Shopify Payment Gateways in the UAE: The Complete Guide

UAE Shopify stores collect payment in one of two ways: a third-party gateway from Shopify's UAE gateway directory, or, if Shopify Payments is available to the merchant, Shopify's own native card processing. Add to that mix the buy-now-pay-later apps and cash on delivery, and you've got the full picture. This guide weighs every option against availability, fees, AED settlement, payout speed and setup effort. Then it gives you an honest steer on which one actually fits your store.

RATH Infotech's team, led by founders Sumeet Mehta and Manish Doshi, put this guide together. We've served Dubai and the rest of the UAE since 2014, building and maintaining Shopify stores as part of our ecommerce work, and getting payment setup right is one of the first hurdles every UAE merchant faces. One scoping note before we start: this guide covers the gateways available to a merchant selling from the UAE, not how shoppers abroad pay a UAE store. Fees and availability shift often, so treat every figure here as something to confirm on the provider's own pricing page before you commit.

How payments work on a UAE Shopify store

A payment gateway sits between your Shopify checkout and the banking system. When a customer pays, it captures the card or wallet details and passes them to the acquiring bank for authorisation. Once the sale clears, the gateway settles the money into your business bank account. In most markets, Shopify doesn't process card payments itself; it connects to a gateway that does.

Shopify gives you two ways to take payments. First, there's Shopify Payments, the platform's own built-in processor, but it only works in the countries on Shopify's supported-countries list. Second, you can use a third-party gateway: an outside provider you connect to your store through Shopify's gateway directory. Layered on top of card gateways are two extras that matter for the UAE: buy-now-pay-later apps and cash on delivery, the latter handled by Shopify as a manual payment method. This guide walks through each option in turn.

Shopify Payments in the UAE: availability and what it changes

Shopify Payments only works for merchants in countries Shopify lists on its supported-countries page, and Shopify maintains and updates that list periodically. At the time of writing, the UAE isn't among the countries where UAE-based merchants can activate Shopify Payments. That's why most UAE stores run on a third-party gateway instead. Things can change, though, so check Shopify's current supported-countries page before assuming either way.

Fees are why this matters. Stick with Shopify Payments, and Shopify skips its extra per-transaction charge. Bring in any third-party gateway instead, and Shopify tacks on a third-party transaction fee on top of whatever that gateway already bills you (that's the double-fee mechanic covered below). Availability isn't some minor technicality. It decides whether you pay one processing fee or two.

Third-party gateways available to UAE merchants

For UAE stores, the heavy lifting falls to third-party gateways. Shopify's UAE gateway directory lists the providers you can connect, and it's the definitive source on what's currently supported. Always confirm a provider is still listed there before you build around it. The roster typically spans three groups: regional payment specialists focused on the Gulf, global providers that support UAE-registered merchants, and newer UAE fintechs.

• Regional specialists, Telr, PayTabs, Amazon Payment Services and Network International (N-Genius) are built for Gulf merchants. They settle in AED to a UAE business bank account and support cards issued locally.
• Global providers with UAE support, Checkout.com and Stripe both operate in the UAE for eligible registered businesses. Confirm current merchant eligibility on the provider's own UAE page before you commit to one.
• PayPal, for UAE merchants, PayPal's ability to receive store payments is limited, and it works differently than using PayPal as a shopper. Check PayPal's official UAE documentation to see what a UAE-registered business can actually accept before relying on it.

Every one of these settles in whatever currency and account the provider supports, so confirm AED settlement and UAE bank payout directly with the gateway. The comparison table in the next section lays the main options side by side.

Fees compared: gateway charges plus Shopify's third-party transaction fee

A UAE Shopify store that skips Shopify Payments ends up stacking two separate charges. First there's the gateway's own fee: usually a percentage of each transaction plus a small fixed amount, spelled out right on the provider's pricing page. Then comes Shopify's third-party transaction fee, tacked on for every single order that runs through an outside gateway. Forget that second charge, and your real cost per sale climbs well above what the gateway quote led you to expect. It's the costing mistake we run into most often.

The table below stacks up the main gateways UAE merchants connect to Shopify. Fee and availability cells send you to the official source instead of quoting a figure, since published rates shift and only the provider's own page can be trusted.

A third-party transaction fee gets added on top, and that's what shifts your effective cost depending on the plan you pick. The table below breaks down how Shopify structures this fee.

You'll find the exact percentages on Shopify's pricing page, and they get revised now and then, so check there before building out your margin projections. What matters most is the trend: higher-tier plans knock down the third-party fee, and Shopify Payments cuts it out altogether wherever you're able to use it.

BNPL and cash on delivery: the UAE-specific layer

UAE ecommerce runs on more than the card these days, and two payment habits matter most. Buy now, pay later tops the list. Tabby and Tamara both offer Shopify apps that let shoppers split a purchase into instalments or defer payment at checkout, and that can lift conversion on pricier baskets where a buyer hesitates at the full price. Before you install either app, check the provider's own site for its current Shopify integration and merchant terms, because availability and eligibility don't stay fixed.

The second option is cash on delivery. A meaningful share of UAE shoppers still expect COD, and Shopify supports it natively as a manual payment method, flip it on in payment settings, no gateway needed. The trade-offs sit on the operations side rather than the technical one: higher return and refusal rates, cash handling through your courier, and extra reconciliation work. Most UAE stores run COD alongside cards instead of replacing them, so a hesitant buyer always has a way to check out. We cover how payment choice shapes checkout completion in our guide to payment methods that affect UAE checkout conversion.

Which gateway should you choose? A decision guide by store type

No single gateway wins outright. What's best depends on what your store is optimising for. A cost-sensitive SME weighs fees one way; a fashion brand chasing conversion on high-value orders weighs them another. The matrix below sorts common UAE store situations into a sensible shortlist, with the reasoning laid out. Start there, but check current fees and terms with each provider before you commit.

Platform choice on its own shapes which payment options you'll have. For a closer look at that, see our comparison of UAE payment gateway options on Shopify versus WooCommerce.

What you need before you apply: UAE requirements

Payment gateways in the UAE all run know-your-customer checks before they'll approve a merchant account, and the requirements look pretty similar from one provider to the next. Check the exact list on each gateway's own site. Still, plan to supply most of the following:

• A valid UAE trade licence for the business trading on the store.
• A UAE business bank account for settlement.
• Identification and ownership documents for the business and its owners.
• Compliant website pages: clear refund, privacy and terms pages, along with visible contact details and pricing. Gateways check for these during onboarding.

Approval timelines shift from provider to provider, and a lot depends on how complete your paperwork is. No honest guide can hand you a fixed number of days. Some gateways publish an expected review window. Others don't, and in that case you should start the process early and fold it into your launch plan rather than save it for the last week. The Central Bank of the UAE holds general oversight of retail payment services in the country, while each individual provider manages its own compliance under that framework.

Setting up a gateway in Shopify: step by step

Once your merchant account gets approved, hooking up a gateway won't take long. Every third-party provider follows the same basic flow:

1. Choose and apply for a gateway from Shopify's UAE directory. Pick one, apply through it, then work through the provider's KYC checks and finish the merchant application.
2. Wait for approval and receive your account credentials or API keys from the provider.
3. In your Shopify admin, open Settings → Payments.
4. Under third-party providers, select or search for your gateway and choose it.
5. Enter the credentials the provider issued and save.
6. Set your payment options, enable cards, and add cash on delivery under manual payment methods if you offer it.
7. Place a test order to confirm authorisation, capture and the confirmation email all work end to end.
8. Refund the test order, then go live and monitor your first real orders closely.

Don't skip the test order. A checkout that loads isn't the same thing as one that actually takes money. Only a real test transaction proves the whole chain works.

Common mistakes and troubleshooting

Most payment trouble on UAE Shopify stores comes down to the same handful of habits, and every one of them is avoidable.

• Choosing on the gateway fee alone. The headline rate leaves out Shopify's third-party transaction fee, which stacks on top of it. Look at the total cost per sale, not just the gateway quote.
• Forgetting the third-party transaction fee entirely. It quietly pushes up your real cost on every order, unless you're on Shopify Payments.
• Running COD only. This shuts out shoppers who want to pay by card, and it brings higher return rates. Offer a prepaid option alongside it.
• No BNPL on a high-AOV store. Pay-later can be the difference on larger baskets where price causes hesitation.
• Applying without a trade licence or business bank account. This will get the gateway to reject your application, have that paperwork ready before you start.
• Skipping the test order. The fastest way to launch a checkout that fails silently at payment.

When live payments start declining, work through the basics first: confirm the gateway account is still active and not under review, check that credentials in Shopify haven't expired, look for currency or card-type mismatches, and try a different card before assuming the store's broken. Most declines trace back to account or configuration issues. Shopify itself is rarely the culprit.

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Reviewed by the RATH Infotech team, led by founders Sumeet Mehta and Manish Doshi.