How to start an online store in the UAE

1. Decide who you are selling to, before anything else

This is the decision every other one hangs off, and it is the one people skip. If your customers are ordinary shoppers across the Emirates, you are heading for a mainland licence. If you are selling wholesale, B2B or exporting, a free zone works and is often cheaper.

Getting this wrong is expensive because it is discovered late — usually when a payment provider asks what your licence permits. A free zone e-commerce licence does not, on its own, let you sell directly to consumers on the mainland. The licence guide goes through the three routes in detail.

2. Get the licence

Reserve the trade name, get initial approval, then have the licence issued. A mainland e-commerce licence also needs a no-objection certificate from the TDRA; free zones handle their own equivalent internally.

Published starting figures at the time of writing: an E-Trader licence from Dubai's DET is around AED 1,400 a year but is restricted to UAE and GCC nationals. Free zone licences start around AED 5,750 (SHAMS) with IFZA and Meydan from roughly AED 12,500. A mainland commercial licence generally starts around AED 12,000 in the first year once fees are included.

Expect the realistic first-year total to be meaningfully above the headline figure once visas, an address and insurance are added.

3. Open the corporate bank account

Start this the day the licence lands. It routinely takes longer than the licence itself, and almost everything downstream needs it — your payment gateway will not go live without one.

Banks here ask for the licence, the shareholder documents, and usually a business plan or an explanation of expected volumes. Being vague about where the money comes from is the most common reason an application stalls.

4. Build the store while you wait

This is the part you control, and it is why the order matters. Your catalogue, your delivery zones, your VAT settings and — importantly — your published policies can all be done while the paperwork moves.

Payment providers review your website as part of the application. They look for published terms, a refund policy, delivery information and contact details. An application submitted against a site that has none of those comes back with questions, and that round trip is usually the longest delay in the whole process.

5. Apply for payments — and sell on COD meanwhile

Stripe, Tabby, Tamara and the local acquirers each review you separately. Each wants the trade licence, the bank account and the live site.

Cash on Delivery needs none of that. Plenty of UAE stores take their first orders on COD while the card review is open, which means the business starts earning during the wait rather than after it. How COD reconciliation works →

6. Register for VAT when you cross the threshold

Registration is mandatory once taxable supplies and imports exceed AED 375,000 in any rolling twelve-month period, and voluntary from AED 187,500. Below that you can trade without a TRN — you simply do not charge VAT and do not issue tax invoices.

Note the word rolling. It is not your financial year; it is any twelve consecutive months, which catches people who grow quickly. What the store does about VAT →

What people get wrong

• Building the store last. It is the thing your gateway wants to see, so building it last adds a round trip to the slowest step.
• Choosing a free zone on price. Cheapest is the wrong question if your customers are UAE consumers and the licence does not permit selling to them.
• Waiting for cards before selling. COD works from day one and needs nobody's approval.
• Treating the VAT threshold as annual. It is rolling, and it does not wait for your year end.

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This is a plain-language summary of publicly published rules and fees at the time of writing, meant to help you ask better questions. It is not legal, tax or company-formation advice, and fees change. Confirm your own position with the issuing authority or a licensed consultant.