You can sell online from a UAE free zone or from the mainland, and the licence you choose decides who you can sell to and which approvals you need. This guide compares the options.
Selling online from the UAE needs a licence that names an ecommerce activity. The choice is between a mainland licence from the economic department of an emirate and a free zone licence from a free zone authority. The two behave differently on approvals, on who you can sell to directly and on tax, so decide before you pay for either.
The UAE government portal says ecommerce is regulated through Federal Decree by Law No. 14 of 2023 on Modern Technology Based Trade. It covers buying and selling of goods, services and data through websites, mobile applications, social media platforms and digital marketplaces, for digital products and for physical goods sold online.
To sell online on the mainland you need a commercial licence that includes an ecommerce activity from the emirate's economic department, such as the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development or the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism. Some emirates issue a standalone individual ecommerce licence, and others add the ecommerce activity to a regular commercial licence. All ecommerce licences also need approval from the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority, known as TDRA.
This is the route if most of your customers are in the UAE and you want to sell to them directly, without a distributor in between.
The government portal lists free zones that issue specialised licences for online sellers, including Masdar City Free Zone, Dubai CommerCity, EZDubai, Sharjah Media City, RAKEZ and Ajman Free Zone. It adds that free zone companies are allowed to operate within the free zone and internationally, and that selling directly on the mainland may need a local distributor or additional approvals or arrangements.
Meydan Free Zone gives a practical example of what an online retail activity can cover. It says the activity is defined by the sales channel rather than premises, so no shopfront is required, and that products downloaded directly by the customer are covered alongside physical goods that are shipped. It also says that running a marketplace for other sellers is a separate activity needing its own licence. Activity wording and approval rules differ between zones, so ask each zone for its own list.
A free zone company that later wants Dubai mainland customers can apply to the Department of Economy and Tourism for a licence or permit under Executive Council Resolution No. 11 of 2025. Our article on trading on the mainland from a free zone company explains the permit, its cost and the tax effect.
Free zone status does not automatically mean 0% tax. The Federal Tax Authority guide says a qualifying free zone person pays 0% only on qualifying income, and Ministerial Decision No. 229 of 2025 lists the qualifying activities. Retail trading to consumers is not named on that list, and the same decision treats transactions with natural persons as an excluded activity in most cases. A free zone person that does not qualify pays 0% on taxable income up to AED 375,000 and 9% above that. A tax adviser in the UAE should confirm how your own income is treated. If you are tax resident in another country, you also need advice there, because the UAE company does not change your home country position.
DBC packages start from USD 1,948 in AFZ and in RAKEZ (AED 7,150 and AED 7,149), both of which appear on the government list above. Dubai South, which DBC lists for aviation, logistics and ecommerce, starts from USD 5,136 (AED 18,850). Add visas and see the full range on /pricing or /pricing/calculator.
Quotes for ecommerce setups are easy to compare badly. Ask each provider whether the figure includes the licence, the registered address, visa allocation, the immigration and Emirates ID steps, and the renewal fee in the second year. Ask separately about a warehouse or fulfilment partner, because the licence alone does not give you somewhere to hold stock. A cheap first year with an expensive renewal costs more over three years than a higher first year with a flat renewal.
Tell us what you sell and where your customers are, and we will compare mainland and free zone options with a full cost breakdown. Book a Free Discovery Call
More published insights from the same category.
Free zone licence renewal costs depend on the zone, your package and any unpaid amounts. Grace periods differ from zone to zone, and some have none, so the safe habit is to renew before expiry.
Your licence only lets you do what its activities list. How activity groups work, what extra activities cost at Meydan, and which regulated sectors need approval first.
Ghanaian founders can register a UAE free zone company, but Ghana taxes residents on worldwide income. Here is how residence, UAE corporate tax and Bank of Ghana rules fit together.
Book a discovery call and discuss your specific UAE expansion questions with DBC.
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