Collect sales from Amazon, eBay into Vietnam
Selling on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Walmart or another international marketplace? TCONNECT helps you receive marketplace payouts straight into your bank account in Vietnam — direct over banking rails, no intermediary wallet, no company abroad required.
Sellers on international marketplaces usually have to receive payouts through an intermediary wallet before withdrawing to Vietnam — costing fees, poor rates and a real risk of held funds. TCONNECT lets you receive marketplace payouts into a named collection account and credit them straight to a bank in Vietnam, with no foreign entity required. This article unpacks how marketplace payouts work, the hidden fee layers, the funds-holding (reserve) mechanism, and when to collect straight into a bank instead of routing through a wallet.
How do marketplaces pay their sellers?
Before optimizing costs, you need to understand how a payout — the money the marketplace transfers to a seller — operates. Unlike domestic retail (where money arrives almost instantly), international marketplaces batch transactions by settlement cycle and pay out once. Understanding this cycle correctly helps you forecast cash flow and know where you are losing money.
- ·Settlement cycle: most marketplaces close the books on a fixed cycle — for example every 14 days (illustrative) — rather than paying per order. From when a customer pays to when you receive the payout can be several weeks apart.
- ·Payout currency by marketplace: Amazon.com pays USD, Amazon.co.uk pays GBP, EU marketplaces pay EUR. Selling across multiple countries means receiving multiple currencies, each one a separate conversion.
- ·Minimum withdrawal threshold: many receiving channels only disburse once the balance exceeds a set threshold, leaving small sellers with a balance "stuck" below the threshold.
- ·Marketplace holds differ from intermediary holds: the marketplace itself may temporarily hold part of your revenue (a marketplace reserve) to cover refunds/disputes; this is a holding layer independent from an intermediary wallet that may also hold your balance.
The payout is already delayed by the marketplaces cycle. If you add an intermediary-wallet leg (with its own withdrawal schedule and review batches), the time for money to truly reach a VN bank stretches further and becomes harder to predict.
Where are international-marketplace sellers losing money?
- !A long intermediary chain: marketplace → intermediary wallet (Payoneer, PingPong…) → withdraw to a VN bank. Each leg is a fee layer.
- !Poor FX rate: converting USD/EUR to VND inside a wallet usually carries an unfavorable spread that erodes profit.
- !Held/frozen funds: a wallet may temporarily hold your balance for risk review, hurting the working capital you need for inventory.
- !Legal-entity barrier: many sellers set up an LLC abroad to optimize how they receive money — adding cost and paperwork.
Unpacking each fee layer on the way home
The "it is only a few percent" view is usually wrong because fees do not sit in one place. On the journey from a marketplace payout to VND in your bank account, your money passes through four layers of erosion — and the most painful layer is the one you see least.
- 1Marketplace fees (already deducted): selling fees, referral fees, FBA/logistics fees — the marketplace deducts these right before it shows the payout figure. This part is "acceptable" because it is a cost of selling.
- 2Fee to receive into an intermediary wallet: some channels charge a receiving fee as a percentage or a fixed fee each time a payout lands.
- 3FX spread: when a wallet converts USD/EUR to VND, it does not use the mid-market rate but adds a margin. This margin is hidden inside the rate, not shown as any "fee" line.
- 4Fee to withdraw to VN: the international/domestic transfer fee when pulling the balance from the wallet to a Vietnam bank account, sometimes plus a beneficiary-bank fee.
A displayed fee (for example "1%") you can see and price into your selling price. But the FX margin is not written as a line — it sits inside the exchange rate you are given. Many sellers compare services by looking only at the "% fee" and ignore the spread, so they pick a place with low fees but a bad rate. At high, repeating volume every cycle, the spread is the biggest drain on profit.
How a single payout gets eroded
The figures below are illustrative only, to show how the layers add up — they are not any partys fee schedule. Suppose that after the marketplace deducts selling fees, you have a 10,000 USD payout to bring to VND.
| Cost layer (illustrative) | How it is figured | Erosion |
|---|---|---|
| Gross payout | Marketplace already deducted selling fees | 10,000 USD |
| Fee to receive into wallet | ~1% (illustrative) | −100 USD |
| FX spread | ~1.5% hidden in the rate (illustrative) | −150 USD |
| Fee to withdraw to VN | Fixed fee + beneficiary-bank fee (illustrative) | −30 USD |
| Net received | After the 3 layers above | ≈ 9,720 USD |
In this illustrative example, ~2.8% "evaporates" each cycle — and most of it comes from the hidden spread rather than the displayed fee. For a seller paid out dozens of times a year, the cumulative figure is significant. The goal of collecting directly over banking rails is to shorten the chain and make the rate transparent so you reduce this hard-to-see erosion layer.
Rolling reserve: when your money gets "parked"
Beyond the settlement cycle, sellers also face a rolling reserve — a mechanism that holds a portion of revenue for a period to cover refunds, chargebacks or disputes. A reserve can come from the marketplace itself and can also come from a wallet/intermediary.
- ·Why they hold it: to guard against a customer returning goods or opening a dispute after you have been paid — the party holding the money needs a risk "buffer".
- ·Impact on inventory working capital: part of revenue being "parked" means you have less capital to place the next inventory order, easily going out of stock in peak season.
- ·Impact on ad budget: ads need cash turning over constantly; the larger the reserve, the more your ability to scale campaigns is constrained.
- ·Layers stacking up: if you are hit by a marketplace reserve and a wallet review hold at once, the money truly "live" in your account can be far lower than recorded revenue.
A marketplace reserve is hard for a seller to avoid (it is tied to refund/dispute risk). But the layer of funds held by an intermediary can be reduced by shortening the chain: when the payout moves straight over banking rails instead of waiting in a wallet, you remove one point where a balance could be held.
Receive payouts straight into a Vietnam bank
TCONNECT provides a named collection account over local rails and SWIFT for the marketplace to pay payouts into. The money is then converted transparently and credited straight to your bank account in Vietnam. Because it works directly with a partner bank on the Visa Direct network, the network covers 180+ countries and 30+ currencies, combining both SWIFT and local rails.
| Criterion | Via intermediary wallet | TCONNECT (direct) |
|---|---|---|
| Money path | Marketplace → wallet → withdraw to VN | Marketplace → named account → VN bank |
| Number of fee layers | Many (wallet fee + withdrawal fee) | Minimized, over banking rails |
| FX rate | Wallets FX margin (hidden spread) | Transparent, based on banking infrastructure |
| Funds holding | Balance may be held | Reduced (one fewer holding point) |
| Large transactions | May hit thresholds/review batches | Handled over banking infrastructure |
| Foreign company | Usually required | Not required |
See the full picture in the pillar article: Cross-border payment — collecting international revenue into Vietnam.
Many marketplaces, many currencies, one place
A "multi-channel" seller rarely sells on a single marketplace in a single country. The result is fragmented cash flow: USD from US marketplaces, EUR from EU marketplaces, GBP from UK marketplaces… each channel with its own payout schedule, rate and report. Consolidating to one point is not just convenient but also reduces reconciliation error.
- ✓One door for many currencies: revenue from many countries funneled into one collection flow, instead of scattered across many wallets.
- ✓Reconciliation matches settlement: each amount received can be matched against the marketplaces settlement report — knowing which payout maps to which period and what fees were deducted.
- ✓Tidier accounting: fold in domestic revenue and e-invoices within the TCONNECT system for easier bookkeeping and reporting.
- ✓Fewer leakage points: the fewer intermediary wallets, the fewer places where fees, spread and sub-threshold balances arise.
No foreign LLC required
A common reason Vietnamese sellers set up an LLC abroad is to get a local bank account to receive payouts "conveniently" and optimize tax. But that route brings non-trivial cost and obligations — and for many people it is not really necessary.
- !Maintenance costs: incorporation fees, annual fees (registered agent, franchise tax), accounting and yearly filings in the host country.
- !Filing obligations: a foreign entity brings compliance responsibility, tax filing and paperwork that individual sellers struggle to shoulder.
- !Cash still has to be "repatriated": in the end the money still needs to come to Vietnam — adding another transfer leg and one more conversion.
Collect straight into a Vietnamese entity via TCONNECTs named collection account: drop the cost of maintaining a foreign company and one conversion leg, while keeping cash flow transparent for bookkeeping in Vietnam.
Which marketplaces and models does it fit?
- ✓Major marketplaces: Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Walmart, AliExpress Global and other marketplaces that pay out on a cycle.
- ✓FBA/FBM: whether Amazon handles fulfillment (FBA) or you fulfill orders yourself (FBM), payouts still arrive on a cycle — collecting directly speeds up the inventory working-capital loop.
- ✓Dropshipping: thin margins, sensitive to fees and spread — cutting the intermediary layer keeps more profit on each order.
- ✓Print-on-demand & handmade: many small orders on Etsy/eBay; consolidate many small amounts into one point to avoid fragmentation.
- ✓Private label: high volume, needing stable cash flow and accurate reconciliation to restock on rhythm.
- ✓Multiple markets: receive revenue from many countries and currencies into one collection point.
Card gateway on your own web, or marketplace payouts?
Not all international revenue goes through a marketplace. If you run your own selling website, the question is whether to use a card payment gateway on the site or sell through marketplaces and collect payouts. Two different problems, and many sellers use both.
| Situation | Lean toward |
|---|---|
| Selling mainly via Amazon/eBay/Etsy, leveraging the marketplaces traffic | Marketplace payouts to a VN bank |
| Have your own web/brand, want customers to pay by card directly on the site | Card gateway on your own web |
| Selling on marketplaces and running your own web | Combine: collect payouts for the marketplace channel + card gateway for the web channel |
| Need to reconcile multi-channel revenue in one place | Consolidate in the TCONNECT system |
The common thread: whether money comes from a marketplace payout or a card gateway, the goal is to bring it to a Vietnam bank with the fewest fee layers and the most transparent rate.
Why sellers choose TCONNECT
- 1Keep more profit: fewer intermediary fee layers, a transparent rate — reducing both the displayed fee and the hidden spread.
- 2Fast working capital: money reaches a VN bank in time to turn over inventory and run ads — a competitive edge when restocking on rhythm.
- 3Cleaner legal setup: collect straight into a Vietnamese entity, no need to maintain a company abroad.
- 4One collection point: fold in domestic revenue and e-invoices within the TCONNECT system, easier to reconcile and account.
TCONNECT cross-border payment is a service: onboarding and operations work directly with a partner bank on the Visa Direct network. It is not yet an instant self-signup product — the process is designed around each sellers specific business model.
Start collecting international revenue into Vietnam
TCONNECT cross-border payment runs as a service, working directly with a partner bank. Get in touch for advice and onboarding tailored to your business model.
TCONNECT is a payment infrastructure platform: payment APIs (VietQR, payment gateway, POS, Soundbox) and e-invoicing, plus a cross-border payment service — for PSPs, SaaS, ERP and businesses in Vietnam.