How to Start an Online Business in Bangladesh: Step-by-Step Guide

Thousands of people in Bangladesh sell online today: students selling handmade jewellery, mothers running home-made food pages, young men selling gadget accessories from a small room in Chattogram. If you are wondering how to start an online business in Bangladesh, the good news is that the tools are cheap and the steps are clear. The hard part is doing them in the right order and not wasting money early.

This guide walks you through the whole path, from choosing a product to keeping records of your first hundred orders. Every step is written for a Bangladeshi seller: Taka budgets, Facebook, cash on delivery and courier delivery inside and outside Dhaka.

Step 1: Choose a product and a reliable source

Pick a product people already buy

Most new sellers fail not because of marketing but because of the product. Before you spend money, answer three questions honestly:

• Do people already buy this online? Search Facebook and Daraz for the product. If you find many active pages and listings, there is demand. If you find none, there may be a reason.
• Can you make a profit after delivery and returns? A ৳250 product with a ৳120 delivery charge and some returned parcels leaves very little. Products in the ৳800 to ৳3,000 range usually give more room.
• Can you deliver it safely? Glass, liquids and fresh food need careful packing. Clothing, accessories and cosmetics travel well.

It helps to start with something you understand. If you know fabric, sell sarees or three-pieces. If you cook well, start a home-made food page. Knowledge lets you answer customer questions with confidence, and that confidence sells.

If you are still deciding, our list of online business ideas in Bangladesh compares 15 low-investment options with their pros and cons.

Find a supplier you can trust

Where your product comes from decides your margin and your reputation. Common sources for Bangladeshi online sellers are:

• Wholesale markets. Islampur and Chawkbazar in Dhaka, Reazuddin Bazar in Chattogram, and local wholesale markets in every divisional city. Prices are lower if you buy in quantity and bargain.
• Local makers. Weavers, tailors, artisans and home cooks. This gives you unique products and a story to tell.
• Importers and distributors. Common for gadgets and cosmetics. Ask for proof that the product is genuine, and check expiry dates for anything you put on skin.
• Making it yourself. Food, handicrafts, printed items and clothing. Highest margin, but limited by your time.

Buy a small first batch. Check the quality of every piece before you photograph it. If you find defects, you want to find them before a customer in Sylhet does.

Step 2: Plan your starting budget in Taka

You don't need lakhs to start, but you do need a plan. Here is a hypothetical starting budget for a small clothing page. Your numbers will be different, so use it as a template, not a quote.

Three rules keep you safe in the first months:

1. Keep a buffer. Returned parcels, damaged items and slow-selling designs will happen.
2. Don't mix money. Keep business money in a separate bKash or bank account so you can see if you are making a profit.
3. Reinvest before you expand. Put early profit back into the products that sold, not into new categories.

Work out your price before you post

Pricing is where many new pages lose money without noticing. Suppose you buy a three-piece for ৳900 and sell it for ৳1,450, with the customer paying the delivery charge separately. Packaging costs ৳20, and your ads cost about ৳150 per order on average. That leaves roughly ৳380 per piece.

Now imagine one parcel in ten is refused at the door. You pay the courier for that trip, and sometimes for the return, and the piece may come back creased or damaged. That cost comes out of the profit on the other nine. Before you post any product, write down its full cost, including a share for returns, and check the price still leaves a margin you are happy with.

Step 3: Set up your Facebook Page and a simple website

Your Facebook Page

For most Bangladeshi shoppers, Facebook is where they discover new shops. Set up your Page properly from the start:

• Name: short, easy to pronounce, and the same name you will use for your website and packaging.
• Profile photo and cover: a clean logo and a cover photo that shows what you sell.
• About section: what you sell, your delivery areas, delivery time, and how payment works.
• Contact: a phone number, WhatsApp, and Messenger turned on.
• Pinned post: your best products, prices and how to order.

Post regularly with real photos and clear prices. Shoppers in Bangladesh are tired of "price inbox" posts; showing the price openly saves you hundreds of repetitive messages and builds trust.

A simple website for orders

At first, you can take orders in Messenger. But as orders grow, chat-based ordering creates problems: incomplete addresses, wrong phone numbers, the same price question asked again and again, and no record of who ordered what.

A small store website fixes this. Customers see every product with price and stock, choose Inside Dhaka or Outside Dhaka, and enter their name, phone and address in one form. You get a numbered order instead of a chat thread. Read why a Facebook Page and a website work better together for a detailed comparison.

You don't need a developer. A hosted store builder lets you set up a shop in an afternoon. Our guide to creating an e-commerce website in Bangladesh covers the full process, including domains and design.

Step 4: Plan delivery and how customers will pay

Delivery inside and outside Dhaka

Most online shops use a courier service with a merchant account. The courier picks up parcels from you, delivers them and collects cash from the customer, then pays you after deducting their charges. Compare couriers on:

• Coverage in the districts where your customers live
• Delivery time inside Dhaka and outside Dhaka
• Their delivery charge and cash on delivery charge (check each courier's current rate card)
• How often and how quickly they pay you
• How they handle returns

Our guide to choosing a courier service in Bangladesh explains what to ask before you sign up. Decide your own delivery charge to the customer too, for example one amount inside Dhaka and a higher one outside Dhaka, and show it clearly before the customer orders.

Payment: cash on delivery first

Cash on delivery (COD) is still the way most Bangladeshi customers prefer to pay. It builds trust for a new shop, but it also brings fake orders and refused parcels. Simple habits reduce the damage:

• Call or message to confirm orders from new customers before you ship.
• Ask for a small advance through bKash or Nagad on high-value or outside-Dhaka orders.
• Show the delivery charge and total clearly, so nobody is surprised at the door.
• Keep a list of phone numbers that refused parcels before, and ask them for an advance next time.

Step 5: Get your first customers

Your first ten customers are the hardest. Here is what works for most new sellers:

1. Start with people you know. Share your Page with friends, family and colleagues. Ask happy buyers for a review and a photo.
2. Post where your customers already are. Relevant Facebook groups often allow selling posts on certain days. Follow each group's rules.
3. Run a small, focused ad. Promote one or two best products to a specific area and age group. Test with a small daily budget before increasing.
4. Plan around seasons. Eid, Puja, Pohela Boishakh, winter and wedding season change what people buy. Stock up and post early.
5. Reply fast. A customer who waits an hour for a price often buys from someone else. Use saved replies, or a website chat assistant, so nobody waits.
6. Ask for repeat orders. Put a small card in each parcel with your Page name and website link.

When you are ready to grow, our guide on increasing online sales in Bangladesh covers ads, offers and repeat customers in more depth.

Step 6: Keep records and make it official

Simple record keeping

You don't need accounting software on day one, but you do need records. A notebook or a simple spreadsheet with these columns is enough:

• Date, order number, customer name and phone
• Product, quantity and selling price
• Delivery area and delivery charge
• Status: confirmed, delivered, returned or cancelled
• Cash received from the courier and the date

Once a month, add up sales, product cost, delivery costs, ad spend and returns. That one number, profit, tells you whether to continue, change the product or raise prices. Track stock too, so you never sell something you don't have: write down how many pieces of each design and size you have, and update it the moment an order is confirmed or a parcel comes back.

Trade license, e-TIN and DBID

When your business is running regularly, make it official. Most online sellers need a trade license from their local authority (city corporation, paurashava or union parishad), an e-TIN from the National Board of Revenue, and a DBID (Digital Business Identity) for online businesses. These documents help you open a business bank account and are usually requested when you apply for a payment gateway. Read our detailed guide on trade license and DBID for online business.

Common mistakes new online sellers make

• Buying too much stock at once. Test with a small batch, then reorder what sells.
• Copying another page's photos. Customers notice, and it destroys trust. Take your own photos.
• Hiding prices. "Price inbox" posts lose buyers who don't want to wait.
• Ignoring returns in your pricing. Build the cost of some returned parcels into your margin.
• Not confirming orders. A quick call before shipping saves delivery charges on fake orders.
• Spending on ads before the basics are ready. Fix photos, prices and delivery first, then advertise.

Start selling with EasyMall

EasyMall is built for Bangladeshi sellers starting out online. You can:

• Get a store website on a free yourshop.easymall.app address the moment you sign up, and connect your own domain later.
• Add products with photos, prices, sale prices, stock and categories, and remove photo backgrounds for free.
• Take cash on delivery orders with Inside Dhaka and Outside Dhaka delivery charges, plus an optional free-delivery amount.
• Manage numbered orders from pending to delivered, with stock updated automatically.
• Turn on a website chat assistant that answers customers in Bangla, Banglish or English from your own product information.

Courier booking and online payments with bKash and Nagad are coming soon. You can create your free store website, free forever with no card or bKash needed.