Feedback on Shopify’s Lack of Google Pay & Apple Pay Integration in Israel
As of 2021, both Google Pay and Apple Pay have been fully operational in Israel—Google Pay launched in December 2021 (https://support.google.com/googlepay/answer/12429287?hl=en#zippy=
)and Apple Pay in June 2021 (https://support.apple.com/en-il/102775). These payment methods are now widely supported across nearly all online and physical stores in the country. However, despite this widespread integration, Shopify still doesn’t support either payment option for Israel-based businesses.
The only available solution on Shopify for adding these payment options involves working with third-party payment providers, but this approach is severely limited. While Shopify lists 11 providers, only 7 are actually available for businesses in Israel. The remaining 4 show up in the vendor list despite not being supported in this region, which raises the question: why are they even listed?
The only provider offering both Google Pay and Apple Pay, Adyen Payments, is restricted to businesses using Shopify Plus, as it requires the Checkout Extensibility feature, which is only available to Shopify Plus customers.
Before you begin Ayden KB: Shopify | Adyen Docs
Shopify Checkout Extensibility guide: Shopify Help Center | Checkout Extensibility upgrade guide
And Shopify Plus:
To be honest, I wouldn’t mind upgrading to the Plus plan if my business was running smoothly without all the hassle and headaches involved in setting up anything beyond PayPal. The difficulties in adding basic payment options like Google Pay and Apple Pay make it hard to justify investing in a higher-tier plan when the fundamentals are so challenging to implement.
This is a major barrier for small businesses like mine, which don’t have the budget for Shopify’s highest-tier plan.
As a workaround, I attempted to change my shop’s location to the USA to test how Shopify handles Google Pay and Apple Pay integration there. To my surprise, both payment options could be added in just a few clicks, fully integrated by Shopify. This demonstrates that Shopify already has the technology and infrastructure in place to support these payment methods, but it’s unnecessarily restricted based on outdated records of GooglePay and apple Pay locked regions.
The only roadblock I faced during this experiment was the withdrawal process, which required a U.S. bank account which i couldn’t physically have since im from Israel. This highlights a significant issue: Shopify has the capability to integrate these payment options for Israeli businesses, but instead, it locks them behind outdated regional record barriers, limiting their availability and forcing businesses to look for costly third-party solutions or workarounds.
As a result, setting up a shop Israel customer makes it extremely difficult for small businesses to thrive on the platform.
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Update Regional Payment Support
Ensure that Google Pay and Apple Pay are fully supported for Israeli businesses, as these payment methods have been widely available in Israel since 2021. -
Remove Unsupported Vendors from the Provider List
Revise the list of third-party payment providers to exclude those not available in certain regions, such as Israel, to avoid confusion and streamline the setup process for business owners. -
Expand Checkout Extensibility to Lower-Tier Plans
Allow businesses on plans other than Shopify Plus to access the Checkout Extensibility feature, enabling smaller businesses to integrate Google Pay and Apple Pay without needing to upgrade to a high-cost plan. -
Improve Transparency on Regional Limitations
Provide clear information on why Google Pay and Apple Pay are restricted for Israel on Shopify, even though they are officially not restricted in Israel. -
Offer Localized Banking Solutions
Facilitate the withdrawal process by enabling local bank accounts, such as Israeli banks or even PayPal withdraw which is 100% acceptable in Israel, to work with Shopify’s payment systems, eliminating the need for U.S. bank accounts in workarounds.