Question 1

How do I choose a company formation consultant in Dubai?

Accepted Answer

Judge them on the quote, not the sales call. A consultant worth using will put every line item in writing before you pay — licence fee, registration, immigration card, workspace, visa costs and their own fee, separated — and will tell you when a free zone is cheaper than mainland even though mainland pays them more.

Question 2

How do I set up an ecommerce business in the UAE and sell on Amazon and Noon?

Accepted Answer

You need a trade licence with an e-commerce activity, a UAE corporate bank account, and a seller account on each marketplace — in that order, because both Amazon.ae and Noon require a valid licence before they will approve you. Expect four to eight weeks from decision to first sale, most of which is banking rather than licensing.

Question 3

What should a restaurant POS in Dubai be able to do?

Accepted Answer

Beyond taking orders, a Dubai restaurant POS needs to handle 5% VAT correctly on every line, keep working when the internet drops, tell you the true cost of each dish, and be built so e-invoicing can be added when the mandate reaches your business. Most POS systems sold here do the first and last of those badly.

Question 4

What should a small UAE retail business look for in an ERP?

Accepted Answer

For a small retailer the useful definition of ERP is narrow: stock that matches the shelf, VAT-ready invoicing, and financial reports you can act on. Anything sold as a full ERP suite to a business with one or two branches is usually being sold a licence count rather than a solution.

Question 5

Can you get a proper business website in the UAE for under AED 2,000 a year?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Our own annual plan is AED 899 a year, and that includes the build, hosting, an SSL certificate, a domain, business email addresses and ongoing maintenance. What it does not include is a large custom application — at this price the honest scope is a well-built business website, not software.

Question 6

What does a trade licence in Dubai actually cost?

Accepted Answer

There is no single number, and anyone giving you one without asking about your activity, visa needs and where you will trade is guessing. The cost is a stack — licence fee, name reservation and approvals, workspace, immigration card, visas, and the consultant's fee — and the honest answer is to have every one of those quoted in writing before you pay anything.

Question 7

What do UAE businesses need to do about e-invoicing?

Accepted Answer

The UAE is moving to a decentralised model in which accredited service providers exchange structured invoices between businesses and report them to the tax authority. Practically, you will need software that can produce invoices as structured data and a connection to an accredited provider — and the date that applies to you depends on your bracket, so check the Ministry of Finance rather than a vendor's marketing.

Question 8

What software does a perfume shop in Dubai need for stock and accounts?

Accepted Answer

A perfume retailer needs stock tracked by variant — size, concentration and tester versus sellable — plus VAT-compliant invoicing and accounts that reconcile to the till daily. Generic retail software usually fails on the first of those, because it treats each bottle size as an unrelated product.

The questions people ask before they hire anyone