Payment methods by country · Payment methods
How do South Africans pay online?
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South Africans pay online by card and straight from their bank. Ozow offers bank-to-bank payments with no card and says it reaches 47 million bank account holders. PayShap, the country's first interbank real-time payment service, run by BankservAfrica, lets users pay to a ShapID such as a mobile number; it handled over 14 million transactions in its first year. SnapScan, powered by Standard Bank, takes QR and online payments.
- Currency
- South African rand (ZAR)
- Bank payments
- Ozow (bank-to-bank, no card)
- Real-time payments
- PayShap (BankservAfrica), pay to a ShapID
- QR wallet
- SnapScan (powered by Standard Bank)
- PlatformDTC offers
- Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay; PayPal only when not priced in rand
What PlatformDTC does
PlatformDTC checkout does not offer Ozow, PayShap or SnapScan today. South African shoppers can use the card form, Apple Pay or Google Pay; PayPal can't charge in rand, so it shows only when the store prices in a PayPal currency such as US dollars.
PayShap's first year
PayShap launched in March 2023 with Absa, FNB, Nedbank and Standard Bank and a R3,000 limit per transaction. Request-to-Pay was planned to bring it to merchants.
Ozow and SnapScan
Ozow offers e-commerce checkout, QR codes and payment links. SnapScan customers scan the merchant's QR code, and merchants can also take online and payment-link payments.
Frequently asked questions
- Why is PayPal hidden for my South African market?
- PlatformDTC's PayPal button charges in 22 currencies and the rand isn't one of them.
- Who operates PayShap?
- BankservAfrica is the scheme operator.
Sources
- PayShap turns one: a year of innovation and growth — PayShap
- Ozow — Ozow
- SnapScan — SnapScan
Related
- 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.
- Argentina — Mercado Pago, cards and bank-app QR payments that work across wallets under Transferencias 3.0.
- Chile — Debit cards lead, with electronic bank transfers and transfer-based checkouts such as Khipu.
- Colombia — PSE online bank payments, Bre-B instant transfers by key, the Nequi app and cards.
- United States — Cards and wallets lead; Cash App Pay, ACH bank debits and BNPL such as Affirm and Afterpay follow.
- Canada — Credit cards and wallets online; Interac Debit reaches the web through Apple Pay and Google Pay.
- Mexico — Cards (often in interest-free installments) and OXXO cash vouchers paid at convenience stores.