Selling online in Pakistan has never been easier to start or easier to get wrong. Most sellers set up a page, a payment link and a courier account, and only think about the legal side when a chargeback, a takedown or an FBR notice arrives.
Here is what the checklist should actually look like.
Register properly
Structure. A sole proprietorship is fine to test with. Once you hold customer money, carry stock, employ anyone, or import, the liability exposure argues for a company. See choosing a business structure.
NTN and filer status. Non-filer status raises the tax cost of almost every transaction you make and increasingly blocks some outright.
Sales tax registration, federal or provincial as applicable to goods or services. Marketplaces and payment processors report volumes, so the notion that online sales are invisible is long out of date. See sales tax registration and compliance.
Withholding obligations once you are paying suppliers, rent and services. See withholding tax.
Import documentation if you source abroad — WeBOC/PSW registration and the policy conditions for your product. See import and export registration and permits and restricted imports.
Payments and banking
To accept cards or digital wallets you need a merchant arrangement through a bank or a licensed payment service provider. Expect diligence on your business registration, your website, your refund policy and your product category — some categories are declined outright.
Two things sellers underestimate:
Chargebacks. The processor's terms decide who bears them, and the answer is usually you. Delivery proof and clear terms are your defence.
Settlement holds and reserves. Rolling reserves and delayed settlement are normal and should be modelled in your cash flow.
For cross-border receipts, export of goods and services has its own State Bank documentation requirements — get this right at the start rather than explaining a year of receipts later. See freelancers and IT exporters.
Anyone intending to hold customer funds, run a wallet, or offer instalments is in regulated territory. See fintech licensing.
Cash on delivery: price the risk
COD remains dominant in Pakistan and it carries costs nobody puts in the business plan: refusal rates on delivery, return shipping, damaged returns, and courier remittance cycles that hold your cash for weeks.
Manage it with courier contracts that state remittance timelines and liability for loss and damage in transit, order confirmation before dispatch, and — for high-value items — partial advance payment. See logistics, warehousing and freight contracts.
Terms, returns and refunds
Publish, prominently:
- Who you are — legal name, address, contact. Anonymity destroys trust and is the first thing a complainant points to
- Prices, inclusive of tax, and delivery charges
- Delivery timelines, honestly stated
- Returns and refunds — the window, the condition required, who pays return shipping, and how long a refund takes
- Warranty terms for the product
- Cancellation rights before dispatch
- Governing law and how complaints are handled
Terms are not decoration. Consumer protection legislation is provincial and gives buyers a real route over defective goods and deficient service, with a mandatory notice first and a short deadline. Sellers who answer complaints quickly rarely end up there. See consumer protection claims in Sindh and e-commerce and online seller disputes.
Advertising: say only what you can prove
Claims about performance, ingredients, origin, certification or health effects must be substantiable. Health and cosmetic claims are the highest-risk category and attract regulatory attention as well as consumer complaints.
Comparative advertising, deceptive marketing and misleading price claims can also engage competition law. See competition law and the CCP.
Influencer promotion should be under a written agreement covering deliverables, approval of claims, disclosure of paid promotion, and who is liable if a claim is wrong. See media, entertainment and influencer contracts.
Customer data
You will hold names, numbers, addresses and order histories. Collect only what you need, keep it securely, restrict staff access, be careful with third-party tools and courier data sharing, and do not sell or bulk-message lists acquired elsewhere. See data protection and privacy for Pakistani businesses.
Protect and respect brands
Register your own mark early. Online, a successful product name is copied within weeks, and registration is what makes takedown and enforcement work. See trade mark registration.
Do not sell counterfeits, including "master copies". It is an infringement, customs can seize, and marketplaces terminate accounts permanently.
Use your own photographs and copy. Lifting a competitor's images is copyright infringement and the most common takedown complaint we see. See copyright for creators and content businesses.
Selling on marketplaces
Read the seller agreement before you scale on it. The clauses that matter are commission and fee changes, who funds promotions and discounts, who bears refunds and chargebacks, ratings and performance thresholds, account suspension and withheld payouts, data ownership, and how disputes are resolved.
Suspension with funds held is the recurring problem. Keep your own records of every order, dispatch and delivery, independently of the platform, so you can evidence performance when an account is frozen.
When you are impersonated or attacked
Fake pages using your brand, cloned stores taking orders, and coordinated fake reviews are routine. The response combines a PECA complaint, platform enforcement and trade mark rights. See online blackmail, fake accounts and content takedown and online fraud and cybercrime complaints.
How the firm can help
We register the business and the brand, draft website terms, returns and privacy policies that hold up, review payment processor and marketplace agreements, negotiate courier and fulfilment contracts, handle regulatory and consumer complaints, and act against counterfeiters and impersonators.
See corporate and commercial, or contact the firm.