Why is Apple Pay not working with Stripe in the UAE?

[ToonUAE]

Hi there,

I'm using stripe to accept payment in UAE and I'm using apple pay to test the integration and they get an error saying "this field can not be blank" or the "Shipping address in not valid", of course all details are complete and stored as they made thousands of transactions before.

I tried to communicate Apple & Stripe and both agreed that the problem is from shopify!

I even visit the stripe company in Dubai and they said that the apple pay is not working well with shopify (In the UAE and most gulf region).

Any idea what this error relates to? is there any country limitations? 😞

Thanks in advance

[Horlart_Expert]

Is shopify payment allowed in your region? If yes try using apple pay from it as almost all the options of integrating other payment method through stripe later have issues you are going through

[Anatomi]

Hi, 
Did anyone find a solution regrading this issue.? And how is Shopify reacting about the same ?

I did contact the support team and was said that the don't have any support regarding apple pay in this region. 

[Horlart_Expert]

Is Shopify Payment activated in your region?

[Anatomi]

No.

I don't think its an issue with the payment gateway. The issue is on how shopify maps the address from apple pay.

[FirasAwad]

True 

[FirasAwad]

@ToonUAE where are you able to solve this issue 

i am facing the same thing 

[FirasAwad]

it is mapping issue between apple pay shipping fields and Shopify shipping fields

So you get this error because the Area in the apple pay shipping address is mapped to Emirates ( dropdown ) in Shopify. 

so for example: is apply pay shipping fields , if you put Area : Barsha, then you will get the error 

try to replace Barsha with any City from the dropdown , payment will go through 

I am still not able to find a way to solve this.

[MKJ]

did you solve it?? 

[FirasAwad]

Can’t be solved by developer , It has to be solved by Shopify.

It is big mistake from Shopify side , We have to wait until shopify wake-up and fix it 

[Lucy_Gibson]

Agreed, we are facing the same issue and every month checkin to see if they have resolved it, but nothing.....

[relhar2]

Hi Lucy, did you end up figuring out a solution?

[pouriafar]

I Agree with you. 

now it has been  months since Shopify customer service told me that they are working on this issue . 

I am not sure how a company like Shopify cant solve this issue. 

and unfortunately, there is no way around this

[DXBEcom]

Looks like the problem is still open, area needs to be an Emirate.

anyone managed to find a solution?

@FirasAwad @ToonUAE @Shopify 

[pouriafar]

I tested the app again few days ago and whatever I tried didn't go through. 

I am seriously surprised to see Shopify is not doing anything about this. 

last year they said this will get sorted out end of last year and we are middle of march and still no progress. 
i can see my some of my competitors who are using different platforms don't have any issue and use stripe apple pay in theirwebsite , however we are tucked with shopify to decide when to solve this issue

[FirasAwad]

Maybe better to change platform , this feature is critical to checkout experience. I don’t think Shopify will ever respond to this. Better to switch now than later 

[CarmellaD]

Hi Do you think changing payment gateway will help? Or still will be facing same issue? Because many shops on shopify are running  and have a perfectly working apple pay when i checkout in UAE

[oliav]

Hi! I just went through the same and series of discussions with shopify, stripe and apple - and my concusion is that it seems to be with stripe, as other websites here in uae using shopify do have it a i just bought soemthing from hybrid hipie uae website just to test it…

Any progress from your side? tx

[oliav]

Hi! I just went through the same and series of discussions with shopify, stripe and apple - and my concusion is that it seems to be with stripe, as other websites here in uae using shopify do have it a i just bought soemthing from hybrid hipie uae website just to test it…

Any progress from your side? tx

[DXBEcom]

No progress yet.

[blackzee]

Guys, I have the same issue here, using shopify and stripe and apple pay is not working unless we use AREA field with any of the emirates like dubai sharjah ect. if we use Barsha, or any area in dubai or the other emirates it won't work. I have been in contact with stripe and shopify and they are not solving the issue. 

I found a solution but Shopify is not accepting to do it. I'm not sure if it will work but I believe that it will 95% work.

In stripe dashboard under setting, payment method, then apple pay, when you click there it asks you to click the configure bottun (Apple Pay enables frictionless card payments and eliminates the need to manually type card or shipping details.) if you configure your website domain it will do the above mentioned solution which we are faceing now. When you try to configure it won't work because we need to place a special code file in our website specific location, I hired someone to locate the code in the mentioned location he couldn't as it is shopify property. I asked shopify to locate the code, they don't even answer to this, I have no idea why they don't want to do this.

[oliav]

Yeah i can imagine that would be difficult to push through. I decided to change the provider and the bank (WIO only works with Stripe and allows one payment type i.e cards so there was a limitation there to start with.. ) Many merchants in the UAE use apple pay with no issues, but they dont go through stripe.. Im like.. if you cant win - join them philosophy..

[DXBEcom]

Last update from Shopify support (not very helpful):

In this case this is not on the Shopify side about the format of putting the Area since this was set up by the Apple Pay in UAE. As I have mentioned in my last email that Shopify already addressed the Apple Team and as of this moment they are still working on it to get this fix so this issue is from Apple. Apple provides us another work around while they are fixing this by updating your customers Apple Pay address to have a legitimate Emirate rather than "known location".

We will send you another update once we receive the communication from Apple pay since Shopify is now partnering with them to get this sorted out.

@CarmellaD or Anyone know a Shopify site that works with Apple Pay (without the ‘area’ problem) in UAE?

[Abdulrahman_Al1]

I am planning to setup a Shopify store in the UAE, Reading the issues with Stripe Any recommendation on payment gateways? My bank is BOFA.

I just can't understand why Shopify is not paying enough attention to our issues in the Middle East with payments and language. I operated a Shopify store for five years in Saudi Arabia and finally had to move to a local platform that made checkout and payment very simple vs Shopify's long and unfriendly process.

[chrispuae]

Another one hoping for a resolution here - hoping to see a fix soon.

[oliav]

I just bought from hybrid hippie and it worked fine

[jasonmaggio]

They are on Woo

[Mukesh1]

They use woocommerce(Wordpress)

[Types]

Any Update, we lose many customer about this issue  

[oliav]

No update on previous points, my current approach is to bypass Stripe. My bank is Wio and apple pay did not work with stripe for the address issue.. So adcb gateway promised to support it so testing it next week with them

[chrispuae]

I too am with Wio. Are you suggesting Apple Pay and Wio should work with ADCB gateway without getting a new bank account? If so, I will be very keen to hear how your testing goes!

[oliav]

Yes. I actually planned to open an accout with them but got assurances i dont need to. Email me at hello@babiclo.com and i ll share the outcome and any further info i have.

[Diegoch]

Hi! We are also facing this issue between the area and Emirates with Apple Pay, Shopify, and Stripe. Please share any solution you find. Thank you!

[jasonmaggio]

Any update on the other payment gateway solution?

[taya22]

tell me please, if issue is solved

[oliav]

Hi, just an update -  do not go through paytabs/adcb - not supporting express checkout - useless

[pouriafar]

Ok, One way i have managed to solve this issue is I am using stripe for all online payments for customers who are ok to enter their card details without using apple pay.

and to give the customer choice to use apple pay , I have another manual payment which says " Apple Pay/ Google Pay " .

When customers click this option they can place their order and then I will send them a payment link from Ziina .

For those of you don't know Ziina, this is a new online payment platform I have been using and I am super happy with them as they transfer the funds within maximum 2 days and they have really good rates ( 2.9% )

This way I have hit two birds with one stone: 1. Customers can pay through apple pay when I send them the link . 2. I get to access my funds way faster than stripe.

here is a link for those of you interested

https://ziina.page.link/JoinZiina

[oliav]

This is  misinformation, they say clearly they don't integrate with Shopify

[taya22]

Guys any update? I am losing many customers because of this!!!!

[oliav]

I am just finalising compliance process for ADCB and their technology partner, but keeping wio bank account, so will update if it works (it is a very slow process as im fzco

[chrispuae]

Any update on this?! Keeping my fingers crossed for you...(and us!)

[oliav]

Just an update - despite promising they are supporting dynamic checkout -  pay tabs + adcb combo completely failed, so no solution

[chrispuae]

I've just moved to Paymob - they're pretty new in the UAE but I was able to do an apple pay payment the other day, so I think we have a solution!

[DXBEcom]

That’s wonderful news! Please keep us posted with updates/issues/user
experience. I am gonna try it. ##- Please type your reply above this line
-##

[relhar2]

Hi Chris, correct me if im wrong but you're saying that you can still use shopify but just use Paymob and that will fix the problem?

[chrispuae]

Hi Relhar, correct! I’m still on Shopify and now able to accept Apple Pay through Paymob. It’s also been easy to integrate Tabby. 

It’s maybe not quite as slick as Stripe but at least it’s working!

[oliav]

@relhar2 @DXBEcom  Im guessing this is not EXPRESS checkout (the only

way that really matters i my view). Many providers in uae can enable applepay like horrible execution by Paytabs.. the issue is that it leaves shopify page and requires adding address so it is not really apple pay as it should be. And i dont think any provider can do it until the issue between apple and shopify is resolved. If im wrong, please share your store so will try to buy something smoothly 🙂

[relhar2]

@chrispuae Thank you for the reply! @oliav I see what you're saying, it redirects you to another page after having to fill in your address information anyway.. so whats the point 😅

[Abdulrahman_Al1]

I agree, Directing to an outside page is not real apple pay.

Unfortunately Shopify does not give the ME enough attention, Arabic language for example is not supported..We have to use translation apps. I think the problem with Apple Pay is part of Shopify neglecting ME, They have not extended Shopify payment to the region even though the financial system and regulations here are well developed and tied to the US central bank and the dollar. Even if they roll Shopify payment in the region it will be useful for a small percentage of merchants as it has many restrictions. The only solution in my opinion is for Shopify to integrate fully with local payment gateways allowing for real Apple pay functionality, Unfortunately there are no indications of that happening soon. Too bad as Shopify is a great platform. I had to switch my stores from Shopify to ZID which is only better in payment options but lags waaay behind Shopify in everything else.

[relhar2]

I just had a long conversation with a Shopify advisor that didn't really go anywhere. They don't seem to realize that it is an issue with their checkout page requiring data validation on the Emirates choice. The bigger issue is we cant even customize the checkout page to not require it. Not sure how I will proceed but Apple Pay for express checkout is necessary.