Top 10 Payment Gateways For Your Ecommerce Website In UAE

The rise in the UAE e-commerce market has been much significant in the past decade. From $2.5 Billion in 2004 to $21 Billion in 2021, followed by KSA, where e-commerce sales reached the $7.7 billion mark, this number is expected to grow more in coming times.

Moreover, the demand for online payments has also increased rapidly in the UAE and the development of E-commerce solutions. Whether it’s a startup, a physical store looking to move online, or an existing e-commerce store, it’s essential to have a safe payment gateway that’s reliable too. Any professional E-commerce web development company would emphasize providing a payment gateway solution that’s budget-friendly and integrates in a hassle-free manner with preferred E-commerce web development platforms like Shopify, Magento, OpenCart, and PrestaShop.

In this blog, we have tried to gather some information to help you select the most suitable payment gateway in UAE for your business, but before that let us get a basic understanding of payment gateways.

What are Payment Gateways?

Every business needs to define its payment mode, and when it comes online, it gets referred to as a payment gateway.  

In more straightforward terms, a payment gateway is an e-commerce app service authorizing secured credit card payments for an online retailer, e-business, etc. It is a dedicated portal to instantly perform desired money transactions between websites and banks. 

How to integrate a Payment Gateway?

Among millions of questions coming to your mind while setting up your business, think of managing the charges for your service and receiving its payment. The answer is easy. It would help if you integrated a secure payment portal for accepting online payments. But the integration needs to be done by experts to ensure that both merchant and customer can feel confident while processing the money transfers on the website.

What are the types of Payment Gateways?

(1) Hosted Payment Gateway

Whenever a user gets redirected to another page from an E-commerce website, it is referred to as a Hosted Payment Gateway. Here customers need to leave the site to reach a new page where payment gets completed, and after the process gets completed, you would be redirected back to where you left off. Also, this kind of gateway doesn’t require taking any confidential details on your website. Instead, they take the customer to their payment gateway site handling the security risk.
 

(2) Shared Payment Gateway

When making payments, the user doesn’t redirect to another site’s payment page; it’s a Shared Payment Gateway. After clicking the payment link/button, a post form appears, and after filling this form with asked details and submitting it, payment gets processed on the same page. Upon successful validation, the user gets redirected to a “thank you” page. 
 

What are the factors that must be considered while selecting a Payment Gateway?

It may be a confusing decision, but one can refer to expert advice to stay away from all the confusion. It’s essential to select a perfect payment gateway option by keeping these factors in mind: transaction fees, on-form payments, card types, and recurring billing. 

• Transaction Fees

It’s normal to stumble upon the charges any payment gateway will apply for using their app and processing payments. Either it’s a fixed fee per transaction made or a specific amount percent from each purchase, or even a mix of both. The cost of withdrawing funds to your bank account is also included in transaction costs.

• On-Form Payments

Some payment gateways will collect the payment on your website using a simple form, while others will redirect users to the payment gate page for processing payments. It’s an essential factor for those who prefer a pre-built form on a website integrated with a payment gateway.

• Card Type

Many payment gateways directly receive payments from credit/debit card customers. It helps in saving customers time from registration and creates account processes. But it’s necessary to know what type of card is accepted by the gateway and which supported locations.

• Recurring Bills 

The process of setting up and managing subscription payments every month without facing the hassle of dealing with this action manually is a facility offered by a few payment gateways; the recurring bill.

Top 10 Payment Gateways for your E-commerce website in UAE

(1) Amazon Payment Services

Amazon Payment Services is a renowned payment gateway that accepts payment in 18 currencies. It offers additional features like fraud protection at additional costs. The recurrent fee is about AED 280 per month, with no initial setup fees. The price per transaction is 2.8 percent, and an additional AED 1.00 as an exchange cost. An extra monthly fee of AED 35 is to be paid, with a setup charge of about AED 135 to verify any false actions in the payment arrangement.

(2) CashU

CashU was specifically designed to overcome online payment issues in UAE and support online shoppers during the process of online purchase what they wish as they please. It offers transactions in 13 currencies without any setup fees and approx 7% transaction fee with only 1.00 USD annual charges for maintenance.

(3) Telr

Telr has been reputed as one of the few payment gateways in UAE, providing payments through multiple methods in 100 countries now. They have three payment levels: Initial, Small, and Medium which are entirely suitable for startups, SMEs, and e-commerce businesses, where plans start from AED 349/month for entry levels. You have to pay AED 39 and AED 49 respectively apart from the other charges for small and medium level accounts.

(4) Innovate Payments

It’s been present in Dubai since 2009, offering specialized online payment solutions to merchants in regions where merchants struggle to find a reliable and yet cost-effective payment partner. They support 120+ transaction currencies with a setup fee ranging from AED 1500 – 5000, with an additional fee of AED 150 – 500, and transaction fee from 3.00% – 5.00% + AED 0.50; dependent on the account type, respectively.

(5) 2Checkout

Founded in 2006, this payment portal has now reached 200+ countries. The price is 3.9 percent + 45 cents for every transaction and allow 87 currencies. They also charge 1.5 percent for customers outside the UAE and $25 for any chargeback. These prices may seem expensive, but there is no setup charge and no recurrent management expenses.

(6) CyberSource

CyberSource is a fast, reliable, and secure payment gateway option in UAE. The monthly charges start from $20 and setup charges range from $0.00 – $200 and 2.39% transaction rates at $0.35, respectively.

(7) Checkout

Checkout is another leading online payment gateway offering services to UAE through the streamlined solution for mobile and online purchasing since 2014. It offers several payment methods; Visa, MasterCard, American Express cards, PayPal, Mada, Apple Pay, QPay, Google Pay, and Alipay. With a transaction fee of AED 0.75 to 2.75 percent of the total volume, it is an excellent option for budding entrepreneurs beginning their businesses in the UAE.

(8) CC Avenue

CC Avenue has exponentially grown as South Asia’s largest payment processing company and is widely used by the UAE E-commerce businesses. Its pricing is suitable for all business levels. They offer a zero setup fee, but a monthly charge of AED 200 and rates starting from 3.0% per transaction and a fixed transaction fee of AED 1.00 are applicable.

(9) PayTabs

Another highly recommended online payment gateway in UAE was established in 2014. It’s renowned for features like a fraud prevention system, creating and sending invoices through agile technology, and innovative security management certified by Visa and MasterCard. They offer services in 168 currencies with nominal fees. They charge 2.85 percent + 1 AED per transaction.

(10) HyperPay

It’s a Saudi Arabia-based payment gateway offering its services in UAE also. HyperPay partners with 100 banks and credit card companies and are equipped with the best security for fraud management. The startup fee is 2.75% per transaction and a fixed transaction fee of AED 0.75

If you own an eCommerce store in the UAE and wish to pan out your venture across GCC, take a look at another insightful blog on “Top Payment Gateways in GCC“.