Dropshipping in Pakistan: how it works on Daraz and Shopify, tax and real margins

Dropshipping in Pakistan means selling products you don’t stock: the customer orders from you, and a supplier ships to them. Locally, you resell through a supplier or reseller app on cash on delivery (COD); one app, Markaz, quotes about Rs 165 delivery plus a Rs 50 COD fee per order. The other route is a Shopify store with overseas suppliers, but Shopify Payments, Stripe and PayPal don’t support Pakistan. On domestic COD sales, filers have 2% income tax and 2% sales tax deducted.

How does dropshipping work in Pakistan?

There are two models, and they have little in common beyond not holding stock.

For the registration and tax basics that apply to any online shop, see how to start an e-commerce business in Pakistan. This guide covers what’s different when you don’t hold the stock.

How does local COD dropshipping work?

Reseller platforms such as Markaz list suppliers’ products. You pick a product, set your own price and share it. When a customer orders, you place the order on the platform, which delivers, collects the cash and pays you your margin.

What Markaz says about its own service, as of mid-2026:

• no joining fee and no minimum order, so you can order one unit for one customer
• COD in major cities including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Peshawar
• a 7-day return window for buyers
• delivery in about 3 to 5 days inside Pakistan, and about 10 to 17 days for products sourced from China

These are the company’s own claims; we haven’t tested them. We use Markaz as the example because it publishes its charges, not as a recommendation. Whatever platform you use, check the delivery and COD fee it shows before you confirm an order.

What are the real margins on COD dropshipping?

The price the customer pays at the door is the product price + delivery + COD fee + your profit. Markaz’s own example: an Rs 800 product with Rs 250 profit reaches the door at about Rs 1,265. It advises keeping at least 15% or Rs 150 of margin, because wholesale prices move.

The cost that decides your month is the refused parcel. When a customer refuses a COD parcel, it travels out and back, and nobody pays for those two trips except you or the platform, depending on its terms.

We couldn’t find published COD and return rates from TCS, Leopards, PostEx or Trax, or an independent figure for how many COD parcels are refused in Pakistan. Ask for a written rate card before you choose a courier.

Can I do dropshipping on Daraz?

We couldn’t confirm Daraz’s position. Its public seller pages don’t mention dropshipping, and its seller policies are published only inside Seller Center. Read them there before you list products you don’t hold.

Daraz charges no listing fee but takes a commission on each order by category. A copy of its list effective 1 June 2026, posted by a third party, shows 18.5% for fashion, 14.8% for kitchen and dining and 12.9% for mobile accessories. Add that to your supplier price and delivery, and thin dropshipping margins can disappear. For the seller sign-up process, see how to sell on Daraz.

How does Shopify dropshipping work from Pakistan?

Shopify describes dropshipping as selling without handling stock or shipping: the supplier sends orders straight to your customers. You stay responsible for customer service and order tracking, and for knowing the tax and customs rules where you sell.

What Shopify costs (Pakistan pricing page, October 2026): a 3-day free trial, then US$1 a month for 3 months, then US$25 a month on Basic (US$19 if paid yearly).

The payment problem. Shopify Payments isn’t available in Pakistan, and neither Stripe nor PayPal lists Pakistan as a supported country. So a Pakistani store has to use:

• Cash on delivery, for customers in Pakistan. Shopify treats it as a manual payment with no third-party transaction fee.
• A local gateway. Safepay charges 2.9% + Rs 30 per domestic card charge, plus 0.3% for international cards, and lists Shopify integrations.

Shopify also adds a third-party transaction fee when you don’t use Shopify Payments: 2% on Basic in the plan table served outside Pakistan (the Pakistan page doesn’t show the rate). For gateway choices, see Shopify payment gateways in Pakistan, and to weigh platforms, Daraz vs Shopify vs your own website.

What tax do I pay on dropshipping in Pakistan?

For sales to customers in Pakistan, the same e-commerce tax rules apply as to any online seller (FBR rates for tax year 2027). The bank or courier deducts tax from the gross amount before paying you:

For turnover up to Rs 20 crore a year, the income tax is final unless you opt out when filing (tax year 2027 onwards).

Registration. If you sell through a marketplace or a courier, you must register for income tax, and they aren’t allowed to serve you without an NTN. Sellers of goods ordered through a marketplace, website or app must also register for sales tax, except cottage industry and retailers who pay through their electricity bill. See how to get an NTN and sales tax registration.

What we couldn’t confirm:

• whether a reseller on an app that ships and collects in its own name counts as the seller for these rules (FBR’s circulars don’t address it)
• how FBR taxes international dropshipping, where goods go from a foreign supplier to a foreign customer without passing through Pakistan

Ask a tax adviser before you rely on either.

Do I need a course to start dropshipping?

No course is required by any rule we found, and we don’t recommend any. The costs worth knowing before you start are the ones above: delivery and COD fees, refused parcels, platform commissions, payment fees and tax.

If you build your own store brand, check the name is free first: see trademark search in Pakistan.

More guides: E-commerce & IT export, e-commerce export from Pakistan, how to become a filer, business structures in Pakistan.