- A gateway bill has layers: a percentage by payment method, a fixed fee per payment, a monthly fee, VAT on the fee and, on Shopify, a platform fee.
- In Saudi Arabia, mada costs about 1% at gateways that publish rates. Credit cards cost two to three times more.
- Amazon Payment Services bills Apple Pay at its card rate even when a mada card sits inside. PayTabs Paymes and Telr charge mada inside Apple Pay at the mada rate.
- In the UAE, the foreign-card surcharge can matter more than the headline rate. Stripe adds 1%, Ziina 1.5% and Telr 0.5%.
- Refund, chargeback, FX and payout fees are rarely published. Get them in writing before you sign.
Gulf shoppers love paying online. In Saudi Arabia, most tap a mada card through Apple Pay, while in the UAE wallets and cards carry most orders.
That's great news for your conversion rate, so the only real question is how much of each sale your gateway keeps.
The answer is less than many sellers expect. Saudi mada payments cost about 1%, and UAE card rates start at 2.25%.
The bigger savings hide around that rate: how Apple Pay is billed, what foreign cards cost and what Shopify adds. Get those three right and you'll pay less than most stores your size.
What are payment gateway fees?
A payment gateway fee is what you pay a provider to accept a card or wallet payment and send the money to your bank. It's rarely one number, because most bills stack several layers.
- A percentage per payment. It's set by method: mada is cheap, while credit and foreign cards cost more.
- A fixed fee per payment. Usually about SAR 1 or AED 1, and it hurts most on small orders.
- A monthly fee. Anything from zero to a few hundred riyals or dirhams.
- Setup fees. These are rare now, but some gateways charge them for extra methods.
- VAT on the fee. It's charged on the gateway's fee, not on your sale.
- Your platform's fee. Shopify adds 0.2–2% when you use any gateway other than Shopify Payments.
- Extras. These cover refunds, chargebacks, currency conversion, payouts and fraud tools.
Gateways package these layers in three ways. Flat pricing charges one rate for everything, like Stripe, while tiered pricing changes the rate with your monthly volume, like Telr in the UAE.
The third model is interchange++. It passes on the card network's cost plus a margin, and large acquirers often quote it to big stores.
So when you compare quotes, compare the whole stack, not the headline rate.
How much do payment gateways charge in Saudi Arabia?
Saudi gateways price each payment method separately. Mada costs about 1%, credit cards cost two to three times more, and many gateways add a monthly fee.
Three gateways publish Saudi rate cards:
| Amazon Payment Services | PayTabs (Paymes plan) | Telr (KSA) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mada | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Mada inside Apple Pay | 2.8% + SAR 1 (card rate) | 1% | 1% |
| Credit cards | 2.8% + SAR 1 | 2.25% + SAR 1 | 2.6–3% + SAR 1 |
| STC Pay | 0.9% + SAR 500 setup | Ask | 0.9% |
| Monthly fee | SAR 200 | SAR 49 | SAR 99–259, by plan |
Why is mada so cheap? It's the national debit network, and SAMA, the Saudi Central Bank, caps the online mada fee at 1.75%, so any quote above that is a red flag.
Tap, HyperPay, Moyasar and Geidea quote on application instead. That's normal, and a written offer can beat the published cards above.
Apple Pay pricing: the line to check
Apple charges merchants nothing for Apple Pay, so your gateway prices the card inside the wallet instead.
Here's the catch: Amazon Payment Services (APS) bills every Apple Pay payment at its card rate of 2.8% plus SAR 1, even when a mada card sits inside. PayTabs and Telr charge mada inside Apple Pay at the mada rate.
That matters, because most Saudi shoppers pay exactly that way. See our guide to Apple Pay in Saudi Arabia for how the wallet works at checkout.
To pick a Saudi gateway, start with our list of payment gateways in Saudi Arabia.
How much do payment gateways charge in the UAE?
UAE gateways charge one card rate for local cards, about 2.25–2.9% plus up to AED 1, and foreign cards cost extra.
Four big names publish their UAE prices:
| Shopify Payments | Stripe | Telr | Ziina | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local card rate | 2.9% + AED 1 (Basic) to 2.5% + AED 1 (Plus) | 2.9% + AED 1 | 2.45% + AED 1 to 2.25% + AED 0.50 | 2.6% + AED 1 |
| Foreign cards and Amex | +1% (3.9% + AED 1 on Basic) | +1% | +0.5% | +1.5% |
| Monthly fee | Your Shopify plan | None | AED 0–249, falling as volume grows | None |
| Apple Pay | Card rate | Card rate | Card rate | Card rate |
| Chargeback fee | Ask | AED 60 | Ask | Ask |
Telr's tiers work in reverse to most plans, because the busier you get, the lower your monthly fee. Its Startup plan is a flat AED 249 a month with no percentage, for stores under AED 10,000.
From AED 50,000 a month, the monthly fee drops to zero.
The line most UAE sellers underestimate is foreign cards, because expats and tourists often pay with a card from home. If one order in five is foreign, that surcharge can decide which gateway wins.
Ready to compare UAE providers? Our list of payment gateways in the UAE covers 11 of them.
The fees that aren't on the rate card
The headline rate is only part of the bill, and several costs show up in the contract or the first statement instead.
- Refunds. Most gateways don't charge to refund, but they usually keep the original fee. Stripe, for example, returns neither the processing fee nor any FX fee.
- Chargebacks. A chargeback is when a shopper disputes a payment with their bank. Stripe charges AED 60 per dispute and the same again to respond, which it refunds if you win.
- Currency conversion. Stripe adds 1% when it converts currency, and Shopify Payments 2%, so price in SAR or AED to avoid it.
- Payouts. Standard payouts are usually free, but faster or foreign-currency payouts cost extra.
- Fraud tools. APS charges SAR 0.25 per attempt for Protect Plus. Stripe Radar starts at AED 0.20 per screened payment.
- Extra methods. APS charges a SAR 500 setup fee for STC Pay.
- Reserves and minimums. Some contracts hold back part of your payouts or charge extra when sales fall below a set level.
Worked example: what one order really costs
Let's price one typical order in each country, with VAT on the fee included. Monthly fees come on top, spread across all the orders you take that month.
Same SAR 300 order, three ways to pay, at the three published Saudi rate cards. Totals include 15% VAT on the fee.
- Mada card: SAR 3.45 (1.15%) at all three.
- Mada inside Apple Pay: SAR 10.81 (3.6%) at APS, SAR 3.45 at PayTabs Paymes and Telr.
- Credit card: SAR 10.81 (3.6%) at APS, SAR 8.91 (3.0%) at Paymes, SAR 10.12–11.50 at Telr.
- On Shopify Basic: add SAR 6.00 (2%) to every line.
So the same mada shopper costs you SAR 3.45 or SAR 10.81, depending on the gateway and whether they tap Apple Pay. On Shopify Basic, the platform fee is bigger than the whole mada fee.
Now scale that to a month. In Saudi Arabia, APS charges SAR 151 more a month than Paymes before you've sold a thing.
Compare your own numbers
Enter your monthly sales, order count and payment mix. The comparator ranks the gateways that publish their rates, with VAT and Shopify's fee included:
Payment gateway fee comparator
Estimated monthly cost of gateways that publish their rates
Where is your business registered?
These gateways onboard Saudi entities (CR or, for some, a freelance licence) and settle in SAR.
Average ticket: SAR 200.00
Apple Pay is priced as the card inside it. Exception: Amazon Payment Services charges Apple Pay at its card rate, even for mada.
Store platform
Shopify plan
Shopify adds a 2.0% transaction fee to every order paid through a third-party gateway.
Cheapest published option: PayTabs Paymes
effective rate: 4.07%
Shopify's fee here is SAR 1,000. On Grow it would be SAR 500 (before the plan price difference).
Estimated monthly cost
- Processing (% + fixed)
- Monthly fee
- Shopify transaction fee
- VAT on gateway fees (15%)
#1PayTabs PaymesCheapest
SAR 2,034 · 4.07%
Paymes SuperApp pricing ("testing phase"). International cards assumed at the credit rate.
#2Telr KSA
SAR 2,172 – SAR 2,448 · 4.34%–4.90%
Published as a range: cards 2.6-3% + SAR 1, SAR 99-259/month. Bar shows low to high.
#3Amazon Payment Services
SAR 2,651 · 5.30%
Standard Plan. Apple Pay billed at card rate. International card rates may differ.
Quote-based gateways
These do not publish rates, so we can't rank them. Ask each for a written rate card split by method.
- Tap Payments — Native Shopify checkout app; mada, Apple Pay, Jaywan (UAE), KNET.
- HyperPay — Riyadh-based, Shopify app. Only third-party estimates exist.
- Moyasar — Saudi entities only (CR or freelance licence); STC Pay supported.
- Checkout.com — Enterprise acquirer, flat-rate or interchange++. mada for KSA entities only.
- Geidea — Rates negotiated per merchant. Shopify app with Tabby and Tamara.
Shopify adds a 2.0% transaction fee to every order paid through a third-party gateway.
Estimates based on published fees as of October 2026; confirm with the provider. Excludes refunds, chargebacks, FX, payout and setup fees. Shopify plan subscriptions not included.
Switch the country to the UAE to compare Stripe, Telr, Ziina and Shopify Payments. The same tool also lives on our payment gateway fee calculator page, so you can bookmark it.
How to cut your payment gateway fees
You can't change card network costs, but you can change your payment mix, your plan and your contract.
- 1
Push mada and Apple Pay
In Saudi Arabia, show mada and Apple Pay first. Every mada payment instead of a credit card cuts the fee by more than half.
- 2
Price in local currency
Charge in SAR or AED. You avoid conversion fees, and BNPL providers need local-currency checkouts anyway.
- 3
Get two or three written quotes
Ask for rates split by method, plus fixed, monthly, refund, chargeback and payout fees.
- 4
Match the plan to your volume
A plan with a monthly fee and a lower rate wins once you sell enough. Rerun the numbers every few months.
- 5
Review your Shopify plan
Moving from Basic to Grow halves Shopify's outside-gateway fee from 2% to 1%.
- 6
Renegotiate as you grow
Bring your last three months of volume to your gateway and ask for a better rate.
Want competing offers without the legwork? Tell us your setup once and we'll do the asking.
Notes for Shopify stores
- Saudi Arabia has no Shopify Payments, so every Saudi Shopify store pays the 0.2–2% platform fee on top of its gateway.
- Upgrade when it pays. On annual billing, Grow costs $35 a month more than Basic, about SAR 131. It pays for itself once you process about SAR 13,000 a month through your gateway.
- Monthly billing moves the line. There the gap is $45, about SAR 169. Grow then pays off from about SAR 17,000 a month.
- UAE stores should start with Shopify Payments, the only card option with no extra Shopify fee.
- BNPL pays the platform fee too, because Tabby and Tamara install as separate apps.
Plans, gateways and setup are in our guide to Shopify in Saudi Arabia.
Notes for foreign and Chinese sellers
- Local rates need a local company, since Saudi gateways onboard Saudi entities and UAE gateways need a UAE trade licence.
- Without one, mada goes through as Visa or Mastercard, at card rates and with more declines.
- A UAE company is a useful bridge, because it opens Stripe, Shopify Payments and UAE gateways for GCC-wide sales.
- Marketplaces skip gateway fees, because Amazon.sa, Amazon.ae and noon collect payment for you and pay you out abroad.
Notes for high-volume stores
- Published cards have ceilings. APS moves stores above SAR 300,000 a month to a custom plan, and Telr quotes bigger UAE stores individually.
- Ask about interchange++, which large acquirers such as Checkout.com and Network International often use and which can beat flat rates at scale.
- Measure approval rates, because a few more approved mada payments in every hundred are worth more than a small fee cut.
Explore more fee and checkout guides in our payments hub.
Frequently asked questions
Among gateways with published prices, PayTabs' Paymes plan usually costs least for small and mid-size stores, thanks to its SAR 49 monthly fee and 2.25% card rate. Quote-based gateways such as Tap, HyperPay, Moyasar and Geidea price by volume, so a growing store should collect written offers too.
Sources & further reading
- Amazon Payment Services pricing (KSA) — Amazon Payment Services
- PayTabs pricing — PayTabs
- Telr pricing — Telr
- Stripe pricing (UAE) — Stripe
- Ziina for Business — Ziina
- Third-party payment providers and transaction fees — Shopify Help Center
- Use mada bank cards for buying products through the internet (rulebook) — SAMA Rulebook
- Shopify Payments supported countries — Shopify Help Center
This guide is for general information only and is not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules and fees change — always confirm with the official source or a licensed advisor.
Maya is MiddleEastEcom's lead guide and editor. She researches GCC marketplaces, payments and regulations and turns them into practical playbooks for sellers.
Meet Maya
