Guide
How to open an online store in Iraq: payments, delivery and cost
By Kawn team
To open an online store in Iraq you need products you can deliver, a store where customers can see prices and order, a way to get paid (cash on delivery, ZainCash or Qi Card) and a courier you trust. This guide walks through each step. It is written by Kawn, a Baghdad studio that builds online stores from 1,800,000 IQD.
1. Decide what to sell online
Start with what you already sell well. Products that photograph well, have a clear price and travel safely in a bag or a box are the easiest to sell online: perfume, clothes, accessories, cosmetics, home goods, sweets and packaged food. Large or fragile items can work too, but delivery costs more and returns are harder.
Keep the first catalogue small. Twenty products with good photos, a short description and a real price sell better than two hundred products with blurry photos and "price in DM". You can add more once orders are coming in.
Write down three things for every product before you build anything: the price, what is included, and how long delivery takes. Customers ask these questions first, and the answers belong on the product page.
Good photos do most of the selling. Use daylight from a window, a plain background and the same angle for every product, and show the real size next to something familiar. A phone camera is enough. Customers who cannot touch a product rely on the photo, so a clear one saves you many questions and returns.
2. Instagram or your own online store?
Instagram is where many Iraqi businesses find their first customers, and it stays useful for showing products and reaching new people. The problems start when orders grow: prices are hidden in messages, the same questions repeat all day, orders are spread over chats and nothing is organised.
Your own store fixes the ordering part. Every product has a page with its price, the customer adds what they want to a cart and sends a complete order with name, phone and area. You get the order in one place and you can answer faster.
You do not have to choose one. The best setup for most sellers is both: Instagram to be seen, the store to take orders. Put the store link in your bio, in your story highlights and in your replies.
A store also works when you are asleep. Customers can browse at night, choose, and send the order; you confirm it in the morning. And because every product has its own page and price, people searching on Google for what you sell can find your store, which an Instagram post rarely achieves.
- Instagram only: free to start, but prices and orders live in messages.
- Your own store: a one-time cost and a yearly renewal, but orders arrive complete and every product can be found on Google.
- Both: Instagram brings visitors, the store turns them into orders.
3. Payment options in Iraq
Cash on delivery is still how most online orders in Iraq are paid. Customers trust it because they see the product before they pay. Your store should always offer it, at least at the start.
ZainCash is a mobile wallet. Customers who already use it can pay at checkout and confirm with a one-time code, and the order is marked paid without anyone counting cash. To accept it, your business needs its own ZainCash merchant account.
Qi Card is a payment card that many people in Iraq carry. Online, the customer pays on Qi Card's secure page with 3D Secure confirmation, and your store receives the result automatically. Like ZainCash, it needs a merchant account in your business's name.
Online payment is growing, and offering ZainCash and Qi Card next to cash on delivery lets each customer pay the way they prefer. Paid orders are also less likely to be refused at the door.
Whatever the payment method, confirm cash orders before you send them. A short WhatsApp message with the order, the total including delivery and the expected day lets the customer correct the address and reminds them to have the cash ready.
4. Delivery
Most online stores in Iraq use a local delivery company rather than their own drivers. The courier picks up the order, delivers it, collects the cash when the order is cash on delivery, and pays you later after deducting a delivery fee.
Before you launch, agree on four things with your courier: the fee inside your city and to other provinces, how fast they deliver, when they pay you the collected cash, and what happens when a customer refuses an order.
Show the delivery fee and the expected delivery time clearly in your store, before the customer orders. Surprises at the door are the main reason cash orders get refused.
Pack every order as if it were a gift: a sturdy box or bag, the item protected, and a small card with your store name and link. Good packaging reduces damage on the road, and the card brings the customer back to your store instead of to a chat.
5. How much does an online store cost?
The cost has two parts: building the store once, and a yearly renewal for the domain, hosting and email. With Kawn, the Store package starts from 1,800,000 IQD with a renewal of 300,000 IQD per year. ZainCash and Qi Card integration is an add-on, quoted separately.
If you are not ready for a full store, a one-page site with a WhatsApp button costs 500,000 IQD and can grow into a store later. A store app for Android and iPhone is a separate project, from 3,500,000 IQD.
Also count the costs around the store: product photos, the courier's fee per order, and the provider fees on online payments.
What changes the price of the store itself is mostly its size and its features: how many products and categories, whether you want ZainCash and Qi Card, and whether you also need an app. Send us your product list and we tell you what fits before you pay anything.
6. Checklist before you open an online store in Iraq
- Your first products, each with a clear photo, a price and a short description
- A domain name in your business's name
- Cash on delivery set up, with your delivery fee and time shown in the store
- A courier agreement: fees, delivery time, cash collection and returns
- A ZainCash or Qi Card merchant account, if you want online payment
- A WhatsApp number that answers orders quickly
- Your store link in your Instagram bio and story highlights
- A test order placed from your own phone before you announce the store
Start small, deliver well and add products as orders grow. Check every month what sold and what did not; it tells you what to add next. When you are ready for your own store, we can help.