weasel decentral

You ruined my set up I was going to wait until he asked that question and then say no

Miss Anne Thrope

That's a euphemism, isn't it? I know it must be....

Miss Anne Thrope

I think the issue will be not so much setting up in the Freezone as much as where the items are to be sold. If you want to sell anything into the UAE you are supposed to have a locally established company which meets all the normal requirements (50.1% local ownership etc). Otherwise you are simply seeking to circumvent importation subject to normal customs procedure and the local authorities are, understandably, not very happy about that. People get away with this for services (is wasabi crackers a service?) because you can always claim to have provided the service in the Freezone . For physical goods, to sell in the UAE you need to have imported them into the UAE (not just into a Freezone), paid any duty and then only sell them through a local LLC. If it is for re-export then no issue in the UAE. However, if you want to sell into another GCC country then you will face similar issues on the ground there (though the specifics of local rules vary quite a bit by country).

larsencole

I appreciate everyone's help and advice, apart from the Wasabi jokes, it seems all good. Thank you. Sorry for the late reply, i actually thought everyone was just going to make wasabi jokes, but glad to see even the wasabi dude millhouse has offered some advice.

Actually was wondering the other day how 3 e-commerce websites owned 100% by expats from england are operating in dubai based on what license, here are a few

www.hunnionline.com

www.blushandbloom.com

i forgot the third, but I'm sure these people don't have local partners. I just don't feel anyone in the e-commerce business is willing to have a local partner.

Thanks again everyone.

Bahtatboy

Yeah, interesting. Looked at the Hunni one--unless I missed something, this would be illegal in UK since there's no indication anywhere on the website as to the registration of the company. And the only contact details are an email and a mobile number. So how do you know these are UK expat owned? And if you know that, can't you ask the owners how they do it?

I'd be intereseted to know how they do it--registration and warehouse in Free Zone, and just FedEx out against orders? Can that be done?

[I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt I have that this is just a slick ad campaign.]

raining

I thought my wasabi comment was quite helpful - I told Millhouse where he could find what he was after, it just happened to be in a thread about e-commerce!

Seriously though, I am following this thread with interest. I had my own business in the UK, website sales being a big part of it. My husband's a contractor and we moved to AD for his job a year ago so things are too tenuous to even think about setting it up over here. However I still like to read up on how it could be done, just in case anything changes. Good luck.

Miss Anne Thrope

It could be done but it would be illegal. I guess it would not be difficult to get individual items out of, say, JAFZA without being checked at the gates. But once you got to any scale it would become more diffcult to avoid detection.

On what basis does the OP assume no local partner is involved in these websites? Wishful thinking? Greed? Most local partners in these kinds of enterprises are silent, often friends of the entrepreneur who is running the business. Their participation can be considered like corporate tax for the UAE.

norsk

It would be illegal to smuggle goods out of a freezone for sure and only a fool would base a business on such a practice. It is however of course possible to import goods from the freezone to onshore for a fee per item.

To avoid paying a fee per individual order most companies choose to set up a distribution centre onshore (or rent space from a 3PL like Aramex) and ship from freezone to onshore in bulk (and therefore incurring much less export fees).

The OP needs to speak to the some of the freezone consultants. They would be able to advise on everything he has asked so far..

Kix

For blushandbloom the following is on the Whois database.

Looks like an Aussie.

Registrant:
start up
Unit B203 Travo,
Street 7
The Greens, Dubai, 0000
United Arab Emirates

Administrative Contact:
Kiss, Loretta @misskiss.com.au
start up
Unit B203 Travo,
Street 7
The Greens, Dubai, 0000
United Arab Emirates
+971.508454622

Technical Contact:
Kiss, Loretta @misskiss.com.au
start up
Unit B203 Travo,
Street 7
The Greens, Dubai, 0000
United Arab Emirates
+971.508454622

larsencole

Hi, interesting posts. I'm not assuming or guessing they are English owned, i read an article on the national and it said so, i'll try to find a link. What i did however assume is the local partner part, It was just a guess because about 90% of people i spoke to here with interests in launching a small online business said they aren't willing to have a local partner.

Regarding the location from Whois, how is blush and bloom operating from a residential area? It clearly states the Travo Greens, which is a residential building.

I honestly don't know whether it would be a good idea to contact any of the above numbers and just ask them how they set it up, not sure they would be too happy with me sniffin around

Bahtatboy, i didn't quite get what you meant by slick ad campaign, i can still order from that website, unless the order i place results in peanuts, but i don't think it seems that way. I think i might have misunderstood you.

Loretta Kiss, founder of blush and bloom on timeout

http://www.timeoutdubai.com/kids/fea...s#.URe2iIUmxaM

somehow she seems to have her stock at home.

Kix

You can set up a 100% foreign owned LLC. You just need to know the right people.

larsencole

I do wish you can further explain that Kix. Knowing the right people as in a certain not so legal workaround? or as in contacting a legal or business advisor? If your assuming I'm trying to launch a bloomingdales, then i probably don't know how the right people could help you setup a 100% LLC in Dubai

Kix

It's called contacts mate. If you have them, you can do it, if you don't, you can't.

larsencole

Yeah that doesn't seam too feasible and not so legal. I spoke to the JLT freezone, and basically it is possible to do this with 100% ownership, however, you have to partner up with an LLC to release the goods from customs, you still own 100% of the company, but pay a certain fee for these already established LLC companies to release the goods for you, apart from that you need the general trading license to sell them in the UAE.