Shopping experience with Shopee

Shopee have been around for some time now. It's an online marketplace for buying and selling. They are endorsed by stars like Anne Curtis, Sarah Geronimo and, as of the latest, the K - pop girl group Blackpink.

The platform has its own Shopee Mall and a marketplace for individual seller similar with Lazada and Zalora.

So how does Shopee work?

When you open the app, the first thing you would see are the Flash Deals, Shopee Live and Top Selling items. Upon check - out, you would need to pay shipping fees to each shop that you're ordering from then your package would arrive individually packed. Delivery period may be vary depending on which shop you're buying it from and the courier that would deliver it. The longest I've experienced is two weeks from a shop that ships from overseas.
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What to like about Shopee?

Setting up your own shop is easy.
Unlike Zalora and Lazada, the sellers do not need to submit any requirements nor answer any questionnaire when initially setting up their shop. They just have to open a Shopee account and start uploading pictures of products to sell.

Wide variety of items.
​It's like an online Baclaran and Divisoria where you can find almost anything you need from multiple individual sellers at different prices.

Live selling.
​What I like the most about Shoppe is their live selling. Although the seller's camera can be a bit blurry, you can see exactly what you are buying and ask them to show it to you inside out.
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Free shipping vouchers and other promos.
Other than flash deals, shopee offers free shipping vouchers and cash back guarantee so always watch out for that before hitting the order button.
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What I don't like about Shopee?

There are plenty of knock - offs.
Although Shopee prohibits counterfeit and imitation products, a lot of the items being sold are fake. Like I said, it's like an online Divisoria and Baclaran.
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Multiple shipping cost
You would have to pay for multiple shipping cost if the things you want to buy come from different sellers. At most, I've paid Php80 per shop and most of these items came from China as it say so in the return address.
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Shipment tracking
The tracking numbers aren't helpful. When your orders come from overseas, it wouldn't even tell you if the item have already reached your country or not.
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Lack of consumer protection
Other than the lack of seller requirements during initial store set up and the "conditions" that needs to be met on the return policy (aka paying shipping cost to return the wrong items delivered to you), not all shops accept COD so you may put yourself at risk and pay for more items you may or may not receive.
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Return policy
​Because you're dealing with individual sellers​, they have their own different return policy. What I hated the most is that you need to pay the shipping cost to return the items which the seller sent to you by mistake. Seriously, it was their fault, why should we pay extra for their mistake. Then again, Shopee's return policy indicated that you may request return/refund "if the conditions are met".
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After multiple transactions from different Shopee sellers, I've not encountered anything worse than the wig I paid around Php400 for plus shipping which I never get to return because it'll be expensive on my end to send it back to China. Before you buy, make sure to check the store rating and product rating. If you can spot something you like with high product rating, you may want to check comments of the people who gave it low star product rating. Other than that, I've enjoyed shopping with it and will continue to use it.

To anyone who want to try and buy from Shopee, it can become addicting especially when you experience free shipping. I mean it's difficult to say no to a good box of lashes for less than Php40. Your inner shopaholic may come out of its hiding.


-Aisiah Ezekyel