Every October, sellers ask us whether to push their 11.11 sale on Shopee or on their own website. The usual answers, “marketplace for reach” and “own site for margin”, are both half true. Neither tells you where the profit actually comes from.
This guide works it out with per-order maths, the cost of winning an order on each channel, a timeline and a simple offer split. It comes from ZenWeb, a Google Partner agency with 500+ Malaysian clients. For where to sell all year, see online store vs marketplace; for the wider campaign, read 11.11 and 12.12 marketing for Malaysian SMEs.
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First, this video from Style Factory compares a big marketplace with your own store. It uses Amazon and Shopify, but the trade-offs on fees, traffic and customer ownership map closely onto Shopee and your website.
Source video: Style Factory on YouTube
Quick Answer: For a brand-new buyer the two channels end up close, because the ads that bring a stranger to your website cost about as much as Shopee’s fees. For a returning buyer your own website wins clearly, keeping about RM45 on a RM100 order against roughly RM27 on Shopee.
Here is one RM100 sale-day basket, sold three ways. Only the fees and the cost of getting the order change.
| Channel and buyer | Costs per order (RM) | Profit left (RM) |
|---|---|---|
| Shopee, new buyer | Product 45 · platform fees 20.50 · Shopee Ads 8 | 26.50 |
| Own website, new buyer | Product 45 · payment gateway 2.50 · delivery 6 · ads 22 | 24.50 |
| Own website, returning buyer | Product 45 · payment gateway 2.50 · delivery 6 · email/WhatsApp 1 | 45.50 |
Source: Illustrative scenario by ZenWeb; Shopee fees follow our mid-band fee breakdown, with delivery covered by the free-shipping programme. Own-site ad cost is an estimate. Licence.
The fee figure comes from our breakdown of Shopee and Lazada seller fees in Malaysia, about a fifth of a mid-band order. Owning the website does not make a stranger cheaper; on sale day it swaps that fee for ad cost. Three things decide the winner for you:
Quick Answer: Because on 11.11 the shoppers are already inside the app, holding platform vouchers and comparing deals. Your website has to pay to pull each of them out. For a seller nobody has heard of yet, being where the crowd is usually beats being on your own site alone.
The event’s scale is hard to match with your own ads. After 11.11 in 2024, Bernama reported Shopee’s figure that first-time Malaysian sellers sold 22 times more than on an average day. Shopee gives you three things your site cannot buy cheaply that day:
The catch: Shopee keeps the relationship. You get an order, not a customer you can freely market to. Selling on other apps too? See TikTok Shop vs Shopee.
Quick Answer: On sale day, a Shopee Ads order often costs RM5–12 in ad spend. An order from cold Google or Meta traffic to your own site costs RM20–80. An order from your own email or WhatsApp list costs under RM3, so your website’s cheapest orders come from people who already know you.
These are the planning ranges we use for Malaysian SME stores in 11.11 week. They are estimates; your category and offer will move them.
| Traffic source | Media cost | Conversion rate | Ad cost per order |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopee Ads (in-app search) | RM0.20–0.60 per click | 3–6% | RM5–12 |
| Google Search/Shopping to own site | RM0.70–2.50 per click | 2–4% | RM20–60 |
| Meta Ads, cold audience to own site | RM20–45 per 1,000 views | 1–2% | RM35–80 |
| Meta Ads, site visitors retargeted | RM15–35 per 1,000 views | 3–5% | RM12–30 |
| Own email and WhatsApp list | Tool and message fees only | 4–8% | RM0.50–3 |
Source: Aggregated from ZenWeb-managed campaigns, Malaysia, 11.11 weeks of 2024 and 2025. Estimates; conversion rate = orders ÷ clicks. Licence.
Cold traffic to your own site is the expensive row, so a small brand should not chase strangers there during the year’s most crowded auction. Plan each channel’s spend separately:
Quick Answer: Give each channel a job. Put capped hero deals and best-sellers on Shopee to win new buyers. Put bundles, members’ early access and full-range stock on your own website for existing customers. Keep headline prices consistent across both, and let the website win on extras, not on undercutting.
How far you lean towards your website depends on how many customers you can already reach directly.
| Seller stage | Shopee vs own website |
|---|---|
| Starter (own list under 500) | Shopee 85–90% · website 10–15% |
| Growing (500–5,000 contacts) | Shopee 65–70% · website 30–35% |
| Established brand (5,000+ contacts) | Shopee 40–50% · website 50–60% |
Source: From ZenWeb client tracking, Malaysian SME retailers selling on both channels, 11.11 2024 and 2025. Estimates; orange = Shopee, navy = own website. Licence.
Use this table to give each channel a clear role:
| Decision | Shopee | Own website |
|---|---|---|
| Main job | Win first-time buyers | Serve and keep repeat buyers |
| Offer | Capped hero deals, platform vouchers | Bundles, gifts, early access, member codes |
| Stock | Best-sellers with a hard cap | Full range, including higher-margin items |
| Ad budget | Shopee Ads on hero items | Retargeting, brand search, your own list |
Do not undercut your Shopee price on your site; it annoys buyers and can clash with platform pricing rules. Selling services? Read 11.11 offers for service businesses.
Want your website to carry more of next year’s sale?
We design online stores with bundles, member pricing and opt-in forms that build your list. Plan an e-commerce website with ZenWeb →
Quick Answer: About four to five weeks out, so from early to mid-October 2026. Marketplace campaign registration, website changes and audience building all need lead time. Lock website changes about a week before sale day, and remember Deepavali falls on Sunday, 8 November 2026, three days earlier.
Most states also get a replacement holiday on Monday, 9 November, so many shoppers have a long weekend just before the sale.
| When (2026) | Shopee | Own website |
|---|---|---|
| 5–18 Oct | Check campaign registration in Seller Centre; pick hero items | Audit speed and checkout; plan bundles; start opt-in forms |
| 19 Oct–1 Nov | Set vouchers and caps; refresh listing photos | Build the sale page; start warm-up ads and retargeting pools |
| 2–4 Nov | Load stock; test Shopee Ads on hero items | Final checkout test, then freeze site changes |
| 5–10 Nov | Teasers; keep Deepavali greetings separate | Members’ early access by email and WhatsApp |
| 11 Nov | Watch caps, ad spend and stock every few hours | Watch site speed, payment errors and stock sync |
| 12 Nov–12 Dec | Review profit by item; plan Black Friday (27 Nov) and 12.12 | Follow up new contacts; retarget for 12.12 (Sat 12 Dec) |
Shopee’s registration windows change yearly, so confirm them in Seller Centre. For the website side, use our pre-11.11 ad warm-up plan, the 7-day email and WhatsApp countdown and a website code freeze before peak sales.
Quick Answer: Build demand for your brand name so buyers come looking for you, and collect opt-ins on channels you own: your website, social pages and ads that send people to your site. Do not steer Shopee buyers off the platform through the chat or the parcel; marketplace rules generally forbid it.
The prize is a list you can sell to at near-zero cost. Clients with an opt-in programme saw returning buyers take a growing share of their website’s 11.11 orders.
| 11.11 sale | With an opt-in programme | Without one |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 20–24% | 8–10% |
| 2024 | 28–33% | 9–11% |
| 2025 | 35–40% | 10–12% |
Source: ZenWeb client tracking, Malaysian SME retailers selling on Shopee and their own website, 11.11 2023–2025. Estimates. Licence.
Read Shopee’s current seller rules before adding anything to parcels or chats. Safe ways to grow your list:
Quick Answer: It is ready if it loads fast on a phone, takes payment without errors, shows real stock and handles a traffic spike. If any of those fails, keep this year’s sale mainly on Shopee and fix the site before 12.12, rather than paying for traffic that leaks away.
Shopee handles speed, payments and returns for you; your website does not. So Shopee vs own website also depends on whether your site can cope. Check these before you spend on ads:
Banner and price changes you can often make yourself if you know how to safely update your own website, and a quick DIY SEO audit shows whether your sale page can be found at all. Bigger gaps call for an e-commerce website built to sell, a project for after the sale.
Quick Answer: Show genuine prices and real deadlines on both channels, keep the same headline price for the same item, and speak to shoppers in the languages they search in. With Deepavali just before 11.11 this year, send warm festival greetings separately from your sale messages.
Quick Answer: Compare profit per order after all fees, delivery and ads on each channel, split by new and returning buyers. Then count the new contacts each channel added to your list, and check who buys again by 12.12 or Chinese New Year. Revenue alone will always flatter Shopee.
| Metric | Where to find it |
|---|---|
| Profit per order, by channel | Shopee settlement report; website, gateway and ad reports |
| New vs returning buyers | Website customer records; Shopee shop analytics |
| Contacts added to your list | Email tool and WhatsApp opt-in records |
| 60-day repeat rate | Website orders from 11.11 buyers up to early January |
Set up website conversion tracking before the sale, then record the figures. They decide next year’s split.
Quick Answer: Before Wednesday, 11 November 2026, know your profit per order on each channel, give each one a job, test your checkout on a phone and be ready to capture new contacts.
Quick Answer: For 11.11, use Shopee to meet new buyers and your own website to profit from the ones who come back. The more customers you can reach directly, the more of each sale should run through your website.
Shopee vs own website is not about picking one winner. Shopee is the cheapest place to meet strangers on sale day; your website turns them into profitable regulars. Measure both honestly this year and grow the list that moves next year’s sale onto your site. If your website is not ready for that role, ZenWeb’s web design services can build an online store that sells, captures customers and stands up to sale-day traffic.
For returning buyers, your own website is cheaper per order because there is no platform fee stack. For brand-new buyers it often is not, because the sale-day ads needed to bring a stranger to your site can cost as much as Shopee’s fees, or more.
Keep the headline price the same for the same item. Give website buyers extra value instead, such as bundles, a gift with purchase or members’ early access. Undercutting your marketplace price confuses buyers and can clash with platform pricing rules.
You do not need one to run 11.11, but without it you rent every customer from the platform. A website lets you build a list you can sell to again at almost no cost, which protects you from rising fees and algorithm changes.
Not sure where your 11.11 profit really comes from?
Book a free 30-minute session. We will compare your Shopee and website numbers and show you what your site needs to earn more of next year’s sale.
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