Getting an e-commerce licence in Qatar is only half the job. Ministerial Decision No. 25 of 2026, the rules behind the QAR 500 licence MoCI launched in September, also sets out what licensed sellers must show their customers. According to published legal summaries of the Decision, licensed platforms need to clearly display their commercial registration and e-commerce licence details, contact information and customer-service channels, product and service information, return and exchange policies, and consumer complaint procedures.
None of that is difficult, but it's much easier to design into a store than to retrofit. This checklist turns those obligations into concrete items on your website, and adds the good-practice details that make a store feel trustworthy.
Important: Odysense builds online stores; we are not a law firm. This is a practical build checklist based on published summaries, not legal advice. Have your policies and wording reviewed by a qualified adviser.
1. Business and licence details.
Customers should be able to see who they are buying from on every page. The usual place is the site footer, repeated on the contact or about page:
- Your registered business name as it appears on your commercial registration.
- Your commercial registration (CR) number.
- Your e-commerce licence number.
- The platform the licence covers. If you sell on several platforms, each one needs its own licence according to legal commentary, so make sure the right number appears in the right place.
2. Contact details and customer service.
The Decision expects clear contact information and customer-service channels. In practice, that means a contact page and a consistent set of channels shown across the site:
- A customer-service phone number and email address that are actually monitored.
- A WhatsApp Business number, if you support customers there — for many shoppers in Qatar it's the channel they reach for first.
- Your customer-service hours, and how quickly customers can expect a reply.
- A contact form for customers who prefer to write.
3. Product and service information.
Every product page should give customers what they need to make an informed decision before they pay:
- A clear name and description, with accurate photos.
- The price in Qatari riyals, and whether it includes any additional charges.
- Key specifications: sizes, materials, dimensions, ingredients or whatever applies to your category.
- Availability, and an honest delivery estimate.
- For services: what's included, how it's delivered and any conditions.
4. Delivery and the full price at checkout.
Surprises at checkout are the fastest way to lose a sale and a customer's trust. Show delivery fees, delivery areas and estimated times before payment, and make sure the order summary shows the full amount the customer will pay. Send an order confirmation, by email and ideally by WhatsApp, that repeats what was ordered, the total and how to get help.
5. Return and exchange policy.
Return and exchange policies are named explicitly in summaries of the Decision, so give them their own page, linked from the footer, product pages and checkout. A good policy page answers:
- Which items can be returned or exchanged, and any that can't, with the reason.
- The time window for returns and exchanges.
- The condition items must be in.
- How to start a return: the channel to use and the information to include.
- Who pays for return delivery, and how and when refunds are made.
6. Complaint procedure.
Customers should know what to do if something goes wrong and the normal customer-service route doesn't resolve it. Publish a short complaint procedure: how to raise a complaint, what information to include, how you acknowledge it, and the timeframe in which you aim to respond. Link it from the contact page and the footer.
7. Terms and privacy.
Alongside the items the Decision names, every serious store needs clear terms of sale and a privacy policy explaining what customer data you collect, why, and how it's protected. They protect you as much as the customer, and payment gateways commonly look for them when they review a merchant's website.
8. Arabic and English.
Qatar's shoppers read in both languages. Publishing your policies, product information and contact details in Arabic and English, with proper right-to-left layout for Arabic, makes them genuinely clear to every customer rather than technically present. If you add Arabic later, plan the structure now so it's a content task rather than a rebuild.
9. Social media shop profiles.
If you sell through Instagram, TikTok or other social channels, the same transparency applies there. Use your bio, highlights or pinned posts to show your business name and licence details, link to your store's policies, and make your customer-service channel obvious. Remember to check whether each platform needs its own licence.
10. The domain and the renewal date.
Two housekeeping items close the list. The September announcement requires a .qa or .com.qa domain registered through a CRA-approved provider, so make sure the store runs on it. And put the licence renewal date in your calendar, along with the domain renewal, so neither lapses unnoticed.
Quick checklist.
- Business name, CR number and e-commerce licence number in the footer.
- Contact page with phone, email, WhatsApp and service hours.
- Complete product information with prices in QAR.
- Delivery fees, areas and times shown before payment.
- Return and exchange policy page, linked from products and checkout.
- Published complaint procedure.
- Terms of sale and privacy policy.
- Policies and key information in Arabic and English.
- Licence details on every social selling profile.
- Store on a .qa or .com.qa domain; licence and domain renewals diarised.
Build it in from the start.
Every one of these items has a natural home in a well-designed store, and none of them should feel like small print added at the last minute. When Odysense builds an e-commerce store, the licence details, policy pages, customer-service channels and bilingual structure are part of the design from the first wireframe, and Store Portal, included free for the first year with every Odysense e-commerce build, keeps orders, invoices and customer records organised behind the scenes.
We build the store, not the licence, and we're not a law firm. But if you want a store that's ready for the new rules on day one, request a free technical consultation and we'll review what you have and what's missing.