Shopee Thailand adjusts rules

Shopee Thailand has introduced a new policy for pre-sale products. Under this policy, Shopee reserves the right to deactivate pre-sale product settings and hide the corresponding listings. These pre-sale rules aim to ensure fairness and transparency for all users.

To enforce compliance, Shopee will implement a four-tier warning system based on the severity of violations. This approach encourages merchants to use pre-sale tools responsibly, promoting accountability and protecting consumer rights. It aims to enhance marketplace integrity while ensuring merchants prioritize quality and reliability. This policy change presents new challenges for operators of the traditional “distribution” model.

Four levels of warning measures

The “spreading goods” model enhances exposure and sales efficiency by offering a diverse product range, but it can create a chaotic presentation. With Shopee Thailand’s new pre-sale policy, merchants must prioritize accurate product information and effective inventory and logistics management to better meet consumer needs.

Under the updated policy, Shopee can restrict pre-order functions if stores have pre-sale products exceeding 10% of their total listings for more than five days. Monthly inspections will enforce compliance, and violations will lead to a series of escalating warnings. The consequences range from temporary suspensions of pre-order settings to potential permanent removal of the ability to list pre-orders. This shift emphasizes the importance of careful inventory management and adherence to regulations in maintaining a professional appearance.

If you want to know the details of the announcement, please click:

https://seller.shopee.co.th/edu/article/7059

Additionally, general and recommended stores wishing to use the pre-order product setting must ensure their products align with the specific types outlined in Shopee’s pre-sale rules.

Type 1: Products that require customization. Or products that are made to specific orders, such as rings, custom suits, and custom phone cases.

Type 2: Products that cannot be stored for a long time. This is because the shelf life of fried foods, fresh fruits and other products is limited.

Notice

1. Turning off this function will affect the addition of new pre-order items and change the delivery time of the original product from a regular product to a pre-order product.

2. If pre-order items are hidden, sellers can edit the delivery time and dispatch the products normally.

Policy Impact

The recent policy change at Shopee Thailand significantly impacts merchants and platforms reliant on traditional distribution models. This adjustment aims to enhance operational quality, protect consumer rights, and encourage better services from merchants. It offers merchants a chance to transform by refining strategies and optimizing operations in line with the new pre-sale rules.

Previously, the distribution strategy enabled startup merchants to thrive by leveraging crawler technology to track trending products, rapidly adjust prices, and list many items daily.They operated efficiently, fulfilling orders quickly through streamlined processes. However, the new pre-sale policies require merchants to shift away from relying on pre-sales, focusing instead on long-term inventory management and on-demand products. This demands refined inventory practices, a greater emphasis on spot goods, and improved response times.

Without the advantages of early revenue from pre-sales, sellers now face greater cash flow management challenges, needing to balance immediate payments with capital stability. This shift not only tests the operational capabilities of e-commerce platforms but also promotes a more mature and standardized industry.

In summary, Shopee Thailand’s pre-sale policy adjustment is a pivotal regulatory change that necessitates a reevaluation of business models among merchants while establishing a foundation for the platform’s long-term growth.

Responses

First, in terms of product information management, sellers need to pay more attention to details. For customized products, the accuracy and completeness of information are crucial, which requires sellers to provide more detailed and accurate product information and ensure that this information can be updated and delivered to consumers in a timely manner. At the same time, for products that are not easy to preserve for a long time, sellers need to establish a strict inventory monitoring mechanism to ensure real-time and accurate inventory.

Secondly, in terms of inventory monitoring, sellers need to strengthen cooperation with suppliers to ensure the stability of the supply chain. They need to ensure that there is enough inventory to meet market demand while avoiding excessive inventory backlogs. This may require the introduction of advanced inventory management systems and close cooperation with suppliers to ensure the stability of the supply chain within pre-sale rules.

In addition, communication with the platform has become particularly important. Sellers need to ensure that their strategy adjustments comply with the platform’s regulations and pre-sale rules to avoid being punished for illegal operations.

For merchants, this is both a challenge and an opportunity. Only by continuous innovation and improvement can they succeed in the highly competitive e-commerce market under the new pre-sale rules.