Kathmandu, Feb. 28 -- When Juna Bastola paid Rs350 for a month of Netflix and Rs300 for three months of Amazon Prime Video via a digital service platform (premiumsewa), she knew she was not buying from the official platforms. But it was cheap, quick, and required no dollar card, and that was enough.

"Buying directly would require a dollar card and a subscription at a high price, so I chose the cheaper option," Juna said. "I was paying around a quarter of the original price."

This choice reflects a much larger phenomenon: a rapidly expanding digital market in Nepal, a legal framework struggling to keep up, and a grey zone where consumers, resellers, and regulators collide.

Across Nepal, thousands of users are making similar calculations...