Foodpanda Philippines is in deep trouble after a viral Facebook post accused them of excessive fees and late remittances.
The post originated from Mama Dith’s, a tiny business on Facebook. In a statement on January 10, the page explained why their Foodpanda shop had been shuttered since December 2021.
Foodpanda claims to use a “2-week payment plan,” which means that the store’s profit is not remitted after 14 days. The post likened Foodpanda to Grab (Food), which sends a daily percentage of the merchant’s sale.
Furthermore, it appears that tiny enterprises like Mama Dith’s are charged a 27 percent commission via the delivery app. That’s in addition to the additional 12% they’ve been charging since June 2021, which appears to be for Foodpanda’s tax. If that isn’t enough, Foodpanda is also charging an additional Php1,000+ for “agency costs,” which aren’t included in the original contract.
The Facebook post says, “SO, ANO NA LANG NATIRA SAMIN?”
The page also complained about how difficult it is to contact Foodpanda’s customer service when businesses are having problems.
As of the time of writing, this post had received 26,000 reactions, 10,000 comments, and 22,000 shares. It’s also been inundated with comments from merchants and riders, with one saying that he only received Php82 in compensation for four deliveries.
We’ve also seen a couple of small businesses voice their dissatisfaction on their social media pages.
Meanwhile, a Foodpanda seller confirmed to us that the app does indeed charge them 27 percent, 12 percent, and an additional Php1,000 for sales over Php4,000. This is in addition to the 8% non-VAT tax that firms must pay to the BIR.
These challenges are causing businesses, riders, and even some customers to abandon the food delivery service.
Foodpanda Philippines is yet to offer a statement on the matter.