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Okay ke kalau I start a side hustle selling on Shopee while working full-time?

Salary tak cukup, thinking of selling stuff on Shopee/TikTok Shop on the side while keeping my day job. Is it realistic or just wasting time? Anyone actually did it while working?
Anonymous asker ·Asked on 20 days ago ·166 views ·4 answers

4 contributors answered

Best Answer
Retiree Uncle Ong Beginner First-hand experience Retired at 55 on EPF, I share how to buat duit tahan lama and elak retire kais habis.
Ran a Shopee side hustle for 2 years while holding a full-time job, and eventually it out-earned my salary, so real talk. Yes it is realistic, but manage your expectations and energy carefully. One, check your employment contract first, because some have clauses about outside business or conflict of interest, so sort that out quietly to avoid trouble at work. Two, start small and lean, do not quit your job or dump your savings into a big pile of stock. It is even better to look into dropship or pre-order models so you are not sitting on unsold stock and dead cash. Three, the platform takes fees and everyone brutally competes on price, so pure reselling of common items is a fast race to the bottom. Find a niche, a specific product, a bundle, or better packaging and service, where you are not just the cheapest. Four, the real work is not the listing, it is the customer service, packing, and consistency, replying fast, packing after work late at night, dealing with returns. It eats your evenings and weekends, so be honest about your energy. Five, keep records for tax, because once you earn beyond a certain point it is taxable income. Done right, it is a genuine second income and a real skill-builder, just do not expect overnight riches.
Uncle Kopitiam Ah Seng Beginner First-hand experience Kopitiam boss in Ipoh, ask me kopi cost, kaki lima rent and why customer complain melulu.
Find a genuine niche or you will simply drown competing purely on price with a thousand identical sellers. The classic mistake is everyone jumping in to sell the exact same generic phone cases, cheap accessories, or trending gadgets, and then all of them frantically undercutting each other on price until nobody is actually making any real profit, just moving stock at a loss to win the buy button. I personally did reasonably well specifically because I picked a narrower niche with noticeably less competition and then added real value through better packaging, faster and friendlier replies, and genuine product knowledge that customers appreciated. So do not just resell whatever everyone else is already reselling, because you will be a tiny fish in a bloody red ocean. Differentiate through niche, service, or presentation, or you will burn out competing on a price you cannot win. Stand out or struggle.
Property Newbie Jason Beginner First-hand experience Just bought my first rumah, still shell-shock from S&P and legal fee, I share the mistakes.
Check your work contract first, seriously, before you do anything else or list a single product. A lot of Malaysian employment contracts contain clauses restricting outside business activities or anything that could be construed as a conflict of interest with your employer, and the last thing you want is for your promising little side income to end up costing you your stable main income and salary. So read the contract carefully, and if it is ambiguous, quietly clarify your position before you start visibly operating a store. Once you have confirmed you are in the clear, then start tiny, deliberately learn how the platform, its algorithm, its fees and its logistics actually work with low stakes, and only pour more time and money into scaling up the specific things that prove they work. Protect the main income first, then build the side income carefully on top.
Makcik Kek Aidah Beginner First-hand experience Home baker turned kek order boss, I share cost per slice, delivery and repeat customer tips.
It is very realistic and totally doable, but the grind is genuinely real, so please don't romanticise it based on the get-rich influencer videos. After a full, tiring day at your main job, sitting down to pack parcels and answer a stream of customer messages until 11pm night after night gets old surprisingly fast, and it eats into the rest and recovery you need to perform at your day job. My strong advice is to start with a business model that does not require you to hold and pre-purchase physical stock, such as pre-order or dropship, so that your upfront financial risk and your ongoing physical effort are both much lower while you are learning the ropes and testing whether the demand is even there. Validate that people actually want to buy your product before you invest serious money or exhaust yourself. Test small, learn cheap, scale only what genuinely works.

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