In this guide · 7 sections
Short answer
Record each Shopee or Lazada payout as one summary in Xero: gross sales as income, commission, transaction and service fees as expenses, seller-funded vouchers and refunds on their own lines, so the net equals the bank deposit. Work from the settlement report.
Why net payouts give you the wrong numbers
Suppose a month of Shopee orders totals S$10,000 and you receive S$8,300 in payouts. If you record S$8,300 as sales, your revenue is understated by S$1,700, you cannot see what the platform costs you, and any GST reporting based on those figures is off. Your accountant then has to rebuild the month from reports at year-end.
Marketplace fees also change. Shopee's seller fees article, updated 18 October 2026, lists commission, transaction, service and shipping fees, a 120-day commission waiver for new sellers, a 1% commission cut for some categories from 28 August 2026 and a cap on base commission for selected fashion categories from 19 October 2026. Recording fees separately is the only way to see these changes in your own numbers.
What is inside a Shopee or Lazada payout
Each payout is the result of several amounts netted together. Map each one to an account before you start.
| Item in the report | Example of what it is | Suggested Xero treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Product sales (gross) | Item price paid by buyers | Sales income |
| Seller-funded vouchers and discounts | Your shop vouchers, discount promotions | Contra-income or discounts account |
| Platform-funded vouchers, coins | Shopee or Lazada vouchers | Usually reimbursed by the platform; check the report line |
| Commission fee | Percentage of item price after seller promotions | Marketplace fees expense |
| Transaction or payment fee | Shopee 3.27% of final payment amount; Lazada payment fee | Payment processing fees expense |
| Service fees | Shopee Promo Xtra Programme and similar | Marketplace fees expense |
| Shipping | Buyer-paid shipping and shipping charged to you | Shipping income and shipping expense |
| Refunds and returns | Reversed orders | Refunds account or against sales |
Shopee's transaction fee article says the standard rate is 3.27% (GST-inclusive) of the final payment amount, which includes buyer-paid shipping and applied Shopee vouchers, coins or rebates, that it is deducted automatically from your seller balance, and that the details appear in your tax invoices. Lazada describes its fees in its Seller Center help article on payment fees. Our Shopee and Lazada fees comparison covers the rates themselves.
Connector apps for Shopee and Lazada in Xero
For Shopify and Stripe there are several mature payout-sync apps. Shopee and Lazada have fewer. A search of the Xero App Store for Singapore for "Shopee" or "Lazada" in October 2026 returned one app: Zetpy, described as centralised inventory management that connects Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop, Shopify and others, generates invoices for online orders and updates payments in Xero.
An order-level sync like this suits businesses that manage stock across channels and want each order in Xero. It does not by itself split fees out of payouts the way settlement-based tools do for other platforms, so check how it posts commission and fees during a trial before relying on it. Apps listed in other regions' Xero App Stores may also connect, but check that they support Singapore marketplaces and SGD.
Recording payouts from the settlement report, step by step
Without a suitable connector, a monthly or per-payout summary entry from the marketplace's own report works well and is what many accountants prefer.
Set up a clearing account per marketplace
Create a current asset account such as Shopee Clearing and Lazada Clearing in Xero. Sales and fees post here; payouts move the balance to the bank.
Export the income or settlement report
From each Seller Centre's finance section, export the released income report for the payout period, with order-level detail.
Total each component
In a spreadsheet, sum gross sales, seller vouchers, commission, transaction fees, service fees, shipping and refunds for the period.
Post one summary entry
Create a sales invoice or manual journal to the clearing account with each component on its own line, using the agreed accounts and GST codes.
Reconcile the bank deposit
Match the bank line to a transfer from the clearing account. If the clearing account does not return to zero, something is missing.
Attach the report
Attach the exported report and the platform's tax invoice for fees to the entry in Xero.
This is the same principle as recording Stripe fees in Xero and connecting Shopify and Stripe to Xero: post the gross, post the fees, and let the payout reconcile the difference.
Monthly checks against the bank
A short monthly review catches most errors before they reach your accountant.
Month-end marketplace check
Do it yourself or get help?
At a few dozen orders a month, a monthly summary from the settlement report takes an hour and is easy to keep up. At higher volumes, or when you also sell on Shopify and TikTok Shop, automation and a clear account mapping agreed with your accountant save a lot of month-end work.
IT Sorted is a Singapore-based team of developers with over 10 years of experience. Our Sales & Payout Sync (S$490) connects up to 3 sales channels to your accounting software, brings Shopee and Lazada payouts in from their settlement reports or a supported connector, posts each payout as a summary with sales, fees, refunds and shipping split out, agrees the mapping with your accountant and checks one month against your bank. Connector subscriptions are paid by you. Your accountant keeps the books; we set up the software.
Frequently asked questions
No. Recording only the net payout understates your sales and hides marketplace fees. Record gross sales as income and commission, transaction and service fees as expenses, with vouchers and refunds on their own lines, so the net equals the bank deposit. Your accountant will need the gross figures anyway.
In October 2026, searching the Xero App Store for Singapore for Shopee or Lazada returned one app, Zetpy, which syncs inventory and orders across marketplaces and generates invoices in Xero. Check during a trial how it records fees. Many businesses instead post a summary entry per payout from the marketplace's settlement report.
Shopee's seller education centre lists commission fees based on product price and category, a transaction fee on every successful order (standard 3.27% GST-inclusive of the final payment amount), service fees for sellers in programmes such as Promo Xtra, and shipping fees depending on the logistics channel. New sellers get a 120-day commission waiver.
Separate seller-funded vouchers, which reduce your income, from platform-funded vouchers, which the marketplace usually covers. Record seller-funded vouchers as a discount or contra-income line in the payout summary. Check the settlement report to see which vouchers were funded by whom, and agree the treatment with your accountant.
Usually because a fee, refund or adjustment in the settlement report was not posted, a payout was recorded in the wrong period, or a payout is still in transit at month-end. Compare each payout's components with the report line by line, and check that every bank deposit has been matched to the clearing account.