Indonesia is going to take action against e-commerce platforms for 'overcharging'

If you are doing e-commerce in Indonesia, you have probably heard this kind of complaint recently:“Log in to the backend on Monday, the rates and rules are still the familiar ones; check again on Friday, and the settlement bill looks like it’s from a different platform.”

This kind of“quietly changing the rules”play has finally forced the Indonesian government to take action.

It's not that you can't make money, it's that you can't just raise prices whenever you want

Since mid-May, a series of public statements from Indonesia’s Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs (Kemenkop UKM) has put one thing on the table: the charging practices of large e-commerce platforms need to be regulated.

Minister Teten Masduki put it very bluntly: platforms and sellers must sign at least a one-year fee cooperation agreement, and during this year, the platform cannot unilaterally increase commissions or service fees. Want to adjust? You can, but you must give at least three months’ notice in advance, so sellers have time to do the math, make decisions, and adjust their operations.

Image source:english.news

“How did the agreed commission change?”

In the past few years, e-commerce sellers in Indonesia have indeed had a tough time. The three major e-commerce platforms in Southeast Asia, Shopee, Tokopedia, and Lazada, have been competing to increase commission rates, adjust free shipping policies, and introduce all kinds of new fees.

Take a recent example,Tuke Shop is operated by Tokopedia in Indonesia. Starting from the second half of 2025, it will charge an order processing fee of 1,250 IDR for each successfully delivered order, regardless of whether the order contains one item or ten items, as long as it is shipped. According to a survey by the Indonesian E-commerce Association, 65% of sellers have an average order value below 50,000 IDR, so this basic service fee is not a small proportion of the selling price.

Image source:Google

Commissions have also been rising all the way.In October 2025, Tokopedia will comprehensively increase commissions for mall sellers. The rate for electronics will rise from the original 1%-8.5% directly to 2.5%-10.2%, with the highest exceeding 10%. Fashion and FMCG categories are also rising, with the highest reaching 10.2%. Some sellers have calculated that after the platform fee increase, without raising prices, product gross profit drops by about 30%.

Some sellers complain on social media, saying that after this price hike, the platform will find another excuse to raise it again next time. After selling out their inventory, they are ready to go home and farm.

Image source:Tuke Shop by Tokopedia

The government “categorizes” the charging items

Sellers have another pain point: the charging items on the platforms are too messy and complicated.Platform A calls it one thing, Platform B calls it another, making everyone confused.

The new regulation intends to solve this problem as well. According to the government’s plan, platforms will no longer be allowed to arbitrarily set up a wide variety of charging items. All fees will be simplified into three main categories—registration fees, service fees, and promotion fees. Minister Teten explained that the core of the charges is actually these three parts, it’s just that different platforms have different names, making everyone think there are many items.

In addition, the government also encourages platforms to offer service fee discounts to micro and small enterprises and merchants selling local products, with discounts up to 50%, to protect smaller businesses and prevent them from being at a complete disadvantage when competing with large enterprises.

Image source:Internet

Objectively speaking, if this set of“combined punches” is truly implemented, it may bring some changes to the way e-commerce operates in Indonesia. In the past, leading e-commerce platforms, due to their traffic and channel advantages, were often in an absolutely dominant position in cooperation with sellers. The new regulations, such as one-year contracts and not being able to unilaterally adjust prices without advance notice, are largely pushing for a more equal relationship between platforms and sellers.

For sellers who worry about their accounts in the platform backend every day, this government intervention may help them regain some sense of stability in their operations. After all, only when sellers can truly make money can the entire e-commerce ecosystem really keep turning.