Shopify in Saudi Arabia: payments, Arabic, cash on delivery and what to set up first

Shopify Payments is not available in Saudi Arabia

Shopify Payments is Shopify's own card processor, and it is the default on most stores worldwide. Shopify's list of supported countries names the United Arab Emirates among the countries where it is available. Saudi Arabia and Oman are not on it. For merchants in countries that are not listed, Shopify points to third-party payment providers.

That is not a dead end. Shopify's help centre says you can choose from over 100 credit card payment providers and use one as your only card processor. There are two types: a direct provider, where customers pay on your store, and an external provider, which sends them to a checkout hosted outside your store. Shopify's payment gateways page lets you filter providers by country, so check it for Saudi Arabia before you commit to a gateway.

The practical consequence is that your payment set-up is a project in itself. It starts with the commercial registration and bank account the gateway will ask for, not with the theme.

Choosing a gateway for a Shopify store in Saudi Arabia

For Saudi shoppers the first test is mada, the national debit network and the most used online payment method. Then Apple Pay, Visa and Mastercard, STC Pay if your audience uses it, and buy-now-pay-later such as Tabby or Tamara. Our guide to payment gateways in Saudi Arabia compares the main licensed providers, how onboarding works and what to ask about fees and settlement.

For Shopify specifically, ask each provider these questions before you apply:

• Is there a maintained Shopify integration, and is it a direct checkout on your store or a redirect to a hosted page? Direct checkouts usually convert better and keep the experience in Arabic.
• Does it support mada, Apple Pay and 3D Secure in the Shopify flow, and does it settle in SAR to a Saudi bank account?
• How are refunds and partial refunds handled from the Shopify admin, and how long do they take to reach the customer?
• What does the provider charge, and what does Shopify add? Shopify states that third-party transaction fees apply to all transactions processed through third-party gateways. The help page gives no amounts, so read the current rate for your plan on Shopify's pricing page and add it to the gateway's own fee when you work out margin.
• Who supports you when a payment fails: the gateway, Shopify or the app developer?

Cash on delivery on Shopify

Cash on delivery (COD) is still a common choice in Saudi Arabia, and Shopify supports it as a manual payment method. How it behaves matters for operations:

• Shopify does not collect the payment. The order stays Pending (unpaid) until you receive the money, then you mark it as paid.
• If you create a custom method, Shopify does not allow the reserved names "Cash on Delivery (COD)" and "Cash", so pick a different label such as "Pay when you receive" and write the payment instructions to match your courier's process.
• You are not charged third-party transaction fees on manual payments.
• Multi-currency support for manual payments requires Shopify Payments and the international sales tools, according to Shopify. Since Shopify Payments is not available in Saudi Arabia, plan to sell in a single currency, SAR, rather than showing converted prices for COD orders.
• Unpaid and refused parcels are your risk. Many Saudi stores confirm COD orders by WhatsApp or SMS before dispatch, charge a small COD fee where the courier does, and restrict COD to certain cities or order values. Those rules usually need an app or a custom checkout script.

Arabic and right-to-left

Saudi consumer stores are Arabic first. In Shopify you add Arabic as a language and publish it, and Shopify's Translate & Adapt app can translate content manually or with automatic AI translations. Shopify also states that each published language gets its own URLs, which is what search engines need to index the Arabic store separately from the English one.

Shopify's help pages do not state whether a theme supports right-to-left layout, so test that yourself. Check the theme's own documentation, then view a product page, cart and checkout in Arabic: mirrored layout, Arabic numerals and currency position, sliders that move the right way, and fonts that render Arabic well. Our Arabic website and RTL checklist lists what to test. Product titles, sizes, delivery messages and emails need real Arabic copy, not machine output left unchecked.

Pricing in SAR and VAT

Show prices in Saudi riyal, tax-inclusive, as Saudi consumers expect. Shopify says the full functionality of its local-currency pricing feature is limited to stores using Shopify Payments, so for a Saudi store the simplest set-up is to make SAR the store currency and have your gateway settle in SAR. If you also sell to other Gulf countries, treat that as a separate decision and test it before launch.

Make sure the store displays what Saudi buyers and gateways expect: your legal name and commercial registration number, contact details, delivery terms, and return, exchange and refund policies in Arabic. These are legal duties, not just good practice: our guide to Saudi E-Commerce Law requirements for online stores lists them article by article.

E-invoicing and data protection

A VAT-registered seller in Saudi Arabia must issue invoices that meet ZATCA's e-invoicing rules, and Phase 2 waves now reach businesses above SAR 187,500 in revenue. Shopify's standard order invoice is not a substitute. You need a Fatoora-connected route, either through an integration or a certified solution that receives orders from Shopify through its API. Our guide to ZATCA e-invoicing Phase 2 explains the waves and how to connect.

The store also collects personal data: names, addresses, phone numbers and order history. That makes you a controller under the Personal Data Protection Law, with duties around the privacy policy, consent for marketing messages, rights requests and breach notification. See Saudi PDPL compliance for websites and apps. Apps you install on Shopify can also process that data, so list them in your data map.

A launch checklist for a Shopify store in Saudi Arabia

When Shopify is not the right fit

Shopify suits standard catalogues with variants, a small team and fast launch. If you need B2B price lists, a marketplace, unusual checkout rules for COD, or deep ERP integration, a headless storefront or custom platform can be a better answer. Our comparison of Shopify, headless and custom stores in the Gulf sets out the trade-offs, and what a custom ecommerce store costs gives the budget side.

How OGB Labs helps

OGB Labs builds Shopify stores and custom ecommerce platforms for the Gulf from Muscat, with teams in Dubai and Riyadh. For Saudi launches we handle the gateway integration and testing, Arabic-first theme work, COD rules, courier connections and the data protection pages. See our Saudi Arabia page or contact us with your catalogue and target launch date.