Payment methods by country · Payment methods
How do Saudi shoppers pay online? mada, sarie and Tamara
Checked
Saudi shoppers pay online mostly with mada, the national payment system owned by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), which works at shops, ATMs and e-commerce sites; mada online payments use 3D Secure to check the cardholder. SAMA says electronic payments reached 85% of retail payments in 2025. sarie, SAMA's instant payment system, credits transfers under SAR 20,000 at once using a mobile number. Tamara lets shoppers pay in instalments.
- Currency
- Saudi riyal (SAR)
- Local card network
- mada (owned by SAMA, launched 1990)
- E-payments share
- 85% of retail payments in 2025 (SAMA)
- Instant payments
- sarie: under SAR 20,000 credited instantly, 24/7
- Buy now, pay later
- Tamara (up to 24 months)
- PlatformDTC offers
- Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay; MyFatoorah for Saudi stores
What PlatformDTC does
PlatformDTC checkout takes Visa, Mastercard and American Express cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay from Saudi shoppers; PayPal can't charge in riyals. A store based in Saudi Arabia can connect its own MyFatoorah account, and which local methods shoppers then see depends on that account. Tamara and sarie are not offered directly.
mada online
In July 2025 SAMA launched a new e-commerce payments interface that connects mada with global payment networks and adds card tokenization. SAMA credits mada for much of the growth in point-of-sale and e-commerce payments.
sarie and Tamara
SAMA launched sarie in February 2021, run through Saudi Payments; it accepts a mobile number instead of an IBAN. Tamara says it is available at most stores across Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with instalments over up to 24 months.
Frequently asked questions
- Can a store based in the Gulf use MyFatoorah on PlatformDTC?
- Yes. Stores based in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan or Egypt can connect their own MyFatoorah account as a card gateway. Which local methods shoppers see then depends on what that MyFatoorah account has switched on.
- Does PayPal work for a market priced in riyals?
- No. PlatformDTC's PayPal button charges in 22 currencies and the Saudi riyal isn't one of them.
Sources
- mada — Saudi Central Bank (SAMA)
- SAMA: E-Payments Account for 85% of Total Retail Payments in 2025 — Saudi Central Bank (SAMA)
- Saudi Central Bank Launches the Instant Payment System 'sarie' — Saudi Central Bank (SAMA)
- SAMA Announces the Launch of the New E-commerce Payments Interface — Saudi Central Bank (SAMA)
- Tamara — Tamara
Related
- United Arab Emirates — Cards, the new Jaywan domestic card, Aani instant payments, and Tabby or Tamara instalments.
- Kuwait — KNET local debit cards carry most online payments, with Wamd for instant transfers.
- Qatar — Local debit cards through the QPay gateway and Fawran instant payments by phone number.
- Egypt — InstaPay instant transfers, Meeza national cards and Fawry cash payments, alongside cards.
- Israel — Payment cards first, then bank transfers and payment apps such as bit.
- South Africa — Cards, plus bank-to-bank payments through Ozow, PayShap real-time transfers and SnapScan QR.