Guides · Sell without GST
Sell Online Without GST: The Legal Route (Enrolment Number)
Updated: August 2026 · 9 min read
✅ Seedha jawab: Yes. Since 1 October 2023, you can legally sell online without GST if your yearly sales are under the GST registration limit (₹40 lakh for goods in most states). You take a free GST enrolment number from gst.gov.in instead of a GSTIN. One honest catch: you can sell only inside your own state. This guide explains the rule, the catch, and every document you need.
Someone has probably told you: “Online bechna hai? Pehle GST karao.” A shop neighbour, a relative, maybe even an agent who wanted ₹2,000 to “register” you.
That advice is out of date. The law changed, and most websites never updated their pages.
I run Kaarobari, a Seller App in the ONDC Network, from Dhule, Maharashtra. Sellers on our platform sell online without GST today — with a free government enrolment number. Real orders, real payments, fully legal. This is the guide I wish existed when our first no-GST seller asked me, “Ye legal hai kya?”
Is it really legal to sell online without GST?
Yes. Here is the plain history.
Before October 2023, the GST law forced every online seller to register for GST — even a papad-maker selling ₹5,000 a month. Offline sellers had a ₹40 lakh limit; online sellers had none. It was unfair, and the GST Council said so itself.
The 48th GST Council fixed it. From 1 October 2023, a small seller can sell through e-commerce without GST registration if:
- Yearly sales stay under the GST registration limit (₹40 lakh for goods in most states)
- The seller sells only within one state
- The seller takes a free enrolment number from the GST portal
This is not a loophole or a jugaad. It is a written government scheme, on the official GST portal, made exactly for sellers like you.
What is a GST enrolment number?
It is a simple ID number for unregistered small sellers. Think of it this way:
- GSTIN = full GST registration. Monthly returns, tax filings, accountant ka kharcha.
- Enrolment number = only an identity number. No monthly returns. No tax filing. No fee.
You apply on gst.gov.in (the official portal — it is free, never pay an agent for this). The portal asks for your PAN, your mobile, and your state. You get the enrolment number, and e-commerce platforms use it to list you legally.
📊 Decision tree — do I need GST to sell online?
(now ~3 working days)
sell online today
One thing the enrolment number is not: it is not a tax exemption certificate. It simply says “this seller is small and sells within one state, so GST registration is not required.” You still follow normal business rules — honest MRP, correct labels, real products.
The one big catch nobody tells you: your own state only
Every other article on this topic stops at “yes, it’s legal!” and collects its pageview. Here is the part they skip — and it is the part that decides whether this route fits your business.
An enrolment-number seller can sell only to buyers in the same state. This is written into the scheme itself. And on the ONDC Network, it is not a polite suggestion — the network refuses the order automatically. The buyer’s app is told the seller cannot serve that address. The order never reaches you.
📊 Example — a Dhule (Maharashtra) seller with an enrolment number
📍 Your shop: Dhule, Maharashtra
We have watched this happen on real orders on our own servers — the refusal even has a technical name on the wire, error code 30018, “inter-state not allowed for seller.” The buyer often just sees the order stuck, so as a seller you may never even know someone outside your state tried to buy. That is why we tell every no-GST seller this rule on day one, in plain words, before their first listing. We wrote a full article on just this rule: the one catch of no-GST selling.
Is that a deal-breaker? For most first-time sellers, honestly, no. Maharashtra alone has over 11 crore people — more than many countries. Your first 1,000 orders will almost certainly come from your own state anyway, because nearby buyers get faster delivery. But you should choose this route knowing the boundary, not discover it after a lost order.
When you are ready for all-India selling, you upgrade to a GSTIN — more on that below.
Which documents do I need to start?
Photo khinch kar ready rakhiye — you need surprisingly little. This is the exact list our own KYC asks for on the no-GST route:
| Document | Where from | Cost | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| PAN card (photo) | incometax.gov.in (instant e-PAN) | Free | 10 min if you don't have one |
| Aadhaar card (front + back photo) | myaadhaar.uidai.gov.in | Free | Already in your pocket |
| Bank account details (account no. + IFSC) | Your passbook or cheque book | Free | 2 min |
| Udyam Registration number | udyamregistration.gov.in only | Free | 15–20 min |
| GST enrolment number | gst.gov.in only | Free | 15–20 min |
| FSSAI number (food sellers only) | foscos.fssai.gov.in | Small govt fee | Few days |
Two warnings that save people money:
- Udyam registration is free. Dozens of lookalike websites charge ₹500–₹2,000 for it. The real portal ends in .gov.in and never asks for payment.
- You need the Udyam number, not a printed certificate file. On Kaarobari we removed the certificate-upload requirement in August 2026 after a real seller got stuck at the last step because of it — the number itself is what matters.
Full details for each document, with official links, are on our seller documents page.
📊 Your checklist at a glance
How much does selling online actually cost without GST?
On the ONDC Network through Kaarobari: no monthly fee, no listing fee — 2% only on delivered orders.
The arithmetic on a real order:
₹1,000
buyer pays for your product
− ₹20
Kaarobari success fee (2%)
₹980
you receive (before order-level taxes/app charges)
No monthly fee · no listing fee · no delivered order, no fee
No order, no fee. If a month goes badly and you sell nothing, you pay nothing. Every order’s full paisa-by-paisa break-up — including the buyer app’s own small charge and government deductions — is shown on your order screen before payout, so there is never a surprise line you did not see coming. Complete numbers are on our pricing page.
And does this route actually produce orders? One of our live sellers crossed 769 delivered orders in his early weeks on the network. Not a projection — our own delivery records. Small shops do real volume here when the catalog is set up right.
What happens when my business grows past the limit?
This is the part that used to scare sellers: “Baad me GST lena pada to mahino ka chakkar hoga kya?”
Not anymore. In September 2025 the GST Council approved a simplified registration system (people call it GST 2.0), live since 1 November 2025: small, low-risk sellers now get GST registration in about 3 working days, automatically. The old horror stories of month-long GST registration are outdated.
So the sensible path for a small seller in 2026 is:
- 1Start today with the free enrolment number — zero paperwork burden, own state only
- 2Grow — build your catalog, ratings, repeat buyers
- 3When sales justify it (or you want other-state buyers), apply for GSTIN — about 3 working days
- 4Add your new GSTIN in your Kaarobari dashboard — your shop, products, and order history stay exactly as they are
You never have to choose “forever.” The enrolment route is a starting ramp, not a cage. We wrote a full step-by-step of the ONDC-specific registration in our ONDC seller registration without GST guide.
FAQ — the questions sellers actually ask us
Bina GST ke bechna — police ya GST officer ka lafda to nahi hoga?+−
Sahi sawaal hai — this fear stops more sellers than any fee. No. This route was created by the GST Council itself, effective 1 October 2023. As long as you stay under the ₹40 lakh yearly limit and sell within your state, you are following the law, not bending it. Keep your enrolment number safe; that is your proof.
Can I sell online without a GST number on any platform?+−
The law allows it network-wide, but each platform decides whether it has built support for enrolment-number sellers. Many big marketplaces still demand a GSTIN at signup. Kaarobari supports the enrolment route as a first-class path — it is one of the reasons we built our own KYC the way we did.
What if a buyer from another state orders my product?+−
The network refuses that order automatically before it reaches you. You do not have to check addresses or cancel anything yourself. Your listings simply serve buyers within your state.
Do I have to file any GST returns with an enrolment number?+−
No. You are not GST-registered, so there are no GST returns to file. That is the whole point of this route — no monthly compliance burden while you are small.
Kal agar band karna ho to?+−
Koi contract nahi. Your account closes with one message, and anything already delivered is still paid out to you. You lose nothing by trying.
Stuck on any document? Our team gets it done on a call — no charge
We have a dedicated team that guides you step-by-step on a call and gets every document made — Udyam, GST enrolment, FSSAI, all of it. And not just documents: from signup to your shop going live on the ONDC Network to your first delivered order — support at every step, completely free. No fees, no agent costs.
Mon–Sat, 10am–7pm. Hindi and English both work.
Read next
Sources & official links
- GST enrolment for unregistered sellers: gst.gov.in (only official portal — free)
- Udyam registration: udyamregistration.gov.in (free — beware paid lookalike sites)
- Instant e-PAN: incometax.gov.in
- FSSAI/FoSCoS (food sellers): foscos.fssai.gov.in
- ONDC Network official resources: resources.ondc.org
Kaarobari is a Seller App in the ONDC Network, operated by NEXSOL INFOTECH PVT LTD, Dhule, Maharashtra. Numbers in this article (769 delivered orders, the ₹1,000 → ₹980 fee math, the inter-state refusal behaviour) come from our own production records, August 2026.