Can a Lazada seller also join the Lazada affiliate programme

If you run a store on Lazada, sooner or later you see someone posting affiliate links to products on the same marketplace and wonder if you can do that too. Maybe you want to earn a commission by recommending items from other sellers, or you want to use affiliate links to your own listings. Both are different questions, and the answers are different.

I run seller accounts across Southeast Asian marketplaces from Singapore, so I get this question a lot. The short version: being a seller and being an affiliate are two separate roles on Lazada, and as far as I know nothing in principle stops one person from holding both. The catches are in the details, mainly self-referral, conflicts of interest and keeping the accounts clean. This is the same question people ask in the Lazada Philippines community thread, so I’ll answer it directly below. One caveat first: Lazada changes programme terms by country and over time, and I cannot see your account. Treat this as a map, and check the current terms before you act on any of it (as of October 2026).

what it is

A Lazada seller is a business or individual with a shop on Lazada, managed through Seller Center. You list products, fulfil orders, handle chats and returns, and pay Lazada commission and payment fees on what you sell.

A Lazada affiliate is a different thing. An affiliate is a publisher, creator or website owner who shares tracked links to products on Lazada. When a shopper clicks the link and buys within the tracking window, the affiliate earns a commission paid by Lazada. The affiliate does not hold stock, ship parcels or answer customer chats. Their job is traffic and persuasion.

So the question “can a seller also be an affiliate” is really asking whether one person or company can hold both roles at the same time. In plain terms:

seller: you sell your own products and pay Lazada fees
affiliate: you promote products and Lazada pays you a commission
both: possible in many cases, but the two activities need to stay clearly separate

I have not found a public rule that says “sellers are banned from the affiliate programme”. But I also cannot point to one universal rule that says they are welcome in every country. Lazada runs its marketplace per country, and the affiliate programme setup, sign-up route and terms can differ between Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. That is why I keep telling people to read the actual terms for their own market.

how it works

Here is the mechanism, step by step, so you can see where the friction points are.

For the affiliate side:

you apply to the affiliate programme for your country, using a separate sign-up from your seller account
you get tracked links or a link generator for products and campaigns
you place those links in content, such as a blog, a social post, a short video or a deal page
a shopper clicks, lands on Lazada, and buys
Lazada attributes the sale to you if it falls inside the tracking window and the order is valid
commission is confirmed after the order completes, which usually means after the return window, so cancelled and returned orders typically do not pay out

For the seller side, nothing changes. You still pay your normal marketplace commission on your own sales. The affiliate layer is separate money flowing to a separate account.

Now the part that matters for someone holding both roles. Most affiliate programmes, not just Lazada’s, set rules around three situations:

self-purchase: buying through your own affiliate link to collect commission on your own order. Programmes commonly disallow this, and platforms are good at spotting it
promoting your own store: sending affiliate-tracked traffic to your own listings. Some programmes allow it, some restrict it, some treat it as a conflict of interest. Read the terms rather than guessing
incentivised or fake activity: asking friends or staff to place orders through your links, or creating fake orders to farm commission. That is fraud, and I do not cover it

If the terms are unclear on any of these, the careful move is to ask Lazada affiliate support in writing and keep the reply. If you only promote other sellers’ products and never touch your own listings or your own orders, you stay far away from the risky areas.

There is also a practical point on identity. Lazada accounts are tied to real people and businesses through verification. Do not open extra seller shops or affiliate accounts under different names to get around a restriction. Lazada, like Shopee and TikTok Shop, restricts running multiple shops for the same business in many cases, and trying to dodge that with borrowed identities is a fast route to suspension. If you hold both roles, hold them under your own genuine details and be transparent.

why it matters

Why would a seller bother with this at all? A few real reasons:

selling plus recommending: if you know a category well, you may have products that complement yours but that you do not stock. Recommending them through affiliate links can earn something without adding inventory. I would not promise any particular amount, because it depends entirely on your audience and the category
a content habit that helps your store: sellers who write product guides, comparisons or short videos build an audience that can also buy from their own shop. The content is useful either way
diversifying away from one channel: if all your income is tied to your store’s ranking, an affiliate side stream spreads the risk a little. It also teaches you what shoppers click on, which feeds back into your listings
understanding the other side: spending a month as an affiliate shows you how shoppers behave before they reach a store. If your own shop gets visitors but no orders, that insight is useful. I wrote about that problem in why a Lazada store gets visitors but no orders

The flip side is risk. Seller accounts are valuable and can be suspended for policy problems, and any affiliate misstep on the same identity could cause trouble you did not need. If you want a sense of how that goes wrong, read why seller accounts get suspended before you mix roles. A small commission is not worth endangering a store that pays your bills.

common misconceptions

Here are the wrong takes I hear most.

“Sellers are automatically banned from affiliate programmes.” I have not seen a public blanket ban, and I would not repeat that as fact. What I have seen is that terms differ by country and that restrictions focus on self-referral and conflicts of interest. Check your market’s terms rather than relying on forum rumours, including mine.

“I can use my own affiliate link on my own products and earn commission on every sale.” This is the big one. Treat it as off limits unless the written terms clearly allow it. Even where promoting your own listings is tolerated, buying through your own link usually is not. A commission on your own order is not real traffic, and platforms treat it as gaming.

“Being an affiliate will boost my shop ranking.” No. Your store’s visibility depends on things like fulfilment speed, cancellation rate, response rate, pricing, ratings and ads. Affiliate activity is a different system. If ranking is your goal, work through how to maintain and improve your Lazada shop ranking instead.

“I should make a second account so the two roles never touch.” Be careful here. A second account with different or borrowed details to hide the link between you and your shop can breach the rules on multiple accounts and identity. Keeping roles separate means clear labelling and clean records under your own genuine identity, not hiding who you are. I will not help with anything that involves faking verification.

where to go from here

If you are weighing this up, these are the follow-ups I would read next:

the Lazada side of brand status: if you are thinking bigger than a small shop, read what LazMall is and what brands need to join
account safety: affiliate logins and seller logins should not be shared around casually, so see how to secure seller accounts and offboard staff
the full list of guides: browse the blog index for more marketplace explainers
the official sources: Lazada’s own Seller Center for seller policies, and your country’s affiliate programme page for the affiliate terms

Two more things worth doing outside Lazada’s own pages. Affiliate income is still income, and in Singapore the tax authority is IRAS, so look at IRAS for how business and other income is treated. This is not legal/tax advice, and your situation may differ, so ask an accountant if the numbers become meaningful. Second, if you publish affiliate content in Singapore, the advertising self-regulatory body ASAS publishes guidance on disclosing paid and affiliate relationships. Say clearly when a link may earn you a commission. Shoppers notice when you don’t, and it is simply the honest way to do it.

My practical checklist, if you decide to go ahead:

read the current affiliate terms for your country and save a copy with the date
apply under your genuine identity, never a borrowed one
promote other sellers’ products, and leave your own listings and orders out of your affiliate links unless the terms clearly allow it
never buy through your own links
disclose affiliate links on everything you publish
keep a note of every commission statement for your records

If a rule is ambiguous, email affiliate support and keep the reply. It costs nothing and it protects the shop.

Written by Xavier Fok

disclosure: this article may contain affiliate links. if you buy through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. verdicts are independent of payouts. last reviewed by Xavier Fok on 2026-10-09.