Insights · Marketplaces
What the commission table does not show
The headline rate is the smallest of the deductions. The rest sit in a different report.
Short answer
A marketplace order in Vietnam carries several deductions at once: platform commission, payment and service fees, platform vouchers, seller vouchers, shipping subsidies and affiliate commissions. The advertising report usually shows only the price after the seller's own discount; the remaining layers sit in the platform's settlement report. Reconstructing what an order actually returns means joining those two reports, by product line.
Why marketplaces matter more here
For a foreign brand, this is often the largest structural difference from the markets it already operates in.
It is where discovery happens
Many Vietnamese shoppers begin on a marketplace rather than a search engine or a brand site. Treating marketplaces as a distribution afterthought misreads where the demand forms.
Each platform is its own advertising system
Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop run separate ad products with separate rules and reporting. Capability in Meta and Google search does not transfer, though proposals often quote the two as one line.
Live and affiliate selling are mainstream
Live commerce and creator-driven affiliate sales are ordinary channels here, not experiments. Their costs sit outside the ad account and are easy to leave out of efficiency maths.
The data stays inside
Reporting is designed for operating within the platform, not for consolidating across channels. What reaches your own analytics is partial by design.
Questions worth settling before committing budget
What does an order return after every deduction?
Read the settlement report, not the sales report. Only the first has all the fee columns.
Who funds each voucher?
Platform-funded and seller-funded discounts land on the same order and look identical to the shopper. They are very different to your margin.
What is the acceptance rate by acquisition source?
Cash on delivery means an order is not revenue until the parcel is taken. The rate differs sharply between discount-driven and search-driven buyers.
How concentrated are we?
What share of revenue and of profit depends on a single platform, and does any customer relationship exist outside it?
Common questions
Should a foreign brand sell on Vietnamese marketplaces?
For most consumer categories it is where the buying happens, so the question is usually not whether but on what terms. What decides the outcome is whether you can reconstruct the true return per order across the platform's fee layers, because without that the channel can grow revenue and shrink profit at the same time.
Is marketplace advertising better than Meta or Google?
In-platform advertising reaches people already in a buying state, so conversion rates and reported ROAS tend to look stronger. It also competes directly on price with other sellers on the same platform, which is often paid back in discounting. The comparison is only meaningful once both sides are net of all fees.
Can our existing agency handle marketplaces?
Ask specifically, because marketplace advertising is a distinct skill rather than an extension of search and social. Strong Meta performance says little about it either way. What matters is whether whoever runs it reads the settlement report, not just the sales dashboard.
Does MWY manage marketplace stores?
No. MWY runs no campaigns and operates no stores. What MWY does is reconstruct the number after the fee layers, identify where margin is leaking, and track it monthly. The scope covers advertising, promotions, live selling, affiliate and store conversion — not cost of goods, inventory or fulfilment.
Want to know what your marketplace orders actually return?
The Audit joins the settlement report to the advertising report so the number survives every deduction. The first thirty minutes are free.