Facebook and Instagram Ads in Tunisia: How to Pay, Budget and Measure Your Campaigns (Seller Guide 2026)
To advertise on Facebook and Instagram from Tunisia, you first need a way to pay Meta in foreign currency: the international technology card, a transfer against an invoice for a company, or an agency. Then the budget is worked out from the delivered orders you want, not from the cost per result Facebook shows, which ignores refused parcels.
In short: a Meta ad account cannot be in dinars (pick dollars or euros). The international technology card explicitly allows online advertising, up to 1,000 TND a year for an individual and 10,000 TND for an eligible company. With cash on delivery, divide your cost per order by your confirmation rate and by the share of parcels delivered to see the real cost of a sale.
How do you pay for Facebook ads from Tunisia?
Meta accepts bank cards and a few other methods depending on the country. From Tunisia, foreign-currency payments are regulated by the Central Bank (BCT). Here are the legal routes, based on the texts in force.
| Method | For whom | Yearly ceiling | Main conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| International technology card (CTI) | Resident individual | 1,000 TND | At least a baccalauréat-level diploma, ID card, sworn statement |
| Company CTI | Resident company in telecoms, IT, education, consulting or research | 10,000 TND | Renewal on presentation of the year’s tax return |
| CTI with the Startup label | Labelled startup | 100,000 TND | Startup Act label (BCT circular 2019-02) |
| Transfer against an invoice | Resident company | Invoice amount | Foreign-currency transfer for online advertising on presentation of the endorsed invoice |
| Agency or provider | Any seller | Depends on the agency | The agency pays Meta and invoices you; you remain liable for tax withholdings |
Sources: BCT circular 2016-9 of 30 December 2016, as presented by the Ministry of Technologies, and circular 2019-02 for startups. Advertising is explicitly listed among the CTI’s allowed uses, alongside hosting, subscriptions and software.
Three notes:
- The individual ceiling runs out fast. At 45 TND a day, 1,000 TND covers about three weeks of ads. Beyond that, you need a company, a request to the BCT (form F2) or an agency.
- An increase has been announced. In May 2025, the Ministry of Technologies, the Finance Ministry and the BCT said they were working on a higher ceiling, with no amount published since. The foreign-exchange code reform was still before Parliament in June 2026. Ask your bank for the current ceiling.
- An agency does not remove your obligations. According to Tunisie Numérique (January 2026), the advertiser stays liable for tax withholdings even when an agency runs the campaign.
Which currency should the ad account use?
The Tunisian dinar is not among the currencies Meta ad accounts accept (the Algerian dinar, the Egyptian pound, the dollar and the euro are). Pick dollars or euros according to your card or invoicing currency, and convert your budgets to dinars to compare them with your margins.
Which taxes apply to payments to Meta?
Two texts cover payments to non-residents: article 19 of the VAT code (withholding of the VAT due) and article 52 of the income and corporate tax code (15% withholding, reducible under a tax treaty). We found no recent finance-law measure aimed specifically at foreign digital advertising. How they apply to a Meta invoice depends on your status: have an accountant check your case before deducting these costs.
Not to be confused with the 3% withholding delivery companies take on the cash they collect for sellers without a tax ID, covered in our guide to selling online legally.
What budget should you plan with cash on delivery?
Facebook sells orders received. You collect on orders delivered. In between, two losses: orders never confirmed and parcels refused at the door. So the budget is worked out backwards, from the deliveries you want.
Orders to win = deliveries wanted ÷ (confirmation rate × share of parcels delivered) Budget = orders to win × cost per order received
Example for 75 delivered orders a month, at 10.8 TND per order received and 43 TND of margin per delivered order before ads:
| Confirmation | Refusals | Orders to win | Monthly budget | Per day | Ads per delivery | Profit per delivery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 70% | 30% | 153 | 1,653 TND | 55 TND | 22.04 TND | 20.96 TND |
| 80% | 25% | 125 | 1,350 TND | 45 TND | 18.00 TND | 25.00 TND |
| 90% | 15% | 98 | 1,059 TND | 35 TND | 14.12 TND | 28.88 TND |
Same ads, same products: confirmation and refusals move the budget by more than 50%. Rerun it with your numbers in the ad budget calculator.
What cost per order should you aim for?
There is no reliable published Tunisian benchmark for cost per order on Facebook: the figures going around come from agencies, without a method. The only ceiling that matters is yours:
Maximum cost per order received = margin before ads × confirmation rate × share of parcels delivered
With 43 TND of margin, 80% confirmation and 25% refusals, that ceiling is 25.8 TND. Above it, every delivered order loses money; below it, raising the budget in steps pays. To find your margin before ads, use the margin calculator with ads set to 0.
How do you measure real sales?
- Install the Meta Pixel on your store. In Yalla Souk it connects from the Integrations page, without code (see the Meta Pixel guide), alongside Google Analytics 4 and Microsoft Clarity.
- Consider Meta’s Conversions API, which sends events from the server and fills in when the browser blocks the pixel. Meta recommends deduplicating the two sources.
- Compare every month the orders Facebook counts with confirmed orders, then with delivered and paid orders. The gap between the three is your real cost of sale.
- Track the refusal rate per campaign: a campaign that attracts impulse orders can show a good cost per order and a poor cost per delivery.
Orders on the store or by message?
Two ways to turn an ad into an order:
| Order on the store | Order by message (WhatsApp, Messenger) | |
|---|---|---|
| What the customer does | Fills in the order form | Writes to the seller |
| Measured in Facebook | Order counted by the pixel | A conversation, not a sale |
| Work for the seller | Confirm the order | Reply, qualify, enter the order |
| When to use it | Simple products, price shown | Products that need advice, customers who want to talk first |
The two combine: Yalla Souk offers express ordering and ordering by message on every product page. To move from selling by message to a real store, read our guide to selling on Instagram and Facebook.
The most expensive mistakes
- Judging a campaign on Facebook’s cost per result. It ignores refusals; judge it on the cost per delivered order.
- Cutting the budget instead of fixing confirmation. Going from 80% to 90% confirmed orders cuts the budget needed for the same deliveries by about 11%.
- Paying with a personal card without enough ceiling. The campaign stops when the CTI’s yearly ceiling is reached.
- Forgetting tax. Keep Meta’s invoices and have an accountant confirm how to treat them.
Sources
- Ministry of Technologies, “International technology card” sheet (BCT circular 2016-9) (in French)
- BCT circular 2019-02 (Startup label) (in French)
- La Presse: towards a higher technology card allowance (May 2025, in French)
- Tunisie Numérique: digital advertising, the millions spent on Facebook and YouTube (January 2026, in French)
- Meta: currencies supported by ad accounts
- Meta: Conversions API
- Income and corporate tax code, article 52 (in French)
Frequently asked questions
How do I pay for Facebook ads from Tunisia?
With the international technology card (CTI), issued by banks and La Poste, whose use for online advertising is explicitly allowed by BCT circular 2016-9: 1,000 TND a year for an individual, 10,000 TND for an eligible company, up to 100,000 TND with the Startup label. A resident company can also pay an online advertising invoice by foreign-currency transfer, on presentation of the invoice. Many sellers go through an agency that pays for them.
Can I open a Facebook ad account in Tunisian dinars?
No. The Tunisian dinar is not on the list of currencies Meta ad accounts accept. Tunisian sellers open their account in US dollars or euros, both accepted.
What is the international technology card's ceiling?
Under BCT circular 2016-9, 1,000 TND a year for a resident individual and 10,000 TND a year for a resident company in an eligible sector (telecoms, IT, education, consulting, research). The Startup label raises it to 100,000 TND (circular 2019-02). An increase was announced in May 2025, with no new amount published to date: check with your bank.
What ad budget should a cash-on-delivery store plan?
Start from the delivered orders you want. With 75 deliveries a month, 80% of orders confirmed, 25% of parcels refused and 10.8 TND per order received, you need 125 orders, so 1,350 TND a month or 45 TND a day. Our ad budget calculator reruns this with your numbers.
What cost per order should I aim for on Facebook in Tunisia?
There is no reliable published Tunisian benchmark. The right ceiling is your own: margin per delivered order before ads, times the confirmation rate, times the share of parcels delivered. With 43 TND of margin, 80% confirmation and 25% refusals, the ceiling is 25.8 TND per order received.
Why don't the sales Facebook shows match mine?
The ads manager counts orders placed on your store. With cash on delivery, some are never confirmed and some parcels are refused, so your real sales are lower. Compare Facebook's orders with delivered, paid orders every month.
Are there taxes on payments to Meta from Tunisia?
The VAT code (article 19) and the income and corporate tax code (article 52) provide for withholdings on payments to non-residents. How they apply to a Meta invoice depends on your status and on tax treaties: have an accountant check your case.
