What an e-commerce licence actually costs

The three routes, and their published starting fees

At the time of writing:

• E-Trader (Dubai DET) — around AED 1,400 a year. Restricted to UAE and GCC nationals, no staff visas, no office. You trade personally rather than through a company.
• Free zone — SHAMS in Sharjah publishes the lowest headline of the well-known zones at around AED 5,750 a year; IFZA and Meydan start from roughly AED 12,500.
• Mainland (DET or the emirate's economic department) — generally from around AED 12,000 in the first year once the trade name, initial approval and market fees are included.

Why the first-year total is higher than the headline

Setup agents quote the licence. The business needs more than the licence.

• A registered address — a flexi-desk in a free zone, or an Ejari tenancy on the mainland
• An establishment card, and a visa if you need one
• Medical and Emirates ID costs per visa
• Medical insurance, which is mandatory for visa holders
• Bank account opening, which sometimes carries its own minimum balance

The mistake that costs more than any of this

Choosing a free zone because it is cheaper, when your customers are UAE consumers.

A free zone licence does not, by itself, permit direct sales to consumers on the mainland. Discovering that after the licence is paid for — usually when a payment provider asks what your licence permits — means either a mainland licence on top or a distributor arrangement. Either way it costs more than choosing correctly at the start. The three routes compared →

What you do not need to pay for yet

Plenty of setup packages bundle things you can add later: extra visas, a physical office, a corporate credit card, accounting retainers.

The minimum viable set is the licence, the address it requires, and the bank account. Everything else can wait until the business has revenue to judge it against.

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Published starting fees at the time of writing, shown to illustrate the shape of the decision rather than to quote you. Fees change and agents bundle differently — confirm with the issuing authority or a licensed setup consultant.