Thai Commerce Ministry joins 3 e-commerce platforms to cut SME fees

Commerce Minister Suphajee Suthumpun said on Wednesday (October 28, 2026) that the Commerce Ministry had worked with three major e-commerce platforms, Shopee, TikTok Shop and Lazada, to lower sales fees (GP) and ease costs for businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which had been affected by repeated fee increases since the start of the year.

The measure builds on cooperation overseen by the Trade Competition Commission (TCC), under which six platforms were required to freeze fee increases for six months, from August 27, 2026 to February 27, 2027.

Under the new agreement, all three platforms will reduce mandatory GP fees, charges traders must pay to sell goods on the platforms, to the rates in effect on January 1.

Shopee’s new fees will range from 8.03% to 13.91%, compared with a current maximum of 19.26%, with reductions of up to 33.30%.

TikTok Shop’s fees will fall to 11.24–17.66%, from a maximum of 21.94%, with reductions of up to 35%.

Lazada’s will fall to 7.50–11.60%, from a maximum of 17.50%, with reductions of up to 42.90%.

The measure will run for six months, from December 1, 2026 to May 31, 2027, and is expected to save businesses a combined total of about THB1.93 billion in fees.

The platforms will publicise the scheme and notify traders so they can take part and receive the benefits.

About 1.2 million traders are eligible, comprising approximately 1.02 million individual business operators with annual revenue of no more than THB1.8 million and around 180,000 legal entities with annual revenue of no more than THB3.5 million.

Businesses wishing to join the scheme must, however, have duly completed e-commerce registration.

Traders who have yet to register are therefore urged to do so promptly to qualify for the fee reductions from December 1.

Wattanasak Sur-iam, director-general of the Department of Internal Trade, said the GP fee reductions were a short-term measure to lower costs for businesses after e-commerce platforms had raised fees three times since the start of the year, prompting numerous complaints from businesses.

Ministry accelerates drafting of digital platform economy bill

For the longer term, the Commerce Ministry has tasked the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) and the Office of Trade Competition Commission with jointly reviewing and drafting a bill on the digital platform economy to bring the law into line with changing conditions and platform business models.

The push for the legislation follows instructions issued by the prime minister in 2025, but the law has yet to be promulgated.

The review will be guided by three principles, the ability to compete, transparency and fairness, to strike a balance between platform providers and the businesses that use their services.

The competition regulator is also drawing up a new framework governing trade credit periods for both general goods and agricultural products to improve liquidity and cash flow for SMEs.

The measure is scheduled to take effect on November 2.

The regulator will also lead efforts to extend cooperation to other types of platform, particularly food delivery and passenger transport platforms, to discuss how to oversee fees charged to businesses and service providers operating within those platforms.

On the proposal to add e-commerce platform services to the list of controlled goods and services, Suphajee said the Commerce Ministry did not, in practice, set product prices directly.

Instead, it would examine cost structures and appropriate profit margins to ensure reasonable pricing.

Online platform services have different characteristics and cost structures depending on the types of goods and services involved, limiting the scope for a uniform approach to setting prices.

The Commerce Ministry will focus on fairness and appropriate oversight, using mechanisms and measures suited to each platform’s business operations.