Market Analysis
A textbook example of an activity where geography matters more than the emirate fee comparison. Dubai's Naif and Al Ras districts in Deira are the historic wholesale hardware and tool-trading cluster — walk either street and you'll find dozens of licensed hardware traders within a few blocks, a genuine agglomeration effect that draws buyers from across the GCC. RAK has built a real secondary cluster too, with several hundred registered workshop hardware traders according to UAE business directories.
License-fee-wise, this is an unglamorous Commercial trading license with no sector approval required — Ajman's government-fee components make it nominally cheapest to license, but that's largely irrelevant if your customers are walking into a Deira showroom. Dubai's Commercial trade license fees run AED 15,000-24,500 on average once government fees and typical office costs are combined, well above Ajman's AED 12,000-16,000 range, but the Deira cluster effect is usually worth the premium for this specific trade.
100% foreign ownership, no restrictions. The practical decision here isn't "which emirate is cheapest" — it's "does my business model depend on foot traffic and wholesale-buyer density, or can I sell remotely from a cheaper base."