Table of Contents
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What does a books trading business do?
It buys and sells new books, at retail, wholesale, or both, through physical stores, online platforms, or a combination, across all genres including fiction, educational, and reference titles.
2. What is the difference between books trading and retail sale of books?
Retail sale of books (4761.01) is selling to consumers. Books trading (4761.93) is broader, covering the buying and selling of books at retail, wholesale, or both.
3. Can a books trading business operate online?
Yes. Books trading can be carried out through a physical store, an online platform, or a combination of the two, at retail or wholesale.
4. Does books trading cover second-hand books?
No. This activity covers new books. Selling second-hand or antique books is a separate activity.
5. Does a books trading business need approval or AML registration?
No. This activity requires no third-party approval and is exempt from AML compliance requirements, making it straightforward to set up.
How to Start a Books Trading Business with Meydan Free Zone
Some businesses sell books from a shop, others move them by the pallet, and many now do both at once, a website, a warehouse, and a counter all feeding the same trade. Books trading is the flexible version of the book business: buying and selling titles however the market wants them, at retail, at wholesale, online, or in person.
The UAE is built for trading books. The Sharjah International Book Fair, the world's largest marketplace for publishing rights, brought together 2,350 publishers from 118 countries in 2025, according to Gulf Today¹.
The buyer base keeps growing too: the country's higher-education sector recorded its largest intake in a decade in 2024 to 2025, with 57,035 new admissions across 66 institutions, according to the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research². A books trader can sell into all of it, in whatever form the customer prefers.
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Books trading is deliberately flexible: retail or wholesale, online or in store. In a country that is both a global publishing hub and a fast-growing education market, that flexibility is an advantage.
Sources: Gulf Today (2025); MoHESR via Gulf News (2025).
A books trading business buys and sells books in whatever way suits the market. It can operate at retail, selling to readers, at wholesale, supplying other businesses, or both, and through a physical store, an online platform, or a combination.
It trades books of all genres, from fiction and reference to educational titles. Readers, retailers, schools, and institutions all become potential customers, which makes it the most flexible of the book activities.
The demand comes from how many different ways books now move. A trader can sell new releases to readers online, supply textbooks to a school in bulk, and stock a physical shelf, all under one activity.
The UAE supports every one of those channels: a strong e-commerce market, a dense retail sector, hundreds of schools, and a higher-education sector growing at its fastest rate in years. Because the activity allows both retail and wholesale, a trader can follow demand wherever it appears rather than being locked into a single model.
From online sales and bulk supply to high-street shelves, the UAE rewards book traders who can sell new titles in whatever form the market wants them.
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Who is this for?
- Book traders: Businesses buying and selling new books at retail, wholesale, or both.
- Online and omnichannel booksellers: Traders selling books online, in store, or across both channels.
- Educational and general book suppliers: Traders supplying books to readers, schools, and institutions.
Meydan Free Zone offers 100% foreign ownership, zero percent corporate tax on qualifying income, full profit repatriation, and a fully digital licensing process, providing a regulated and cost-efficient base from which to operate a books trading business across retail and wholesale, online and in store.
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4761.93 - Books Trading
Under this activity, you are licensed to carry out books trading, the buying and selling of a wide variety of books through different platforms.
There are clear boundaries on this activity. Like the retail-of-books activity beside it, books trading covers new books; the retail sale of second-hand or antique books falls under its own separate activity.
The line is precise. If your business buys and sells new books, at retail or wholesale, online or in store, you are in. If you sell second-hand or antique books, that is a separate activity.
Third-Party Approval
No third-party approval is required for this business activity.
Anti-Money Laundering Compliance
This business activity is exempt from AML compliance requirements.
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Citations
¹ Gulf Today. 44th Sharjah International Book Fair Concludes With Over 1.4m Visitors From 206 Nations. Gulf Today, November 2025.
² Ministry of Higher Education, reported by Gulf News. UAE Universities Record High Enrolment This Academic Year. Gulf News, November 2025.
