How much does it cost to start an eSIM business?

An eSIM business sells prepaid mobile data to travelers, delivered by email as a QR code. There is nothing to ship, but there are real costs: platform minimums, the plans themselves, a store or app, payment fees and marketing. Here is what each cost looks like when you source eSIMs yourself and when you sell from ResellPortal.

Startup cost at a glance

Platform minimums

This is where most eSIM budgets break. eSIM Go has no setup fee, but its Standard tier needs $10,000 a month for the first three months, which becomes credit for the plans you sell, and a custom eSIM brand profile is $2,000 a month. MobiMatter asks for a $250 wallet top-up to activate a reseller account. Telnyx charges $0.70 per eSIM and $2 a month for each active SIM, plus data, and you build the buying experience on its API. Airalo Partners has no subscription fee, though your prices must stay above its minimum selling price. ResellPortal has no monthly fee, no minimum spend and no per-SIM charge.

Plans and wholesale cost

Your inventory is really prepaid credit, since eSIMs are bought as they sell. On ResellPortal the wallet minimum is $20, and each plan is charged once at wholesale when a client buys it. There are 3.2K+ plans for 202 destinations, starting at $0.60. A 5 GB, 30 day plan is $5.40 wholesale for Japan, $6.80 for the United States, $5.46 for Europe across 35 countries and $36.00 for a global plan covering 120+ countries. Volume discounts lower wholesale as the wallet grows, and an eSIM still unused after 30 days is cancelled with its cost returned to your wallet.

Store, app and branding

Travelers need somewhere to search a country and pay. Building it yourself means a website with live plans or a mobile app, and an app adds $99 a year for the Apple Developer Program and a one-time $25 Google Play registration on top of development. ResellPortal adds an eSIM checkout and its own eSIM page to your branded store at no cost, and the QR code email carries your brand. A standalone eSIM website with a page per destination is $20 a month, and a branded eSIM app is $75 a month per platform. A .com costs about $11 a year or more, since registrars now pay $11.17 for each one.

Payments

Stripe charges 2.9% + 30¢ per successful US card payment, plus 1.5% for international cards and 1% when currency is converted. That matters when buyers are travelers paying from abroad. On ResellPortal, clients pay your price straight into your own Stripe or PayPal, and the platform takes nothing from retail.

Marketing

eSIM sells best where travelers already are. Travel agencies add a plan to every booking, phone shops sell one with each new phone, and tour and study groups buy one per traveler. The eSIM search widget can also go on a site you already run, so you can sell before you spend anything on ads.

Example first-month budget

Say you run a small travel agency with its own website and sell from ResellPortal.

• Wallet deposit: $50, plus the $10 bonus, so $60 of wholesale credit
• Domain: $0, using the agency's existing domain
• Store, eSIM page and monthly fee: $0
• Total out of pocket: $50

In the first month you sell five Japan 5 GB plans at the example retail price of $12. Wholesale is $27, leaving $33 in the wallet, which stays above the $20 a store needs to accept orders. Revenue is $60, card fees at Stripe's US rate are about $3.24, and you keep about $29.76. Starting the same month on MobiMatter would need $250 before the first sale, and on eSIM Go $10,000.

Common questions

Can I start an eSIM business with no money?

Not quite, but close. The ResellPortal account and store are free, and selling needs at least $20 in the wallet, which pays for the plans you sell rather than a fee. You add your price on top of each plan's wholesale cost.

Is there a monthly fee to sell eSIMs?

Not on ResellPortal, and Airalo Partners says it has no subscription fee. Telnyx charges $2 a month per active SIM, and eSIM Go sets a monthly commitment from $10,000 on its entry tier.

How much profit is there per eSIM?

You set it. At ResellPortal's example prices, a United States 5 GB plan costs $6.80 and sells for $15, keeping $8.20, and a global plan costs $36.00 and sells for $59, keeping $23.

Do I need my own eSIM app?

No. Travelers buy on your store and install by scanning the QR code from the email. A branded app is an optional $75 a month per platform, while building your own means Apple's $99 yearly fee, Google's $25 one-time fee and the development itself.