F-commerce page selling

A parcel outside Dhaka costs Tk 135-150 in courier charge plus 1 percent COD. A refused parcel costs both legs. The return rate is the number that decides this business.

Last reviewed: 19 September 2026
Version 1

Starting capital: ৳15,000 – ৳2,00,000
Manpower: 1 – 3 people
First sale: 3 – 21 days
Break-even: 2 – 6 months
Kind of work: Online · Easy

About the business

Selling goods from a Facebook page and sending them by courier, with the customer paying cash on delivery. No shop rent and no signboard, so everyone assumes there are no costs. The costs are in two places: the courier and the returns. The courier rates are not a secret. Steadfast charges Tk 55 inside Dhaka up to one kilogram and Tk 135 city-to-city outside Dhaka, plus 1 percent of the amount collected on cash on delivery. RedX charges Tk 70 inside Dhaka and Tk 150 outside, with no COD fee inside Dhaka and 1 percent outside. So a Tk 500 dress sent outside Dhaka loses about Tk 140 before it reaches you. If the margin on it was Tk 150, that parcel earned Tk 10. And if the customer refuses the parcel, both legs of the fare are yours and the sale is zero. That makes the return rate - how many out of a hundred parcels come back - the number this business lives or dies on, and selling on Facebook without knowing it is accounting in the dark. e-CAB puts national parcel volume at 350,000 to 400,000 a day, so the field is crowded: you survive on product and trust, not on price.

Unit economics

Item	Range	Evidence
Monthly working capital	৳15,000 – ৳1,50,000	Editorial estimate
Selling price	৳600 – ৳2,500 / unit	Editorial estimate
Variable cost	৳55 – ৳150 / unit	Market quote
Gross margin	21% – 48%	Editorial estimate
Time to first revenue	3 – 21 days	Editorial estimate
Break-even time	2 – 6 months	Editorial estimate
Cash cycle	2 – 10 days	Editorial estimate
Waste / loss	8% – 20%	Editorial estimate
Daily capacity	5 – 40	Editorial estimate

What you need to start

A phone with a decent camera, a light source, packing material - poly bags, bubble wrap, tape - and a register or spreadsheet for orders.Equipment
Stock on hand. Sourcing after the order comes in means delay, and delay is the biggest single cause of returns.Starting stock
Trade licence from the city corporation, municipality or union parishad: form Tk 10, licence book Tk 50, standard tax Tk 30, stamp Tk 150-300, licence fee Tk 100-60,000 by trade type, issued in 3-5 working days. Couriers and payment gateways ask for it to sign you up as a merchant.Licence
Photography and writing, answering messages fast, and keeping the arithmetic of every parcel: sent, collected, returned.Skill
A courier: registering as a merchant with a company such as Steadfast or RedX. Steadfast is Tk 55 inside Dhaka and Tk 135 outside with 1 percent COD; RedX is Tk 70 inside Dhaka and Tk 150 outside, COD 0 percent in Dhaka and 1 percent outside.Supplier
A wholesale source: a Dhaka wholesale market, a local maker or an importer. Without a settled source the photographs stop matching what arrives.Supplier
A corner of the house: a shelf for stock, a table to pack on, and a spot with daylight for photographs. No shop is needed.Workspace

How the work is done

1Decide what you sell and pick one narrow thing. A page that sells everything does not stick, because there is nothing for the customer to remember it by.
2Fix the wholesale source: a Dhaka wholesale market, a local maker, or import. Write down the buying price; without it you cannot work out what is left after the courier.
3Shoot your own product photographs. Pictures pulled off the internet do not match what arrives, and that is exactly when parcels come back.
4Add the courier cost before you price anything. Tk 135-150 outside Dhaka plus 1 percent on COD is your cost, not the customer's, unless you charge it separately.
5Decide whether you take the delivery charge in advance or the whole amount on delivery, and write it on the page. Taking the delivery charge up front cuts fake orders sharply.
6Confirm the address and the item by phone before despatch. Parcels sent on the strength of a message alone are the ones that come back.
7Pick one courier and keep the tracking number of every parcel in a register: sent, delivered, paid.
8Pack properly and put the return and exchange terms inside the parcel. A broken item on arrival is entirely your loss.
9Work out the return rate every month: parcels sent against parcels returned. That single number tells you whether the business is making money.
10Stop sending to areas that keep returning parcels unless payment is made in advance. That is the simplest way to cut the return bill.
11Build stock before Ramadan, Eid and winter, and cut it in the two monsoon months when both sales and courier times get worse.

Seasons

JanNormal
FebNormal
MarHigh
AprHigh
MayHigh
JunNormal
JulLow
AugLow
SepNormal
OctNormal
NovHigh
DecHigh

HighNormalLow

Where it works well

Strong fitChattogram · A big-city buyer base with a courier hub in the city itself; city-to-city despatch is Tk 135-150.
Strong fitDhaka · Courier is cheapest and fastest here at Tk 55-70 inside Dhaka, with no COD fee on RedX, and the wholesale markets are close.
Strong fitGazipur · Next to Dhaka, so pickups are easy and the buyer base is large.
Strong fitNarayanganj · A major wholesale clothing source is close by, and it sits inside the Dhaka courier network.
PossibleCumilla · On the highway so parcels from Dhaka arrive quickly, and the district town wants Dhaka goods.
PossibleKhulna · Good city buyers and courier coverage, but the return risk rises in upazilas outside the city.
PossibleMymensingh · Plenty of students and young buyers, though on cheap items the courier charge eats the margin.
PossibleRajshahi · A university city with young buyers, though despatch from Dhaka costs more and takes longer.
PossibleSylhet · Remittance families buy higher-priced items, so the courier charge is a smaller share of the sale.
Weak fitBandarban · Limited courier coverage, long delivery times and a higher chance of return.

Risks and cautions

HighWorking capital: With cash on delivery the money arrives last. Stock is bought first, despatched first, and paid for only after the customer accepts and the courier's own remittance cycle completes. The more orders you take, the more money sits on the road: the business grows while the cash in hand shrinks.
HighDemand: A returned parcel is zero revenue and double cost: the seller pays both legs. A Tk 500 item refused outside Dhaka burns Tk 270-300 in courier alone and the item is out of your hands for days. A high return rate turns a good product into a losing business.
HighDependency: The whole business stands on someone else's platform. If the page is restricted or taken down the customer list goes with it, because the names and addresses live inside the page. Equally, when the courier performs badly the customer blames the seller.
MediumOther: Fake orders: wrong numbers, wrong addresses, or orders placed as a joke. Without an advance delivery charge the full cost falls on the seller, and the item is tied up for days as well.
MediumCompliance: When the item does not match the photograph, complaints go to the Directorate of National Consumer Rights Protection and fines follow. And one bad-experience video circulating on Facebook can stop sales the same day.

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