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If you sell goods online in Thailand, there is no single "e-commerce licence" to apply for. Instead, an online seller runs into three separate rules: commercial registration with the Department of Business Development (DBD), direct-marketing registration with the Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB), and, for a foreigner, the Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542. Which of the three actually applies, and how much it costs you, depends on your business model — your own stock, dropshipping, a marketplace, or sales that never touch a Thai buyer.
In short
- There is no separate licence for "e-commerce". Three regimes apply instead, and most of the confusion online comes from blending them into one.
- Companies and registered partnerships have not needed commercial registration since 5 June 2024; individuals selling online still do, and so do unregistered ordinary partnerships.
- Retail is a restricted activity under the Foreign Business Act. A foreign-majority company or a foreign individual trading alone usually needs a Foreign Business Licence (FBL) for it.
- Dropshipping, marketplace sales and export-only sales raise the same questions as a shop with its own stock, but no official ruling says exactly how the Act applies to them.
- There is no official answer on running an online shop on a DTV visa. The question that matters is whether you are working in Thailand, which is a separate set of rules.
Is there a separate e-commerce licence?
No. What looks like one topic online is really three:
- Commercial registration with the DBD, a general requirement for doing business, not specific to e-commerce.
- Direct-marketing registration with the OCPB under the Direct Sales and Direct Marketing Act, which can cover online sales themselves — live-stream and direct-message selling are examples, not the whole boundary — unless a specific exemption applies.
- The Foreign Business Act, which decides who may own and run a retail business when a foreigner is involved.
The table below sorts the common online business models against these three tests, plus VAT and the visa question.
| Model | Commercial registration | 51/49 or an FBL | VAT | Visa and work permit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Own stock, sold from a Thai address | Company or registered partnership: none since June 2024. Individual: with the DBD within 30 days of the first sale | Retail sits on List 3; a foreign-majority company usually needs an FBL unless its capital clears the List 3 retail threshold — no official ruling confirms this online model counts as the same "retail" the List was written for | Register once turnover requires it | Working in the business needs a work permit |
| Dropshipping, no stock held in Thailand | Same rule as above | No official ruling — ask us before you structure it | Same VAT rule, plus the 2026 import duty and VAT on the goods you ship in | Same as above |
| Selling through a marketplace | Same rule as above; some large platforms may have reporting duties to the Revenue Department — check whether the rules cover your platform | No official ruling — ask us before you structure it | Same VAT rule | Same as above |
| Export-only sales, no Thai buyers | Same rule as above | No official ruling — ask us before you structure it | A different VAT treatment applies to exports | Same as above |
| Foreign individual trading alone, no company | Not confirmed whether a foreigner can register alone with the DBD — check with the registrar first | Retail is List 3: an FBL is normally needed for a foreigner trading alone | Personal income tax, and VAT above the threshold | A work permit is normally needed to run the shop yourself |
Registering an online shop with the DBD
Commercial registration is the general rule for doing business in Thailand, not an e-commerce rule. Since 5 June 2024, companies and registered partnerships no longer need it, including for online sales; an unregistered ordinary partnership still does. An individual who sells online still has to register with the DBD within 30 days of starting to sell. Missing the deadline carries a fine of up to THB 2,000, plus a fine of up to THB 100 for each day the failure continues.
This is where the two routes split in practice. A foreigner with a Thai company or registered partnership doesn't deal with this registration at all. A foreigner planning to sell personally, without a company, should check two things before starting: whether the Foreign Business Act allows a foreigner to trade retail goods alone, and whether DBD commercial registration is even open to a foreign individual — we have found no official answer on that second point. The exemption that covers companies does not by itself extend to an individual trading alone. If your shop is growing past a side project, registering a Thai company removes the commercial-registration question, though whether you need an FBL and how much capital that takes is a separate check.
E-commerce and the Foreign Business Act: 51/49 or an FBL
The Foreign Business Act treats a company as "foreign" once foreigners hold half or more of its capital. Retail trading is item 14 of List 3 of the Act, which means a foreign-majority company, or a foreign individual trading alone, needs a Foreign Business Licence (FBL) to run it — unless the company has at least THB 100 million of paid-up capital and at least THB 20 million for each store. Wholesale, item 15 of the same list, works the same way for a foreign-majority business: it stays restricted unless the company has at least THB 100 million of paid-up capital for each store.
An FBL carries a minimum capital of THB 2 million in general, or THB 3 million for List 2 and List 3 businesses, and the law gives the authority 60 days to decide, extendable by another 60. BOI promotion and, for US nationals, a Treaty of Amity certificate are the usual alternatives to an FBL, alongside a genuinely Thai-controlled company.
Where the rule gets genuinely unclear is online models themselves. Nothing in the published rules says whether dropshipping, a marketplace listing, or sales that never touch a Thai buyer count as the same "retail" the Act was written for. We have found no official ruling on this. Treating "I only sell online, so the Foreign Business Act doesn't apply to me" as settled is a risky assumption without checking it first. Our lawyers check whether your model falls under retail or wholesale, and whether your capital clears the threshold that would let you skip the FBL, before you commit to a structure.
Reviewing who actually owns and controls the business is also what the DBD now checks on the registration side: since 1 August 2026, under Order 2/2569, a company with foreign shareholders holding less than 50% of the capital, or with a foreign authorised director, files an investment explanation letter, three months of the Thai shareholders' bank statements and the company's own receiving-account statement; amending the registration later needs a separate Investment Confirmation Letter. Thai company registration with a lawyer covers how that file is put together; a typical situation showing those checks in practice is in DBD check: proving real shareholders.
Selling on Shopee and Lazada from Thailand
The account rules for selling on a given platform — who can register a seller account, what documents it asks for — are set by the platform, not by Thai law, and we don't cover them here. What Thai law does reach is the business behind the account: the same commercial-registration, OCPB and Foreign Business Act questions above apply whether you sell from your own site or through a marketplace. We have found no official ruling that treats a marketplace listing differently from a shop's own website.
One rule that may touch large platforms: some platforms with revenue above THB 1 billion a year are reported to have a duty to send each seller's revenue to the Revenue Department annually, though we have not read the underlying notification and which platforms it covers is not clear. Where it applies, it is a reporting duty on the platform, not a tax on you by itself, and it makes the income reported through that channel visible to the tax authority — it says nothing about income from a channel the rule doesn't cover. If you're unsure how your particular setup — your own stock plus marketplace sales, say — fits the rules above, send us a short description of it and we'll look at it.
VAT and tax for online sellers
A Thai company pays corporate income tax, at the standard rate or a lower SME rate if it qualifies, and registers for VAT once its turnover requires it; VAT itself stays at 7% until 30 September 2027. We are not publishing the exact VAT registration threshold on this page: it is a separate test from the OCPB exemption described below, and we want to confirm the current figure before we state it here. If you need it now, ask our team and we'll check it against your numbers.
That OCPB threshold, by contrast, is a different rule entirely and worth knowing on its own: individuals with up to THB 1.8 million a year of online revenue, and registered SMEs, are exempt from direct-marketing registration. Selling through live streams or direct messages are examples of what the OCPB treats as direct marketing, and plain online sales can fall under it too unless the exemption above applies; registering late or not at all can bring up to one year in prison or a fine of up to THB 100,000, plus a fine of up to THB 10,000 for each day the unregistered activity continues.
One change worth planning around if you dropship or import stock: from 1 January 2026, the Customs Department applies duty and VAT to all goods bought online from abroad, and the earlier exemption for shipments up to THB 1,500 ended (Public Relations Department). We are not publishing specific duty rates here, since the figures reported for different categories of goods don't agree with each other; the normal tariff for the goods plus 7% VAT is the safest way to plan a budget until we confirm a number for your product.
Can you run an online shop on a DTV?
There is no official answer, in either direction, to "can I run an online shop on a DTV visa". The question immigration and work-permit rules actually ask is whether you are working in Thailand, under the Foreign Workers Management Emergency Decree B.E. 2560 and the Department of Employment's rules, and a DTV does not change that test. If you are personally running the business from inside Thailand — sourcing stock, handling orders, managing the shop — our lawyers treat that as a question to check against the work-permit rules, not as something a visa category settles on its own. How to get a work permit in Thailand in 2026 sets out what counts as work and what a permit needs; Thailand work permit: Non-B and work permit services covers how we help with that step.
Whether your shop is still a side project or already pays your bills, we suggest checking the work-permit question before you start running it yourself in Thailand, not after an immigration officer asks it first.
What next
A practical order for most sellers: pick the business model (own stock, dropshipping, marketplace, export-only) before anything else, because it decides the next three steps. Then check where it sits under the Foreign Business Act — retail or wholesale, and whether your capital clears the threshold. Then handle commercial registration if you're trading alone, or company registration if you're not. Then register for VAT once your turnover requires it. Work permit questions come last, once you know whether you're personally working the business inside Thailand.
Our team answers within 24 hours and fixes the cost of the work before we start, so you know what a given route costs before you commit to it. A typical setup that combines company registration with a work permit, done without nominee shortcuts, is described in company and work permit in 6 weeks. If you're weighing whether to register a company at all, open a business in Thailand as a foreigner is where we start that conversation.
