Payment methods by country · Payment methods
How do shoppers in the UAE pay online?
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Shoppers in the UAE pay online by card and phone wallet, increasingly on home-grown rails. Al Etihad Payments, part of the Central Bank of the UAE, runs Jaywan, the national card scheme for debit and prepaid cards that work online and in store, and Aani, which sends money instantly to a phone number or by QR code, 24/7. Tabby splits purchases into four interest-free payments, and Tamara offers instalments too.
- Currency
- UAE dirham (AED)
- Local card scheme
- Jaywan (Al Etihad Payments)
- Instant payments
- Aani: phone number or QR, 24/7
- Buy now, pay later
- Tabby, Tamara
- Cards on Stripe
- UAE Stripe accounts can't accept American Express
- PlatformDTC offers
- Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay; MyFatoorah for UAE stores
What PlatformDTC does
PlatformDTC checkout takes cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay from UAE shoppers; a store whose Stripe account is in the UAE can't take American Express, and PayPal can't charge in dirhams. A UAE-based store can connect its own MyFatoorah account, with local methods depending on that account. Tabby, Tamara and Aani are not offered directly.
Jaywan and Aani
Jaywan cards work abroad through Visa, Mastercard, Discover and UnionPay. Aani was announced in October 2023 as an instant payments platform for the UAE.
Pay later in the UAE
Tabby offers four interest-free payments with no fees, or up to 12 monthly payments, and says it is regulated by the UAE Central Bank. Tamara says it is available at most stores across Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
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.
- Why can't my UAE store take American Express?
- Stripe lists the UAE among the account countries where American Express isn't available.
Sources
- Jaywan: UAE's new domestic card payment scheme — Al Etihad Payments
- Al Etihad Payments launches Aani, an instant payments platform for digital transactions in the UAE — Al Etihad Payments
- Tabby — Tabby
- Tamara — Tamara
- Cards: supported card brands — Stripe
Related
- Saudi Arabia — mada cards, owned by the central bank, lead; sarie instant transfers and Tamara instalments follow.
- Qatar — Local debit cards through the QPay gateway and Fawran instant payments by phone number.
- Kuwait — KNET local debit cards carry most online payments, with Wamd for instant transfers.
- 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.
- Argentina — Mercado Pago, cards and bank-app QR payments that work across wallets under Transferencias 3.0.