How to sell handmade products in the UAE

The four ways makers sell here

Almost every maker in the UAE sells through some mix of these four routes. None of them is wrong; they suit different stages.

1. Weekend markets and pop-ups. You pay for a table, you stand behind it, you meet buyers face to face. Good for feedback and for your first hundred customers. Hard to scale: your income is capped by the hours you can stand there.
2. Instagram and WhatsApp. Free, and where most UAE makers started. Every sale is a conversation: a message, a bank transfer or a payment link, then a courier you book yourself. It works until it takes over your evenings.
3. Your own online shop. Full control, full responsibility: the website, payments, delivery, returns, photography and the traffic to make any of it worthwhile. Most makers find the traffic is the hard part.
4. A curated marketplace. Your pieces sit beside other makers' work in a shop that already has buyers, photography, delivery and customer service. You give up a share of the price in return. This is what Trove is.

What Trove does for a maker

Trove is a curated marketplace for handmade pieces and creative services, open to makers in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. It works like a shop, not a listing site:

• Nothing up front. No listing fee, no subscription, no photography bill.
• You set the price and keep 60% of it. Trove buys each piece from you and resells it to the customer, so the customer deals with Trove for payment, delivery and returns, and you deal with Trove alone.
• Photography and collection. Trove photographs your pieces and collects them when they sell.
• Payouts fortnightly, every other Tuesday.
• A real person reviews every application, and every shop is approved before it goes live. Read how curation works.

The full terms are in the Seller Agreement, written in plain English. If you also offer services, such as workshops, commissions or repairs, one account covers both: see the Services Marketplace.

Do I need a licence to sell handmade work in the UAE?

This is the question every maker asks, so here is the honest answer: it depends on where you live, how much you sell and how you sell it. The rules are set by each emirate and they change, so treat this as a map, not legal advice.

• Dubai offers the e-Trader licence through the Department of Economy and Tourism for people selling online and through social media from home.
• Abu Dhabi has the Tajer Abu Dhabi licence for home-based businesses through its Department of Economic Development.
• Sharjah runs a home-business licence through its Economic Development Department.
• Free zones such as Shams, RAKEZ and twofour54 issue freelance permits that suit creative work.

Two numbers worth knowing for later: VAT registration becomes mandatory at AED 375,000 of taxable turnover in a year, and corporate tax has its own rules. When you get anywhere near those, speak to an accountant.

On Trove, the Seller Agreement explains when a licence becomes a condition of selling. In short, makers can start without one and Trove points to the licence step once a shop's paid sales pass AED 12,000 in a trailing 30 days. Makers who already hold a licence can add it at application. Trove also runs an identity check on every maker, which protects buyers and makers alike.

Pricing handmade work

The commonest mistake is pricing by what feels affordable. Price by what it costs you:

1. Materials, including the ones you waste.
2. Your hours, at a rate you would accept from an employer.
3. Overheads: kiln electricity, studio rent, packaging, tools divided across pieces.
4. The channel's share. On a marketplace that keeps 40%, set your list price so that 60% of it still pays you properly.

If the number feels high, the answer is rarely to lower it. It is to make the piece more desirable, explain the work in the description, or make a smaller version for the lower price point.

Photography sells the piece

Online, the photo is the piece. Natural light, a plain background, one shot that shows scale (a hand, a table) and one that shows the detail. On Trove, photography is part of what Trove does for you, so an honest phone photo is enough for the application.

Delivery and returns in the UAE

Buyers here expect card payment, delivery to the door and a clear returns policy. If you sell on your own, you book the courier, chase the driver and refund by bank transfer. On Trove, delivery across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah is handled by Trove (AED 30 to the buyer on orders up to AED 200, free above), and buyers have 15 days to ask for a return under the Delivery & Returns policy, which also explains how returns work for the maker.

A sensible plan for your first year

• Months 1 to 3: sell through a curated marketplace and your own Instagram. Learn which pieces sell and at what price.
• Months 3 to 6: do one or two markets to meet buyers and hear what they say about your work.
• Months 6 to 12: if sales are steady, sort the licence that fits your emirate, and decide whether your own shop is worth the extra work.

Ready? Apply to sell on Trove. Applications are reviewed by a real person, usually within a day or two.