What payment gateway options work best for UAE-based drop shippers?

Payments + Shipping & Fulfilment
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Topic summary

A UAE-based entrepreneur seeks payment gateway recommendations for a dropshipping business without a license, as many providers don’t support UAE operations, unlicensed businesses, or dropshippers. PayPal isn’t viable for UAE customers who prefer Visa, Mastercard, and Apple Pay.

Recommended Solutions:

  • Shopify staff suggested Stripe, 2Checkout, Payoneer Checkout, and Skrill as UAE-compatible options
  • Community members report Stripe works well but requires a valid business license
  • Alternative UAE-specific options mentioned: Ziina (no AmEx support), Tap Payments, and Telr
  • Easy Pie Checkout suggested as a Stripe-powered third-party solution supporting multi-currency

Key Challenges:

  • Shopify Payments unavailable in UAE despite Stripe operating there
  • Currency display issues: stores default to AED, causing checkout confusion for international customers
  • Shopify charges 2% transaction fees even when merchants use external payment providers
  • Most payment gateways require business licenses

Current Status:

  • Shopify recently added payment support for multiple countries but excluded UAE
  • Multiple users express frustration with limited UAE support and consider switching platforms
  • Some merchants successfully configured multi-currency checkout (USD/EUR/GBP) while UAE-based, though setup details require individual troubleshooting
Summarized with AI on October 28. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
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Hi Arminomino, I’ve been working to cobble together a solution of sorts to this. Here are some points to consider.

  • Wherever your store is based, you can still display USD to customers in the USA, that’s not an issue.

  • The issue is taking payouts to the UAE and still using Shopify Payments, this at present is not possible and Shopify have bugger all information on when they will give any solid information on this subject.

  • Shopify payments uses Stripe. Stripe is available in the UAE so again… why no Shopify payments?

  • You can sign up directly for Stripe when based in the UAE. I have now done this and their support is excellent, vastly superior to Shopify support.

  • Your checkout will look the same, you will still be able to offer Amex, Visa & Mastercard payment as well as Apple Pay.

  • Your payouts will be as AED to your UAE bank account

  • Shopify will STILL apply a 2% fee on top of your Stripe fees meaning each transaction will be circa 4.5%

  • If you challenge Shopify as to why they are still taking a cut despite not providing you a payment solution they will tell you that they’ve earned it through provision of services or similar dogsh*t reasoning.

Here is my two cents:

They have already lost SFN, so now my fulfilment is external (ShipBob), they have now lost the ability to provide me with a payment gateway since I went to the UAE. Support is vastly inferior to a mere 18 months ago, yet they are scalping off my business whilst doing less. I think unless Shopify have a better solution available for UAE based companies by mid 2024 I’ll remove my stores completely from their platform.

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