E-Commerce Act 2081 (2025) · Compliance
तपाईंको अनलाइन व्यवसायलाई अब डोमेन चाहिन्छ।
Nepal's E-Commerce Act 2081 made it mandatory. Here's the simplest way to comply.
If you sell on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or TikTok, this page is for you. It takes about four minutes to read, and the whole compliance path costs less than one day's sales.
- eSewa · Khalti · Bank
- Free WHOIS privacy
- Live in 5 minutes
The listing deadline was 2 Shrawan 2082 (18 July 2025).
Businesses already selling online when the Act commenced were re-notified to register by that date; new sellers must register before they begin trading. Fines run NPR 20,000–100,000 for operating without your own platform, without a portal listing, or without the required disclosures. Being late is fixable — start with the domain, then apply.
The law, in plain language
What the E-Commerce Act 2081 actually says
Five points cover almost everything a small online seller needs to know. Section numbers are cited so you can check us.
Your business has to be registered before it can sell online
Section 3Only a firm, company, or entity already registered and licensed under existing law may conduct e-commerce. E-commerce registration sits on top of ordinary business registration and PAN/VAT — not instead of it.
You need your own website — that means a domain
Section 4Every business conducting e-commerce must operate through its own electronic platform (a website or app). Micro and cottage enterprises are the stated exception and may sell through someone else's platform. A website of your own starts with a domain name.
You must be listed on the government e-commerce portal
Section 5Registration ("listing") happens on the e-commerce portal maintained by the Department of Commerce, Supply and Consumer Protection. Businesses already trading when the Act commenced were given three months. The Department must confirm your listing within seven days of a complete application.
Your site must display specific details
Sections 4 & 6Business name, registration certificate number, PAN or VAT number, office and outlet addresses, customer-service contact, a grievance contact, and your portal listing number once issued. Any change has to be updated within 48 hours.
The deadline has already passed, and there are fines
Sections 4, 5, 6The Department re-notified existing online businesses to list by 2 Shrawan 2082 (18 July 2025). New sellers must register before they start trading. Operating without your own platform, without a portal listing, or without the required disclosures each carry a fine of NPR 20,000–100,000.
Source: Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) Act, 2081 (2025), Sections 3–6, read with the Department of Commerce, Supply and Consumer Protection notice dated 2 Shrawan 2082 (18 July 2025). We are a domain registrar, not a law firm — this is a plain-language summary, not legal advice. For anything specific to your business, talk to a licensed advocate or your accountant.
The whole checklist
What you actually need — three things
Not an agency. Not a redesign. Not a lakh. One paid item, two free ones.
A domain name
रू199 – रू1,499 / year
This is your address on the internet — yourshop.com. It is the one piece you cannot get for free instantly, and it is the cheapest part of the whole exercise. Registered in about five minutes, paid with eSewa or Khalti, live the same day.
We do this part.
A basic website
Free
One page is enough to satisfy the disclosure rules: who you are, your registration and PAN/VAT numbers, your address, how to contact you, and how to complain. Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, and GitHub Pages all host a one-page site free forever. Point your domain at it from your client panel.
No monthly hosting bill required.
Register on the government portal
Free
Apply for listing on the Department of Commerce, Supply and Consumer Protection e-commerce portal. Keep your registration certificate, PAN/VAT number, website address, and contact details ready. The Department confirms a complete application within seven days, and you then display the listing number on your site.
Do this after your site is live.
Straight talk
Why almost every seller is confused right now
If you feel behind, it is not because you missed something obvious. Four reasons this landed badly.
The law is written in legal Nepali
The Act uses terms like "विद्युतीय व्यापारिक प्लेटफर्म" and "सूचीकरण". Nothing in it says "you need to buy a domain" in plain language, so most sellers read the headlines, panic, and then assume a lawyer or an agency is unavoidable.
Most sellers have never built anything
If your shop has always been a Facebook page and a Khalti QR, you have never touched DNS, a registrar panel, or a hosting dashboard. That is normal. Nothing in the compliance path actually requires you to write code.
Nobody explains domain vs hosting
A domain is the address (रू199–1,499 a year). Hosting is the land the shop sits on (free is fine for one page). Two separate things, and agencies quoting a single bundled price rarely tell you which part costs what.
They think it costs lakhs
The quotes going around — रू40,000, रू80,000 for a "compliant e-commerce website" — are for custom builds nobody asked you to buy. The legal minimum is a domain plus a free one-page site. First year: under रू200 if you take .online.
Cheapest path to compliance
What the domain part costs
We publish the renewal price next to the first-year price, because that is the number that actually decides which domain is cheapest for you. रू199 is the lowest legal minimum for year one; .com is cheaper from year two onward and reads as a real business to customers.
| Domain | First year | Renews at | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| .online | रू199.00 | रू4,846.40 | Cheapest legal minimum — but check the renewal | Register |
| .xyz | रू318.40 | रू2,158.40 | Cheap first year, also renews higher | Register |
| .org | रू1,199 | रू1,899 | Good for co-operatives, NGOs, communities | Register |
| .com | रू1,499 | रू1,799 | Recommended — customers trust it, and the renewal is flat | Register |
Free WHOIS privacy
Included on every eligible domain at no charge, so your home address and phone number stay off public WHOIS records. The Act asks you to publish business contact details on your site — it does not ask you to publish your personal ones in WHOIS.
Local payment only
eSewa, Khalti, and bank transfer. No international credit card, no dollar conversion, no asking a relative abroad to pay for you — which is the single most common reason Nepali sellers give up halfway through registering a domain.
No setup fee
The price you see is the price you pay, and the domain is active within minutes of payment clearing. Full catalogue and renewal figures on our pricing page.
प्रश्नोत्तर · FAQ
The questions sellers keep asking us
के म Facebook बाट बेच्दा पनि domain चाहिन्छ?
Do I need a domain even if I only sell from Facebook?
यदि तपाईं व्यवसायको रूपमा अनलाइन बेच्नुहुन्छ भने हो — ऐनको दफा ४ अनुसार आफ्नै वेबसाइट वा एप हुनुपर्छ, र वेबसाइटको सुरुवात domain बाट हुन्छ। साना (घरेलु/लघु) उद्यमले अरूको प्लेटफर्म प्रयोग गर्न पाउने छुट छ। Facebook मा विज्ञापन मात्र गरी सबै किनबेच chat मा हुने अवस्थालाई ऐनले प्रत्यक्ष नसमेट्ने भन्ने बहस छ, तर विभागको सूचनाले सबै अनलाइन बेच्नेलाई सूचीकरण गर्न भनेको छ। रू199 तिरेर स्पष्ट पक्षमा बस्नु सजिलो छ।
If you sell as a business, yes. Section 4 requires your own electronic platform, and a website begins with a domain. Micro and cottage enterprises may use a third party's platform instead. There is a genuine open question about sellers who only advertise on Facebook and close every sale in DMs — read literally, the Act's definition may not capture that. But the Department's notices ask all online sellers to list, and enforcement practice is not settled. रू199 to be clearly on the right side of it is the cheaper bet.
कति खर्च लाग्छ?
How much does compliance actually cost?
domain रू199/वर्ष देखि सुरु (.online), .com रू1,499/वर्ष। वेबसाइट Cloudflare Pages जस्तो free hosting मा राख्न सकिन्छ, र सरकारी portal सूचीकरण निःशुल्क छ। त्यसैले पहिलो वर्षको न्यूनतम खर्च रू199 हो। ध्यान दिनुहोस् — .online को नवीकरण रू4,846.40 हुन्छ, त्यसैले लामो समयका लागि .com सस्तो पर्छ।
Domains start at रू199/year for .online and रू1,499/year for .com. Hosting a one-page site is free on Cloudflare Pages or similar, and portal listing itself costs nothing — so the legal minimum for year one is रू199. Note that .online renews at रू4,846.40, so over two or more years .com is genuinely cheaper.
म technical छैन, के गर्ने?
I'm not technical at all. What do I do?
तीन काम मात्र: (१) domain खरिद गर्नुहोस् — eSewa वा Khalti बाट, ५ मिनेट; (२) Cloudflare Pages, Netlify वा कुनै free site builder मा एक पाना बनाउनुहोस् जहाँ व्यवसायको नाम, दर्ता नम्बर, PAN/VAT, ठेगाना र सम्पर्क लेखिएको हो; (३) सरकारी e-commerce portal मा सूचीकरणको निवेदन दिनुहोस्। कोडिङ चाहिँदैन। domain को nameserver मिलाउनुपर्दा हामीलाई सोध्नुहोस्।
Three things only. Register a domain (five minutes, eSewa or Khalti). Build one page on a free builder showing your business name, registration number, PAN/VAT, address, and contact details. Then apply for listing on the government e-commerce portal. No coding anywhere in that list. If pointing the domain at your page confuses you, ask us and we will set the records.
के .com.np free domain काम गर्छ?
Does the free .com.np domain work for this?
हो, काम गर्छ — र यो निःशुल्क छ। तर Mercantile मार्फत कागजात प्रमाणीकरण गर्नुपर्छ र स्वीकृति आउन दिन वा हप्ता लाग्न सक्छ। म्याद सकिसकेको अवस्थामा हतार छ भने भुक्तानी गरिने domain तुरुन्तै सक्रिय हुन्छ। दुवै विकल्प वैध हुन्।
Yes, and it is free. But .com.np goes through document verification at Mercantile Communications and approval can take days or weeks. Both options are legally fine — a paid domain is simply instant, which matters if the deadline has already passed for you. Our .com.np guide covers eligibility.
PAN चाहिन्छ?
Do I need a PAN?
हो। सरकारी e-commerce portal मा सूचीकरण गर्दा PAN वा VAT नम्बर अनिवार्य रूपमा माग्छ, र दफा ४ अनुसार त्यही नम्बर वेबसाइटमा देखाउनुपर्छ। ऐनको दफा ३ अनुसार पहिले व्यवसाय दर्ता हुनुपर्छ, त्यसपछि मात्र अनलाइन बेच्न पाइन्छ। domain खरिद गर्न PAN चाहिँदैन।
Yes. The portal application asks for your PAN or VAT number, and Section 4 requires that same number to be displayed on your site. Section 3 means the business must be registered before it sells online at all. You do not need a PAN to buy a domain from us — only for the portal step.
Get compliant in 5 minutes
Search a name, pay with eSewa or Khalti, and your domain is live. Put up a one-page site with your business details, then apply for your portal listing. That is the entire legal minimum — and step one starts at रू199.
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