Banikh vs Facebook page
Selling through a Facebook page got you started, and for a lot of Bangladeshi sellers it still works. The honest answer isn't "leave Facebook" — it's "stop taking orders in the comments." Keep the page for reach and community; let a real store handle the catalog, the OTP, and the courier.
Build your free store →Verdict
| Banikh | Facebook page | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | None. First 25 delivered orders free, then ৳5 or 1.5% of order value (whichever is higher) — only when an order is delivered. Currently free for everyone during our launch offer. | Free to post and message, but reach beyond your followers usually needs a paid boost |
| Taking orders | Customer places the order themselves on the storefront — name, address, and product locked in before it's booked | Back-and-forth in comments or inbox for every single order — price, size, address, all typed out manually |
| Fake orders | Phone-OTP verification before booking — the order has to be confirmed by the customer to go out | No verification — sellers commonly report losing a large share of COD orders to no-show buyers |
| Product catalog | A real catalog with prices, variants, and stock — customers browse without asking | Scattered across posts and photo albums — customers have to scroll and ask for prices |
| Being found on Google | A real website that can show up when someone searches for your product | Facebook pages are barely indexed by Google — you only reach people who already follow you |
| Reach and visibility | Not reach-dependent — customers who land on your store can browse and order directly | Organic reach is a few percent of your followers unless you pay to boost the post |
| Who controls your shop | You own the storefront, the domain, and the customer data — nobody can pause it | Meta controls the page — a restriction, even a mistaken one, can pause your whole business overnight |
| Courier booking | Steadfast, Pathao, and RedX booking built into the dashboard — one click, status sync included | Manual — you call or use each courier's own app or portal separately |
| Language | Fully bilingual Bangla/English storefront and dashboard, by default | Whatever language you type in your posts and replies — no structured storefront |
Nothing here is an argument to quit Facebook. Every customer in Bangladesh is already there, it's free to post, and live selling genuinely works for building an audience fast. The change that actually moves the needle is where the order gets placed. Right now, every single order means a customer asking "দাম কত?", you replying, them asking for size or color, you replying again, and then hoping they actually confirm — and stay reachable when the courier calls. A storefront takes that entire conversation and turns it into a page: prices, variants, and stock are already there, so the customer clicks, fills in their address, and the order is placed. Your page becomes what it's actually good at — reach, trust-building, and live selling — and points people to a shop that closes the sale itself.
There's no verification step when someone comments "Inbox করেছি" or drops their number under a post. Sellers commonly report losing a large share of their COD orders to buyers who simply don't answer the courier's call or refuse the package at the door. Every one of those is a delivery fee you paid for nothing. Banikh requires phone-OTP confirmation before an order is booked with a courier: the customer has to confirm it's really them placing the order. It won't get you to zero, but it filters out the casual "just curious" comments before they cost you a courier trip.
Organic reach on Facebook business pages has fallen to a small fraction of your followers, and ad costs in Bangladesh are priced in USD, so they climb as the taka weakens against the dollar even when the USD price looks flat. That means your sales this month partly depend on a boosting budget and an algorithm you don't control — and a policy change can cut your reach overnight with no warning. A website doesn't fix the algorithm, but it gives you a second channel that isn't rented: search traffic from Google compounds over time instead of resetting every time you stop posting, and a customer who's ordered from you once can be reached directly next time, not just when Facebook decides to show them your post.
This is the uncomfortable one, so it's worth saying plainly and without drama: Facebook restricts and removes pages for reasons that are often unclear, and the appeal process has no phone number and no guaranteed timeline. If 100% of your business runs through that one page, a restriction — even a mistaken one — pauses your income until it's resolved, if it's resolved. A website you control, on your own domain, with your own customer list, can't be paused by anyone else's policy decision. Keeping both — Facebook for reach, a website for the actual shop — means a bad week on one channel doesn't end your business.
No — keep it running exactly as it is. Most Banikh merchants use Facebook for posts, ads, and live selling, then link their bio and posts to their Banikh storefront so the actual order gets placed there instead of in the comments.
A website removes the back-and-forth chat for every order, stops fake COD orders with phone-OTP verification, shows up on Google (a Facebook page almost never does), and keeps working even if your page's reach drops or gets restricted.
When a customer places an order on your Banikh store, they confirm it with a one-time phone OTP before it's booked with a courier. That single step filters out casual comments and "just checking" inquiries that never intended to complete the order.
No developer needed. Pick a template, add your products (bulk import from a spreadsheet if you're moving your existing catalog), turn on Cash on Delivery with OTP and Steadfast/Pathao/RedX booking, and your store is live — most sellers finish in under 5 minutes from a phone.
Facebook itself is free to post on, though reach usually needs a paid boost. Banikh has no monthly fee either — your first 25 delivered orders are free, then ৳5 or 1.5% of the order value (whichever is higher), only charged when an order is delivered, and currently free for everyone during our launch offer.
Bangladeshi merchants are launching real stores in minutes — bKash, Nagad, courier integrations, and your own domain. No monthly fee — pay a small flat rate per order, free during launch.
