Starting an e-commerce website in Turkey: checklist, documents, legal texts and costs

The software team has delivered the site: products are uploaded, payment has been tested, the design is approved. At the last meeting before launch someone asks: who wrote the return policy page, where is the pre-contract information text, is the shipping agreement signed, who will prepare and ship the first order? These are business questions more than software questions, and most are noticed very close to go-live. Starting an e-commerce website is more than having a site built; it means getting the product, payment, delivery, customer communication and legal texts ready together. This article covers Turkey: the legal texts and registrations discussed here come from Turkish law, mainly Law No. 6563 on the Regulation of Electronic Commerce and Consumer Protection Law No. 6502. The list below puts these pieces in order.

Starting an e-commerce website means preparing the business model, platform, payment and delivery arrangements, catalogue, legal texts and post-order processes together, so that you can sell a product or service online. Software is only one part of this work.

Building an e-commerce website from scratch: six steps in order

1. Write down the business model: whom will you sell to (consumers, businesses or both), through which channel (your own site, a marketplace or both), and to which regions will you deliver?
2. Work out the product and pricing structure: variants, stock source, pricing rules, need for promotions.
3. Choose the platform: an off-the-shelf package, open source or a custom build; are ERP, accounting and shipping integrations on the list?
4. Set up payment and shipping: which payment methods will you offer, and who ships, with which packaging, how often?
5. Prepare the catalogue and the legal texts: product content, images, pre-contract information, return and privacy notices.
6. Test from order to return: place a test order, follow payment, invoice, shipping and return end to end; then go live.

What technical and operational preparation does an e-commerce website need?

Which documents do you need to start an e-commerce website in Turkey?

A single fixed list of documents would be misleading; the documents you need depend on who sells (a sole proprietorship or a company), your tax registration and the application requirements of the payment provider you choose. In practice you need clear answers to these three questions:

• Under which legal entity will you sell, and is its tax registration ready? Clarify this with your accountant.
• Which documents does the payment provider ask for? Each provider has its own application list; start the application early.
• Do you have a registration or notification obligation under ETBIS, the electronic commerce information system of Turkey’s Ministry of Trade? Law No. 6563 defines this system; check its scope against the current regulation and with your adviser.

Which legal texts and disclosures does Turkish law require?

If you sell online to consumers in Turkey, the transaction legally counts as a distance contract. The table below is a short summary of the headings we read in the relevant Turkish texts; work with your lawyer to prepare your own texts.

Law No. 6563 also requires service providers to keep records of their transactions within the scope of this Law for ten years from the date of the transaction (Article 11). That is why you should plan from the start where order, payment and return records will be kept, and by whom.

Checklist for post-order operations

• Who sees the order, at what time is it prepared, who packs it?
• Who informs the customer, and how, when an item is out of stock?
• Is the tracking code entered on the order and sent to the customer?
• Where does a return request come in, who checks the item when it comes back, who starts the refund?
• Through which channel are customer questions answered, and who is responsible?
• Who prepares the weekly order, return and stock report, and from which data?

What does the cost of an e-commerce website depend on?

We do not give a fixed figure, because the cost varies a lot with the route you choose and your product structure. Building the budget from the items below also makes quotes easier to compare:

• Platform: subscription, licence or development fee and the initial setup effort.
• Design and content: interface, product photos, description texts.
• Integrations: ERP, accounting, shipping, payment and marketplace setups.
• Payment provider and carrier fees: items paid per transaction and per shipment.
• Marketing: advertising and content effort needed to make the site visible.
• Maintenance: updates, backups, bug fixes and the time your team will spend.

Can you start with Excel, WhatsApp and e-mail?

With few products and low order volume, a product spreadsheet and orders over WhatsApp can be enough to test demand. But once you need to take payments, issue invoices, handle returns and provide legal information, this setup cannot carry the load: pre-contract information and order confirmation cannot be proven in a message thread, stock goes out of date in a file, and return records stay on one person’s phone. Moving to a proper platform before the first real order is easier than fixing things afterwards.

How does YazSis Smart E-Commerce cover the items on this list?

YazSis Smart E-Commerce sets up B2C and B2B sales, product and variant management, promotions, payment, shipping, orders, invoicing and returns in the same data flow. Setup starts with discovery: the product structure, customer types and operating rules are mapped, followed by experience design, integration, data and testing, and go-live. The scope of payment, shipping, ERP and accounting integrations is defined within this project. The content of the legal texts, however, is decided by you and your legal adviser, not by the site’s software.

To discuss which pieces need to be ready for your own product structure, see the setup model on the Smart E-Commerce page.