Starting an E-Commerce Business in Turkey: Registrations and Documents

To start an e-commerce business in Turkey you need four things in place: a tax-registered business, e-commerce registrations (ETBİS and a KEP address), electronic invoicing (e-archive), and consumer and data protection texts on your website. Payment gateways approve you only once these are ready. This is general information, not legal or tax advice.

This guide is written for foreign founders and expats; most of them choose a limited company.

First decision: sell from abroad or set up in Turkey

Many foreign businesses start by shipping to Turkish customers from abroad. That is possible, but most Turkey-specific infrastructure assumes a business set up in Turkey: ETBİS registration runs through Turkish registries, e-archive invoicing is for Turkish taxpayers, and local payment gateways onboard Turkish merchants. Selling cross-border from abroad also brings its own tax questions. If Turkey is a serious market for you, or you live here, setting up locally is usually the cleaner route. Ask a Turkish tax adviser which fits your case.

Step 1: Set up the business

As a foreigner, you can set up a company in Turkey on the same terms as Turkish citizens; Law No. 4875 on Foreign Direct Investment grants foreign investors equal treatment. Most foreign founders choose a limited company (limited şirket).

The minimum capital figures come from Presidential Decision No. 7887 (Official Gazette 25.11.2023, No. 32380) and apply from 1 January 2024. Company formation starts in MERSİS, the Ministry of Trade's central registry.

You will need:

• A Turkish tax number. Foreigners can apply for a potential tax ID through the Revenue Administration's digital tax office.
• Notarised signature documents (imza sirküleri) for company signatories.
• A Turkish bank account in the company's name.
• An accountant (mali müşavir). In practice every Turkish business works with one; they handle tax filings and e-invoicing setup.

Owning a company and working in it are different matters. If you will actively work in your Turkish company, check the residence and work permit rules with your lawyer.

Step 2: E-commerce registrations

• KEP address (Kayıtlı Elektronik Posta, registered electronic mail with legal standing for official notices). Required on your website under the 2022 e-commerce regulation (Official Gazette 29.12.2022, No. 32058) and needed for ETBİS.
• ETBİS (the E-Commerce Information System): register before you start selling through your own site. Free, done through e-Devlet, Turkey's government services portal. See our ETBİS guide.
• İYS (the Message Management System): needed if you will send marketing SMS, emails or calls. See our İYS guide.
• VERBİS (the data controllers' registry under KVKK, Law No. 6698): registration depends on thresholds set by the Data Protection Authority. Check kvkk.gov.tr for the current thresholds.

Step 3: Electronic invoicing

From 1 January 2026, invoices of almost every Turkish taxpayer must be electronic: e-invoices for registered business buyers and e-archive invoices for everyone else. Businesses selling online must also move to full e-invoicing once gross sales reach TRY 500,000. Your accountant will choose between GİB's free portal and a private integrator. See our e-archive invoice guide.

Step 4: Website texts and information

Turkish consumer and e-commerce rules require specific content on your store:

• Contact section: KEP address, email, phone, trade name, MERSİS number and head office address
• Transaction guide: ordering steps, whether the contract is stored, how to correct errors, privacy rules
• Pre-information form and distance sales contract, filled in for each order and accepted before payment, including the 14-day right of withdrawal. See our distance sales contract guide
• Returns and withdrawal terms
• KVKK privacy notice, cookie policy and cookie banner. See our data protection compliance article
• A separate, unticked marketing consent box

If you copy texts from your stores in other countries, they will not fit Turkish law. Have a Turkish lawyer prepare them.

Step 5: Payment gateway

Turkish banks and payment institutions usually ask for your tax certificate (vergi levhası), signature circular, trade registry gazette, the signatory's ID, a company IBAN, and a live website that shows products, prices, contact details and the legal texts above. Applications with a "coming soon" page tend to stall. We compare the options in our virtual POS comparison. PayPal and Stripe are not available to businesses in Turkey; our guide to payment gateways in Turkey covers what works instead.

Checklist

• [ ] Decided between selling cross-border and setting up in Turkey
• [ ] Turkish tax number obtained
• [ ] Company set up in MERSİS, chamber registration done
• [ ] Accountant appointed, signature documents ready
• [ ] Turkish business bank account opened
• [ ] KEP address obtained
• [ ] Invoicing method chosen (GİB portal or integrator)
• [ ] Contact details and transaction guide on the website
• [ ] Turkish-law texts prepared by a lawyer and live on the site
• [ ] İYS registration if you will send marketing messages
• [ ] ETBİS registration completed before launch
• [ ] VERBİS obligation checked
• [ ] Payment gateway approved and a test payment completed

Summary

None of these steps is hard on its own; the work is doing them in the right order. Build your team early: an accountant for tax and invoicing, a lawyer for the texts. We build the website side, including required information blocks, order-specific contracts, consent boxes, invoice integration and payments, as part of our e-commerce website service. For the general build process, see our guide to setting up an online store, or use our quote wizard to scope your project.