How to create an online store in Brazil: steps, costs and selling abroad

How do you create an online store in Brazil? Choose an e-commerce platform, register your own domain, integrate payment methods and set a shipping policy. With a CNPJ (the company tax ID), a well-photographed catalogue and the information Decree 7,962/2013 requires on the page, the store can go live and, with a few adjustments, start selling abroad.

The technical side has become easy. What sinks a new store is what comes next: shipping that eats the margin, buyers who abandon checkout because they could not find Pix, and the first overseas order that stalls because nobody knew the product's tax code. This step by step covers both phases, the launch and getting ready to sell abroad.

How do you create an online store, step by step?

You build the store in seven stages, and the order matters: registration and shipping decisions made late turn into rework across the whole catalogue.

1. Open or adjust your CNPJ to include retail trade in what you plan to sell.
2. Choose the platform by its pricing model and the integrations you need.
3. Register the domain and point it to the store.
4. Upload products with photos, description, weight, packed dimensions and tax code.
5. Integrate payment methods and run a real test purchase.
6. Configure the shipping table and delivery rules.
7. Publish the mandatory pages: about us, exchanges and returns, privacy and contact.

Step 4 is the one most often done halfway. It looks like a detail.

Wrong weights and dimensions produce wrong shipping on every order, and the missing tax code hurts on the day your first international sale arrives.

What does Brazilian law require your store to display?

The store must show who is selling, what the real price is and how to cancel. Decree 7,962/2013, which regulates e-commerce in Brazil, requires the company name, CNPJ, physical and electronic address, product features, the price including every extra cost such as delivery, and the terms of the offer, all in a prominent place.

The same decree requires the store to provide a clear way to exercise the right to cancel. Under article 49 of the Consumer Defence Code, a customer who buys outside a physical store can withdraw within 7 days of receipt.

The third rule comes from the LGPD, Brazil's General Data Protection Law (Law 13,709/2018): you collect each customer's name, address and CPF (the individual tax ID), so you need a privacy policy stating what you do with that data and who you share it with, carriers included.

How much does it cost to open an online store?

Opening is cheap; running the store is what defines the business. Platform, domain and payment methods are predictable, while shipping, returns and marketing grow with sales and must be built into each product's price.

The table separates fixed costs from those that vary with each order:

Free online stores do exist, usually as entry plans with a product cap or a higher commission per sale. They are good for validating the idea. Once revenue covers the monthly fee, the paid plan tends to cost less than the commission.

How do you choose the store platform?

Choose for the operation you will run a year from now, not the one you have today. If the plan is to sell to other countries, the platform must handle more than one currency and language, calculate international shipping and export order data into the shipping paperwork.

The criteria in detail, with the questions to ask the software vendor, are in the guide to e-commerce platforms. If you are still getting to grips with the business model, the guide to what e-commerce is covers the basics.

And if you are torn between your own store and a shared storefront, compare with selling on a marketplace.

Which payment methods should you offer?

In Brazil, offer Pix, credit card instalments and boleto (a bank payment slip). Pix, created by the Central Bank of Brazil, settles instantly and usually carries a lower fee, while card instalments still decide high-ticket purchases. Missing either one means losing sales at checkout.

Test the whole flow on mobile and desktop, because a badly configured field can kill an order without you noticing. Ask two people outside the company to buy a cheap item and tell you where they got stuck.

For overseas customers the list changes: international cards, digital wallets used in the destination country and prices shown in the buyer's currency. Check with your payment provider whether it accepts charges in foreign currency and how many days the converted amount takes to reach your account.

How do you set a shipping policy?

Set shipping by the real cost per region and weight band, and only then decide how much to pass on. The three common options are charging the full amount, subsidising part of it or offering free shipping above a minimum order value.

The minimum order value is the safest tool: it lifts the average ticket and dilutes the freight cost. The guide to e-commerce shipping costs shows how to build the table without losing margin.

How do you prepare the store for its first international sale?

Get the catalogue, pricing and paperwork ready before opening checkout to other countries. The sale itself works like a domestic one; the difference is that the parcel becomes an export and must leave with a correct commercial invoice and tariff classification.

Before advertising abroad, run through this list:

• Every product has its NCM code (Brazil's tariff classification), real weight and dimensions on file.
• The site shows prices in the buyer's currency and states whether destination taxes are included.
• The product description on the commercial invoice matches the listing and the amount charged.
• You know whether the product is restricted on air transport, such as lithium batteries and perfumes.
• The international return policy is written and published.

On the Brazilian side, exports are immune from ICMS and IPI under the Federal Constitution (articles 155 and 153), which makes your price more competitive abroad. The goods' route out of the country, by express shipment or formal export, is covered in the guide to exporting from Brazil.

Frequently asked questions about creating an online store in Brazil

Sources

• Planalto: Decreto nº 7.962/2013 (comércio eletrônico)
• Planalto: Código de Defesa do Consumidor, Lei nº 8.078/1990
• Planalto: Lei nº 13.709/2018 (LGPD)
• Registro.br: Regras do domínio .br
• Banco Central do Brasil: Pix
• Planalto: Constituição Federal, arts. 153 e 155

Start selling abroad with shipping sorted

Store live, catalogue loaded and the first international sale in sight: what is missing is a shipping partner that produces the paperwork and shows your customer where the parcel is.

With a business account you get quotes, create labels and commercial invoices and track every shipment from one dashboard. Open a DHL Express business account and treat your first overseas order as routine, not an exception.