Has anyone successfully signed up for the Shopee VIP subscription service as a foreign national?

I’ve been trying to sign up for Shopee VIP through the Shopee app, but I haven’t had any luck, and I’m starting to think this option might only be available to Thai citizens.

For context, Shopee VIP is a subscription service that costs 49 Baht per month and offers large additional discount benefits. They also have a promotion where you can try Shopee VIP for one month for just 1 Baht.

But to sign up for Shopee VIP, it looks like you need to verify your identity first since they want to charge for the subscription using Shopee Pay. However, I don't need or want to sign up for Shopee Pay, and I’m unsure why it’s even necessary to do so with Shopee VIP since I’ve already set up my debit card as the primary payment method in the Payment Sequence section of the Shopee Pay Settings. So, they can just charge my debit card for the monthly subscription without needing me to use Shopee Pay to pay for Shopee VIP, but they don't seem to accept that.

However, I followed the process for signing for Shopee Pay and verifying my identity anyway. Actually the procedure for signing up for Shoppe Pay, SPayLater and Identity Verification all seem to follow the same steps (as I have tried them all) and following is where I ended up so far:

1. Face Photo: First the app asks you to take a close-up photo of your face using your phone's front facing camera. No issues there, I did that successfully.

2. Citizen ID Photos: Next, the app asks for a photo of both the front and back of your Citizen ID. I first tried my Thai pink ID card, but it wasn’t accepted. I then used the photo page of my foreign passport for the front ID photo, and that worked. For the back, since passports don’t have a backside, I selected another page in my passport and eventually got it to go through using that. But now I’m wondering if this process is only set up for Thai citizens, since foreigners like me can’t seem to submit a passport as their Citizen ID, or at least not in the same way.

3. Personal Information: After that, the app takes you to a screen (in English) asking for all the following details:

* Personal Title

* First Name (Thai)

* Last Name (Thai)

* First Name (English)

* Last Name (English)

* Citizen ID

* Laser Field

* Expiry Date

* Date of Birth

* Residential Address

* Registered Address (from your Thai Citizen ID)

* Employment Status

* Monthly Estimated Income

* Purpose of Use

Once I filled everything out (listed above) and clicked Confirm, I received an error message on the screen saying, "Please double-check your information. Make sure they are as the same as what's printed on your ID card." - And that is as far as I got and then I couldn't proceed any further.

I’m also confused about the “Laser Field” box because it doesn’t seem to match anything I recognize. I entered my country name in that box, assuming it might be a mistranslation from the Thai system, but I am again not sure.

Conclusion: I’m thinking that the main issue is that foreigners using a foreign passport can’t successfully complete the Identity Verification process, nor apply for Shopee Pay or SPayLater. But I’m not sure if this is the case and I’d love to hear from anyone who has successfully signed up as a foreigner and how they did it.

Also, if there is a simple way to apply for Shopee VIP using my debit card or bank account associated with my account then perhaps I wouldn't have to go through all of the verification procedures, but I don't see any option to simply sign up for the Shopee VIP subscription service using either my debit card or bank account that is associated with my Shopee account.

Thank you.

I just asked Grok and received the following response, but I am not sure if the below information is fully correct or not:

The identity verification process you're stuck on is designed primarily for Thai national ID cards. The "Laser Field" refers to the laser-engraved code on the back of a Thai citizen ID card (a unique 12-digit code like JTxxxxxxxxxx used for official verification). Passports don't have an equivalent, which is why the system rejects mismatches — even if photos are accepted initially, the personal info step fails because fields like Thai names, registered address from ID, and laser code don't align with a foreign passport.

Older reports (2021–2023) show some foreigners successfully verified ShopeePay (formerly AirPay) using passports, often by selecting a "Passport" option or contacting support. However, by late 2025, multiple users reported accounts being cancelled or blocked for foreigners, with Shopee support confirming e-wallets are now limited to Thai nationals to comply with financial laws.

Shopee VIP subscription (49 THB/month, with 1 THB trial promotions) doesn't seem to offer direct payment via linked debit/credit cards or bank accounts bypassing ShopeePay. Terms indicate it pulls from ShopeePay wallet, linked local bank, or other verified methods — all tied to full KYC (Know Your Customer) verification.

Has Anyone Succeeded as a Foreigner?

No recent (2025–2026) confirmed success stories for foreigners signing up for Shopee VIP specifically.

Some expats with long-term residence (e.g., pink ID card holders) or those who verified years ago still have access to older ShopeePay accounts, but new verifications fail.

For related promotions (like the 2025 ChatGPT Plus bundle via Shopee VIP), users explicitly noted foreign cards were rejected, and only Thai bank cards worked.

I set up Shopee pay a couple years ago then it suddenly stopped and they wanted me to contact them to verify ID etc and i couldn't be bothered so binned the idea, i may give that and VIP a go tomorrow.

Have you tried contacting them?

Thanks. I want to, but I haven't figured out a way to contact them directly so far. There is no Call Center service number to call them on and it seems the only way to contact them is via an online chat via the app, which only takes you to an AI chat bot, and not a human, as far as I can see anyway.

Also, the Shopee AI chat bot only appears to only operate in Thai text.

Shopee is a horse ache for foreigners last time i tried to use it. Has anything changed?

1 hour ago, DonniePeverley said:

Shopee is a horse ache for foreigners last time i tried to use it. Has anything changed?

I do save a lot of money by Shopping on Shopee. I use them for nearly all my online shopping now, except for the occasional purchase on Lazada. Recently, I even got my Wise debit card to work on Shopee as well. If I can get Shopee VIP setup then perhaps I can save even more money that way.

8 hours ago, FriscoKid said:

Also, the Shopee AI chat bot only appears to only operate in Thai text.

that's probably why i gave up with Shopee pay last time

3 hours ago, FriscoKid said:

I do save a lot of money by Shopping on Shopee. I use them for nearly all my online shopping now, except for the occasional purchase on Lazada. Recently, I even got my Wise debit card to work on Shopee as well. If I can get Shopee VIP setup then perhaps I can save even more money that way.

Their payment system using my UK credit card is far superior to Lazada also in terms of security

Just tried to join Shopee VIP, was accepted immediately and ฿1 charged to my Kasikorn card. The card s connected to Shopee Pay.

Did you use your foreign passport to set up Shopee Pay? and did you set it up on the app in the usual way?

A live gent just said VIP is only available if you have Shopee Pay and Shopee Pay isn't available to foreigners

2 hours ago, happydays said:

Just tried to join Shopee VIP, was accepted immediately and ฿1 charged to my Kasikorn card. The card s connected to Shopee Pay.

I have tried to sign up for shopee VIP a few times unsuccessfully....

Shopee even told me point blank in a E mail shopee VIP is only for Thais....

So I find it very hard to believe they let you join...

If you really joined, please spill the beans on how you were able to join the VIP.

5 hours ago, redwood1 said:

I have tried to sign up for shopee VIP a few times unsuccessfully....

Shopee even told me point blank in a E mail shopee VIP is only for Thais....

So I find it very hard to believe they let you join...

If you really joined, please spill the beans on how you were able to join the VIP.

I just clicked on the "Shopee VIP" logo in the middle of the 5 icons. It took me to a screen where it had my credit card information (last 4 digits showing), the "Shopee Pay" was greyed out, and I clicked join got the following message.

8 hours ago, MadAtMatrix said:

I just clicked on the "Shopee VIP" logo in the middle of the 5 icons. It took me to a screen where it had my credit card information (last 4 digits showing), the "Shopee Pay" was greyed out, and I clicked join got the following message.

which have you got?

On 1/11/2026 at 4:29 AM, scubascuba3 said:

which have you got?

I have credit card as a default payment. You need a default payment method first so that you can be charged the 49 baht. Go in and add a credit card, make it your default payment. Then go sign up for VIP and it will give you another selection - credit card, and choose that. Foreigners cannot get shopee pay. If you don’t want to put your credit card in, then you are S.O.L. for signing up for VIP

8 hours ago, MadAtMatrix said:

I just clicked on the "Shopee VIP" logo in the middle of the 5 icons. It took me to a screen where it had my credit card information (last 4 digits showing), the "Shopee Pay" was greyed out, and I clicked join got the following message.

which have you got?

56 minutes ago, MadAtMatrix said:

I have credit card as a default payment. You need a default payment method first so that you can be charged the 49 baht. Go in and add a credit card, make it your default payment. Then go sign up for VIP and it will give you another selection - credit card, and choose that. Foreigners cannot get shopee pay. If you don’t want to put your credit card in, then you are S.O.L. for signing up for VIP

Credit card has been added a few weeks, for each payment it sends me to my UK credit card app for approval, actually a good secure system, but no VIP

I was just finally able to successfully sign up for Shopee VIP, and my Shopee account is in my own name rather than under a Thai person.

Previously, I had my Wise debit card set as the default credit/debit card, and I also had a Thai bank account linked as a bank payment option. That setup did not allow me to sign up for Shopee VIP.

I then just added a Thai bank debit card as a payment method and set it as the default credit/debit card. After doing that, I went back to the Shopee VIP signup page and was able to select the Thai bank debit card as the payment method for Shopee VIP and complete the signup successfully. Based on this, it seems that you need a local Thai bank debit or credit card for VIP signup to work, and foreigners can sign up as long as they have one. After signing up successfully, I changed the default credit/debit card payment method back to my Wise card.

They charged ฿1 for the first month as an introductory promotion, with the regular price being ฿49 per month afterward. I was expecting better discount coupons to appear in my account as a Shopee VIP member, especially since I have a couple of expensive electronic items in my shopping cart right now. However, I already had all the standard coupons collected, which was already offering me ฿2000 off a major purchase. After signing up for VIP and checking my cart again, the discount remained the same at ฿2000 for those items. It appears that the added VIP coupons do not necessarily provide better discounts than the standard free coupons already available to anyone.

Because of this, I may not keep the VIP service for more than a month or two if I do not see any additional savings being offered from the VIP service.

Any non VIP member can collect the same vouchers I did by going to the Home tab in the Shopee app, tapping on the green icon for Free Shipping and Vouchers towards the top, and then collecting everything available. These coupons are then automatically applied to any items in your shopping basket if you click on them as if you are going to proceed with checkout. Based on my experience so far, I do not see a clear cost savings benefit from the VIP membership, at least for large electronics, since the discounts appear to be the same as the free coupons available to anyone not yet signed up for Shopee VIP.

After signing up for Shopee VIP, I was able to claim Shopee's offer for 3 months free use of ChatGPT Go. I was also able to connect this offer to my existing ChatGPT account, which was previously using the free version of ChatGPT. So now I have use of it for free for 3 months which is around an 800 Baht value. Even if the Shopee VIP program turns out to be nothing useful after a couple of months, and I decide to drop it, I figure the 3 months free use of ChatGPT Go is at least useful. The link below explains more about the service.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/life/tech/3120718/openai-launches-chatgpt-go-in-thailand

8 hours ago, FriscoKid said:

I was just finally able to successfully sign up for Shopee VIP, and my Shopee account is in my own name rather than under a Thai person.

Previously, I had my Wise debit card set as the default credit/debit card, and I also had a Thai bank account linked as a bank payment option. That setup did not allow me to sign up for Shopee VIP.

I then just added a Thai bank debit card as a payment method and set it as the default credit/debit card. After doing that, I went back to the Shopee VIP signup page and was able to select the Thai bank debit card as the payment method for Shopee VIP and complete the signup successfully. Based on this, it seems that you need a local Thai bank debit or credit card for VIP signup to work, and foreigners can sign up as long as they have one. After signing up successfully, I changed the default credit/debit card payment method back to my Wise card.

They charged ฿1 for the first month as an introductory promotion, with the regular price being ฿49 per month afterward. I was expecting better discount coupons to appear in my account as a Shopee VIP member, especially since I have a couple of expensive electronic items in my shopping cart right now. However, I already had all the standard coupons collected, which was already offering me ฿2000 off a major purchase. After signing up for VIP and checking my cart again, the discount remained the same at ฿2000 for those items. It appears that the added VIP coupons do not necessarily provide better discounts than the standard free coupons already available to anyone.

Because of this, I may not keep the VIP service for more than a month or two if I do not see any additional savings being offered from the VIP service.

Any non VIP member can collect the same vouchers I did by going to the Home tab in the Shopee app, tapping on the green icon for Free Shipping and Vouchers towards the top, and then collecting everything available. These coupons are then automatically applied to any items in your shopping basket if you click on them as if you are going to proceed with checkout. Based on my experience so far, I do not see a clear cost savings benefit from the VIP membership, at least for large electronics, since the discounts appear to be the same as the free coupons available to anyone not yet signed up for Shopee VIP.

Let us know if you find better vouchers

I

On 1/12/2026 at 8:41 PM, FriscoKid said:

I was just finally able to successfully sign up for Shopee VIP, and my Shopee account is in my own name rather than under a Thai person.

Previously, I had my Wise debit card set as the default credit/debit card, and I also had a Thai bank account linked as a bank payment option. That setup did not allow me to sign up for Shopee VIP.

I then just added a Thai bank debit card as a payment method and set it as the default credit/debit card. After doing that, I went back to the Shopee VIP signup page and was able to select the Thai bank debit card as the payment method for Shopee VIP and complete the signup successfully. Based on this, it seems that you need a local Thai bank debit or credit card for VIP signup to work, and foreigners can sign up as long as they have one. After signing up successfully, I changed the default credit/debit card payment method back to my Wise card.

They charged ฿1 for the first month as an introductory promotion, with the regular price being ฿49 per month afterward. I was expecting better discount coupons to appear in my account as a Shopee VIP member, especially since I have a couple of expensive electronic items in my shopping cart right now. However, I already had all the standard coupons collected, which was already offering me ฿2000 off a major purchase. After signing up for VIP and checking my cart again, the discount remained the same at ฿2000 for those items. It appears that the added VIP coupons do not necessarily provide better discounts than the standard free coupons already available to anyone.

Because of this, I may not keep the VIP service for more than a month or two if I do not see any additional savings being offered from the VIP service.

Any non VIP member can collect the same vouchers I did by going to the Home tab in the Shopee app, tapping on the green icon for Free Shipping and Vouchers towards the top, and then collecting everything available. These coupons are then automatically applied to any items in your shopping basket if you click on them as if you are going to proceed with checkout. Based on my experience so far, I do not see a clear cost savings benefit from the VIP membership, at least for large electronics, since the discounts appear to be the same as the free coupons available to anyone not yet signed up for Shopee VIP.

You dont need to buy a product to see what discount you will be getting before you click the buy button...

I would be very interested to know what products or prices Shopee is offering you the 25% discout ?

No need to buy anything thing,you can test it out on any product...

like on a 100 baht product will Shopee offer it to you for 75 baht?

Thanks

I have found Shopee does not give out the 25% discounts too often using the vouchers unless the item cost over 1,000 baht....

For most items that cost under 1,000 baht the discount is usually 15% but somethimes 10% or 20% using the vouchers..

On 1/13/2026 at 5:21 AM, scubascuba3 said:

Let us know if you find better vouchers

I assume you have already seen this list in the screenshot since they are the extra vouchers included with a VIP subscription. From what I can tell though many of them are available for free anyway just in smaller amounts. The one I am most curious about is the first one listed which is the 50 percent discount on double digit days and midmonth payday.

I am wondering whether that could translate into much larger savings on a higher priced item during one of those special sale days. At the same time I cannot quite figure out exactly how it works or what the discount really applies to. In the meantime I went ahead and made one of the larger electronics purchases from my cart yesterday since the price was already good and the only seller offering it was starting to run low on stock.

When one of those sale days comes around again I can always test it with another item in my cart by clicking on it and seeing what kind of discount is actually applied.

29 minutes ago, FriscoKid said:

I assume you have already seen this list in the screenshot since they are the extra vouchers included with a VIP subscription. From what I can tell though many of them are available for free anyway just in smaller amounts. The one I am most curious about is the first one listed which is the 50 percent discount on double digit days and midmonth payday.

I am wondering whether that could translate into much larger savings on a higher priced item during one of those special sale days. At the same time I cannot quite figure out exactly how it works or what the discount really applies to. In the meantime I went ahead and made one of the larger electronics purchases from my cart yesterday since the price was already good and the only seller offering it was starting to run low on stock.

When one of those sale days comes around again I can always test it with another item in my cart by clicking on it and seeing what kind of discount is actually applied.

What discount do you get on this?

https://th.shp.ee/pfAq9Re

massively cheaper than Lazada even with no VIP

10 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

What discount do you get on this?

https://th.shp.ee/pfAq9Re

massively cheaper than Lazada even with no VIP

I get 3,123 Baht for the 64GB model.

26 minutes ago, FriscoKid said:

I assume you have already seen this list in the screenshot since they are the extra vouchers included with a VIP subscription. From what I can tell though many of them are available for free anyway just in smaller amounts. The one I am most curious about is the first one listed which is the 50 percent discount on double digit days and midmonth payday.

I am wondering whether that could translate into much larger savings on a higher priced item during one of those special sale days. At the same time I cannot quite figure out exactly how it works or what the discount really applies to. In the meantime I went ahead and made one of the larger electronics purchases from my cart yesterday since the price was already good and the only seller offering it was starting to run low on stock.

When one of those sale days comes around again I can always test it with another item in my cart by clicking on it and seeing what kind of discount is actually applied.

What discount do you get on this?

https://th.shp.ee/pfAq9Re

9 minutes ago, FriscoKid said:

I get 3,123 Baht for the 64GB model.

Definitely better with VIP then, i get 3,540, unless another reason

4 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

pfAq9Re

4 hours ago, FriscoKid said:

I get 3,123 Baht for the 64GB model.

I get 3,187 for the 64GB model without VIP 25% off

On 1/12/2026 at 8:41 PM, FriscoKid said:

I was just finally able to successfully sign up for Shopee VIP, and my Shopee account is in my own name

Have been trying and failing for a while to complete the process for getting VIP. Gotten as far as the facial/confirm ID biz, but not having a Thai ID card is a hurdle not able to overcome. Taking a photo of the passport info page is just fail after fail.

Oh well.

On 1/6/2026 at 5:27 PM, FriscoKid said:

Has anyone successfully signed up for the Shopee VIP subscription service as a foreign national?

It's all very confusing.

When I attempted to become VIP the other day, at the early stage I had to select either ShopeePay (wallet) or Shopee Pay Later. No option to proceed with my current payment method, which is a foreign credit card.

So I selected ShopeePay, may as well go for it, join the crowd, and also get the VIP. But it was at the upload your ID document where it ended. Only have a passport, it doesn't work with the format for uploading a photo. (The size for the ID is an ID ard size, a pic of passport just doesn't work. And contrary to sime reports there is no option to upload a photo of the passport.)

Had already agreed to being charged $1.00 on the card--to be refunded later after verification, etc. --and agreed to the 49 B a month charge. OK.

But without having completed the VIP signup, because of not being able get past ID verification for ShopeePay--the payment option I was forced into choosing--I wonder now where the already agreed-to auto-charge status now stands on the card. Because I already checked 'yes, take it, 49 B a month.'

Want to seek clarification on that, and of course any help if it is indeed possible as a foreigner to get Shopee VIP.

Tried explaining all that on 'chat' at the app. Virtual rep Shoji, Shuji (?) responded that I should try 'live agent', 'live chat', and I did but got no response, almost a repeat of Shoji's.

OK, I found an email address for support for ShopeePay, and sent a message detailing this a few hours ago. My questions were not really addressed.

The person--was/is it a person?-- said to contact chat at the app! Runaround Sue, haha.

However, they did answer this question that I asked. Are ShopeePay and VIP not available for foreign residents? (And I noted that if they are not, it would be better if they clearly stated the info on the app. Save everybody a lot of trouble.)

Quoting from the email:

 "Since 1 October 2023 new foreign customers are not allowed to apply for ShopeePay Wallet account.

 

We are allowed to apply Shopeepay Wallet with Thai ID Card only."

My experience with registering for, attempting to register for, VIP and agreeing to be charged every month, was that it forced me to choose either ShopeePay or ShopeePay Later for the payment option. Could not continue with my already-in-use payment method of credit card. (This was all done on the Shopee app.)

Anyway, just gonna forget about becoming a 'VIP' on shopee.

But, c'mon... They really should just state clearly on the app--it's all in English, all the details and steps--they should just clearly state foreigners can't apply anymore for ShopeePay. Just say it, save folks some trouble.

4 minutes ago, rwilem said:

Anyway, just gonna forget about becoming VIP on shopee.

Foreigners can not sign up with Shopee pay any more, and all existing accounts were deleted 2 years ago.

I bought 1 month VIP about 6 months ago, and paid by bank transfer from my Kbank debit card. I didn't extend.

Both my Kbanl credit and debit card are registered with Shopee

44 minutes ago, CallumWK said:

Foreigners can not sign up with Shopee pay any more, and all existing accounts were deleted 2 years ago.

Right, I get it.

I came upon this thread after my experience. Just a regular guy, cruising around the app. Everything's, for the most part, all in English there. Who's English for? Maybe not Thai people right?

So there's the sentence, 'hey, become a VIP member, lots of benefits...blah, blah, blah.' All in English.

But if you are forced to change to a Pay or Pay Later option, a foreigner can't proceed, continue with the steps to get VIP.

They need to say clearly in the app the sentences in my prior post that I elicited from them about foreiners and ShopeePay. Save folks a hassle.

1 hour ago, rwilem said:

So there's the sentence, 'hey, become a VIP member, lots of benefits...blah, blah, blah.' All in English.

But if you are forced to change to a Pay or Pay Later option, a foreigner can't proceed, continue with the steps to get VIP.

You can pay withy bank transfer from Thai bank, that is what I did. I also don't have Shopee Pay or pay later or whatever.

VIP are just some extra vouchers you get