Singapore has a sophisticated payments market, so selling here should be straightforward, right?
Not necessarily. You still need to navigate local sales tax and compliance. And that can quickly become a drain on resources.
The good news? If you choose a Merchant of Record like Paddle, it’s all handled for you. And an added bonus: You also get a dedicated team that understands the needs of businesses exactly like yours.
In this guide, we'll cover:
- The sales tax and compliance rules of selling in Singapore
- How to improve checkout conversion in Singapore
- Why your payment acceptance in Singapore is lower than you expect
- Ways to optimize revenue as you scale in Singapore
- How Paddle helps you grow globally.
Why selling in Singapore can get complicated – and fast
As soon as you start selling in Singapore, you need to start dealing with local sales tax and regulatory requirements. What does that involve? Well, under Singapore’s Overseas Vendor Registration (OVR) regime, you need to register for Goods and Services Tax (GST) once your global turnover passes S$1 million and when you’re supplying digital services costing more than S$100,000 a year.
This can easily catch you off guard. It was the case for writing platform Novelcrafter, who wasn’t prepared for the sales tax implications of operating in markets like Singapore following its fast, global success.
Novelcrafter realized it needed a Merchant of Record. Paddle now calculates, collects, and remits sales tax on Novelcrafter’s behalf, so the company can sell freely in 114 countries – without the administrative headache.
Paddle was the clear choice. It handled everything from taxes to disputes. The fees were transparent, and the onboarding experience felt collaborative.”
Paddle was the clear choice. It handled everything from taxes to disputes. The fees were transparent, and the onboarding experience felt collaborative.”
Leonie Gräßel, Founder, Novelcrafter
Why you need a partner in your corner
If you’re navigating Singapore’s GST rules for the first time, having an expert to turn to can be a life saver.
Paddle has worked with more than 10,000 digital product businesses – and that experience is reflected in its dedicated support team. You get people who understand SaaS and app businesses, from onboarding through to ongoing support.
What ultimately impressed us most was Paddle’s deep expertise in the subscription space and the level of time and attention they dedicated to us throughout the process.”
What ultimately impressed us most was Paddle’s deep expertise in the subscription space and the level of time and attention they dedicated to us throughout the process.”
Adem Yavuz Yılmaz, Lead Product Manager, Codeway
With Paddle, I can add a new currency in five minutes. This removes a pain point for customers since they are charged what they see on their screens.”
With Paddle, I can add a new currency in five minutes. This removes a pain point for customers since they are charged what they see on their screens.”
Aleksandar Ginovski, Head of Product, Enhancv
Global demand doesn’t mean global pricing works
The lowdown: customers in markets like Singapore have different appetites to pay. Price accordingly, and it can result in 25-50% higher growth.
Test pricing in Singapore with Paddle.
What else is slowing payment acceptance in Singapore?
You’ve localized your checkout? Amazing. But you may still see a lot of failed payments in Singapore.
It’s rarely because your customers don’t want to pay. More often, it’s something small getting in the way: a card expiring, a temporary network issue, or because the payment service provider (PSP) doesn’t perform well in that market.
Did you know?
In80-90% of cases, a payment failure occurs because of a soft decline, not because your customer doesn’t want to pay.
Most digital software businesses rely on just one PSP. But here’s the thing: No single PSP performs consistently everywhere. A transaction that Stripe declines in Singapore could easily be approved by another provider.
Paddle uses multi-PSP routing to retry soft declines in the background. That means you get more of your payments approved, across every market.
How Paddle helps you win in Singapore
Paddle gives you the ability to sell into and out of Singapore from day one – without the complexity of running multiple tools.
With Paddle, you can:
- Offload the burden of sales tax and regulatory compliance: Paddle’s Merchant of Record (MoR)means GST registration and remittance under Singapore's OVR regime, along with broader regulatory compliance, is taken care of.
- Localize your checkout for customers in Singapore: Paddle supports PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay for Singapore customers alongside cards, with payments processed in SGD.
- Give more payments a chance to succeed: Paddle uses multi-PSP routing, smart dunning, tactical retries, and fraud screening to give payments made in Singapore the best chance of success.
- Experiment with region-specific pricing based on local willingness-to-pay: Get the insight you need to optimize pricing across different regions, plus the tools to test subscription tiers and pricing changes with confidence.
- Benefit from deep industry expertise and dedicated support: Paddle’s helped more than 10,000 digital product businesses, processing more than 190 million transactions - with support available 24/7.
Singapore in your sights? Sell successfully with Paddle
FAQs
What is a Merchant of Record?
A Merchant of Record (MoR) is the legal entity responsible for selling a product to the end customer. It takes on payments, tax collection, compliance, refunds, and chargebacks on your behalf, rather than you managing each of those separately yourself.
Is Stripe available in Singapore?
Yes, Stripe is fully available in Singapore. However, Stripe's payment acceptance rate in Singapore is often lower than expected since it is a single PSP.
Take the headache out of growing your software business
We manage your payments, tax, subscriptions and more, so you can focus on growing your software and subscription business.
