How to Launch an Online Store in Moldova in 2026: 8 Steps from Registration to Your First Order

In Brief

To launch an online store in Moldova, you need to complete 8 steps:

1. Register a company and open a bank account.
2. Submit a notification of the commencement of trading activities.
3. Hire a web development agency to build your online store.
4. Integrate payment methods.
5. Set up order delivery.
6. Connect an online cash register and electronic fiscal receipts.
7. Publish the required legal information on your website.
8. Test the entire process by placing test orders.

Our turnkey online store development services cost from €3,000 to €15,000+ and take 2–6 months. The timeline usually depends less on coding and more on how quickly the business can prepare its product catalog, descriptions, and photos. Mandatory ongoing costs after launch include:

• .md domain name — MDL 450 per year;
• web hosting — €50–250 per year;
• card payment processing fees — 0.5% to 3% per transaction.

From a legal perspective, online stores are regulated by Moldova's laws on trade, e-commerce, and consumer protection. Buyers have the right to return goods within 14 calendar days of receiving them. On August 23, 2026, the new Personal Data Protection Law No. 195/2024 came into effect, introducing fines of up to MDL 2 million or 2% of annual turnover. The market is growing: according to an AmCham Moldova study, online sales reached MDL 8.93 billion in 2024 (+15% year over year), and by mid-2025, more than 2,800 online stores were operating in the country.

8 Steps to Launch an Online Store in Moldova

1. Register a Company and Open a Bank Account

To sell online, you need a registered business with an IDNO (state identification number). The most common options are a limited liability company (SRL) or a sole proprietorship (ÎI). Registration is handled by the Public Services Agency (Agenția Servicii Publice). The CAEM activity code for online retail is 47.91. Open a business bank account from the start: without one, you cannot sign a merchant acquiring agreement or receive cash-on-delivery payments transferred by courier companies. If you plan to accept card payments through the same bank where your business account is held, the process is usually faster because the bank has already completed some of its customer verification procedures.

2. Submit a Notification of the Commencement of Trading Activities

Under Moldova's Law on Internal Trade No. 231/2010 (Article 14), commercial activities, including e-commerce, may begin only after submitting a notification to the local public administration authority. Trading activities may start from the date the acknowledgment of receipt is issued. This step is often overlooked because business owners assume that “online stores don't need it.” However, the notification requirement applies to commercial activities in general, not just physical retail locations.

3. Start Online Store Development While Registering Your Business

The online store itself — including the product catalog, shopping cart, payment processing, delivery options, and customer accounts — is developed by a web agency. Start development without waiting for Steps 1–2 to be completed. Design, catalog setup, and integrations account for most of the 2–6-month development period, while business registration can proceed in parallel.

There is an important consideration specific to Moldova that can make international ready-made platforms more expensive than they initially appear. Shopify Payments is not available in Moldova because the country is not on its list of supported markets. As a result, Shopify stores must use a third-party payment gateway and pay Shopify an additional transaction fee of 0.6% to 2%, depending on the subscription plan. With custom development, maib, Victoriabank, and other Moldovan banks can be integrated directly, without platform surcharges or monthly subscription fees. For a detailed cost comparison, read our article “Turnkey Online Store: Ready-Made Platform vs. Custom Development”.

At ilab.md, turnkey online store development costs from €3,000 to €15,000+, depending on the number of products and required integrations. This price includes design, development, payment and delivery integrations, and a 2-year warranty. You can request a cost estimate for your project on our “Online Store Development” page.

4. Integrate Payment Methods

There are four main ways to accept payments for online orders in Moldova:

• Bank card acquiring (maib, Victoriabank, MICB, Fincombank) — requires a direct agreement with the bank. Processing fees are typically 1.8–2.4%, starting from 1.9% at maib. Fincombank also offers a package without a monthly subscription fee.
• Paynet — a payment aggregator that does not require a separate bank acquiring agreement. Integration is faster, but fees are higher, typically 2.5–3%.
• MIA Instant Payments — Moldova's national instant payment system operated by the National Bank, allowing customers to pay via QR code. Fees range from 0.5% to 0.8%, but customers must have a banking app that supports MIA.
• Cash on delivery — customers pay the courier when receiving their orders. This method is familiar to local shoppers, but merchants receive the money later, and courier companies charge a fee for transferring the funds.

Our technical integration of a single payment system starts at €300 and typically takes a few days. To activate the service, you need an agreement with a bank or payment aggregator. Once approved, the provider issues test and production API credentials. For more information about fees and required documentation, see our article on integrations with maib, Victoriabank, MICB, Fincombank, Paynet, and 1C.

Customers are increasingly comfortable paying online. According to National Bank of Moldova data for 2025, cards issued by Moldovan banks were used for 40.1 million online payments totaling MDL 18.4 billion, with the number of transactions increasing by more than 40%.

5. Set Up Order Delivery

Three major delivery providers work with online stores in Moldova:

• Poșta Moldovei (Curier Rapid) — offers the most comprehensive publicly available API documentation for online stores. It generally provides the lowest delivery rates.
• Nova Post (formerly Nova Poshta) — provides a developer portal, ready-made plugins, and a network of parcel lockers throughout the country.
• FAN Courier Moldova — offers nationwide delivery within 24–48 hours. Public API documentation is unavailable, and integration terms must be arranged with a company representative.

If your store receives only a few orders per day, the courier company's online dashboard is usually sufficient for manually creating shipping labels. As order volumes increase, API integration becomes worthwhile: the website automatically creates a shipment and shipping document (AWB) immediately after payment, while customers can track their delivery status. Our integration with a single courier service starts at €800. If a business operates its own delivery fleet, a dedicated courier mobile app can be developed instead of integrating with a third-party carrier's API. This is the approach used in our flower delivery project, yesflowers.md.

Don't hide delivery costs until the final checkout step. According to the Baymard Institute, 39% of shoppers abandon checkout because of unexpected additional costs.

6. Connect an Online Cash Register and Electronic Fiscal Receipts

An online store in Moldova does not necessarily need a physical cash register: fiscal receipts can now be issued electronically. Electronic receipts are sent to customers by email or SMS, while sales data is automatically transmitted to the State Tax Service's electronic sales monitoring system.

These solutions are provided by certified fiscalization service providers, such as Intelectsoft's MEV and Fiscal Partner. They offer APIs that allow virtual cash registers to be integrated directly with an online store. Once a customer pays for an order, the fiscal receipt is automatically generated and sent without any manual involvement from a store manager. According to publicly available information, MEV pricing ranges from MDL 70 to MDL 1,595 per month, depending on transaction volume, and setup takes 2–5 days.

Before launching, discuss the appropriate fiscal receipt issuance process with your accountant, taking into account the payment methods your store will offer: online card payments, cash on delivery, or in-store pickup.

7. Publish the Required Legal Information on Your Website

Moldova's E-Commerce Law No. 284/2004 and Consumer Protection Law No. 105/2003 require customers to have access to all essential information before placing an order. At a minimum, your online store should provide:

• Seller information: full legal name, legal form, IDNO, address, telephone number, and email address.
• Product characteristics: clear and accurate descriptions without misleading claims.
• Final price: including all mandatory charges and delivery costs, displayed before the customer confirms the order.
• Payment and delivery terms: available methods, delivery times, and service areas.
• Return policy: customers have 14 calendar days from receiving the product to return it. As a general rule, the buyer covers return shipping costs, but only if the seller informed them of this obligation in advance. Exceptions to the right of return include unsealed hygiene and cosmetic products, perishable goods, and digital content that the buyer has already accessed.
• Public offer (terms of sale). This document should explain when a contract is concluded, how orders are confirmed, how payments, deliveries, and cancellations are handled, how complaints can be submitted, and which laws apply. The website's actual functionality must match the terms of the public offer.
• Privacy policy in accordance with Law No. 195/2024. It should accurately describe how your store processes personal data rather than being copied from a generic template.
• Marketing communications consent — must be requested separately from acceptance of the purchase terms, with an easy option to withdraw consent.

Consumer complaints are handled by the Agency for Consumer Protection and Market Surveillance. Missing or incomplete information on an online store's website is one of the most common grounds for complaints.

8. Test Everything Before Launch

Before opening your store to customers, go through the entire purchasing process on both a smartphone and a computer. Place at least one real test order for every payment and delivery method, and check:

• whether order confirmation emails and electronic fiscal receipts are delivered;
• whether delivery charges are calculated correctly;
• whether shipping documents are generated;
• whether payments reach your bank account.

If your website is available in Romanian and Russian, test both language versions. Prices, terms of sale, and confirmation emails should be consistent across languages. We cover common post-launch problems in our article “5 Online Store Launch Mistakes That Cost You Sales”.

Launch Timeline and Budget

Bank processing fees, courier charges, and fiscalization service subscriptions are paid directly to the respective providers and are not included in the website development price.

Pre-Launch Checklist

• Company registered (IDNO, CAEM activity code 47.91) and business bank account opened
• Trading activity notification submitted and acknowledgment received
• Merchant acquiring agreement signed and production API credentials obtained
• Courier service agreement signed and delivery rates configured on the website
• Online cash register connected and electronic fiscal receipts sent to customers
• Seller details, terms of sale, delivery and return policies, and privacy policy published on the website
• Separate consent obtained for marketing communications
• Test orders completed for every payment and delivery method in both Romanian (RO) and Russian (RU)

How We Build and Launch Online Stores at ilab.md

We develop online stores using PHP/CodeIgniter and MySQL, integrating Moldovan payment systems, 1C, courier services, and electronic fiscalization solutions directly into the code. This eliminates the need for third-party modules that may not support the required bank or delivery provider. From the very first week of a project, we provide our clients with a clear list of everything they need to prepare: product catalogs, descriptions, photos, and bank documentation. This allows content preparation to proceed alongside design and development rather than delaying the project later. Legal documents, including the public offer and privacy policy, are prepared by the client's legal advisor. Our responsibility is to ensure that the website's functionality complies with these documents: the final price, including delivery, is displayed before payment; marketing consent is separate from acceptance of the terms of sale; and return conditions are accessible from product pages. We provide a 2-year development warranty. You can explore examples of our completed online stores in our portfolio and learn more about our services on the “Online Store Development” page.

Sources

• E-Commerce Law No. 284/2004 — legis.md
• E-Commerce in Moldova 2026: Public Offers and the Right of Return — Colenco Legal
• Shopping Online? How the Law Protects You When Buying Remotely — Anticoruptie.md
• GDPR Rules Come into Effect in the Republic of Moldova — BizLaw
• New Personal Data Protection Law: Fines of Up to MDL 2 Million — Legitimus
• MEV — electronic fiscalization in Moldova (Intelectsoft)
• Digital Cash Register and Control System — Fiscal Partner
• Moldova's E-Commerce Market Accelerated in 2025 — Bursa.ro
• Online Payments Boom in Moldova — Stiri.md
• Poșta Moldovei E-Commerce API
• How to Reduce Cart Abandonment — Baymard Institute