Selling online in Serbia and Croatia: payments, cash on delivery, couriers and VAT (2026)

Selling online in Serbia and Croatia looks like one project. The languages are close and customers shop across the border. In practice it is two markets with two rulebooks. Croatia joined the EU in 2013 and the euro in 2023. Serbia is in neither, so goods moving between the two go through customs.

This guide is for brands that already sell elsewhere: how customers pay, how parcels move, which VAT and fiscal rules apply and what consumer law expects on the page. We build stores for both countries from Serbia, so we also flag the steps that take longest.

Selling online in Serbia and Croatia at a glance

How foreign sellers enter each market

Croatia: EU rules apply

If your company is in another EU country, sales to Croatian consumers count toward the EU-wide €10,000 threshold for cross-border distance sales. Above it, you charge Croatian VAT and report it through the One Stop Shop in your home country, without registering in Croatia.

If you ship from outside the EU, including from Serbia, consignments worth up to €150 can use the Import One Stop Shop (IOSS), which lets you collect VAT at checkout. Since July 1, 2026, parcels up to €150 sold to EU consumers also pay a temporary customs duty of €3 per item type, replacing the old duty exemption: the European Commission counts items by tariff classification, so five identical T-shirts are one item and a T-shirt plus a watch are two. It runs until July 1, 2028. Goods that qualify for preferential origin under a trade agreement can be exempt when VAT isn't collected through IOSS, so check your goods' origin with a customs broker.

Serbia: a customs border and a tax representative

When a Serbian consumer orders from a company abroad, Serbian Customs waives duty on parcels worth up to €50, but not VAT: 20% import VAT applies, and the recipient pays it on delivery. That is friction at the door, on top of the shipping time.

A foreign company that makes taxable supplies inside Serbia, such as selling from local stock, has to appoint a tax representative and register for VAT regardless of turnover (Serbian VAT law). Most brands set up a local company or work with a local importer who holds the stock and issues the receipts. Model the options with a Serbian accountant before you build the store.

Payments: cards, instant transfers and wallets

Serbia

In Serbia you sign up for card acceptance with a bank, not with a payment app. The bank opens online card acceptance, and a processor hosts the page where the customer enters the card and passes 3-D Secure. Processors on the local market include AllSecure, Monri and ChipCard, and some banks use Payten's NestPay platform. Stripe is not an option for a Serbian company: Serbia is not on its list of supported countries.

Ask the same bank for IPS QR payments too. The customer scans a code with their banking app and the payment clears in seconds. Under National Bank of Serbia rules, every bank that offers online card acceptance must also offer instant payments, at the same cost as in a physical shop.

Croatia

Croatian stores use a payment provider on top of a bank agreement. Local providers include CorvusPay and Monri with its WSPay gateway. Wallets are growing: Erste Bank's KEKS Pay and Aircash both offer web-shop integrations. Stripe does support Croatian companies, which helps if the same entity also sells to the rest of the EU.

What gets checked before you go live

In both countries the bank or provider reviews the site before it switches cards on. Expect them to ask for full company details, prices in the local currency with VAT, purchase and delivery terms, the withdrawal policy, a privacy policy and card-scheme and 3-D Secure logos. Build those pages before you apply. Approval, test payments and go-live can take weeks, so apply as soon as the decision to sell is made. How we choose the platform around the payment provider is on our e-commerce development page.

Cash on delivery: still part of checkout

In Serbia, cash on delivery is the default. In Mastercard's MasterIndex Serbia 2025, a survey of payment-card users, 63% said they pay for online purchases on delivery, 35% enter a card on the site and 26% use mobile payment apps. A Serbian store without it turns customers away.

Croatia has moved further toward cards. According to the E-commerce Report by Valicon and Jeftinije.hr, 66% of online purchases in 2024 were paid by card, and 92% of purchases from foreign stores, which rarely offer cash on delivery. Local stores still offer it, and some customers still expect it.

Cash on delivery needs no payment provider. The courier collects the amount and pays it out to you. In Serbia, the Law on Postal Services of 2025 changed one detail: since March 2025 couriers pay collected amounts to senders only by bank transfer, as D Express told its customers. In both countries, compare the cash-on-delivery fee and the payout schedule, and show any fee before the last checkout step.

Couriers and parcel lockers

In Serbia, parcel couriers include Post Express (Pošta Srbije), D Express, BEX, AKS, City Express and X Express, and D Express, BEX, X Express and Pošta Srbije run parcel lockers. In Croatia, they include GLS, Overseas Express, HP Express (Hrvatska pošta), DPD and BOX NOW, which delivers to lockers.

VAT, prices and fiscal receipts

Serbia

A local business must register for VAT once its turnover in the previous 12 months exceeds RSD 8,000,000. The standard rate is 20% and the reduced rate 10%. Under the Law on Trade, the price on the page is the final price with taxes, shown in dinars to customers browsing from Serbia. Since the 2026 amendments, a discount must be measured against the lowest price in the previous 30 days.

The tax administration is explicit: anyone selling goods online at retail records the sale on an electronic fiscal device and issues a fiscal receipt, sent with the product or electronically with the buyer's consent. Invoices to businesses go through the government e-invoicing system (SEF), mandatory between VAT payers since January 1, 2023.

Croatia

The standard VAT rate is 25%, with reduced rates of 13% and 5%. The registration threshold for local businesses rose to €60,000 on January 1, 2025. Prices are shown in euros with VAT, and a discount must show the lowest price of the previous 30 days, under the Consumer Protection Act.

The new Fiscalization Act (NN 89/25) brought two changes. Since January 1, 2026, every receipt issued to a consumer is fiscalized, whatever the payment method, bank transfers included. From the same date, VAT-registered businesses exchange e-invoices with each other. Distance sales to consumers in other EU countries are taxed where the goods arrive, so the tax administration does not require Croatian fiscalization for them.

Consumer law and the pages you need

Serbia adopted a new Consumer Protection Law (Official Gazette 35/2026). It took effect on May 1, 2026, and most provisions apply from August 2026. Customers get 14 days to withdraw without giving a reason, counted from delivery. If you don't tell them about that right, the period extends by 12 months. Refunds are due within 14 days of the withdrawal notice, and you may wait until the goods come back. Delivery is due within 30 days unless agreed otherwise.

Croatia has the same 14-day withdrawal period and refund deadline, and traders must answer a written complaint within 15 days (gov.hr). Since June 19, 2026, amendments to the Consumer Protection Act (NN 59/26), which transpose EU Directive 2023/2673, require a withdrawal function on the site: clearly labeled, visible for the whole withdrawal period, leading to a short form and sending an automatic confirmation with date and time.

Two more EU points for Croatia. The EU Online Dispute Resolution platform closed on July 20, 2025, so remove any link to it. And since June 28, 2025, Croatia's accessibility law, which implements the European Accessibility Act, covers e-commerce services, with an exemption for micro-enterprises that provide services.

What to start first

The longest lead times are not in the code. If you plan to launch for a season, start these now, alongside design:

1. Entity and accountant in each market: VAT position, fiscal receipts, e-invoicing, and how cards, wallets and cash on delivery are booked.
2. Payment applications: the bank and processor in Serbia, the provider in Croatia. The longest wait on this list.
3. Courier contracts: cash-on-delivery fees and payouts, API access, island rates.
4. Legal pages per country: terms, delivery, withdrawal, complaints and privacy, plus the Croatian withdrawal button.
5. Test orders: card, IPS, wallet, cash on delivery, a withdrawal and a refund, in both stores, before the first real customer.

Our wider pre-build checklist covers domains, email and analytics. For a store like this, our Commerce package starts at €5,900 (≈ $6,840); see pricing for every package and timeline.

This setup work is part of our Kvant Partner approach: we prepare what banks and providers check, connect payments, couriers and fiscal receipts in both countries and run test orders before launch, with every contract in your name. We work from Serbia on Central European Time (more on nearshore work with us). If you are planning a store for the region, tell us what you sell and where you ship.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use Stripe in both countries?

For a Croatian company, yes. A Serbian company can't open a Stripe account. A company registered elsewhere can still charge Serbian cards, but then the sale is cross-border, with import VAT collected at the door.

Do I have to offer cash on delivery?

No law requires it. In Serbia, though, most surveyed card users pay that way, so leaving it out costs orders. In Croatia it matters less, but local customers still use it.

Do I need a local company in Serbia?

Not strictly: a foreign company can register for VAT through a tax representative. Most brands still choose a local company or a local importer, because receipts, returns and bank acceptance are simpler that way. Decide with a Serbian accountant.

Can one store serve both countries?

Yes, as one codebase with a storefront per country: its own currency, VAT, payment methods, couriers and legal pages, plus hreflang so each market sees its own version in search.

Sources

All checked on September 29, 2026.

• Serbia: Consumer Protection Law 35/2026 and application dates; VAT law; Law on Trade and 2026 amendments; Law on Personal Data Protection
• Serbia: Tax Administration on online sales and fiscal receipts; e-invoicing system; Customs on parcels; NBS on instant payments online; D Express on cash-on-delivery payouts
• Croatia: Tax Administration on VAT and the 2025 threshold and on consumer-receipt fiscalization; Fiscalization Act NN 89/25; Consumer Protection Act and amendments NN 59/26; accessibility law; gov.hr on distance purchases
• EU: One Stop Shop; Council on the €3 parcel duty and Commission guidance; end of the ODR platform
• Market data: MasterIndex Serbia 2025; Valicon and Jeftinije.hr E-commerce Report; Stripe supported countries