What Must an Online Store Legally Display in Malaysia?

A Malaysian online store must clearly display the seller's name, business registration number, contact details, and business address before a customer pays. It must also show the total price including tax and delivery, the terms and conditions, and the estimated delivery time. These come from the Consumer Protection (Electronic Trade Transaction) Regulations 2024, enforced by KPDN. Leaving them out is an offence under the Consumer Protection Act 1999.

Most store owners get the products and the checkout right, then miss the disclosures that make the store legal. None of them are hard to add. They just need to be visible before the customer pays.

What information must the store display?

Your online store must show a specific set of details about your business and each product. The list comes from the Consumer Protection (Electronic Trade Transaction) Regulations 2024, which took effect on 25 December 2024 and replaced the older 2012 rules.

An online supplier has to disclose:

1. The name of the person or business operating the store.
2. The business or company registration number, if you are registered.
3. An email address and a telephone number.
4. The business address.
5. A description of the main features of the goods or services.
6. The full price, including all taxes and any delivery charges.
7. The payment methods you accept.
8. The terms and conditions of the sale.
9. The estimated delivery time.
10. The address of the website where the goods or services are offered.
11. A certificate that the goods or services meet any safety and health standards set by the competent authority, where such standards apply.

Item 11 is the one sellers miss most often. It bites hardest in categories with their own approval regimes, such as electronics, telecommunications devices, supplements, cosmetics, and food.

None of these need a dedicated legal page. They sit naturally across the store, like this:

Detail to display	Where it usually lives
Business name and registration number	Footer and contact page
Email, phone, and address	Contact page and footer
Product description and full price (tax and delivery)	Each product page
Payment methods	Checkout and footer
Terms, refund, and privacy notice	Linked in the footer
Estimated delivery time	Product page or checkout
Website address and any safety or health certification	Footer and the relevant product page

The price shown to the customer must already include tax and delivery, not add them as a surprise at checkout. Marketplace operators carry extra duties too. A platform like Shopee or Lazada must keep seller records, offer a complaint channel, and take down listings that break the rules. If you sell on your own site rather than a marketplace, the duty to disclose sits with you.

Where do these rules come from, and who enforces them?

These disclosure rules sit under the Consumer Protection Act 1999, and KPDN enforces them. KPDN is the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living, the same ministry that handles pricing and consumer complaints.

Non-compliance is a real offence, not a guideline. Under section 145 of the Consumer Protection Act 1999, an individual faces a fine of up to RM50,000, or up to three years in jail. A company faces up to RM100,000 for a first offence, and RM200,000 after that.

The 2024 Regulations also require the disclosures to be in Bahasa Malaysia. The Ministry paused enforcement of that language rule in June 2025 while it gathers feedback from sellers, so it is not being enforced today. The Regulations themselves have been law since 25 December 2024. What KPDN deferred, until further notice, was the June 2025 compliance deadline, so treat the disclosures as obligations already on the books rather than rules you can skip.

Do I need to show my SSM and SST numbers?

Your SSM registration number belongs on your business documents, and in practice on your store too. SSM is the Companies Commission of Malaysia.

A company must disclose its registered name and registration number on business letters, notices, and other official publications, including in electronic form. Section 30(2) of the Companies Act 2016 extends the same duty to its invoices and receipts. That "electronic form" wording is what reaches your website.

Sole proprietorships and partnerships sit under different rules. The Registration of Businesses Act 1956 and its regulations cover their business documents, and require the registration certificate to be displayed at the premises.

Either way, the disclosure list above already asks for the number. A registered seller shows it regardless.

Your SST number is different. Only businesses registered for Sales and Service Tax charge it, and only they show it. If you are SST-registered, your tax invoices must display your SST registration number and show the tax as a separate line. If your turnover is below the registration threshold, you neither charge SST nor display a number.

A common mistake is copying "prices include SST" onto a store that is not SST-registered. Do not state a tax you do not collect.

What about a privacy notice and terms?

A privacy notice is the one page Malaysian law clearly requires, and terms come close behind. The Personal Data Protection Act 2010 requires a written notice, in Bahasa Malaysia and English, telling customers what personal data you collect and why. Any store that takes a name, address, or payment detail is collecting personal data.

Your terms and conditions are listed as a required disclosure for online sales, so an e-commerce site effectively must publish them. They set out your refund, delivery, and liability rules. A privacy notice, your terms, and a cookie banner do three separate jobs, and a store often needs all three.

In our experience, owners treat these pages as an afterthought and bolt them on weeks after launch. We prefer to show the compulsory details from day one, because a store that hides its business name and contact number quietly loses trust as well as compliance.

A quick compliance self-check

Run through this before you take your first order:

• Is your business name and registration number visible without hunting for it?
• Can a customer find your email, phone, and address on the site?
• Does every price already include tax and delivery?
• Is the estimated delivery time stated before checkout?
• Are your terms, refund policy, and privacy notice all published?

If any answer is no, that is a gap to close before you promote the store.

Frequently asked questions

Is it illegal to run an online store without these details?

Yes, in the sense that missing the required disclosures is an offence under the Consumer Protection Act 1999. KPDN can act on it, with fines of up to RM50,000 for an individual and up to RM100,000 for a company on a first offence. Most enforcement follows a complaint, so the practical risk rises with your visibility and your volume of unhappy customers.

Do I need an SSM registration to sell online?

Usually yes. Running a business in Malaysia, including an online one, generally requires registration with SSM as a sole proprietorship, partnership, or company. The disclosure rules then ask you to display that registration number. Registration is inexpensive, and it also lets you open a business bank account and accept payment gateway settlements in your business name.

Does this apply to selling on Shopee or Instagram, not my own website?

Yes, the disclosure duties follow the sale, not the platform. On a marketplace like Shopee, the platform carries extra operator duties, but you still list your business details and product information. Selling through Instagram or WhatsApp does not exempt you either. The safest habit is to show the same business name, contact, price, and terms wherever you sell.

Do I have to write everything in Bahasa Malaysia?

Not right now. The 2024 Regulations do require the disclosures in Bahasa Malaysia, but the Ministry paused enforcement of that language rule in June 2025. English-only disclosures are accepted today. Because the rule is only paused, a bilingual store is the safer long-term setup, and it serves more Malaysian customers anyway.

What is the penalty for not displaying the required information?

Under section 145 of the Consumer Protection Act 1999, an individual can be fined up to RM50,000, jailed up to three years, or both. A company faces up to RM100,000 for a first offence, and RM200,000 for later ones. Beyond the fine, missing contact details and unclear pricing are also a leading reason shoppers abandon a purchase midway.

Getting your store legal and ready to sell

Storming Solutions builds and maintains websites for Malaysian businesses, and setting up the required legal pages is part of building a store that can actually take orders. We will not pretend the rules are optional, because KPDN treats them as an offence.

Planning a store and unsure what has to be on it? Send your details on WhatsApp, or read whether your store needs e-invoicing and what a build costs in our e-commerce cost guide, then talk to us about web development. We build the disclosures, terms, and privacy notice in from the start.