Starting an Online Store in Bosnia and Herzegovina: What You Need

The short answer: before an online store in Bosnia and Herzegovina takes its first order, you need a business registered for distance selling, a site that gives customers the information consumer law requires, terms of sale with a withdrawal and returns policy, a privacy policy under the new data protection law, an agreed way of issuing invoices and fiscal receipts, and at least one way to pay and one way to deliver. Most of it is paperwork rather than code, and most of it takes longer than expected.

What makes BiH different is that some rules are set at state level and some by the Federation of BiH, Republika Srpska and Brčko District, and they do not always match. Below is a checklist to go through before launch, based on laws we checked in October 2026. Your accountant and lawyer confirm the details for your business.

Register the business for online sales

In the BiH classification of activities (KD BiH 2010), online retail has its own class, 47.91, retail sale via mail order or the internet. Check with your accountant that it is among your registered activities.

In the Federation, the Law on Internal Trade adopted in 2024 allows only a trader registered for distance selling to run an online store. The trader needs premises for administration, a suitable warehouse and sanitary facilities, although a dropshipping seller, whose supplier ships directly to the customer, needs no warehouse of its own. Every online seller must keep these details permanently visible:

• the name under which the business is registered, and the address of its seat
• the name of the register and the registration number
• the tax identification number and, if registered for VAT, the VAT number
• a phone number and an email address for direct contact

Republika Srpska and Brčko District have their own trade rules; ask your accountant what they require.

What consumer law asks of an online store

According to the Federal Ministry of Trade, the Federation and Brčko District rely on the state Law on Consumer Protection in BiH (Official Gazette of BiH 25/06 and 88/15), while Republika Srpska applies its own and has a new Law on Consumer Protection from November 2025 (Official Gazette of RS 101/25). The Federation is preparing its own consumer protection law and a law on electronic commerce; as far as we could find, neither had been adopted when we checked, so look them up before you launch.

Under the state law, before a customer orders you must tell them:

• who you are: name, registration number, full address, tax number, phone and email
• the product’s name and main characteristics
• the price including all taxes, and any other costs such as delivery
• the payment and delivery methods and the expected delivery time
• the guarantee, after-sales service and the conditions for cancelling the contract
• the right to withdraw and the withdrawal period
• how long the offer or price is valid, and which court and law apply in a dispute

The customer must also receive this in writing or another durable form, at the latest on delivery, which in practice means an order confirmation email. The state law also says you should deliver within 15 days of the order (the RS law sets 30 days), and that you may not contact consumers individually by phone or email without their prior consent, which matters for newsletters.

Withdrawal, returns and complaints

Under the state law, a customer can withdraw from a distance purchase within 15 days of receiving the product, without giving a reason. They pay only the cost of returning it, and you must refund them within 15 days of receiving their written notice. If you never gave them the required information, the period becomes three months. Under the new RS law, both periods are 14 days, and missing information extends the withdrawal period to a year.

Both laws list exceptions, such as goods made to the customer’s specification, goods that by their nature cannot be returned, audio, video and software the customer has opened or used, and newspapers and magazines. Write the ones that apply into your terms, without stretching them.

A complaint about a faulty product is a separate right. If you dispute one, the state law gives you eight days to reply in writing. The RS law requires a written reply to every complaint within eight days, and a complaints book that also records complaints received by email.

Terms of sale, privacy policy and cookies

You need terms of sale, a privacy policy and a cookie notice, and payment providers check them before switching on cards. Texts copied from another store or country tend to cite the wrong law.

The privacy policy now has to follow the new Law on Personal Data Protection (Official Gazette of BiH 12/25). According to the Agency for Personal Data Protection, it was published on 28 February 2025 and has applied since October 2025. The Agency lists appointing a data protection officer, publishing privacy rules and keeping records of processing among the obligations to prepare for; ask your lawyer which apply to you. The policy should say what you collect at checkout, why, who receives it, how long you keep it and how customers can exercise their rights. For cookies, the safe default is to load analytics and advertising tags only after the visitor agrees.

Invoices, fiscal receipts and VAT

Fiscal rules are set by the entities. In the Federation, a new Law on Fiscalisation of Transactions (Official Gazette of FBiH 9/26) was adopted in early 2026. It starts to apply once its bylaws and technical system are in place, at the latest 18 months after it came into force, with further transition periods; until then, the old Law on Fiscal Systems applies. Under the new law, a card payment counts as a cash payment for fiscal purposes and a bank transfer does not, and an online store may send the fiscal receipt electronically instead of printing it. Republika Srpska and Brčko District have their own fiscal rules.

Before the build starts, ask your accountant which orders need a fiscal receipt for each payment method, who issues it and when, and how order data should reach your accounting software.

VAT is the same across the country. The rate is 17%, and the VAT registration threshold is 100,000 KM of taxable turnover, raised from 50,000 KM in December 2023, according to the Indirect Taxation Authority. Under the state consumer law, the prices you show consumers must include all taxes.

Payments

Most stores in BiH offer three ways to pay:

• Cards, through a payment gateway such as Monri or WSPay and a contract with an acquiring bank. Approval takes time, so apply early.
• Cash on delivery, which many customers prefer. Check the courier’s fee and how quickly the money reaches you.
• Bank transfer against a pro forma invoice, for larger orders and business customers.

Stripe is not available to businesses registered in BiH. Our article on card payments for online stores in BiH explains how Monri and WSPay work and what they ask for.

Delivery

You can work with the public postal operators, private courier companies or both. Compare more than the price per parcel:

• the cash on delivery fee, and how often the money is paid out
• pickup from your premises and the cut-off time for same-day dispatch
• tracking that the store can show the customer
• how returns work and who pays for them

Show the delivery cost and time on product pages and at checkout, because customers must know them before ordering.

Product data and photos

The catalogue usually takes longer than the store. For every product you need a name, its main characteristics, a price, stock, variants, a delivery weight and consistent photos, prepared early in a spreadsheet, because that is what gets imported. Make the store usable for everyone, too: our free accessibility checker shows where a page stands.

How long it takes to launch

With us, an online store takes 6–12 weeks to build; our article on how long it takes to build a website explains what moves the date. The steps above run alongside the build:

• First week: registration checked, invoices and fiscal receipts agreed with your accountant, card payment application sent.
• First month: legal texts from your lawyer, a courier contract, the product spreadsheet under way.
• Build: products imported early, payments and delivery tested on the staging store.
• Before launch: test orders with every payment and delivery method, including a refund and a return.

What we do, and what we don’t

We build online stores and integrate Stripe, Monri and WSPay alongside cash on delivery and bank transfer. We do not write legal texts or give tax advice, but we put what the law asks for in the right place and tell you early what to ask your lawyer and accountant. Payment and delivery contracts are in your company’s name.

Our custom online stores start from €3,000. After a short call you receive the final price and timeline in writing; the price does not change and nothing is added on top. Try our cost calculator, read our guide to what an online store costs, or see online store development.

This article is general information based on the laws and official sources we checked in October 2026, not legal or tax advice. Laws change, so confirm the details with your lawyer and accountant before you launch.