Indonesia has more than 200 million people online and the marketplaces that reach them, Tokopedia, Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop, are where a large share of the country’s retail now happens. Since 8 June 2026 the rules for selling on them are set by Trade Minister Regulation 19 of 2026, which replaced the 2023 regulation and is a good deal more specific about who may sell, from where, and with what paperwork. For a foreign brand or a foreign-owned company the regulation does not ask one question. It asks which of three routes you are on, and each route has its own conditions.
The three routes
| Route | What you can sell | Who holds the licence | Where it stops |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cross-border, from abroad, through a marketplace’s international programme | Goods priced at USD 100 or more per unit, FOB, unless they are on the ministry’s exemption list | The platform registers you as a foreign merchant and collects your documents | At the price floor. Anything under USD 100 a unit cannot be sold this way |
| Through an Indonesian distributor or licensed partner | Whatever the partner is licensed to sell | The partner | When you want the margin, the customer relationship and the brand in your own name |
| Through your own Indonesian company, a PT PMA | Whatever the company’s business classification allows, on any platform, with a local bank account and local stock | You | Nowhere. This is the route the regulation is built around |
Selling from abroad: what the platform must collect from you
Article 6 of the regulation lists what a marketplace must hold on file before it lets a foreign merchant sell to Indonesian consumers: your identity and the address of your home country, a business licence from that country that has been legalised, proof that the goods meet Indonesian standards or technical requirements, the bank account the transactions run through, product descriptions written in Indonesian, and the country the goods ship from, shown on the listing. The platform is answerable for holding those documents, which is why the international programmes of the large marketplaces have become selective about whom they onboard.
Article 23 sets the price floor. A platform running cross-border sales must apply a minimum price of USD 100 per unit, measured free on board, to imported goods. The only way under it is an exemption list decided at ministerial level. In practice the floor removes the mass-market segment from the cross-border route: cosmetics, accessories, most apparel, small electronics and almost everything a first-time seller would test the market with. Those goods reach an Indonesian buyer only through a company inside the country.
The platform’s own trigger, and why it matters to you
Article 22 turns to the platforms. A foreign platform that in one year has transacted with at least 1,000 Indonesian consumers, or shipped at least 1,000 parcels to them, or carries at least 1% of Indonesia’s domestic internet traffic, must appoint a representative office in Indonesia, a KP3A for electronic commerce, licensed in a provincial or city capital and representing that one platform. Those are low numbers. Any platform that seriously sells into Indonesia crosses them in weeks.
For a merchant this matters in two ways. A platform that has opened its representative office is inside Indonesian supervision and will apply the Article 6 list strictly. A platform that has not, and does not intend to, will limit or close its Indonesian programme rather than cross the trigger, which is the pattern behind the on-and-off availability of cross-border selling on several international sites. Article 25 adds a separate constraint for social commerce: a platform in that category may not process payments inside its own system. That is the rule that reshaped TikTok’s presence in Indonesia and it is why the checkout on a social platform sits on a marketplace.
Selling through your own company: the licensing clock
A PT PMA sells on any Indonesian platform as a domestic merchant. What the regulation asks of a domestic merchant is a valid business licence, which in practice means the company’s NIB carrying the right business classification for online retail, together with proof that the goods meet applicable standards. Choosing the classification is not a detail: it has to be one that is open to foreign ownership where the company sits, and it decides what the company may sell. Our team finds the right one as part of the setup.
| Who | Deadline | Meanwhile | After the deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| A seller who was already on a platform before 8 June 2026 | 18 months, so early December 2027 (Article 74) | Keeps selling | Suspended until the licence is on file |
| A seller who registers on a platform now | 6 months from registering (Article 17) | Sells under the label “Dalam Proses Legalisasi”, in the process of legalisation | Suspended until the licence is on file |
| A PT PMA set up before it starts selling | None. The licence exists on day one | Sells without the label | Nothing changes |
The middle row is where a new foreign-owned seller usually starts, and the six months are shorter than they look. Incorporating a PT PMA, getting its NIB, opening the bank account and clearing product standards can be done well inside that window, but only if the classification is chosen at incorporation and the standards question is answered before stock is ordered, not after the platform asks.
What the company then has to run
A PT PMA is a taxpayer from the day it is incorporated, with monthly and annual filings, and it is an employer from its first hire. That is the cost of the third route and it is the same for every foreign-owned company, whatever it sells. Two points are specific to a seller. Stock bought from abroad is paid for in foreign currency, and since 1 July 2026 an Indonesian bank needs an invoice behind any purchase of foreign currency above USD 10,000 in a month and documents behind any transfer above USD 25,000, which we set out in a separate article. And the regulation gives platforms new duties towards their merchants, a downloadable contract, fee transparency, an objection channel with a fourteen-working-day response, and priority for domestic products in search results, all of which a PT PMA benefits from and a foreign merchant selling cross-border does not.
Questions we are being asked
Can I sell on Tokopedia or Shopee from Spain without a company in Indonesia?
Only through the platform’s cross-border programme, only goods priced at USD 100 or more per unit, and only if the platform accepts your documents under Article 6. For anything cheaper, no.
Does the USD 100 minimum apply to my whole order or to each item?
To each unit, at its free-on-board price.
I already sell through a friend’s Indonesian account. Is that a route?
It works until it does not. The licence, the bank account and the customer data belong to the friend, and the platform’s contract is with them. The regulation’s distributor route means a licensed partner with a written agreement.
How long does a new seller have to get licensed?
Six months from registering on the platform under Article 17, selling under a “Dalam Proses Legalisasi” label in the meantime. Sellers who were already active before 8 June 2026 have eighteen months under Article 74.
Do I need a physical shop or warehouse in Indonesia?
A registered office address, yes. A shop, no. Stock can sit with a fulfilment provider, and many sellers start that way.
Which route are you on
Send us three facts: what you sell, the price band per unit, and where you would ship from. We will tell you which route the regulation puts you on, whether your goods clear the USD 100 line, and what the company would need if the answer is the third route. Setting up the company and its licences is what we do, and choosing the right classification at the start is what keeps the six-month clock from mattering.
Correct at the date of publication. Article references are to Trade Minister Regulation 19 of 2026, in force since 8 June 2026, read through two independent legal summaries because the ministry’s published text was not retrievable at the time of writing. Ask us which route fits, or know more about company setup.