After Congress approved a bill imposing taxes on digital services, Shopee sellers received a notification that the eCommerce platform will impose a 2% fee for every successful transaction effective today.

The additional fee would mean that sellers will have to carry the burden of the additional taxes Congress plans to impose. For the proposed 12% VAT, Shopee will shoulder the 10% while sellers will shoulder the 2%.

Shopee sellers shared their sentiments about this over at Twitter, expressing their dismay over the additional charges.

https://twitter.com/cdlgoshopee/status/1289242151973355521?s=19

https://twitter.com/RantResto/status/1288401641171869696?s=19

Hypothetically, madali mo lang naman maiiwasan yung 12% VAT kung bibili ng basic commodities sa Lazada o Shopee.
Huwag mo na lang paabutin ng 10k ang total amount (like gawing 2 transactions na tig-5k).
—Pero kung single item na 10k+ ang presyo, luho na yan hindi basic commodity.

— KHAYRI R.R. WOULFE (@KhayriRRW) July 31, 2020

Other sellers report that Lazada will be implementing the same additional charges, though Lazada has yet to give a statement about it.