplaces are taking from each transaction — and why more sellers are now turning to their own e-commerce website as the way out.
How Much Do Marketplaces Actually Take Per Order?
Let's look at the real numbers. These are the official fee structures in effect as of 2026.
Shopee
Shopee charges sellers through several layers of fees on every completed transaction:
- Admin fee: 3% to 10% depending on product category and seller tier (Non-Star, Star, Star+, or Shopee Mall)
- Order processing fee: Rp1,250 per completed transaction — effective since July 20, 2025
- Free Shipping XTRA program: 4.0% to 4.5% per order (up from the previous 3%)
- Advertising costs: variable, but practically unavoidable if you want visibility
When added together for a fashion product, for example, Shopee's total deductions can reach 15% to 25% of the selling price — before additional promotional costs.
Tokopedia
Tokopedia, now integrated with TikTok Shop, applies the following fees:
- Platform commission: approximately 6.97% to 10% depending on product category
- Dynamic commission: an additional 4% to 6%, previously capped at Rp40,000 per item — raised to Rp650,000 per item from May 18, 2026
- Order processing fee: Rp1,250 per transaction — effective since August 11, 2025
- Logistics service fee: an additional Rp690 to over Rp10,000 per order — effective since May 1, 2026
Total deductions on Tokopedia can reach 8% to 20% of the selling price, before advertising.
TikTok Shop
TikTok Shop carries the most complex fee structure of the three:
- Platform commission: 6% to 10% depending on product category
- Dynamic commission: an additional 4% to 6%
- Order processing fee: Rp1,250 per transaction
- Logistics service fee: Rp100 to Rp5,000 per order
- Affiliate commission: 2% to 15% if you use the creator affiliate program
Add everything up and TikTok Shop's total deductions can reach 15% to 30% of the selling price — making it the most expensive marketplace to sell on among the three.
Real Numbers: What Actually Lands in Your Pocket
Say you sell a skincare product at Rp200,000 with a production cost of Rp100,000 (50% gross margin).
| Platform | Estimated Deduction | Net Profit |
|---|---|---|
| Shopee | ~Rp30,000 (15%) | ~Rp70,000 |
| Tokopedia | ~Rp28,000 (14%) | ~Rp72,000 |
| TikTok Shop | ~Rp36,000 (18%) | ~Rp64,000 |
| Your Own Website | ~Rp5,000 (2.5% payment gateway) | ~Rp95,000 |
The difference is not trivial. With just 100 orders per month, the gap amounts to Rp2.3 million to Rp3.1 million every month — or more than Rp37 million per year quietly flowing out to the platform.
Why Do These Fees Keep Going Up?
Marketplace platforms face real business pressures: rising operational costs, increasingly expensive shipping subsidies, new tax regulations, and drying up of external funding. All of those costs eventually get passed down to sellers.
What matters more is understanding the trend: this is not reversing. Every few months brings another policy update — a new processing fee, a logistics charge, a commission adjustment. Sellers can only react. They cannot control any of it.
What Is Your Own E-Commerce Website?
An e-commerce website is an online store you own outright. No platform commission, no policies that can change overnight, and no competing products showing up on your own store page.
You control everything: the store's appearance, pricing, the customer shopping experience, buyer data, and every promotion you run.
Real examples are already emerging. Indonesian local brands like True to Skin and Raecca have begun strengthening their sales through their own official websites, offering more competitive prices and direct promotions without the heavy platform cuts eating into their margins.
The Advantages of Having Your Own E-Commerce Website
1. Dramatically Lower Transaction Costs
The biggest fee you will pay is a payment gateway fee — typically around 2% to 3% per transaction. No platform commission, no order processing fee, no third-party logistics surcharge on top of the courier rate your customer already paid.
2. You Actually Own Your Customer Data
On a marketplace, the buyer's data belongs to the platform. You cannot contact them directly, cannot build loyalty programs, and cannot run remarketing campaigns to bring them back. With your own website, every email address and phone number is a business asset you fully control.
3. No Competitors on the Same Page
On Shopee or Tokopedia, your product sits right next to your competitors — sometimes even appearing on your own store page through the platform's recommendation engine. On your own website, a visitor's attention belongs entirely to your products.
4. Stronger Brand Identity
An e-commerce website lets you build a consistent brand experience. The design, color palette, tone of voice, and overall shopping journey all reflect your brand — not the generic look of a marketplace template.
5. No Dependency on Algorithm Changes
When Shopee or TikTok Shop changes its search algorithm, thousands of stores can lose visibility overnight without any warning. A well-optimized website with solid SEO brings traffic that is more stable and not tied to the decisions of a single platform.
Is an E-Commerce Website Right for Every Seller?
Honestly, not every seller is ready to switch completely. Marketplaces still have a massive advantage in built-in traffic — millions of active buyers are already there, and you do not need to bring them yourself.
The most realistic strategy for most sellers is a hybrid approach: keep selling on marketplaces to reach new buyers, while actively building your own e-commerce website to serve existing customers and reduce dependence on any single platform.
The larger your sales volume, the more you stand to save by routing even a portion of your transactions through your own store.
How Much Does It Cost to Build an E-Commerce Website?
Development costs vary depending on your needs and who builds it:
- Simple website (landing page + product catalog): starting from around USD 250 to USD 500
- Full e-commerce website (shopping cart, checkout, payment gateway integration): around USD 500 to USD 2,000
- Enterprise-scale e-commerce (custom features, ERP integration, multi-category): USD 2,000 and above
Given these numbers, the cost of building an e-commerce website can pay for itself within a few months from the savings on marketplace commissions alone — especially for sellers who already have a stable order volume.
What Should a Good E-Commerce Website Include?
Not just a store that opens in a browser. An effective e-commerce website needs to cover:
- Informative product pages with quality photos and clear descriptions
- A smooth, fast checkout process — the fewer steps, the better
- A trusted payment gateway integration such as Midtrans, Xendit, or Doku
- A responsive design that works well on mobile devices
- Built-in SEO features so your products can be found on Google
- An order management system that is easy to operate day to day
Conclusion
Marketplace fees are not a new problem — but the rate at which they keep increasing is a signal that cannot be ignored. If you are already selling online with a decent volume, every additional percentage point taken by a platform is profit that should have been yours.
Building your own e-commerce website does not mean abandoning marketplaces entirely. It is about taking back control of your own business — owning your customer data, reducing your cost per transaction, and building a brand that does not depend on policy decisions made by someone else.
The sooner you start, the greater the long-term returns.
Thinking about building an e-commerce website for your business? We help you through the entire process, from initial planning to a fully functioning online store ready to take orders — reach out for a free consultation.