Daraz vs Shopify or your own store in Pakistan

The short answer

Daraz rents you a shelf in a busy market. Your own store is a shop with your name on the board. The shelf comes with foot traffic, checkout and delivery, and you pay for it on every sale. The shop keeps all of the margin and all of the customer, but you bring the people.

• Daraz suits you if nobody knows your brand yet, you sell things people search for by name, and your margin can carry the fees.
• Your own store suits you if you already have buyers on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or WhatsApp, you sell under a brand, and you want those buyers to order again without a cut going to someone else.
• Both is often the sensible answer. More on that at the end.

Who owns the buyer and the reviews

On Daraz, the buyer has a Daraz account, pays Daraz and talks to you inside Daraz. When they want the same thing again, they open the Daraz app and search, and your listing shows up next to everyone else’s. You get the order. Daraz keeps the relationship.

Reviews work the same way. The stars and comments you earn sit on your Daraz product page. They help you sell on Daraz, and they stay there if you leave. A seller with hundreds of good ratings on Daraz starts from zero anywhere else.

On your own store, the buyer’s name, phone number and address come to you with the order. You can message them when the next stock arrives, and the proof that you deliver builds up on your own Instagram and in your own chats. That list of past buyers is the one asset a marketplace cannot give you.

What Daraz takes from each sale

Opening a shop is free, and Daraz says there is no listing fee. The money is taken when an order is delivered. Daraz’s Payment Policy lists these deductions, as of October 2026, for prepaid and cash on delivery orders alike:

• Commission: a percentage of the order value that depends on your category. The full list is a PDF on the Marketplace Commission Structure page, dated May 2026, with new rates for some categories from June 1, 2026. Check your own category there before you set a price.
• Payment fee: 2.25% of the order value.
• Item handling fee, per item: Rs 10 up to Rs 500, Rs 15 from Rs 501 to Rs 1,000, Rs 20 up to Rs 2,000, and Rs 60 above Rs 2,000.
• Pickup fee, if you use Daraz pickup: Rs 30 for a parcel under 8 kg, Rs 120 for 8 kg and above.
• Penalties, if any: for seller cancellations, late processing and returns that are the seller’s fault, capped at Rs 500 per order and at 30% of a payout. Sellers with good numbers are exempt.

A worked example on a Rs 2,500 lawn suit: the payment fee is about Rs 56 and the handling fee is Rs 60, so Rs 116 goes before commission. If your category’s rate were 10%, that is another Rs 250, so roughly Rs 366 per suit. Put your real rate into the free Daraz profit calculator, which also shows the same sale on your own store.

New sellers get a break. The Seller Center sign-up page offers new sellers a period of 0% platform commission: 30 days on the English page as of October 2026, though the Urdu version of the page says 90, so confirm yours in Seller Center. Price for the day it ends, or a price that worked in the free period starts losing money after it.

Your own store has costs too: the courier’s delivery charge, the cost of returned parcels, packaging and whatever you spend to bring people in. On Storelala there is no marketplace commission on top of that. The COD profit calculator works out what one order leaves you after returns.

When the money arrives

Daraz pays weekly, only for orders marked Delivered. Per the Payment Policy, your statement appears in Seller Center the day after the cycle closes, and the money reaches your bank on the fifth day. Weekends and holidays push it to the next working day. If a buyer returns something after you were paid, the amount comes off your next payment. Daraz also asks you to keep the signed airway bill for every parcel for at least three months.

On your own store, cash on delivery money comes from your courier. Each courier has its own payout schedule, and some pay faster for a fee. Our courier comparison lists what each one says about payout. Either way, nothing arrives until the parcel is delivered.

Selling beside identical listings

Search a popular product on Daraz and you will often see the same photo from several shops. Same supplier, same item, different price. A buyer comparing them has little reason to pick anything but the cheapest one with decent ratings.

That is fine if you have a real cost advantage: you import directly, you make it yourself, or you buy in volume. It is a trap if you are reselling the same stock as everyone else, because each price cut comes straight out of a margin that already pays commission and fees.

On your own store there is no listing beside yours. The buyer still compares, but they came to you, and your photos, your size chart and your replies on WhatsApp do the selling. Our guide on how to price products in Pakistan covers building a price from your costs and checking it against Daraz.

Who sets the returns policy

On Daraz, Daraz does. Its return policy gives buyers 14 days from delivery to raise a return, as of October 2026. Some categories, including fashion clothing and shoes, accept change of mind returns, while others only accept damaged, defective, incorrect or incomplete items. A product that does not match its description or does not fit is also a valid reason. Daraz decides the refund based on its own assessment.

For a buyer, that is reassuring, and it is part of why people trust ordering from shops they have never heard of. For you, it means the rules for your returns are set by someone else.

On your own store, you write the policy: exchange only, a set number of days, what counts as unworn, who pays the return courier. Write it clearly and show it before the order. The free store policy generator drafts one, and our guide to return and exchange policies covers what to put in it.

Building a brand

On Daraz your shop is a page inside Daraz, styled the way Daraz allows. A buyer can easily remember “I got it from Daraz” and forget your shop’s name. That is not a flaw in Daraz. It is what a marketplace is for.

A brand needs a place that is only yours: your own address, your own photos and colours, and a buyer who comes back by name. Your own store is that place. Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp are where people meet the brand, and the store is where they order.

Daraz vs Shopify

People search “Daraz vs Shopify”, but the two are not the same kind of thing. Daraz is a marketplace with its own shoppers. Shopify is a tool for building your own store, so the comparison is really Daraz versus your own store, and everything above applies.

One thing specific to Shopify in Pakistan: Shopify Payments is not on Shopify’s list of supported countries, so you need a third-party payment provider or cash on delivery. If you want your own store without that setup, our guide to the Shopify alternative in Pakistan compares the options, and our ecommerce platform comparison shows what each one costs in the first year and takes from a sale.

Running both

You do not have to choose once and for all. Here is one way to split the work:

1. Daraz for discovery. List the products people search for by name. Price them for Daraz’s full fees, not the 30-day free period.
2. Your own store for repeat buyers. Put the whole range there, including new drops and sets that do not fit a marketplace listing.
3. Instagram and WhatsApp in between. Post every new piece, put your store address in your bio, and send regular buyers the link when stock lands. The free WhatsApp order link generator makes a ready-to-send message link.
4. Your brand on the parcel. Pack in your own branded packaging. Before you put your store address or number inside a Daraz parcel, read Daraz’s seller policies in Seller Center, so you do not break its rules.
5. One stock count. Keep inventory in one sheet or one app, so a piece sold on your store does not get ordered on Daraz an hour later.

If you have not opened a Daraz shop yet, our Urdu guide to the Daraz seller account walks through sign-up, documents and fees. To set up the other half, read how to start an online store in Pakistan, and for every other place to sell, see our list of online selling websites in Pakistan.

Questions sellers ask

Daraz or Shopify: which is better in Pakistan?

They do different jobs. Daraz is a marketplace with its own shoppers, checkout and delivery, and it takes fees on every delivered order. Shopify, like any store builder, gives you a store of your own with no marketplace commission, but no shoppers come with it. If nobody knows your brand yet, Daraz gets you sales sooner. If you already have buyers on Instagram or WhatsApp, your own store keeps more of each sale.

How much commission does Daraz charge?

It depends on the category. Daraz publishes the rates as a PDF on the Marketplace Commission Structure page on Daraz University. On top of commission, the Payment Policy lists a 2.25% payment fee and an item handling fee of Rs 10 to Rs 60 per item, as of October 2026.

Is selling on Daraz profitable?

It can be, if your price covers commission, the payment fee, the handling fee, returns and any campaign fees, and still leaves a margin. Work out one order in a profit calculator before you list. The trouble starts when a seller prices against the cheapest listing instead of against their own costs.

When does Daraz pay sellers?

Weekly, for orders marked Delivered. Daraz’s Payment Policy says the statement appears in Seller Center the day after the cycle ends and the money is transferred to your bank on the fifth day. If an item is returned after you were paid, Daraz deducts it from the next payment.

Can I sell on Daraz and my own website at the same time?

Yes, and the two do different jobs: Daraz for buyers who do not know you yet, your own store for people who follow you on Instagram or message you on WhatsApp. Keep your stock count in one place so you do not sell the same piece twice.

Storelala is the Shopify alternative in Pakistan: your own store at yourbrand.storelala.com, with cash on delivery, JazzCash, Easypaisa and cards at checkout and no marketplace commission. You run it from your phone, and you book PostEx, Leopards or TCS right from the order screen. It is free to start, with no card needed. Start your store and give your repeat buyers somewhere of your own to order.