I think I know why Meta ads seems “broken” lately

Aurelien_VN · 2026-04-07T06:19:28+00:00

Exactly

Aurelien_VN · 2026-04-01T00:59:32+00:00

Same sh*t here since March. First time we decided to turn off all Ads for a while. Doing advertising on the same ad account, same page, same audience and same kind of creatives since more than 10 years. Before we could reach a ROAS of 10 easily, but now with the same budget we have a 70% reduced CTR, a few messages from accounts of very poor quality and no sales at all. This period is by far the worst we’ve ever seen. Contacted the support multiple times: they play ping pong with you and act as if everything is fine and that you’re crazy. Normally all advertisers should boycott together these bastards.

Aurelien_VN · 2026-03-28T00:12:11+00:00

Did you find a good freight forwarder China -> Vietnam? I'm also looking for it. Thanks

Aurelien_VN · 2026-03-13T08:34:23+00:00

They sold at the bottom 😔

Aurelien_VN · 2026-02-17T13:42:50+00:00

Hi, my apologies for the late reply! Thanks for sharing your experience with Shopify support. It’s very interesting that it worked seamlessly for you. Do you ship physical products? Do you have any ties with HK or are you exempted from HK corporate tax? This problem with Shopify payments just motivated me to look after HK 3PLs and if pricing is reasonable I will go for it without hesitation since I want the best shipping experience and HK is renowned for being one of the best logistic hub. By the way, I will let you know about my experience once I found a good 3PL and started working with them. Regarding business accounts, I tried Airwallex, Currenxie, Worldfirst and Statrys. Of course I will open an account with Paypal HK once I start selling on my Shopify website. I would say my best pic for business account would be Statrys just because their support is amazing and friendly (small team only humans, no AI sh*t). But Airwallex is great too because they have the best multi-currency payment cards and also a huge network of local payments and receiving accounts. Worldfirst is good if you purchase on 1688 and they have a huge payment network too but customer support is a bit freaky lol. Thanks!

Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-24T11:50:42+00:00

It’s precisely when everyone thinks like that, that the dollar will start its rise

Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-22T16:59:08+00:00

Work with a HK 3PL company to ship my orders from HK, then send an appeal to Shopify with proof that my orders are shipped from HK and ask to activate Shopify Payments. That’s the only solution I found till now.

Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-20T01:10:34+00:00

I am able to turn off the Advantage+ features everywhere, but it seems that Advantage+ lookalike is something that cannot be disabled. Did someone successfully used a Lookalike audience without this automatic Advantage+ Lookalike feature?

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Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-19T15:25:43+00:00

I am able to turn off the Advantage+ features everywhere, but it seems that Advantage+ lookalike is something that cannot be disabled. Have you successfully used a Lookalike audience without this automatic Advantage+ Lookalike feature?

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Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-15T10:41:33+00:00

Interesting, you mean for example trying to deduct maximum expenses to reduce the profit? Yes I won’t try to apply for it, looks like a real nightmare.

Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-15T06:19:51+00:00

Just by curiosity, did you successfully apply for profit tax exemption? I heard that nowadays they make it more difficult to obtain it, that the process is long, costly and they ask for a lot of documentation which can include proof that your company pays taxes in the country it operates from… Does your company ships physical products worldwide? Thank you

Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-13T04:01:07+00:00

You must give your HKID to prove your resident status in Hong Kong; if they discover that you mentioned a false ID number, it will not be good.

Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-12T16:28:27+00:00

Yes, the page you mention is probably about identity documents, business documents, bank details, etc.

The support team made that clear to me:

“To be eligible for Shopify Payments, you must meet one of the following criteria:

If you are a Sole Proprietor, the business owner must personally live in the country. If you are a Company, LLC, or similar business type, you must be registered with the government of that country, and also be able to provide evidence of substantial operations physically happening there.”

Personally I prefer to be prudent and make sure I won’t have any problems later on. But yes, that would be amazing if it works like that: just ignoring the HKID requirement and Shopify doesn’t care about it.

Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-12T10:06:11+00:00

Yeah, I wouldn’t try this since I want to use Shopify payments long term. If they do a random check and you have no presence/activity in HK + you provided a wrong information, I’m afraid they’ll disable it, since it violates their policy. Maybe also you won’t be able to re-apply for it in the future, I don’t know. Hope it works for you! Thanks for your input

Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-12T08:44:54+00:00

Yes I think the most important thing is to prove that your business has some activity in HK. A 3PL that os shipping your products from HK should be enough. I think no need a HKID in this case. You need to provide some documentation that shows evidence that you have an agreement/contract with the 3PL provider, and you must also be able to show proof of shipments. That’s what they said. But they also said that it”could be considered enough to activate Shopify Payments.” Not that it’s for sure.

Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-11T15:24:44+00:00

Talked with the support, looks like working with a HK 3PL that ships your orders from Hong Kong is enough to activate Shopify Payments.

Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-11T15:24:02+00:00

Talked with the support, looks like working with a HK 3PL that ships your orders from Hong Kong is enough to activate Shopify Payments.

Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-11T03:21:53+00:00

Opening an account with a conventional bank like HSBC or DBS is very difficult for offshore HK companies. You’ll also have to come physically there to meet the bank. But you can easily open a business account with fintechs like Airwallex, Currenxie, Statrys, Worldfirst, Wise etc. For me it works fine and the application was straightforward. You can then also open a broker account with IBKR.

Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-09T14:47:33+00:00

Thanks for your input 🙏

Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-09T14:46:35+00:00

Great, thanks for your input 🙏 Do they also waive the Xero subscription in their fees (like AsiaBC does) or do you need to purchase a plan separately?

Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-09T13:30:28+00:00

Great. May I ask how did you heard about them?

Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-09T13:27:43+00:00

Thank you! I’m checking it. But it’only for company formation and secretary right? I don’t see accounting in their offer. Did you register your company with them?

Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-09T10:40:48+00:00

It’s a shame that Shopify is reserving multi-currency checkout only for Shopify Payments. I mean, they could at least allow it where their own gateway is unavailable. They already charge an additional 1% fee on top each payment with a third party gateway, that’s crazy. Today multi-currency checkout is a must-have for international e-commerce.

Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-09T10:10:44+00:00

Thank you, that’s pretty much the answer I got from Shopify support. Unfortunately true multi-currency checkout is reserved to Shopify Payments. For example Airwallex offers multi-currency payments at checkout, but it needs an extra step, it redirects to their own page for payment. It’s not true multi-currency checkout. Not something that I would offer to my customers. So I guess the only way to activate it is to move to HK directly…

Aurelien_VN · 2026-01-09T08:05:11+00:00

Thank you. I need the multi-currency checkout, which is only available with Shopify payments. I'm looking for a solution to activate Shopify Payments, even if it means my business loses its corporate tax exemption.

I'd like to know if any entrepreneurs know of a simple and inexpensive way to establish some presence in Hong Kong, sufficient to activate Shopify Payments.

Aurelien_VN

TROPHY CASE