How to buy on Shopee Vietnam

Shopee is the biggest online marketplace in Vietnam. Almost anything is there, often cheaper than in shops, and delivery in big cities usually takes 1–4 days. The hard part for foreigners is that nearly everything is written in Vietnamese. This guide walks you through the whole process.

1. Create an account

• Install the Shopee app. It works better than the website, especially for chat and tracking.
• Sign up with a Vietnamese phone number. You'll get a code by SMS. A foreign number usually won't work.
• Switch the app to English: Me (Tôi) → Settings (Thiết lập tài khoản) → Language (Ngôn ngữ). Menus become English, but product titles stay in Vietnamese. That's what our search translator is for.
• Add your delivery address. See our address guide, it's the step people get wrong most often.

2. Find the product

Search in Vietnamese: you'll see many times more results than in English. Then narrow them down:

• Sort by "Bán chạy" (best selling). Thousands of sales plus a high rating is the best sign of a good product.
• Read reviews with photos. Buyers post real photos. Compare them with the seller's pictures.
• Check "Phân loại" (variant): colour, size or model. The price at the top is often the price of the cheapest variant only.
• Look at where it ships from. Sellers abroad (often marked "Nước ngoài", overseas) can take 1–3 weeks.

3. Choose a reliable shop

• Shopee Mall: official brand stores and large retailers. The safest choice for electronics, cosmetics and anything that can be faked.
• Yêu thích / Yêu thích+ (Preferred shops): sellers with a good track record.
• Check the shop rating, how fast it replies to chat and how long it has been on Shopee.
• Be careful with branded items that are suspiciously cheap. Look for chính hãng (genuine) and buy from Mall.

4. Pay

• Cash on delivery (Thanh toán khi nhận hàng). Very popular and easy: you pay the courier in cash. Keep small notes ready.
• ShopeePay: Shopee's wallet, linked to a Vietnamese bank account. It often has extra discounts.
• Bank card: Vietnamese cards and many international Visa/Mastercard cards work. Foreign cards are sometimes declined; then use cash on delivery.
• Vouchers (mã giảm giá): collect them on the product page and at checkout. Free-shipping vouchers (miễn phí vận chuyển) save a lot on small orders.

5. Delivery

• In Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, local orders usually arrive in 1–4 days. Other provinces and overseas sellers take longer.
• Couriers usually call or message before arriving, often in Vietnamese. Write a note in your address like "Người nước ngoài, vui lòng nhắn tin" ("Foreigner, please send a text").
• Not home? Most apartment buildings let you leave parcels with security or reception (lễ tân). Mention it in the address note.

6. Returns and refunds

• If an item is wrong, broken or not as described, open "Trả hàng/Hoàn tiền" (Return/Refund) in the order before you confirm receipt.
• Record a short video while unboxing. Shopee and sellers accept it as proof, and Vietnamese buyers do it all the time.
• The return window depends on the product and the shop; it's shown on the product page. Many items have free returns within 15 days.