Fazley RabbiThere are three main ways to sell online in Bangladesh: through Facebook and messaging apps (often called f-commerce), through your own website shop, and through online marketplaces that list many sellers in one place. Facebook is the cheapest place to start and the most conversational. Your own website gives you control and your own customer list. A marketplace gives you ready-made buyers in exchange for its rules, its fees and constant price comparison. Most businesses that last end up combining two or three, with one of them as the base.
Facebook commerce: selling through conversation
You run a Facebook page, often alongside Instagram, groups or live videos. You post products and take orders through Messenger, WhatsApp, comments or calls. Payment is mostly cash on delivery, with bKash or Nagad for advances, and a courier delivers.
Strengths: it costs very little to start, so you can test a product within days. Customers ask questions and bargain the way they would in a shop, in Bangla or Banglish. Live and short videos show products honestly.
Weaknesses: you depend on one platform. Reach changes, ad accounts get restricted and pages get hacked, and you have little say. Orders live in chat threads, so they get lost or duplicated as volume grows. Cash on delivery invites fake orders and returns that quietly eat profit. And you hold chat histories, not a proper customer list.
Your own website: a shop you control
You build an online shop, for example on WooCommerce, Shopify or a custom system, with products, prices and stock. Customers order directly. Payment can include cash on delivery and, through a licensed payment gateway, mobile wallets and cards. You still use Facebook and Google to bring people in. My e-commerce platform comparison covers the technical choice.
Strengths: you control the design, rules, data and customer relationship. Pages can appear in Google search for a long time without paying for each visitor. Orders arrive in a structured form, which makes stock tracking, reports and automation easier. A proper shop also looks established, which matters for higher-priced items and corporate buyers.
Weaknesses: it needs upfront work and ongoing care: hosting, security, updates and backups. A website on its own brings no visitors. And many Bangladeshi buyers still like to message before they buy, so the site needs a chat or WhatsApp option too.
Marketplaces: renting space in a busy market
You register as a seller on a platform that hosts many sellers, list products under its rules, and the platform handles some mix of traffic, payment and delivery. Commission, fees, payment cycles and policies differ between platforms and change over time, so read the current seller terms on the platform itself before you commit.
Strengths: buyers are already there and already trust the platform. Some platforms take care of payment and logistics, leaving you to focus on products. It is a reasonable way to test demand for standard, searchable products.
Weaknesses: fees come straight off your margin. Buyers compare prices side by side, which pushes you towards discounts. The platform, not you, usually owns the customer relationship. And a rule change or account problem can affect your sales overnight.
Side by side
| Facebook commerce | Own website | Marketplace | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost to start | Lowest | Highest | Low |
| Control over rules and data | Low | High | Low |
| Where buyers come from | Your followers and ads | Wherever you bring them from | The platform |
| Customer relationship | Chat-based | Yours | Mostly the platform's |
| Manual work per order | High | Lower once set up | Lower, within platform rules |
| Suits | Testing, local trust, social products | Brands, repeat buyers, higher prices | Standard products, wider reach |
Choosing and combining
A sensible path for many sellers:
- Start where your buyers already are. For most consumer products in Bangladesh that means Facebook and WhatsApp. Prove that people buy.
- Tidy the order process. Move orders out of chat into a sheet or simple system, and confirm cash-on-delivery orders before dispatch.
- Add your own website once orders are steady, to own your customer list, appear on Google and cut manual work per order.
- Use marketplaces selectively, for products that sell through search and where the fees still leave a margin, not as your only channel.
Keep prices and promises consistent everywhere. Customers notice differences and will ask about them.
Common questions
Do I need a website if Facebook works? Not on day one. But ask yourself: if your page were restricted tomorrow, would the business stop? A website and a customer list reduce that risk.
Which model is cheapest? Facebook, to start. But chat handling, returns and ads all cost money. Compare the full cost per delivered order across channels, not just the setup cost.
Do these models work for wholesale or B2B? Yes, though business buyers usually need catalogues, quotations and credit terms that a simple shop page does not handle well.
Next step
Write down where your orders come from today and what each channel costs per delivered order, including returns. Then choose your base channel. If you are ready to grow beyond Facebook, read moving from Facebook-only selling to your own shop. If you want help choosing the model itself, see the business development service.