Singapore's Enhanced E-commerce Guidelines: A Store Checklist

What TR 76 is and what changed

TR 76 is Singapore's Technical Reference for e-commerce transactions: a set of good-practice guidelines first published in 2020 and revised in 2022 to add anti-scam measures. On 26 September 2025, Enterprise Singapore, CCS and the Ministry of Home Affairs announced the enhanced TR 76, developed by a working group that included Shopee, Lazada, FairPrice, the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) and the Singapore Retailers Association.

The enhancements cover three themes. Most of the text is addressed to marketplaces and e-retailers ('platforms'), and the factsheet says e-retailers 'may also wish to consider implementing these best practices'. For an independent online store, that means you.

Prices, fees and discounts: the store checklist

This is where most small stores have something to fix. The factsheet asks for accurate information on prices, return and exchange policies, and mandatory fees not included in the price. Where a listing has several products or a range of prices, the information should be accurate before the customer clicks into it.

If you are GST-registered, price display has its own rules too. Our Shopify GST set-up guide covers showing GST-inclusive prices.

Reviews: what the guidelines and CCS enforcement say

TR 76 says merchants and e-retailers should not manipulate customer reviews, giving the example of copying positive reviews from other sellers of the same product and presenting them as your own. Platforms should not edit reviews for promotional reasons, only for legitimate ones such as removing abusive content.

CCS has shown it takes this seriously. Its 30 September 2026 release describes a provider that used generative AI to write Singapore-flavoured fake Google reviews for about 100 businesses. 45 businesses admitted buying them and must remove the reviews and post a public apology for six months on their website, social media and premises. CCS says a second phase of the investigation is under way.

Our guide to asking for Google reviews automatically shows how to collect genuine reviews without breaking Google's policies or consumer law.

Subscriptions, countdown timers and stock warnings

The enhanced TR 76 names four misleading design practices that user interfaces should avoid:

• Misleading subscription sign-ups, such as a pre-ticked 'subscribe and save' that the customer did not choose.
• Complicated cancellation, where stopping a subscription takes many more steps than starting it.
• Urgency tactics, such as countdown timers that reset or 'sale ends tonight' banners that never end.
• Misleading stock displays, such as 'only 2 left' when you have 200.

On Shopify and WooCommerce these usually come from apps and themes, not from the platform. Check every urgency, scarcity or subscription app you have installed and turn off any feature that shows information that is not true. If you sell subscriptions, make sure customers can cancel from their account page or with one clear email.

If you also sell on Shopee, Lazada or other marketplaces

The second theme protects merchants. It says marketplaces should set reasonable conditions for listing removal and account termination, explain reasons for removing listings in a timely way, offer a dispute and appeal process, and generally let merchants sell on other platforms too. They should also explain how search ranking, recommendations and badges work.

These are voluntary guidelines for the platforms, but they are still useful: if a listing is removed without a reason, ask for one and use the platform's appeal process, keeping screenshots. The anti-scam theme also expects marketplaces to verify merchants against government records, so keep your ACRA details and bank account name consistent across platforms to avoid verification delays.

Separately, the Online Criminal Harms Act codes of practice for e-commerce platforms were enhanced in August 2026. Our OCHA e-commerce code guide for sellers covers that change.

Is TR 76 mandatory?

No. TR 76 is a voluntary national standard, and CCS 'encourages' online businesses to adopt it. The full document is sold through the Singapore Standards eShop. What is mandatory is the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act, which CCS enforces against unfair practices such as misleading claims. Many TR 76 recommendations, like genuine discounts and honest reviews, describe how to stay clear of that law.

Customer data is a separate question under the PDPA. If your store collects names, addresses and phone numbers, you need a privacy policy and consent for marketing. Our website privacy policy and cookie consent guide covers it. This page is a plain-English summary, not legal advice.

Do it yourself or get help?

Most of the checklist is content and settings: rewrite 'was' prices, show fees earlier, remove fake urgency apps and make cancellation easy. A store owner can do it in an afternoon with the checklist above.

If you are building a new store or want it reviewed, our Shopify Store package (S$1,890) is set up with clear pricing, fees, policies and checkout from the start. Our PDPA Compliance Pack (S$690) covers the privacy policy, consent wording and data handling for customer records.