E-Commerce Licence

The e-commerce licence is an obligation added to Law No. 6563 in 2022 and applied since 1 January 2025. Marketplaces whose net transaction volume in a calendar year exceeds the statutory threshold, updated annually, and whose number of transactions excluding cancellations and returns exceeds one hundred thousand, must obtain a licence from the Ministry of Trade to continue operating. Sellers earning more than half of their total sales revenue from e-commerce and exceeding a certain scale are also subject to licensing.

Application and Renewal

• The licence application is made in March of the year following the calendar year in which the thresholds are exceeded.
• As long as the thresholds continue to be exceeded, the licence is renewed every March.
• Payment of the licence fee is required to obtain or renew the licence.

Licence Fee

The licence fee is calculated on the portion of net transaction volume exceeding the threshold, at tiered rates increasing with volume. The calculation is based on ETBİS records. Sales abroad through the licensed marketplace are excluded from the fee calculation. Because the thresholds are updated each year, the fee should be calculated using the current thresholds.

Exemption

Platforms on which only products bearing the marketplace’s own brand are sold under dealership or agency agreements are exempt from licensing.

Consequences of Operating without a Licence

Failure to comply with the licensing obligation leads to the escalating administrative sanctions in the Law. Deadlines are given to remedy the breach; if it is not remedied, increasing administrative fines are imposed and ultimately an order to remove content from, or block access to, the relevant websites may be issued.