How to Sell Handmade & Thaali Crafts Online to Nepali and NRN Customers

If you make things by hand in Nepal — knitted goods, felt work, lokta paper, ceramics, or brass and copper thaali and puja sets — you already have the hardest part sorted: a product nobody else can copy exactly. What most artisans do not have is a way to sell that product to two very different buyers at once. One buyer is in Kathmandu or Pokhara and wants delivery this week. The other is a Nepali living in Sydney, Dallas or Doha who wants a thaali set that reminds them of home and is willing to pay in dollars. Learning how to sell handmade and thaali crafts online to both Nepali and NRN customers is mostly about setting up one store that handles two payment mixes and two shipping realities without you doing double work.

Start by splitting your catalogue into "local" and "shippable"

Not every handmade item should be sold abroad. A heavy brass thaali set costs more to airfreight than to make. A pashmina shawl or a set of lokta paper journals weighs almost nothing and travels beautifully.

Before you build anything, sort your products into three buckets:

• Local only — heavy, fragile, or low-margin items. Big copper vessels, clay pots, large statues. Sell these inside Nepal with cash on delivery or a wallet payment.
• Light and shippable — pashmina, felt slippers and toys, dhaka topi and dhaka fabric, jewellery, incense, small singing bowls, lokta stationery. These are your NRN products.
• Made to order — larger thaali and puja sets, custom-engraved brass, wedding pieces. Sell these on request with a longer stated lead time and a deposit.

This one decision saves you from the most common mistake artisans make online: listing everything, then losing money on the first international order because shipping ate the margin.

Build a real store, not just a photo feed

Most Nepali artisans start on Instagram or a Facebook page, and that is a perfectly good place to find your first buyers. The problem shows up at scale. Once you have thirty enquiries a week, DM-based selling breaks down — you lose orders in the message queue, you cannot show what is in stock, and you have no record of who bought what. If that is where you are now, the fix is well documented in this walkthrough on how Nepali social sellers move from Instagram DMs to a real store.

You do not need a developer. A no-code builder gets you a catalogue, cart and checkout in an afternoon — the steps are covered in this guide on launching a store without coding in a day. Keep social media for discovery; keep the store for the transaction.

What your product pages must show for craft buyers

Handmade sells on detail. Include on every page:

• Exact dimensions and weight. An NRN buyer comparing thaali sets needs the diameter in inches and centimetres, and the weight in grams.
• Material and finish. Brass, copper, bell metal, German silver — say which. For textiles, say whether it is 100% pashmina, a pashmina-silk blend, or merino.
• Who made it and where. "Hand-beaten in Patan" or "woven by a women's cooperative in Bhaktapur" is not decoration, it is the reason someone pays more than they would on a marketplace.
• Care instructions and an honest variation note. Brass tarnishes — say how to clean it. And write "each piece is hand-finished, so small differences are normal." Setting that expectation before the sale cuts refund requests.

Photograph it properly — your phone is enough

Craft buyers zoom in — they want to see hammer marks on metal and the weave on a shawl. Window light, a plain cloth backdrop and a steady hand are enough. Shoot the piece alone, then in a hand for scale, then a close crop of the texture. If lighting is where you struggle, this phone product photography guide for Nepal covers the setup in detail.

Set up two payment paths: one for Nepal, one for NRN buyers

This is where most craft stores stall. Domestic and international buyers do not pay the same way, and you need both switched on from day one.

Inside Nepal

Offer eSewa, Khalti, and a FonePay QR or direct bank transfer option. Cash on delivery still converts well for first-time buyers outside the Valley, though it ties up stock and brings refused deliveries. If you are unsure how to weight wallets against COD and bank transfer, this breakdown on choosing the right payment mix for Nepali customers is a good starting point.

NRN and international buyers

Diaspora buyers expect to pay by card, in their own currency, the moment they decide to buy. "Message me and I will send bank details" loses the sale. Two practical options:

• An international card gateway on your checkout, so a buyer in Australia or the US pays in AUD or USD without thinking about it.
• A remittance-adjacent workaround — some sellers let an NRN customer's family member in Nepal pay locally via wallet for a gift being delivered inside Nepal. This is very common around Dashain and Tihar and is worth building a specific "send a gift home" product line around.

Do talk to your bank before you scale international sales. Receiving foreign currency for goods in Nepal involves NRB rules on export proceeds and repatriation, and the correct answer depends on whether you are registered as an exporter. Get that confirmed in writing by your bank rather than relying on what another seller told you.

Shipping: pick your couriers before you price

Domestic: Pathao, NCM (Nepal Can Move), Aramex domestic and Upaya cover most of the country, and NCM is generally the practical option for districts outside the Valley. Weigh a packed sample box and get real rate cards before you publish shipping charges.

International: Nepal Post EMS is the cheapest and the slowest. DHL, FedEx and Aramex are fast and expensive, and are what NRN buyers usually prefer for anything valuable or time-sensitive. Quote both and let the buyer choose — many will pay for speed when the item is a gift.

Packing for craft: brass and ceramics need rigid boxes and real cushioning, not a poly mailer. Textiles need a sealed poly bag inside the box so humidity does not reach them. On international parcels, declare contents accurately and include an invoice — vague declarations get parcels held at customs.

Paperwork and pricing you should not skip

Register a PAN with the Inland Revenue Department early — it costs you little and you will need it for a business bank account, courier accounts, and any export documentation. VAT registration becomes relevant once your turnover crosses the threshold or if you deal in categories that require it, and the details are explained plainly in this guide to when online sellers in Nepal need to register for PAN and VAT.

For exports, handicraft sellers commonly need a certificate of origin and, depending on the product, documentation through the relevant handicraft association or chamber of commerce. Check requirements per product category, particularly for anything containing wool, leather, bone, or protected materials.

On pricing: materials, plus honest labour hours at a rate you would accept, plus packaging, plus gateway fees, plus margin — then shipping shown separately. Undercharging for handmade labour is the fastest route to burning out.

Sell hardest when the diaspora is buying

Demand is seasonal and predictable. Dashain and Tihar drive gift buying from abroad — orders need to be placed weeks ahead to arrive in time, so start promoting your festival range early and publish an international order cut-off date. Losar, Teej and wedding season each move different categories, and NRN buyers shop the Christmas calendar too. If you also run a shop counter, one shared stock pool stops you selling the same piece twice — this guide to running one inventory across your shop and online store explains how to avoid overselling.

This is roughly where Saauzi fits for artisan sellers: it lets you build the store without code, take eSewa, Khalti, bank and COD payments from Nepali customers alongside card payments from abroad, and keep one stock count across your online store and your physical shop — so a thaali sold at the counter in Patan disappears from the website too.

Your first week, in order

1. Sort your products into local-only, shippable, and made-to-order.
2. Photograph your ten best shippable pieces on your phone in daylight.
3. Weigh and measure everything, and get real domestic and international courier quotes.
4. Set your prices with fees and labour included.
5. Launch the store with eSewa, Khalti, bank transfer and COD live, plus a card option for NRN buyers.
6. Post three pieces on Instagram linking straight to the product page — not to your DMs.

You do not need a perfect catalogue to start. You need ten good listings, honest shipping costs, and a checkout that works for a buyer in Bhaktapur and a buyer in Boston. Get your first product listed and your first payment received, then build from there — the craft is already the hard part, and you have that covered.